RMweb Gold tom shaw Posted November 29, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 29, 2016 That's looking great Brian, not far off being finished - wish I could say the same for mine. I'm drawing inspiration from your efforts so keep it up. Regards, Tom 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 That's looking great Brian, not far off being finished - wish I could say the same for mine. I'm drawing inspiration from your efforts so keep it up. Regards, Tom Thanks for saying so Tom. Unfortunately what was going to be a day-off has turned into another day of grand child minding so not much has been done today. I have however had the chance to vacumm off the excess ballast and I think it looks OK. I'll try and sneak out to the shed later and take a pic or two to post here. Regards, Brian. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 So, grand children collected by their Mum, I managed a quick trip to the shed and took the following marginal quality camera phone pics. Following hoovering up of excess ballast, removal of adjoining masking tape and burnishing of rail heads, the new section of track looks like this... ...and closer in. I'm really pleased with the way the Scaleway track has gone down, being a little scared of it initially as it is considerably more fragile looking than the Peco stuff. So more clearance checking was carried out. Following some head scatching as to how to landscape under the viaduct arches, I decided I would make a wedge of landform to fit under the first arch. Yesterday I made the wedge from layers of polystyrene covered with a couple of layers of Modroc and painted it brown (poster paint). A bit of static grass was added earlier today and this is the result. I should be able to mate this to surrounding landform and hopefully no-one will see the join (as Eric said to Ernie ). Another day of grand child minding tomorrow beckons so I don't think much will be done. Hopefully more progress at the weekend. Regards, Brian. 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emt_911 Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Looks good and extremely neat ballasting Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Very neat ballasting indeed mate, lovely work on the Viaducts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danstercivicman Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Very nice work! Nice track as well, it does look the part! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 5, 2016 Author Share Posted December 5, 2016 Over the last few days I have managed to lay the up main line over the viaduct up to the fiddle yard entrance - see below Unfortunately, none of this curved track over the viaduct is yet wired into the control panel. I need to fit 3 point motors on the right hand side of this photo, by the signal box, but you can see the amount of cr*p under the baseboard in this location preventing me limbo dancing in that area at the moment. I literally need to lie flat on my back on the floor to ensure the PMs are fitted properly. A huge tidy up is required elsewhere in the shed so I can shift stuff around. As tidying up is not my forte, I thought I'd have some more fun with the scenics. Yesterday, another slab of grassed landform has been added under the viaduct and the adjoining area modroc'd and painted in preparation for static grassing today. Today, the old static grass tea strainer has been in action. I've also manufactured one of the overbridge fronts (Scalescenes) so this was placed in position close to the fiddle yard entrance to see how it looked and to check the required shape of the wing walls. Now I really must have a tidy up in the shed! Regards, Brian. 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Looking very good Brian, I love those Viaducts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 Thanks again Andy and everyone who has given me a "like". After I've finished the bridge and mated it and it's wing walls in I really must leave this scenics malarky and sort the shed out so that I can electrify the track recently laid. The dmu was pushed into position for this shot. The main front and back walls of the bridge are finished and glued down with the abutment walls between them. The wing wall shown above is not glued down but this and the other three have been made, along with a couple of the small pier/buttresses required at the bottom end of each wing wall. Hopefully I'll get all this sorted tomorrow and then get on with the big tidy! Regards, Brian. 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60012 Commonwealth of Australia Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Not sure how I missed this for so long! Some great modelling here! Hope you don't mind if I borrow a couple of ideas for my layout which I'm planning at the moment. Traverser looks great, seems like it'll work really well. All the best, Peter 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 7, 2016 Author Share Posted December 7, 2016 Not sure how I missed this for so long! Some great modelling here! Hope you don't mind if I borrow a couple of ideas for my layout which I'm planning at the moment. Traverser looks great, seems like it'll work really well. All the best, Peter Hi Peter, You have been busy with the "like" button Borrow as many ideas as you like, they are not copyright and I probably borrowed them from someone else anyway! I'm glad you are enjoying my thread. Best Regards, Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 7, 2016 Author Share Posted December 7, 2016 I have manufactured nearly all of the bridge parts and attached two of the wing walls thus. I need to grass the white areas (modroc) but I'll leave the other two wing walls for now until I've decided what I'm doing about the back scene necessary to hide the fiddle yard. Anyway, I pushed another train into position over the viaduct and took this low level shot. This highlights the lack of an arch soffit which I will add tomorrow before I forget but I'm looking forward to taking more photos from this view point. Regards, Brian. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 I have acheived quite a lot today. I have grassed the remainder of the embankment just to the left of the viaduct and made a mounting card road to go under the bridge. I'll put pictures on tomorrow once I've hoovered up the excess grass. However, the main achievement is that I've had a bit of a tidy up and a move around so I can now get under the baseboards where the three point motors have to be fixed. This is the now sanitised area... ...and from underneath you can see where I've painted the baseboard under side white where the point motors are to be fixed (this helps with the visibility of pencil/biro marks). A panarama of the other end of the shed will explain where all the cr*p went While tidying up, I came across the various station throat bridge mock ups I made so one of the skew bridges was dissembled and reconstructed opposite hand and placed at the end of the headshunt to see how it looked. If I put a bridge here I will have to build a high signal cabin on the lines of that at Billingham - here's a pic I took at Peterborough last year of this fantastic layout. Food for thought. Regards, Brian. