A 'Quickie' out of doors - now Palin's Yard

[Simond]

And not forget to uncouple the wagon from its neighbours...

 

Looks great, nicely done!

Best

Simon

[peter220950]

The layout fascias are almost completed now, marking completion of all of the display stuff, firstly an additional run of LED was fitted to the rear of the fascias, mounted at 45 degrees, and a piece of mirror finish Fablon was stuck into the rear to bounce light around.

 

 

a pair of lighting sockets were fitted into the aluminium uprights

 

 

Next the front of the fascias was glossed, ready to take the vinyl lettering that's awaiting fixing, once the paint is fully dry.

 

 

 

As if I need another loco for the layout I received some bits I bought on Ebay for the basis of another freelance 0-4-0, though quite why I'm going to need 12 loco's for the layout is a mystery.

 

 

 

Today I finally got around to starting on the landscaping work, having had a play with Giles's set stamper a couple of days ago,

 

 

Once the end board was put up I took the opportunity to test the lighting, one post was fitted, with two light bars, and the results, when connected to the new 10A supply, were good, with an even spread and few shadows. The light looked a little cold, but when one of the 10W warm spots was held over the layout it became far more balanced, so I'm happy that there's more than enough light for exhibition purposes.

 

 

At last, onto the external works, the footpath has had a bit of grime added,

 

 

 

and the DAS clay has been laid from the side gate to the stores, ready to have some cobbles scribed into it.

 

 

 

Hopefully now I've finally plucked up the courage to start on the ground I can get onto the paved loading bay area tomorrow, and see how I get on with the set stamper, the beauty of this method is that I'm working with wet clay, so any errors can be corrected at the time.

 

Onto my list of bits required from Bristol at the weekend.

 

Peter

[cornamuse]

This is an abso-blooming-lutely fantastic model - I love all the little details that you are working on and adding in - and that you show so clearly how you have done them. I am already planning how to get a working stationary engine into the next stage of my model - especially with working governor!

 

thank you for posting all this

 

Andy

[peter220950]

Many thanks for the kind words Andy, much appreciated, of course all of these little details are slightly off my original intentions for the layout, but it's become a bit of a monster!

 

As for the postings it's really all a bit selfish, if there's  felt to be pressure to show progress on RMweb then I'm less likely to go off on another side diversion, I had to stop and put the Beattie Class 17 away yesterday, as it somehow found its way onto the workbench again.

 

Just a quick post today, as it marks completion of the display side of the layout.

 

As a brief foray into history, I moved to 0 gauge in the seventies, and for many years met weekly with my mate who was in sign-making and display, (and was responsible for my Cadbury interest as he used to work there). As a result whenever there was a rush job from the BBC at Pebble Mill, wanting foam letters cut for Pot Black, or polystyrene boulders made for Poldark, I got roped in to help instead of modelling.

 

As a result I picked up the odd bit of information, which sometimes comes in useful, and which may be of interest to anyone contemplating a similar route as me to layout signage.

 

Vinyl letters for the layout were ordered a couple of weeks ago, and come ready cut out, at correct spacing and with the surrounding surplus material picked out. A strip of translucent tape, like big masking tape, is then stuck onto the letters and backing, as delivered to me and shown in an earlier post. It’s a great way to get the lettering done, being cheap and accurate, I would not have been able to hand sign--write the layout fascia for the tenner it cost for the lettering, and it would have looked a mess.

 

The first job is to carefully peel the letters and cover film from the backing sheet, at this point it’s all a bit sticky, so care has to be taken to keep the sticky side up and out of harms way.

 

 

Trying to just place this onto the fascia is likely to result in disaster, as it tends to grip straight away, and if it’s out of line it’s almost impossible to take them off again. So the first requirement is a bowl of hot soapy water (Fairy Liquid),

 

 

and a scraper, in this instance I used a tile grouting rubber, but any hard flat plastic type of blade, like a car ice scraper, will do.

 

 

A handful of the suds is scooped from the top of the bowl, and is spread all over the painted base. It doesn’t need much, but allows the letters and carrier film to be lifted and re-fixed if needed.

 

 

Once correctly aligned the scraper is used to smooth the letters out, removing any air bubbles.

 

 

Then the carrier film is peeled back leaving the letters with the correct spacing.

