7mm King Street Goods

[Simond]

Hi Barnaby

 

I'm interested by your plans for the backscene - the one on the GWR is a plain sheet of ply painted white fading to blue/grey as it rises (airbrushed emulsion paint!)

 

I'm intending to use 3.6mm ply for the beams to support PD loco, and I have prepared a cutting list that uses the same material for the sky as I can get 16' of sky and 48' of beams (said the metric man..,) out of two sheets. 

 

The sky needs to go round a 1.5m radius curve.  Is this kind of curve going to work? 

 

I'm also planning to radius the end of the baseboard, with a 300mm / 1' rad - but this is a relatively small strip, 110mm high, and I can liberally steam it before bending.

 

Am I setting myself up for disappointment here?

 

thx

Simon

[Barnaby]

Sounds good Simon.

 

I've not done it yet but yes I'm looking at the same sort of curving.  I was going to have a blue/grey sky done with spray cans as shown some where on line but after seeing these photo backscenes on  a layout on here I decided to give that a tester.

Got the Backscene just need to collect the wood , probably do that Sunday as at Kettering on Saturday.

I think I posted the details above somewhere for the backscenes I liked, if not I'll add them here later.

 

I'll show you mine if you show me yours when it's ready. lol.

 

Best

[railwayrod]

Hi Barnaby,

 

On Ramchester I used sheets of hardboard curved round the corners to hide the actual corner. The sheets were 8 feet by 4 feet with about 6 inches cut off them lengthways to reduce the height to about 3 feet 6 inches. These cover the area from the top of the baseboard to the ceiling and were fixed to battens screwed to the wall. At the joints I placed vertical battens to give me something to pin the ends of the sheets to. The joints were disguised with brown parcel tape which had to be wetted before fixing over the hardboard. I used 2 or 3 layers of tape over each joint. The whole lot was then painted with white emulsion paint - the first coat was thinned down somewhat before a second coat was applied when the first coat was dry. Finally 2 or 3 coats of Dulux Summer Blue were applied to give an even finish. This has given me a good base on which to work to make the "sky" look realistic.

 

Two things I should mention. The first is that Ramchester is a permanent layout and I have no idea how this technique would work on a smaller portable system. Secondly before the hardboard was fastened in place it was thoroughly wetted, allowed to drain (not dry) and then fixed into position. Hardboard expands when it it wet and if it is put up in this condition it will shrink as it dries leaving it tight to the wall. Ramchester is the second layout that I have built using hardboard from layout floor to ceiling and has proved to be very successful. The joints are almost invisible and I am quite satisfied with the results.

 

I hope this will be useful to some of your followers.

 

I like the work you are doing on your layout, keep it up.

 

Rod

[Simond]

Barnaby,

 

You're on!

 

Rod

 

Thanks for your thoughts here - can't do that as Mrs D prefers the lounge walls without 32 square feet of permanently attached sky....

 

The intent is that PD loco will eventually form part of a larger layout, so it will not be "portable", more sort of "moveable".

 

The backscene will therefore be attached to some supports screwed to the back of the baseboards, so that it can be removed at some point. I'll certainly think about the technique when the time comes to move it to a permanent home.

 

Best

Simon

[Barnaby]

Today was KETTERING day.

Very good to view some layouts and in particular two of my favourites Primrose Hill and Factory Lane sidings manned by Mike & Alan respectively. I also had a short chat with them then Chris K. on the new release by Minerva Models "the Peckett E", going to be advance ordering one of those beauties for my Crimbo present.  Not yet sure which colour scheme to go with as I can build a case for each colour....................... eerrrrr no Chris I won't be taking one of each colour.

  

I had arranged to meet up with Phil "Brush Type4"  on here to see some of his laser cut work that he is doing.  Blown away it looks fantasic and he let me have some off the floor pieces so I can test/play with them.  I'll be doing a little gluing and painting through the week coming. I'll be placing an early day order for his 2 storey warehouse he is finishing off. 

