RMweb Gold 46444 Posted June 23, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2015 Must say this is looking good. Certainly a load of progress since I last looked. Love the light(s). Look forwards to further installments. Cheers, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 Thanks everyone for your comments! Due to an odd work schedule, I've made a little more progress this morning; the long retaining wall is now installed: I've also managed to produce 1 (one!) working belisha beacon. There's still hope I can do something with the other two, but I've ran out time today for such a fiddly job. Even if I can't get the others built & working, one is enough. I just need to figure out how to build or install the dome on top; they're only 1ft diameter in the real world. Oh and so are the black & white stripes on the post. If I've not already reached it, I must be rapidly approaching the limits of "Sensible things to do at 1:148 scale"! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 The remaining walls have all now been installed, and the platform edges are now in place with the glue drying. However I am still failing horribly to produce components for a rail-built BR/LMS style buffer stop, even following Stuarts example. I may need to take a step back and ponder slightly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 The pavement, belisha beacons & lamp have all been completed and installed! I solved the problem of the belisha lamp covers by dipping the heads into Humbrol clear coat and then hanging them upside down to dry; the viscous liquid forms a drop at the end and drys. I used a couple of clear coats and one where I'd added a drop of yellow acrylic; the effect is exactly what I wanted, and the shape is good enough for me. The picture quality is not good enough to show up but the pavement is made up of individually scribed paving slabs. The effect is really very good, and I'm extremely happy with how this has all turned out, even if the lamps were a sod to build and wire up! Now that the lamps & electronics are installed it's allowed me to fix the largest section that makes up the A420, which in turns means I can also start to assemble the rest of the components around it. I'm now at the point were I can't continue until I've actually built at least one buffer stop, as it must be in place before I can fix the bridge over the space where it will be. So, no more excuses... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 I admit defeat; I can not build a rail-built BR/LMS style buffer stop. The shape requires too many sharp bends, in close proximity to one another, which means the rail alway warps. Annealing the real just makes things worse! So, it's back to Plan B; a modified Peco item. It's a little chunky but under the bridge it shouldn't be too bad. The bridge section is currently removed (and the pavement on the near side is not fixed) to give me access to complete the trackbed below the bridge; I've added some simple cable trunking (Plastruct "U" channel) and in-filled the gaps around the structures to bring the baseboard height up to the rest of the rail. Then, I get to do this... Ballasting has happened! Just the platform section, but it's happened. Once it's dried (24 hours) and tidied up (as it's a 50/50 Copydex/Water mix...possibly another 24 hours!) I'll spray everything. Also just seen in the pictures is the back edge of the platforms has been built & installed, and in-filling will be done soon which will support the final platform surface. I also need to plan where the dilapidated station building will go on platform 1; time to dig out my copy of Midland Style for standard building dimensions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Don't get too hung up about stop blocks. Even in the far from finished state you have already created a railwaylike feel (if there is such a word), and I get a sense of urban Bristol. cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Don't get too hung up about stop blocks. Even in the far from finished state you have already created a railwaylike feel (if there is such a word), and I get a sense of urban Bristol. Thanks very much. The buffer stop is more an annoyance at the lack of decent options, which I've ranted about before. I even bought one of the new Gaugemaster stops, in great hopes, but they're clearly a non-UK prototype and also very over-scale. You wouldn't have thought a decent representation of such an incredibly common item would be such an issue in these days of such high quality models and track options in N these days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I felt the same way so with a little trial and practice I now make mine own. Why not have a go at making your own, all you need is a simple jig http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/64767-an-asymetrical-double-outside-slip-mk2/page-9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 I felt the same way so with a little trial and practice I now make mine own. Why not have a go at making your own, all you need is a simple jig I did! I tried your method, but it simply didn't work; I realised that you're building GWR style stops, which are composed of a single rail where each bend is in the opposite direction of the last one; a BR/LMS style is two separate rails, which two bends each which add up to a 90 degree bend. I suspect that difference is why your method works for you but didn't for me; the stress on the rail being bent are balanced in the GWR style, but just compound each other in the BR/LMS style. When I tried it, the rail would always twist. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Have you looked at lanarkshire models buffer stops? