Porthcressa-on-Sea - A history

[GWRPhil]

Will be buying fiddle yard wood in next couple of weeks or so. Then I'll crack on with it

[class"66"]

Will be buying fiddle yard wood in next couple of weeks or so. Then I'll crack on with it

 

Looking forward to more modeling Phil...

[GWRPhil]

Looking forward to more modeling Phil...

Wood has been bought and construction of the fiddle yard is about 80% done. Will post some pics of progress later on.

[class"66"]

Wood has been bought and construction of the fiddle yard is about 80% done. Will post some pics of progress later on.

Sounds great Phil

Hows those RHTT wagons doing these days?

[GWRPhil]

They're going really well. I've given them a weather since you made them for me. I'll take some pics of them tomorrow. I've been running them with colas 66's but soon once my second colas 37 is finished I'll be running them with the set. I often run them with a CMX track cleaner between the front loco and the rhtts I've etched primed it then coated it in network rail blue paint and then added network rail logos so it looks like a tank wagon in the set. It looks quite good and is great for track cleaning if necessary during running session or at an exhibition.

[class"66"]

They're going really well. I've given them a weather since you made them for me. I'll take some pics of them tomorrow. I've been running them with colas 66's but soon once my second colas 37 is finished I'll be running them with the set. I often run them with a CMX track cleaner between the front loco and the rhtts I've etched primed it then coated it in network rail blue paint and then added network rail logos so it looks like a tank wagon in the set. It looks quite good and is great for track cleaning if necessary during running session or at an exhibition.

Sounds great to me Phil  

[GWRPhil]

Here's some pics of what we've been up today. More pics tomorrow.

[GWRPhil]

Plus my daughter was helping too which was really cool.

[class"66"]

Alway nice to have some extra little helpers Phil

[GWRPhil]

Alway nice to have some extra little helpers Phil

Most definitely. She's really started to take an interest in fit and the hobby recently.

[GWRPhil]

Here's the top in place. I used 18mm ply which was then painted with Dulux emulsion (other brands might be available).

 

 

 

Here's a rough (very rough) drawing of the plan of the fiddle yard. It's design has changed since original inception ages ago in that it's going to be a scenic fiddle yard. The scenic break will be achieved by tunnel portals and a non scenic removable bridge in between the two tunnel portals.

 

[GWRPhil]

Here's a late addition from yesterday. I decided that the design could benefit from some storage shelves.

 

 

Plus when looking at it later I realised if I ever get a green house I could make another one and it would make a lovely planting station and stand

[class"66"]

Good work phil

[GWRPhil]

Got some track yesterday. Gonna lay that out in the corners to check the sizes and clearance and some straight sections. Gotta order the rest from a Liverpool based shop soon. The I can really start. Plus need to get a big bag of ballast to do the yard area.

 

Am yet to think up a name for the yard given its remote from porthcressa. Any suggestions are welcome.

[ThePennyMouse]

what about 'hugh town terminus"

[GWRPhil]

That's more a station name.

[GWRPhil]

Have decided that I'm gonna call the fiddle yard tmd for the layout

 

Sonera Avenue TMD

 

It will feature a small loco repaint facility as part of the TMD name to follow.

[GWRPhil]

Have decided that I'm gonna call the fiddle yard tmd for the layout

Sonera Avenue TMD

It will feature a small loco repaint facility as part of the TMD name to follow.

The loco repaint facility will be Shay and Sons Paint Services.

 

Both these names are inspired by and used with permission of my good friends Dan and mick who have been great inspiration and help in improving my modelling knowledge and skills.

[GWRPhil]

Here's some update pics

 

Firstly a picture of the new yard entrance point work starting to go down on the rough template I've drawn out on the painted plywood top.

 

 

Next placement of the corners to check there positioning.

 

 

Next I decided that the section that was bare to the left of where the tunnel portals were needed to be scenic so I moved the tunnel to the far left of the non scenic section and then decided to widen the newly created area scenically so added the extra board.

 

 

 

Here's the new location of the tunnel portal which will create the scenic break. The middle removable section can be seen on the left in this photo. I have used 75mm hinges underneath so when the left hand edge is released the section can be dropped out the way to allow access.

 

 

When up in place the left hand edge is secured using these grey brackets. When the section is down all but one screw is removed so the brackets can be rotated back out the way.

 

 

Here's a pic of the droppable section in situ. Once the rest of the layout is done it will be the only bit that will not in any way be scenic so there is a definite feeling of separation between porthcressa on sea station area and the Sonera Avenue TMD section.

 

 

Here's another pic of what will become Sonera Avenue TMD

 

 

Here's a final pic of more of Sonera's entrance point work laid. It has been ballasted with white ballast. This is so I can paint and weather it myself to create the exact colour of ballast and weathering that I want.

 

[class"66"]

Looking good Phil

[GWRPhil]

Having been doing more work on the layout tonight but it got to dark before I thought about taking some photos. Will take some more tomorrow and then upload them. Have installed the tunnel portal on the entrance to the Sonera avenue TMD area. Have also installed a former rail tunnel portal that is now a road tunnel portal for the village. The new portals have yet to be painted though I may leave the Sonera one only weathered. The village road tunnel will be painted to match the rail tunnel which in design and colouring was based off of the dawlish town end entrance/exit of kennaway tunnel.

[GWRPhil]

Here's some pictures of the bits I've done.

 

Firstly here are two shots of the improved tunnel entrances from the front. The left tunnel does need to be weathered and painted. I've used 9mm mdf to build up behind the tunnels and as a cap for it so that grass can be added and the off tree.

 

 

This first view from the back shows the mdf and some polyfilla that I've used the full in the gaps and angles in the wood to allow a smoothe surface to be created.

 

 

This second view shows the back of the tunnels and also the new village section including the Manor House that I've now decided to put in place.

 

 

Switching to the Sonera Avenue side of the layout the tunnel entrances look less well completed but the basic idea of where I'm heading can be seen. The first view is from the front of the tunnel entrance.

 

 

Second view is from behind and shows the support pillars (18mm ply)

 

 

Finally I've reused some trees that were originally on the original version of the layout. I decided to frame the back of this part of the layout with some relatively tall trees which in the view below is the beginning of the row. I planted a few more tree after this photo was taken and plan to plant more after vibe met up with my tree guy and friend Steve from the model tree shop.

 

[GWRPhil]

Here's another update photo. I've moved the engine house to the opposite side of the grassed area and then placed a mobile phone tower where the engine house was. This was made by my good friend mick

[GWRPhil]

On Tuesday got a bit Mrs modelling done. Decided to make the area around the Manor House more three dimensional so using a lot of polyfilla I created a sloped garden and bank between the garden and the rail lines

[GWRPhil]

Not much done to porthcressa or Sonera this weekend except I've extended the height of the bank separating the Manor House garden from the railway by the use of more polyfilla. Haven't taken any photos of it as it doesn't really show more than the pics already taken above.