 

 

A quick rub with a damp cloth removes the traces of washing up liquid and the board is ready for use.

 

 

That's all for now, hope to find the odd bargain at Bristol tomorrow, if anyone sees a fat bearded old man, dressed like a plum, and coughing and spluttering, either come and say hello and catch a cold, or stay away!

 

Peter

[Derbys65]

Nice sign , I make these too. , loving the layout always follow with interest.

[south_tyne]

Hi Peter,

 

Apologies if this seems like it is a rather generic 'me like" post but I have spend an really enjoyable hour reading through your thread having not come across it before. It is inspirational stuff and there is some truly superb modelling on show. The level of skill on show, methods used and the insight you give are really first class, it gives people like me something to work towards and aspire to. You manage to explain some complicated, in--depth techniques and solutions in such a clear way, something which is very much to your credit. 

 

I particularly like the 'keeping the cost down' aspect of this project too and find it encouraging. I have very recently traded in my 4mm scale collection of stock with the intention of up-scaling to 0 Gauge and therefore I am scouring this element of the forum to look for inspiration - I don't have a very big budget available, or very much space, hence why I find your project so interesting. I have decided to sit back for a few months and not to make any rash decisions, before taking the plunge into the 0 Gauge world! 

 

Thanks for sharing your work, keep the updates coming and I look forward to following progress from now on!

 

David

 

PS love the Ruston 48ds by the way... As you can probably see from my profile pic they are my favourite loco and I do aim to own a 7mm example one day!!

[peter220950]

David,

 

Many thanks for your kind words, and sorry for taking up valuable modelling time reading my drivel!

 

Having started out in 'O' the 70's there was little alternative than to make it yourself, which tended to keep costs down. It was only really wheels that cost much, track was handbuilt and a lot of rolling stock and loco's were scratchbuilt, that ethos has largely stayed with me, and kept me on the budget side of the scale. The fact that the layout can been built for under £200 loco's can be had for under £50 serves to disprove the 'rich man's hobby' often attributed to 7mm. Another three Dapol wagons, bought in their sale for under £25 each, arrived today, there may be errors, but I'm happy just to enjoy playing trains, without getting to intense about it.

 

Not a lot done on the layout recently as I've been away from home, but the development of the landscaping should soon be back on track, with updates to follow. The tippler has taken up a couple of days, to get it wired up into a self-contained unit, but it illustrated how easy it is to get diverted into side issues that take your eye of the ball. - I'm spending three or four days advertising our Club Exhibition next week, in an empty shop unit in the Priors Shopping Centre in Leamington, so I should get a chance to get some modelling done to help publicise the Club.

 

I recently decided that modelling is really just a journey that I'm on, and like many journeys the travelling is more important than arriving at a destination, so I've abandoned any fixed timescales for finishing anything, and am just enjoing what I like best,-  making things.

 

So best of luck with your move up to 'O', keep us all posted with what you do, if you keep an eye on E-bay, or second-hand sales at O gauge and ALSRM meets, you can get started a modest cost, and I'm sure you will get plenty of enjoyment from it.

 

Peter

 

PS the 48ds is great, but with drive to only one axle it's only capable of moving one wagon at the moment, so I have to take it to bits to put some Delrin onto the second axle and find room for a chip before it can earn its keep.

[south_tyne]

David,

 

Many thanks for your kind words, and sorry for taking up valuable modelling time reading my drivel!

 

Having started out in 'O' the 70's there was little alternative than to make it yourself, which tended to keep costs down. It was only really wheels that cost much, track was handbuilt and a lot of rolling stock and loco's were scratchbuilt, that ethos has largely stayed with me, and kept me on the budget side of the scale. The fact that the layout can been built for under £200 loco's can be had for under £50 serves to disprove the 'rich man's hobby' often attributed to 7mm. Another three Dapol wagons, bought in their sale for under £25 each, arrived today, there may be errors, but I'm happy just to enjoy playing trains, without getting to intense about it.

 

Not a lot done on the layout recently as I've been away from home, but the development of the landscaping should soon be back on track, with updates to follow. The tippler has taken up a couple of days, to get it wired up into a self-contained unit, but it illustrated how easy it is to get diverted into side issues that take your eye of the ball. - I'm spending three or four days advertising our Club Exhibition next week, in an empty shop unit in the Priors Shopping Centre in Leamington, so I should get a chance to get some modelling done to help publicise the Club.

