Jules Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 Not sure how I missed this before - but shall watch with interest - looks like it will be fun to operate. Anyway, as I was visiting M-i-M the other weekend, I took a couple of pics of the station before it looses its semaphores, including a couple of the former dairy. So here they are (hope you don't mind me posting them here ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 I noticed at the Peterborough exhibition that there is an N gauge kit of the building I used for my dairy but in half relief. Probably a bit late for you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 22, 2010 Author Share Posted October 22, 2010 I noticed at the Peterborough exhibition that there is an N gauge kit of the building I used for my dairy but in half relief. Probably a bit late for you. It's the thought that counts. I am happy enough with my current effort although if I ever feel the need to change anything I shall know where to go. @Jules: Feel free to post here. I mentioned M-i-M as a source of inspiration so it is only fair to show people its current appearance. It is nice to see that it is still there and not too much changed. So many distinctive buildings get demolished these days to cram in more industrial units or flats. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 57xx Posted October 24, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 24, 2010 Hi Karhedron, have you thought of using XTrackcad or similar to work out the details in your track plan? IMHO it would be a lot easier than trying to line it up by hand as you are doing. It would also allow you to play with things like your runaround loop to get an idea of possiblities. BTW, nothing wrong with doing buildings first! That's exactly what I'm doing, helps to visualise things by placing them on the boards. Nothing to do with also needing to clear out the spare bedroom so I can put the boards up before building proper commences. Luckily I'm a very slow worker so I'm still tweaking my own track plan in Xtrackcad before anything has been laid out . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 24, 2010 Author Share Posted October 24, 2010 Hi Karhedron, have you thought of using XTrackcad or similar to work out the details in your track plan? IMHO it would be a lot easier than trying to line it up by hand as you are doing. It would also allow you to play with things like your runaround loop to get an idea of possiblities. Yes, I have tried playing about with a couple of packages and in all cases I could not get them to work properly. I could not do simple things like join 2 pieces together. Now I am no luddite, I work in IT. But I usually find that if I cannot get some promising result out of a package after an hour of experimenting then I am just not going to get on with it. I have seen people produce excellent plan with some of these tools but when I tried they would not even place the track where I wanted it. Anyway, gripe over. Normal service will be resumed shortly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 57xx Posted October 24, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 24, 2010 It's worth persevering. This took 15mins to get the basic layout. It's using medium code 55 turnouts, including a Y at the entrance to the good yard. I tried to follow your drawing as best I could with point placements, although it would need tweaking for actual platform widths etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 Another bit of progress today, the Backscene has arrived. After searching through the options online, I decided to get a custom backscene made from a panorama of the somerset Mendips. This was done by the kind people from ID Backscenes. They produce a decent range of standard backscenes but given the small size of my layout and the specific location I decided to go custom. I can cheerfully say that I am very impressed with the results and would recommend them to anyone who wants a custom backscene. The work took less than a week and cost less than £10 including delivery (although this is a fairly small backscene). The backscene has been very nicely reproduced from the original image on good quality paper. Check out the pictures below. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scanman Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 Nice work! The dairy at Moreton-in-Marsh appears to have several admirers - me included! (Check out - if you wish - 'A dairy for Ambridge' in the 2010 challenge and ' upton Dene' in the 'layouts' section here). For ease of (rail) access I've mirror-imaged mine - and also carried out some 'mods' to it's appearance.. The backscenes are very good - I'm wondering if 'ID' will make some from an owners original images?? Trgs Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted November 7, 2010 Author Share Posted November 7, 2010 The backscenes are very good - I'm wondering if 'ID' will make some from an owners original images?? Yes, that is exactly what they did for me. I supplied the image and the required dimensions, they did the rest. I am very pleased with the results and would recommend them to anyone looking for a custom backscene. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 I have finally shaken off the post-Christmas blues and got to work on my UFO pile. First up is a conversion of a Dapol b-set coach into a K40 full brake courtesy of TPM etched NS sides and parts. The connection is that milk tankers need a passenger brake vehicle to run with rather than a goods brake van. In this period on the WR, Collet BGs seemed to be the most common choice so the K40 is ideal for trains running to my dairy. I have finished the coach in early BR crimson and a couple of shots are here (the flash makes the crimson look a bit washed out, it is brighter on the model). I was very impressed with this conversion. The parts are very nice with both etchings and castings being satisfyingly crisp. My only complaint is that fitting the opening parts of the windows is quite fiddly in N gauge. Perhaps doing these as one piece with half-etching would be easier. For £10 you get everything you need, etched sides, cast corridor connectors and new roof vents. This means all you need to finish is paint and transfers making this a good introduction to coach conversions. This was my first coach kit and was a learning experience. I am reasonably happy with the finished coach but I made a few mistakes. I painted the sides separately in the hope that this would save having to repaint the whole vehicle. In practice I had to do the roof anyway after fitting the new vents and I think that finishing the assembly before starting to paint would have been easier. I would not have had to worry about getting glue on the finished sides in particular. The sides were glued on with super glue. I think that impact adhesive would have been better as this gives more time to get the part lined up. I was also a bit heavy with the paint meaning that some of the finer etched detail like the door lines is now hard to make out. I also used modelmaster transfers for the first time. I have to say I was slightly disappointed compared to Fox and I think I would prefer to stick to Fox in future. The carrier is noticably thicker on the Modelmaster transfers. The Fox ones are virtually invisible after a couple of coats of Klear but these ones are still noticable up close. I am not entirely sure if