Karhedron Posted April 16, 2011 Author Share Posted April 16, 2011 A bit more progress. I have now fitted all the point motors and plasticard sleaves and tested them so I am ready to start track laying. I have had a brief dry run (minus the goods yard) with a Farish Pannier trundling about fairly happily. I did discover one short circuit that I failed to spot in the design phase. Still, that is the purpose of a dry run. I can easily fit an insulating rail joiner to the offending point before I lay it for real. I have also plonked down most of my scenic work to date to try see how the layout will look as a whole. I think I have a lot of work to do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Do I vaguely recognise that Dairy building Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 Do I vaguely recognise that Dairy building You may have seen something like it somewhere before. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 Another hiatus caused by wiring problems. For the life of me I could not get the single slip wired up properly. I have now tracked the problem down to the Peco PL13 accessory switches not working reliably. I swapped them for a pair of PL15s and had everything working reliably in about 10 minutes. Now at least I can finish fixing the track down and start painting and ballasting it. Lesson for the future. Avoid PL13s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 I spent ages looking for a short only to discover I had forgotten to add an isolating gap in a section of pcb at the board join! Glad to see it's moving on, looks very nice so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 A bit more progress, I have now painted the track. This was done very simply by blowing it over with Railmatch Sleeper Grime. It is a decent colour and the main thing is it eliminates the black plastic look of the sleepers and hides the overscale height of the rails. I wiped the rail heads with a bit of scrap wood after application and again when it was dry. They will probably need a final polish to ensure good conductivity but the improvement in appearance is marked. I also popped slivers of masking tape between the points so that they can still conduct current. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 Once again it has been far too long since my last update. I am now working to try and get the lineside structures complete. Once these are planted I should be able to start ballasting. Currently on the workbench is the loco servicing point from Ratio. Most branchline termini had facilites to coal and water locos, particularly if there was an engine shed there. The Ratio one is a bit grand for such a station but is a lovely kit with lots of detail. Like the rest this has been painted in WR chocoloate and cream. There are still some details to add but it comes together quite nicely. Once it is finished I plan to cover the piles of coal with a sprinkling of the real stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 I have also finished the main platform. Again this is made from Ratio parts. I have yet to find a truly perfect way of modelling platforms. Card is prone to warping if it gets wet, wood needs covering with something to texture it. Plastic kits tend to be expensive and are hard to shape. This is particularly true of the ratio one. In many ways it is very good but it is hard to shape into anything other than dead-straight. A fair amount of sawing and filing was required to get even this modest taper at the end. Whilst I am pleased with the finished result, I am not sure I would use it on a larger project due to cost and effort. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Bear Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Good to see progress, noting from another thread the constraints on your modelling time. Coal stage looks nicely done and as you say a good dose of weathering will help. As for being grand, it makes a change from the typical conical tower - maybe the independant company for your branch had grand ambitions: from what I've read I think many did, it was just whether the money ran out before or sometime after they were completed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 If I remember I used 1mm ply for my platforms on Wencombe. Seems to have worked well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Just caught up with this one and it looks very interesting, keep the pics coming. All the best Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted November 6, 2011 Author Share Posted November 6, 2011 A bit more work to show. I have just finished the cattle dock. This is an addition to the original plan but seemed logical for a layout set in the heart of dairy country. Once again it a Ratio offering and went together very nicely. The fine fencework looked a little daunting at first but actually went together suprisingly well and the result is robust enough to withstand gentle handling so I am not worried about fitting it to the layout after construction. I have not fitted the ramp to the rear of the dock as I plan to have the landscape rising gently at this point. The rear of the dock will be level with the road behind it. This is almost finished, the only missing details are the lamps. I am glad I opted for this kit rather than one of the resin RTP versions. The fencing really does need something fine like etched brass to do it justice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 Try a cotton bud dipped in white spirit (it wont affect the Peco track) to clean the point blades. You will be amazed at how much crud has got in there, even with masking! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Cattle dock looks really good! Just needs a wash over the stone with ink or weathering powders to simulate the ingrained muck. Missy did a nice post on her cattle dock that might also have some tips. Fence posts and gates have nice layer of dirt on them already, I am watching with interest as I need to do cattle pens shortly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted November 9, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 9, 2011 Mind the gap, darn, the cows these days just don't listen. From memory the cattle dock sits a long way from the track when using the parts provided. I think that I removed a little from mine (some years ago now) to loose some of the gap. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 Just needs a wash over the stone with ink or weathering powders to simulate the ingrained muck. Believe it or not, it has had a fairly thick dirt wash applied already. The flash seems to have made the model look brighter and shinier than it actually is. You are right though, anywhere that livestock stands around does not tend to stay clean for long. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 It's amazing what the flash does to colours. I will be very pleased if my cattle docks look as good as yours. Keep the pictures coming! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 I managed to get some more modelling done of the Christmas break and I now have the basic landscape in place. This was made of girders of foamboard to create a skeleton which was then overlayed with a lattice of card strips. The whole lot was then given a skin of torn scraps of newspaper pasted down with dilute PVA. The result is very lightweight and seems reasonably strong. I have given a basecoat of earth which is a mix of cheap white and burnt umber acrylic from The Works. My wife to one look and said it looked like indistrial Krakow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Well done, a few contours make great visual impact. Might look a bit industrial now but a bit of scatter and static grass will make a big difference. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 9, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 9, 2012 You made some good progress over Christmas I'd say. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 I have started sticking down some of the features like signals in preparation for ballasting. One thing that was concerning me was fragile items like signal posts getting knocked over an broken. This is particular a problem since the layout is portable and needs to be put away after use, increasing the risk of knocks. My lovely wife saw my pondering and in a flash of genius suggested mounting them on magnets! This is perfect as it means I can remove anything fragile from the layout (probably even some of the buildings) before it is put away. But because they will still have fixed positions I can bed them into the scenery so they do not look "perched" on top. I used 0.5mm circular magnets from eBay which will be hidden by the ballast one it is down. One of each pair was fixed to the board using impact adhesive and the other to the base of the signal using superglue. The results are great and I am now busy magnetizing the bases of my buildings to follow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 What a cunning plan. Will the signals be moving? Apart from on and off the boards obviously... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 What a cunning plan. Will the signals be moving? Apart from on and off the boards obviously... No, they are static. I was tempted by Dapol's new working signals and I probably will use them in future. But I decided that robustness was my primary concern and opted for the white metal kits from PD Marsh. They look fairly good with a lick of paint although they are rather on the chunky side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I have the PD marsh ones too. The Dapol ones are terribly expensive too, even looking at the quality of them I couldn't afford them! Yours look excellent, how hard were they to make? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Yours look excellent, how hard were they to make? They are pretty straight-forward. The parts are white-metal and fit together well with just a bit of filing to clean up the mold lines. The only part that required a bit of concentration was making sure the parts were all facing the right way and not out by 90-degrees to each other. The ground discs are one piece castsings to really couldn't be much easier. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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