 

I recently decided that modelling is really just a journey that I'm on, and like many journeys the travelling is more important than arriving at a destination, so I've abandoned any fixed timescales for finishing anything, and am just enjoing what I like best,-  making things.

 

So best of luck with your move up to 'O', keep us all posted with what you do, if you keep an eye on E-bay, or second-hand sales at O gauge and ALSRM meets, you can get started a modest cost, and I'm sure you will get plenty of enjoyment from it.

 

Peter

 

PS the 48ds is great, but with drive to only one axle it's only capable of moving one wagon at the moment, so I have to take it to bits to put some Delrin onto the second axle and find room for a chip before it can earn its keep.

 

Hi Peter,

 

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Obviously, one man's drivel......!!

 

I appreciate the advice and links to potential sources. Starting with a clean slate feels good, although I suppose the first purchase will mean being brave in order to take the plunge and commit! Anyway that is why I am going to sit back for a little while and soak up as much information as possible, do plenty of reading and research, before deciding what direction to take. 

 

Thank you for the encouragement and I will keep on following with great interest!

 

David

[peter220950]

Another couple of weeks with little progress, but this time with a justifiable reason (more of which later), but the opportunity was taken to get the tippler from a working prototype to a functioning unit to be installed into the layout.

 

Firstly the problem of using a single power supply was resolved by using two ‘buck converters’  which provide adjustable voltages to both up and down actions, and which can be tweaked to cope with differing input voltages, should a change of transformer be required. A couple of days intermittent use, and the substitution of a piece of bent tube for the nut used to guide the control wire, have seen the unit become more settled and reliable. The upper micro switch was also moved a position within the unit, and lower down, to give a better tip of the wagons.

 

 

 

Next step was to rewire the unit to move the wiring and buck converters into the unit. A track power socket was fitted, and the six control wires for the unit were fitted into a suitable plug. A counterpart socket was wired into the layout, and rather than fiddle with threading the wires through the cardboard matrix to the rear of the layout I routed them up the gantry that hides the turntable, looking just like factory power cabling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chequer plate flooring to the tippler deck was glued down, and the car wheel balance weights attached to the underside of the deck were boxed in with plastic card.

 

 

Work then began on cladding the coal hopper. Given a clean sheet of paper I would have made the unit slightly bigger, but it is what it is, there is a problem with spillage of coal, which was mitigated with some cut down wagon side extenders from a Skytrex wagon. The initial efforts to line the hopper with corrugated plastic card were later superseded by the use of cut up Sweetex containers.

 

 

Next came the job I was not looking forward to, cutting out the bottom of the unit to collect the tipped coal. The use of PCB seemed a good idea at the time, but it rapidly blunts any tools used on it. In the end I sacrificed a couple of drills and stitch drilled a hole out, trials with coal revealed a propensity to gather bits under the counterweights, which jammed up the works, so a couple of further slots were added. After a lot of cussing and swearing the openings were all completed, but the whole experience of wiring and cutting has taken longer than the construction of the unit. So the lesson learned is to plan better, it’s far easier to get everything planned and cut out at the design stage than trying to hack about a finished unit, I almost wrecked the unit cutting the various openings. Next step will be to cut a hole in the bottom of the baseboard and devise a suitable collection method for the tipped coal.

 

 

A plug in test control was fabricated with a further saccharin container which allows the unit to be tested out of the layout, and makes sure it runs sweetly.

 

 

Finally, during a few spare hours at our Club demonstrations in Leamington this week,

I managed to get a base coat of battleship grey and some Metalcote on the unit ready for installation, it just now needs weathering, and a bit of loose coal lying around.

 

 

 

 

 

Such is my confidence on the workings of the unit I spent a couple of hours on Thursday night making a replica of the unit to slot into place while repairs are carried out. This module will have a dummy weighbridge on it, to replace the tippler in case of catastrophic failure or the need to carry out running repairs.

 

 

Two strips of copperclad have been attached to the top surface, and rails soldered on, ready for scenic works to commence.