replacing the roof vents is worth it. I had trouble finding a bit small anough to drill them out. Although the vents can be replaced, the roof is still not 100% correct for a K40 since the panel lines are in the wrong position. In future I might leave them out on the basis that it is a fiddly job for something that is still not right even if done well. If you leave the roof vents as they are at least you really can get away without having to paint the roof. The windows are done with Micro kristal clear to get a good floush-glazed effect. In one or 2 places this splodged slightly onto the surrounding bodywork and proved suprisingly hard to remove without spoiling the window itself. I still like the stuff but I suspect I may need to be more careful with the application in future. I think I also need to do something about the interior as the which seat-backs are rather prominent through some of the windows. I could cut them out with a razor saw but I suspect giving the interior a coat of black would be sufficient to hide them. Still, overall I am pleased with the finished coach. It is not quite up to the standards of the Stove-R but it will certainly look the part trundling along behind a WR milk train. I will be making more of these as the kit is very nice and quite easy to put together. I fancy a Maroon version next. Regards, Matt Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MrSimon Posted January 23, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 23, 2011 Hi, Nice work on the coach - and well done for getting cracking with the UFO pile Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium carlwooduk Posted January 23, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 23, 2011 Matt, The Brake looks very good indeed. I'd be very tempted to line up your D600 hauling the 6 wheel milk tanks with the new brake at the rear , a very nice train. Your finished model has inspired me to have a go with one. Is the B set the best donor coach or will the Dapol Collett be equally good? I had a quick look at TPM website and could not spot the etch. Can you P M the link? Carl Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 23, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 23, 2011 Looks like you have made a nice job of that. As a suggestion, if you added a couple of V hangers to the underframe, and a dynamo you could make it look even better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 The Brake looks very good indeed. I'd be very tempted to line up your D600 hauling the 6 wheel milk tanks with the new brake at the rear , a very nice train. Thanks, that is pretty much what I had in mind. Your finished model has inspired me to have a go with one. Is the B set the best donor coach or will the Dapol Collett be equally good? I had a quick look at TPM website and could not spot the etch. Can you P M the link? Yes, the kit is designed for the B-set coach which is the right bodyshell for 1930 bow-ended stock. The Dapol collets are the later sunshine stock and are a bit longer, I think the corresponding full brake for them would be something like a K42. Here is a link to the TPM website (I will PM you too). The new restaurant stock looks very nice too. http://www.tpmodels.co.uk/2500_series_gwr_1930.htm Looks like you have made a nice job of that. As a suggestion, if you added a couple of V hangers to the underframe, and a dynamo you could make it look even better. Interesting suggestion. Do you know anyone who supplies them? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 25, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2011 Ultima do the dynamo's but I can't point you in the direction of v hangers, these however are reasonably easy to scratch build with plastic. (I tend to use spare etched ones that I have to hand). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 25, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2011 The new restaurant stock looks very nice too. http://www.tpmodels....es_gwr_1930.htm That has been shown for a very long time now, it would be nice to see it turn up as restaurant stock is somewhat limited for pre war GWR and extremely limited for post war WR in N. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted January 25, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 25, 2011 Glad I saw this before making a fool of myself, I was considering calling my new O gauge layout Chewton Magna - I work at Chewton Street you see. Oh well, back to the drawing board Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 The full brake looks good. Looks like you'll be running a milk train similar to mine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 A bit more progress, I have now finished the engine shed. It is just the Peco one but it looks a lot better for a lick of paint. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 29, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 29, 2011 Nice to see something different to the ratio ones. The weathering that you have already done looks rather nice, I have a couple of suggestions to take it further. I think you should dirty up the concrete base a little more and do something to take the gloss off the inside walls. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 I have a couple of suggestions to take it further. I think you should dirty up the concrete base a little more and do something to take the gloss off the inside walls. Yes, the base is not really finished. I plan to wait until it is down on the layout and then weather it in-situ so it blends in with its surroundings. The interior probably could do with with something too. It is actually matt rather than gloss but has not been weathered like the outside so it stands out. I believe sheds were usually painted white inside to make the most of the meagre light. Anyone care to comment on this observation? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 After another bit of a hiatus I have finally got started with the track laying. I am using Peco point motors, mainly because I had some left over from a previous project so my first job has been to prepare the baseboard for them. From past experience I have learned that getting them aligned and then getting them to reliably throw a point through 12mm of sundeala is nigh-on impossible. The only way to get a positive action out of them is to mount them directly on the points. Unfortunately this means drilling great big 2" holes in the baseboard with a hole saw to mount the point motors. Once these are fitted to the points, I fit collars made from 20 thou plasticard to cover the holes. A step-by-step pictorial is shown below. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-CRS Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Looking good, I'll need to check out the brake coach. I could do with the later one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Coming along nicely. I will use ID back scenes having seen the pics of yours! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 Looking good, I'll need to check out the brake coach. I could do with the later one. The conversion kit goes together quite nicely, the longest job is modifying the donor coach by opening out the window aperatures. I also have one in lined Maroon that I have just done complete with some custom transfers for the parcel and route branding. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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