You can see them in the show photo of the few bits I purchased.

Looking left to right: Phil's laser cut tester pieces, order form for my ABC gears motor bogie to fit my 22, oil pen, track rubber, telegraph poles, Minerva ordering form and missing from shot some styrene girder plastic for a crane/hoist I have in mind.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Barnaby

[Barnaby]

The Lcut arch has 2 NOT too dry coats of brick colour applied.  I think I applied them not "dry brush" enough.  Need a bigger stiffer brush with shorter bristles for the future coats as my first brush touch is too heavy with paint.  Thinking of trying a sponge pad dabber too.........................you no what I mean Fred yabber dabber dooo ok Barney. ;)

 

[alant]

Hi Barnaby,

 

I've not tried painting a laser cut building but use the dry brush method for all of my embossed plastic buildings. You only really need a light amount of paint on the brush, wipe most of it off and gently brush over the brickwork. I usually do about 3 or 4 passes with a slightly different paint mix each time and then finally pick out the odd brick here and there with a "full" colour. A final dry brush pass then tones them down a little and blends all together.

[Barnaby]

Yes I'm beginning to see that Alan I just think there's not enough paint on my dry brush. errrrr no there's way too much.  Much more practice needed.

I'm now repeating you help note above as a mantra for "dry brush painting."

Dry pass 1

Dry pass 2 alter paint colour shade mix

Dry pass 3 alter paint colour shade mix

Dry pass 4 alter paint colour shade mix

Pick out bricks in full colour

Final dry brush to tone down.

 

and maybe some hairspray to fix matt.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Barnaby

[alant]

Thinking about it, this might be one of the major differences between laser cut wood and embossed plastic sheet. I wonder if the paint is soaking into the wood whereby with plastic it only coats the surface and of course can be wiped off if necessary shortly after painting?

[Barnaby]

Also doing some tests with laser buildings using some of the bits & pieces obtained from Phil [brushtype 4] on these forums.

Doing several tests at once first 2 sides are laser cut, remaining 2 sides are plastikard stuck onto a thin play substructure.  Trying out copydex as the adhesive which wile it grips well it does look peelable more so than evostik.  I don't think it will move on its own but if you wanted to you could peel it off without destroying the carcass which may be worth remembering.  it is certainly easier and cleaner than other glues.

So far the build test is going quite well here's a some photos.

I'll also be doing some comparisons with painting the different surfaces.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Barnaby

[Barnaby]

Hello Alan, yes what you describe is happening so the next work I do I'll prime/seal the work first, see my mix of surfaces in the above post.  Certainly I did not have my brush dry enough and when I touched the wood it immediately sucked a lot of the paint off the brush leaving a patch.  All part of the learning curve I recon.

[Barnaby]

Little more progress on the test build.

Ref my use of copydex to adhere the plastkard to the shell -- it does look solid after the gluing process albeit with some effort I think I could un peel it if I needed too.  On the other hand the evostik has a much firmer first grab and would probably destroy the shell in trying to unpeel it.

 

Here's a couple more photos, I'll be adding another laser manufacturers slate roof to see what it's like to use and amend.

These are after prime coat and door opening cut out have been done.

 

[railwayrod]

Hi Barnaby.

 

I really like what you are doing. The building looks great.

 

Rod

[Barnaby]

Thanks Rod, those last couple of photos are from Brush type4 [Phil] from on here, he does laser work see the link below.

 

Took a fancy to LCut's Low Relief warehouse in 0 gauge so ordered one on Sunday night got it first post this morning, great service.

Pics show the big carrier box, what's inside and close up of the warehouse bag nice treat for my Birthday today but we're just off out for a celebratory lunch so further unpacking will have to wait. 

 

Brush Type4 -- http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/89331-my-laser-cutting-workbench-and-my-odyssey-in-model-buildings/page-3

LCut -- http://www.lcut.co.uk/index.php?page=pages/main&title=Home

Edited March 24, 2015 by Barnaby

[Mike]

A very Happy Birthday, enjoy your lunch.