 

 

And the reason for the lack of progress? The Leamington Club, of which I am a member, manage to cadge an empty shop unit in the Priors Shopping Centre in Leamington every year, during half term week, to publicise the Annual Exhibition,         

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/95733-the-leamington-warwick-mrs-41st-annual-exhibition-5th-6th-march-2016/

 

and I have been operating one of the layouts for four of the seven days we have been there. An account of the performance of the various RTR locos used is attached here.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/108509-o-gauge-rtr-observations-on-ixion-Dapol-and-minerva-locos/

 

 It’s an interesting observation on the current state of play with the 'small' 7mm RTR loco's

 

Peter

 

[peter220950]

Only two items of note to report, the kitchen has finally been handed over, after a weeks solid work and no modelling, I’m thinking of applying for a Government Post as a Project Manager, having gone significantly over time and budget.

 

 

 

 

The way is now clear to get some meaningful progress on the layout, though the first work was to getting loco’s ready for use.

 

The lost wax Peckett dome, that I bought at Bristol, was cut from the sprue, polished and assembled.

 

 

And very nice it looks too, (thanks to NG Trains)

 

 

I also bought plates to name it after my wife, (who bought it as a Christmas present), but I’m waiting for the builders plates ordered from Narrow Planet. These will give it the number 2012 and a build date of 1951, so not much of a guess to work out her birthday then. (I’ve also ordered 2 sets of plates with Gordon and Maggie on, for the pair of Fowlers and the Mill engines, which will be my homage to the Gravetts).

 

A set of ‘super caps’ were next put together for the keep alive on the ABS Fowler, all I need to do now is find a space to squeeze them in.

 

 

The only layout related thing done recently was the painting of the test section of setts, which has turned out better than I had hoped for, so this will be the first thing to be tackled next week

 

 

 

This weekend sees the Leamington and Warwick Club Exhibition,

 

http://lwmrs.co.uk/CMS/index.php/2016-exhibition-intro

 

If any of you are visiting there’s a dedicated RMweb Members lounge to meet up and rest your feet. I shall be there all day Saturday so if you happen to see a fat grumpy old Steward wandering around with a badge saying Peter Lloyd, come and say hello, I will also be dropping into the lounge to see if anyone’s about.

 

Palin’s yard will actually be making its first Exhibition appearance, (in part anyway). The left hand half of the layout should be on the Club Stand, as a demonstration piece showing the use of low cost LED’s in a model railway setting.

 

 

there’s going to be some strange traffic in the Yard.

 

 

 

It will be useful to see how it travels and behaves under Exhibition conditions, I’ve already realised that in setting the fascia back about 6” I have caused a problem with lighting the building hiding the turntable, so a couple of new threaded inserts are in order  to pull it out to the front of the layout.

 

 

 

It serves me right for thinking I could use the ones that locate the end pieces, but better to discover it at this stage than when it’s all finished. It does mean that it's more difficult to keep the fascia support rigid, but I have settled on using a 5mm Perspex layout protection strip to keep it restrained.

 

 

I also had a moment of panic when I  put the tippler in place as well as the boiler house, things get a bit tight, but there is room for the wagon – just!

 

 

So after a frantic last push today it's all loaded into the car ready to deliver tomorrow.

 

 

 

Hopefully I might catch up with some of you on Saturday.

 

Peter

[Mike]

Hope to catch up with you on Saturday as I won't be going to Kettering. Didn't fancy the 3hour bus, 3trains and walk both ways.

[L&Y]

Please bring it to the third world.... Up north.  All the best for the weekend. Sure it will go down a storm.

[peter220950]

It's not fit to exhibit in its own right yet, it's just being used as a basis for demonstrating the uses for LED's in this instance, but I'm sure it won't be too long now. It's looking quite smart, albeit a bit truncated, but it travelled o.k. and I've already found a couple of things that will need to be addressed, like putting in wiring clips to keep things tidy.

 

Peter

[peter220950]

It’s been a funny old month since I last posted, though there has been a lot going on. After the Club Exhibition at the beginning of March I had a couple of days ‘reverting to type’ and going off in all directions.

 

The start was the purchase of a kit, from our second hand stall, that I didn’t want, wasn’t anywhere near my time frame, was far to big for any of my layouts,  and had already been started, not entirely brilliantly.

 

 

In this case my heart ruled my head, it was a kit originally purchased by a fellow Club Member who sadly passed away last year, I felt some connection with it and had my arm twisted into buying it by no less than Phil Parkers mum!

 

A parting shot from the Parker family was “Hope to see it running on the Open Day”, this was the Saturday two weeks later, and I had three days of work down in Weston to fit into that fortnight.