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Hi Brian, that overall shot is a real beauty, it looks so big and has given me some ideas for another project, some really nice modelling touches mate, well done. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AireValley1962 Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 Nice work! Maybe instead of the traditional road overbridge you could have a brick and steel footbridge to provide interest. . . . If only I could find that picture of what I mean . . . . 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 10, 2016 Author Share Posted December 10, 2016 Hi Brian, that overall shot is a real beauty, it looks so big and has given me some ideas for another project, some really nice modelling touches mate, well done. Thanks for your kind words Andy - much appreciated. The shot I think you mean is three camera phone pictures merged together in Photoshop Elements to form a panorama. Regards, Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 10, 2016 Author Share Posted December 10, 2016 Nice work! Maybe instead of the traditional road overbridge you could have a brick and steel footbridge to provide interest. . . . If only I could find that picture of what I mean . . . . Thanks William. That is a good suggestion and one that I briefly considered and then dismissed for no apparent reason! I'll see what I can find on Google images and Street View. Regards, Brian. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AireValley1962 Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 The closest pictures to what I was thinking of are here: It's not quite what I pictured, but may provide you with food for thought. (The layout is the large Dorehill St. Stevens, in case you were wondering.) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danstercivicman Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 The progress looks excellent-some excellent modelling ideas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 The closest pictures to what I was thinking of are here: It's not quite what I pictured, but may provide you with food for thought. post-80-0-87332000-1382621500.jpg post-80-0-87488200-1382621503.jpg (The layout is the large Dorehill St. Stevens, in case you were wondering.) Thanks William - that is pretty much the sort of thing I had in mind but a bit smaller. In my structural engineering career I once had a responsibility for bridge maintenance in a certain east London borough and I have revisited on google street view a footbridge that I recall - pics below. Very low resolution uploads I'm afraid but I hope you will see that it might make a good scratch build project, minus of course the modern "lid" on the bridge span to stop the locals throwing bricks at the trains and the other embellishments. Regards, Brian. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 Yesterday and today I have spent limbo dancing under the layout to get the three point motors fitted. In some ways I love Seep point motors, they are cheap and have a built in frog polarity switch (the corresponding Peco PM, base plate, frog switch, etc works out a lot more expensive) but they are a pain to fit exactly in position under the baseboard to ensure that (1) the built in switch does actually switch the frog/crossing polarity and (2) the motor is connected to the underside of the baseboard directly in line with the tie bar of the point. To ensure (2) goes smoothly, I use brown corrugated card cut as a former so that one edge of the card is in line with the tie bar and another edge is parallel to the back of the baseboard as shown below. Obviously there is a lot of trial and error to get exactly the right shape of card former. Then, making sure the former is properly labelled (top, bottom, back, etc - it is so easy to get confused, especially at my age, when you are lying on the floor looking at the baseboard upside down!), I lie on the floor under the point position and place the former so that it is hard up against the baseboard back so that the edge parallel with the tie bar is over the white painted area. This "edge" is used as a ruler edge to draw a line over the white paint, see very dodgy camera phone pic below. The line is best drawn slightly off centre of the tie bar so it can be used to align the long edge of the point motor. This process works for me because I can't turn my baseboard upside down to fit Seep point motors. Regards, Brian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les1952 Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Very nicely done- however with all that work you have just confirmed my intention to use wire-in-tube for the three out-front points on Croft Spa..... Les Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 In a previous post (#863) I promised a pic of the completely grassed embankment by the bridge and the card road under it - here it is. The road is not stuck down and obviously further scenic work here needs to be done but I'm happy as to how it looks. I have also put a section of trial photo backscene behind the viaduct which colour matches very well with the static grass. The road, when completed, will cross the lower branch line via a level crossing which I am hoping will be electrically operated - Heathcote Electronics do an interesting level crossing kit. All of this is some distance in the future though. The three point motors are now fully wired up and functioning perfectly. I now need to electrify the tracks beyond these points over the viaduct and bridge which means more switches into the panel. I cant wait to drive a train up the incline over the viaduct towards the fiddle yard. As a trial, I have ascertained that the Q6 easily backs the 9 hoppers + two brake vans half way up this slope before running out of juice beyond the point frog recently motorised. Regards, Brian. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danstercivicman Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Great progress Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danstercivicman Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 Just out of interest what train lengths are you planning to run? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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