[Barnaby]

Had a double post today some Magic corners and Braces from LCut and an Iain Rice book Compact Layouts.  The book is all USA but some of Iain's ideas and plans are useful stimulants, I'll have a deeper read later.

Thanks for the speedy delivery LCut, I'll be using some corners later today, got some gardening to do just now.

[Barnaby]

Ho hum, once again I find I'm doing anything but getting on with the track laying, not too sure what that is saying about my intent.

With that said here's an update on the Low relief warehouse I'm building  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . for my layout.

 

Some things to note in the photo. the ali angle build assist bars, some small bulldog style clips for clamping, my engineering block [very heavy] used to keep things in place and square, my cutting/build block from a not wanted chopping block split into two, some cling film on the left hand side to stop things sticking to the wood block, etc, etc

Edited March 27, 2015 by Barnaby

[Mike]

Coming on a treat, soon have you building an empire.

[Barnaby]

I new I would catch it SimonD - I've now got a real stinker of a cold, thank God for Beechams Lemon & Honey drinks.

A couple more photos of warehouse office progress.  I added some aligning tabs from offcuts to the bottom inside of the office to aid slip insertion into the basement section. See one of the photos.

[railwayrod]

Things are looking really good. I'm impressed!

 

Rod

[Barnaby]

Been bossing the tree stump grinding and test pushing the new motor mower and other general garden chores.

 

Also been playing paper trains too at dinners and T-breaks.

Sequencer >>> back later garden calls.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Barnaby

[Mike]

I know just how you feel as I too have been on gardening duty. Hope to sneak a few minutes in the play room later.

[Barnaby]

Too many real world things getting in the way of doing some serious modelling.  I need to get my track laid and wired otherwise someone else is going to get the benefit of playing with my trains. 

I've already reduced my planned layout down from 17ft through 15ft to 12 1/2ft and have been thinking of further trying to split it into two A la Primrose hill & Reely Great.  I decided against that as I'd probably just play trains and not bother finishing the 2nd part.

 

Giving it some thought I have decided to enlist a plate laying gang to add all the track work and wire it up to my DCC system as that may gain me back some of my squandered time, at least then I can have a play at the end of doing a scenic stint.

Having a visit next week from the platelayer gang boss to review the site and give me a start date.

 

Looking forward to this.  oh yes indeedy.

[Barnaby]

Well today Sunday 24th May I had an arranged visit from the Plate layer gang boss Peter Smith of Kirtley Models no less.  I had produced my plan across 2 x A4 landscape sheets which after a brew was made we took both the brew and the plan on a short walk down the garden to the SHED .

 

Peter made some suggestions ref what I wanted to do which was just the sort of guidance I was needing, Thanks Peter.

 

We agreed on the next steps and picked a potential DO date of the end of July into August.  I have a few tasks to do before then namely to make up a box to hold the Lenz bits which I intend to place on the horizontal strut between the baseboard legs saddle style.  I also need to pick up some more Peco track and maybe one more point.

I'll also be printing out a short amount of the layout mid section @ full size to locate the layout position on the baseboard.

 

Peter will be securing all the track down and sorting all the wiring and Lenz dcc items, I will be using the Lenz unit to do all the point switching through point servo motors which will also be fitted by Peter.

 

Then it will be onto to me adding the ballast and painting up the track, scenic items of which I have many, completing the buildings, walls, fences etc.but at least I will now be able to "play trains" at the end of a build session . 

 

I can now focus on getting the 16 fence panel installation completed along with some necessary landscaping in the garden and clearing the garage front internals ready for a new up and over door to be fitted.

Busy times ahead.

 

I'm as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve, can't wait, progress at last.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Barnaby

[Mike]

Good, glad that things are moving forwward. Like you I have been busy with a little bit of landscaping plus visits to the tip as I get ready for the new and larger workshop/shed/railway room.