 

Always up for a stupid challenge I managed to solder, bend and fettle the body into some sort of shape, after re-dressing all the riveting. 

 

 

 

It was then given a coat of paint, but with no glazing or transfers I actually managed to run it on the layout on the due date.

 

 

 

 

It’s totally wrong for the layout, and me, but will run as a tribute to our former colleague on running nights.

 

This fortnight’s diversion started the rot, and I then forgot about the layout and got into a number of other ‘off-piste’ items. A quick re-spray of a GWR 14xx turned nasty, so resulted in a full paint strip and spray to get it into BR black.

 

 

 

The ABS Fowler had some interior detailing, and I fitted the sound chip,

 

 

I got a bit further with the dummy Class 20, and even managed to spend an hour or two messing with the bogie masters for Lion.

 

 

Closer to items relevant to the layout the first batch of plates arrived from Narrow Planet, and very nice they are too, the ‘Works’ loco’s all have number and name plates, the Fowlers now pay homage to the Gravetts, a further pair of nameplates exist to similarly name the stationary Mill Engines.

 

 

 

The rationalisation and finishing off projects has highlighted a problem with all this loco building, I currently need 10 sound chips just to deal with finished loco’s, never mind some in build, so a bit of belt tightening is required, not helped by blowing up a sound chip for the Peckett, thanks to my own stupidity.

 

I think that all of this drifting around like in the old days has been part of one of those losing Mojo moments, not for modelling, but for the layout. When I was off doing building works for my daughter I had a bit of a wobble about my layouts, (made even worse by an idea I had for yet another that would be ‘different’).

 

 A bit of reflection has made me realise that I started ‘Cadbury’ far too late in life, and if it’s ever going to get finished as an exhibition layout I will probably be too old to hire a van to move it about, so the plan is to do it for my own amusement, but it’s not likely to escape from the home. The ‘Quickie’ will progress and when finished I may start my other ‘new idea’ layout to run parallel with Cadbury. It’s another small layout and will fit in the car and should be one man operated. So having settled all this in my mind it was time to stop thinking and get back to work.

 

Scenery is the main item remaining, and I have been putting it off for too long, the stupid part is that there’s not a lot to do. First up was the concealing of the motor for the tippler, it projects slightly above the board level, and the drive shaft sticks up even further. I debated grinding the shaft down, but being lazy chose instead to hide it all with a small raised platform and control panel.

 

Into the junk box and pulled out some bits of resin cast wall, left over from the Club viaduct. Three sides were cut out, glued and sanded to shape, and some steps and a retaining wall were fashioned from leftover scraps.

 

 

 

With a plastic card deck the motor was covered, with the shaft sticking through. Bits from old fret etch and loco bits were then soldered up into a control tower, and were mounted on a Slaters packaging box, along with a guard rail and a drainage grating.

 

 

 

 

The oil tank and coal bunker were then stuck down in order to finish the ground up to them, leaving only the sub-station to be fixed, after the cobbled area has been completed.

 

 

This left the way clear to start Terraforming, using pieces of Styrofoam to get a rough shape, and Gyproc joint filler and a bit of colour, to put the final shape down.

 

 

The unloading area for road traffic was next on the agenda, and not one I was looking forward to, as it was to be cobbled. I certainly wasn’t up to scribing the cobbles, so after a layer of DAS was put down and smoothed out I put Giles’s etched stamper to use.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not by any means perfect, and certainly not up to his standards, but I’m reasonably happy with it, it is a test piece after all. Any really dodgy bits will be tidied up once dry, and if there’s a real problem anywhere there’s always the option to stick a Scammell over it. I had originally intended it to be level, but it’s turned out a bit wobbly, doubtless the result of years of traffic!

 

The finished ground was then painted dark brown and covered with a bit of scatter to provide the base for the final grass and ground cover.

 

 

The tippler has had the wiring sorted out, so there is now a track feed to the deck and the control switch has been wired up, rather than have the tippler removed every time the layout is moved I have decided to leave it in place and just clamp the deck down in transit. It is still removable, but only if maintenance is needed.