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Have you looked at lanarkshire models buffer stops? Lanarkshire Models only produce 4mm scale buffer stops; I have exchanged messages with Richard in the past where I suggested doing some N scale versions, but he wasn't interested. I'd kill (well...maybe at least maim) to have something as good as the Lanarkshire Models items available in 1:148 scale. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Some good modelling there my mate.. im following this on here.. cheers neil. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Thanks! I'm glad so many people like my work; I may move slow but I put a lot of thought into it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Like that you have an "eye" for detail,this realy helps when building stuff.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lyonesse Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Great thread. Nice to see you'll be including Max Williams (where I often used to go after school). Wasn't it through Max Williams that Guy Williams met Roye England? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 You could always join the 2mm association and buy some etched buffer stops to suit http://www.2mm.org.uk/products/shops.php?shop_num=1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 You could always join the 2mm association and buy some etched buffer stops to suit Yes I had considered that as well, but it's an expensive option just for some buffer stops. I think my issue it's that when you look at what's available in 4mm & 7mm, it just shouldn't be this difficult for N. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted July 25, 2015 Author Share Posted July 25, 2015 The bulk of the platform infilling has been done today, and during the week I tidied up the ballast. This was, as expected, dreadfully tedious, but on the bright side I'm not trying to create pristine ballast here: this is an unloved branchline that's being run on a shoestring and would have been closed completely had BR got their way, so the track & ballast was never going to be in the best shape! There were a few sections that needed in-filling and gluing. You can see a a large area, still white with glue, where rather than soaking through it formed a "skin" of Copydex & chinchilla dust on the surface, with dry loose material underneath! I cut that out, glued the edges back down and re-ballasted, hence the drying glue. You can also see the pattern where the other track has been lifted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 The track & ballast has been painted. I'm a bit "hmmmm" about it though; perhaps it's a little overdone? Then again, this is supposed to be a run down line that probably hasn't had much track maintenance done...what do you think? On the flipside I think it looks great from this angle! The white surface on the platform is the paper templates that will be used to cut the final platform surfaces to shape; the line, and therefore both platform faces, is all on a gentle curve. I'll be making a start on cutting them tomorrow. I'm also searching for inspiration for the platform building; I'm not sure a standard woodend Midland waiting shelter would look quite right, but the real building was a GWR design. Inspiration struck with the platform building at Redland which was built as part of the MR/GWR joint line which means it's totally justifiable, but it's quite a big building. I may toy with a building to standard Midland dimensions but styled the same as the Redland building? Hmm... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted September 3, 2015 Author Share Posted September 3, 2015 Moving on, the surface for platform 2 is almost finished; it's not glued in its final position yet but that'll be next. The first half is concrete slabs, with the remainder a rather un-loved muddy gravel; not unlike the real Lawrence Hill. Platform 1 will be similar. I've also added a few small details to the A420 bridge. Flowering buddleia in the gap between wall and the steps, and a pair of limited clearance signs: clearance here is maybe not as limited as it once was! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 More top modelling.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steadfast Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 Really liking those last few updates, some top notch details. How did you do the buddleia? I've got a load planned for my layout and yours looks very convincing jo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted September 3, 2015 Author Share Posted September 3, 2015 Really liking those last few updates, some top notch details. How did you do the buddleia? I've got a load planned for my layout and yours looks very convincing The base is rubberised horse hair, cut to shape & size and then dipped in brown acrylic. Once dry, I've glued on a small patch of Woodland Scenics dark green foliage. Then on top of that I've snipped up some of the purple "flowering foliage" into very fine pieces, which I've then sprinkled on after dabbing on some small dots of glue. Once everything was dry I gave it a spray with some hair-spray to hold it all together! It came out nicely I think; the "branches" of the horsehair help create that scrubby weedy look you get with bush buddleia. Shame I can't replicate the smell, too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steadfast Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Thanks for that how to, that's really useful. Definitely worth having a go at, yours looks really convincing jo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lakeview770 Posted September 4, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 4, 2015 Here are 3 photo's to start with. John How many times did I cross that bridge on my way to Max Williams. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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