 

Finally today I put some of the proposed ballast material down loose, to see how it looked, I know such sidings were usually dirty ash and pretty rough, but I do like nicely laid ballast, so Mattam’s have obviously invested in quality Permanent Way maintenance. I’m happy with the colour so once the surrounding landscaping and crossing roadway are completed I will get it permanently fixed, for now it was out with the vacuum and back into the ballast pot.

 

 

A bit more of the set stamping was completed to the road crossing, but it’s very messy with all the point-work, so it’s going to take a couple more days to complete it. The beauty of the DAS is that it’s still a bit flexible the next day, so I was able to flatten out some of the worst bumps in the yard area.

 

 

 

 

A bit more of the plaster and base ground cover has also been completed, it’s all starting to come together a bit now.

 

 

 

Next will be to test out the Grassmaster I bought at the Exhibition.

 

Peter

[Father Dougal]

Wow, you have been busy!

I particularly like your cobbled stone work. Can you post more details about the etched stamper please.

 

Out of interest, what sound chip and speaker are you using for the Fowler? I am tempted to buy one for 'Four Candles', but the small size of the loco and fitting the decoder puts me off a bit.

D.

[peter220950]

Hi Father,

 

The set stamper was an etch produced by Giles and used to much better effect on Denton Brook

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/96274-denton-brook-7mm-industrial/page-3&do=findComment&comment=1867985

 

It's a bit of a fiddle to assemble, but works well if you don't want the hasle and mess of scribing after the DAS has gone hard.

 

PM Giles to see if he has any etches left, failing which PM me with an address and I will send you mine to play with once my remaining bits are finished. It shouldn't be more than a day or two now, and I won't be using it again for some time.

 

With regards to the Fowlers, the green one was Ixion, and bought pre-sound chipped, the red ABS one has much more room inside and between the frames for a Zimo chip, super cap keep alive pack, and a sugar cube speaker.

 

 

Because there's no chassis block there's room under the bonnet for the motor, super caps and chip, while the sugar cube fits between the frames.

 

Having just struggled for three days with the Ixion's 'half sister/brother' Minerva Peckett, trying to get the bits to fit inside, and wrecking a chip in the process, I think I would advise getting an Ixion Fowler chipped by the professionals ( if it's anything like as tight as the Peckett, and I think it is, - I haven't even dared take the body off the green one.

 

EDM do the sound chip, but appear to have temporarily supended the fitting service, so it may be worth a call to see what the position is. It's well worth having the sound, but I wouldn't like to fit it to the Ixion loco without seeing how someone else did it, as I think there may be a bit of machining involved. Perhaps someone on here will be able to clarify/illustrate?

 

Peter

[Mike Bellamy]

 

 

EDM do the sound chip, but appear to have temporarily supended the fitting service, so it may be worth a call to see what the position is. It's well worth having the sound, but I wouldn't like to fit it to the Ixion loco without seeing how someone else did it, as I think there may be a bit of machining involved. Perhaps someone on here will be able to clarify/illustrate?

 

 

 

 

There is an illustrated 'Shows you How' on the EDM site here

 

http://www.ngtrains.com/Pages/Ixion/Fowler/fowler2.html

 

I think Paul may have temporarily withdrawn the Ixion fitting service because he had at least 75 Minerva Pecketts to do and we were still taking orders for more at Kettering. Things may be a little quieter now and so it's worth an email to enquire.

 

.

[peter220950]

BACK IN THE ROOM

 

 

Here we are again, after two months of relative silence, what’s been going on? – Well with the layout relatively nothing, - in mid April I was just mixing the last batch of plaster for ground sculpture on the layout when my wife rang to say my niece had passed away after only a few weeks in hospital. 27 years old is far too young, and puts a lot of things into perspective.

 

At that point everything modelling stopped and we had a difficult time while running around to help with arrangements, a week later her mother took her own life, causing even more chaos. With a house full of relatives and a lot of chasing all the paperwork around there wasn’t time, room or inclination to work on the layout.

 

The state of the workroom/guest bedroom, was however cause for some thought, and as the days went by I started to plan a bit of a refurbishment. A separate thread was started to get some ideas,

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/110325-re-building-the-workroom-back-in-the-room/

 

and a scheme evolved that created a more workable environment, a couple of months down the line it’s gone from this

 

 

 

to this.

 

 

 

 

While nowhere finished yet it does give me the space to move around, and as long as I can find everything I can start to get back into things. So it hasn’t been a case of lost Mojo, more a diversion of effort into a different but necessary project.

 

I shall also take the opportunity to start a new ‘Workbench’ thread to cover the various oddities that take my fancy, once I get a bit of progress on the layout. I can now get back to the main event and try to get Palin’s Yard finished.  

 

As my 1,000^th post I suppose it’s a bit of a milestone for me, it’s also 2 years since this ‘Quickie Layout’ thread stared, and I’m still nowhere near finished, so it’s now time for a bit of a push to get the back of it broken, there’s a weeks holiday in July looming, but other than that it’s time to try out the new facilities, and what’s more I think I know where everything is.

 

First up is a huge improvement on the support for the centre of the layout, when I was working on it. A couple of bits of aluminium channel used to wedge into the back of the board at the back of the bed, and often got kicked, dropping the layout in the middle.

 

 

I have now modified the existing bookcase Spur shelving uprights and purchased a couple of 2ft brackets that now carry the middle of the layout without any support leg to get in the way.

 

 

 

Today the first meaningful progress in 6 weeks saw me scratching my head for a couple of hours to remember how the tippler was wired, I had six wires from the front of the layout, labelled, but I had forgotten how it was intended to work, a bit of time with a meter and a PP9 saw the switch wired up, so it’s just down to fixing the switch and connecting it to the 12v bus. I have stuck a further voltage regulator into the mix to allow for adjustments ‘on the fly’ if it gets too fast or slow, as the individual up and down regulators are not easily accessible when it’s erected.

 

 

With that task completed I was going to finish the last bit of ground smoothing out with plaster, that was interrupted some weeks ago, but then realised the ground levels around the water tower and engine house had not been properly established, so it was out with the glue gun to put some foam board around the buildings to work the plaster into.

 

 

Not a lot of progress but at least I’m back working on the layout.

 

True to form within a few hours the workroom was back to its usual messy self,

 

 

but the difference now is that within about 10 minutes it’s all put away!

 

 

Peter

[Simond]

Peter,

 

My condolences, it must have been a very stressful time.

 

You do seem to have got your mojo working - maybe modelling is therapeutic, it's certainly absorbing. The workroom is looking good, and I'm looking forward to your continued progress

 

Best

Simon

[peter220950]

A bit more progress this week, though it has been a bit two steps forward and one step back.

 

First job was to sort out the tippler control, the switch was inserted into an empty artificial sweetener container, and along with the voltage controller it was attached to the top of the plant room.

 

 

The remaining ground sculpting was then finally completed,

 

 

 

and at long last the ballasting was carried out. Having done this several times I thought it was going to be straightforward, the loose ballast was placed and brushed into place, then sprayed with a water/detergent mix, followed by a 50/50 water and latex mix.

 

 

 

So having spent two or three days carefully levelling the ballast it was glued, only to start erupting between the sleepers.

 

 

The one thing not used before was card under the track, and it had swollen with the moisture, after a day of concern it has started to dry out and subside, but it did cause a bit of a panic.

 

The other mistake was to use a syringe with too small a nozzle,

 

 

which then blocked with dried latex, a firm push of the plunger saw a fine jet of latex squirting all over the newly completed workroom, which took a further hour to clean up.

 

Despite being careful I also managed to glue the point blades and in the process of sorting it out I broke a tie bar, taking a further hour or so to sort.

 

The ground around the oil tank has been given a base coat of paint, ready for final finishing,

 

 

and the cobbled area has been base coated and given a bit of weathering.

 

 

Finally the road surface has been painted and the drain and manhole covers fitted.

 

 

 

 

Next job is to try out the static grass applicator, a first play wasn't too successful, so it's off to read messrs Gravett and Favel to pick up a few tips.

 

Peter

[Quatford]

Really coming together now Peter, looking forward to seeing more progress.

[Ruston]

How can I have not seen this before? (the original title probably put me off - I thought it was a garden railway). I've just read the whole lot through and I think it's great. Industry, industrial locos, large brick buildings... And your work with the stationary engines is brilliant! I'll be watching this from now on.

[peter220950]

How can I have not seen this before? (the original title probably put me off - I thought it was a garden railway). I've just read the whole lot through and I think it's great. Industry, industrial locos, large brick buildings... And your work with the stationary engines is brilliant! I'll be watching this from now on.

 

Thanks for that Dave,

 

I shall be unashamedly copying your transformer treatment when I get into that bit of the layout, I had the transformer and enclosure but needed some inspiration of how to connect it into the works, you showed the way!

 

Peter

[peter220950]

Well, looking back I find it’s weeks since  I posted any progress, that’s no to say there hasn’t been any but holidays, new heating boiler, a second grandson, and a dead laptop meant it was always something to do tomorrow.

 

Having finally sorted my laptop issues and recovered all the data, I have now realised that there has actually been quite a bit of progress on the layout, though in lots of small bits, and often not noticeable,  so I thought it was worth doing a catch-up. There’s also a new tablet to be tried out, so apologies in advance if some photos are upside down and the text corrupted by the productive twixt and smellchecker.

 

In no particular order then, back in July a start was made on detailing some of the roadway area, with some signage, weed growth, and fixing the ‘phone box. At present there’s only one pigeon, but I must get some more sorted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cobbled road crossing now has a final colour, but awaits a bit of moss and grass growth in the edges.

 

 

A huge chunk of the time has been spent on buildings, the thing I grossly underestimated the work involved in doing. All of the windows have now been fitted and glazed. In the main office building, the old Palins Yard building, and the water tower lights and internal details have been put in, often with shallow boxes and pictures of interiors, to disguise the fact that there’s only an inch or so of depth to the building.

 

 

It’s difficult to photograph but the effect seems to work, lighting is connected via small buck converters to allow it to be dimmed, and a couple have timers to randomly turn them on one off.

There’s still a lot more weathering and detailing to do on the buildings  but at least the structures are pretty much there, and are suitably ‘planted’ into the scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The roof to the Palins Yard building has been tiled and a start made on weathering it.

 

 

The bottom corner of the layout, concealing the turntable, has also now been resolved a bit better, an end scenic board was fitted, and a rear support fabricated to carry the ‘sky’ behind the buildings, and which flies over the turntable. This resulted in a gap behind the old factory building that needed an infill, which has been fabricated in foam core, it has to remain as a separate piece in order to fit in any of the boxes and now needs brick and tile cladding.

 

 

The loading decks have been coated with a spray of textured paint prior to painting with a concrete acrylic paint.

 

 

On the landscaping front the right hand board has had a base coat of ground cover and I have been experimenting with the Grassmaster prior to the final layers of static grass. The main thing to note was not to get the vacuum too close to the wet grass!

 

 

 

 

Given that this thing has to be ready for the SWAG meeting next April I really have to get a move on, the supposedly quick layout building now approaching two and a half years, Christmas will doubtless take out most of December. A quick test the other day showed it still runs, though the track needs a good clean to get the scenics and glue off, and I had to spend three days fault finding the remote mimic panel that developed a fault – next layout really will have proper colour coded wiring, honest.

 

The left hand board has been given a layer of plaster and brown paint and awaits a base coat dusting of ground cover.

 

 

 

The previously modelled control box for the tippler was taken to pieces and a couple of LED’S were installed and wired into the motor.

 

 

At the office end the scenic board was fabricated and the piece of mirror finished stainless was attached, initial impressions appear to be o.k. a similar piece will be installed at the end of the road once I get onto the layout rear sky treatment. Once it’s all done with a bit more than chewing gum and sticky tape I can decide if it’s going to stay.

 

 

Another large chunk of time went on fitting out the storage boxes to keep the buildings separated and protected in transit.

 

 

 

Lastly a start has been made on 5mm Perspex layout guards for the front, which also serve to retain the signage supports, and some black fabric purchased for the drape.

 

Finally a few gratuitous shots of the layout taken with the tablet,  and yes I know the canopies are a bit wonky, it’s because the loading decks is in the paint shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it's now downto taking it building by building, and space by space, and getting the final finishing bits done, however it does mean that it can have a ride out in the car to see how well it travels, and how long it takes to set up and break down.

 

Peter

 

[Simond]

Peter,

 

Welcome back!!!

 

Lots of new bits to see, it's coming along very nicely. Das & a bit of wire makes for credible pigeons. Much cheaper than whitemetal too!

 

The pavement area looks brilliant, as do the cobbles through the point work. I don't recall, did you scribe them in plaster?

 

It's all looking very "together", and I particularly like the significant vertical development you have included. I think it helps create an atmosphere.

 

Best

Simon