Newtz1981 Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Track laying has commenced (as of this morning) following the arrival of a soldering iron that I purchased online last week. As the layout will be DCC controlled, I have been adding wiring to all pieces of track. Having not really soldered before it took a small while to get used to how to do it properly, however I seem to have it down pat now - well for adding wires to the track anyway. So the wires are not visible that are being soldered to the underside of the rail and fed through the base board. If you are wondering what the tapered holes are in the pine, they are made by a pockethole jig, however I will save the details for a later post So far all the pit roads have been glued down and the far track on the last road (with 45562 on it) has been totally glued down now. Testing is being done for every section of track to make sure good electrical contact is kept at all times, then they are glued into position. Once all the track is in place I will start to get the scenic s down and happening. Exciting times!! 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltic17 Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Just to add the comment - this looks fantastic - I am following with great interest - keep up the good work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) You will all notice in my last post I was talking about a device called a Pocket Hole Jig. I thought that I would share with you a link to the video about the product. The Pocket Hole Jig can be purchased online from Screw It Screws here in Melbourne, Australia and they do ship all over the world. By using this jig, it really cut the building time of the base boards by almost half. No glue was used at all and the boards are very strong indeed. I also used square head screws, which are just amazing. Check out Screw It Screws to see what they have, here: http://www.screwit.com.au/ Edited February 24, 2015 by Newtz1981 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymw Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 In the UK, Trend do a similar fancy device for seventy quid or so, but for relative peanuts, this does the job just fine http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p62202 Anyway, if you use decent glue, no screws are needed http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p78519 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 Right - track laying is completed! What a task it has been, cutting all the webbing off, soldering the wires under the rails, drilling holes, adding insulated fish plates, cutting track to lengths and all else in between. One or two slight imperfections to iron out now, which I will do in coming weeks, however at least the track plan is down and in position. All parts have been tested and work perfectly. Once the aforementioned imperfections have been rectified I shall commence getting the ballast/ash down. I'm thinking of using real coal dust too, rather than sand as it is found in abundance at my local preserved railway. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 Does anyone here know where I can purchase 7mm items such as: * Wheel barrows * Buckets * 44 gallon drums * Shovels * Fire irons * Brake blocks * Brasiers * General workshop items If you could point me in the direction of suppliers I'd be most grateful Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Duncan models, scale link, Peter Roles does nice shovels & loco tools. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Also try Invertain models Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 Thank you Steve. That gives me so much to go on. I'll have a good butchers at the sites and get buying 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phill Dyson (onslaught832) Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Skytrex & Peco are worth trying Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 http://www.peteroles.co.uk/newsite_062.htm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 http://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Duncan_Models__O__scale___________RETAIL_ONLY_.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Thank you for all of the web links Steve. There are some great items on them and I'm sure I'll be busy buying soon 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 This has nothing to do with Newton Grove, however... Given that Gladiator Models are closing their business down in April this year, I couldn't let one last kit slip through my fingers. So I've just ordered a Duchess from them, which I'm looking forward to receiving soon. When the kit is eventually built the loco will be named City of Manchester. My Father was born in Manchester and for that reason I chose that number/name. Just a little something to show to him after the kit has been made up. The loco will eventually look like this: 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 It will be a great addition to you fleet Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
44690 Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Great project. I am a director of The Stanier 8F Locomotive Society, have fired 44871 and Rose Grove was my local shed. I shall be following your project with interest. I am just about to have a go at 7mm kit building after a lifetime in OO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 Great project. I am a director of The Stanier 8F Locomotive Society, have fired 44871 and Rose Grove was my local shed. I shall be following your project with interest. I am just about to have a go at 7mm kit building after a lifetime in OO. Thank you for following my layout project. Rose Grove was your local? I'm sure you have so many great memories from back then. I really wish I was there in the steam days, however living through the demise of steam would have been very hard indeed. You mentioned you're a director of the Stanier 8F locomotive society? I drove 48773 back in 2002 at the Severn Valley Railway for a day. I had always loved 8F's however that day I truly fell in love with her. I saw her again in 2013 at the Engine House and I'm sure I will see her again in June when I'm at the SVR for a week. I wish she was back in steam though as I'd love to work on her again. If you have any photographs of Rose Grove, or Newton Heath, please feel free to share them with me on this forum Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 It seems that Newton Grove has its first invitation to a model railway exhibition in March 2016. Although it is 12 months away it gives me a great goal to work towards, although I must confess that I am aiming to have the layout finished before the end of 2015. More progress will take place soon and posts will continue. I'm having a busy period at work, which is taking up most of my time - however work on Newton Grove is continuing still. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 There's nothing like a dead line to get you going !! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CUTLER2579 Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 That's about the time of the Nottingham show, I can live in Hope. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 That's about the time of the Nottingham show, I can live in Hope. Live in hope that I bring the layout to the UK all the way from Australia? Might be an expensive exhibition for me... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 I've created a small test piece of track for Newton Grove. For ballast around the she's yard I'm using sand. This is placed down in the same manner as other ballast and smoothed with a damp brush. A mix of PVA diluted 50/50 with water is applied all over the sand. While drying commences I then sprayed the entire area with Matt/Flat Black. This times everything down and the paint also helps the sand to adhere more. I then have the whole piece a 2-3 min going over with a hair drier until the black paint lost it's shine and turned flat black. Then, I used a Peco track cleaning rubber to remove the paint from the rail heads. Result; this looks amazing and with further weathering, rail colour and more detail such as stray coal, it is going to look very realistic indeed!! I can't wait to get cracking on the entire layout now!! 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMR CHRIS Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 I've created a small test piece of track for Newton Grove. For ballast around the she's yard I'm using sand. This is placed down in the same manner as other ballast and smoothed with a damp brush. A mix of PVA diluted 50/50 with water is applied all over the sand. Looks good should look great over the large area of the shed leads Don't forget to add a few drops of detergent to break the surface tension in the glue / water mix also helps with the wicking esp when using sand. I have tried sand with good results It was Sydney River sand purchased at Bunnings and I found that it needed just a little more detergent than ordinary Stone Ballast but got a great result as a base for NSWGR yard tracks that were lightly layed, not ballasted and over grown and on part of my layout used for the base of the entire yards area close to 1200mm x600mm with some other colours of very fine dirt from "Chucks Ballast supplies" sifted over when the glue was still wet with a bit of Static Grass as well in patches to give a bit of variation. I am now sold on using fine sand as a economic scenic base. The back yard track on my O scale Diorama with sand base and static grass. Also great to know that you will be exhibiting this layout, it will help Australian modellers see you don't need miles of space to model O scale keep up with the progress looking forward to seeing this coming together. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Add some talc into the mix if you want to create smooth compacted ash look, once weathered with suitable powders its very convincing 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtz1981 Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 Add some talc into the mix if you want to create smooth compacted ash look, once weathered with suitable powders its very convincing That has been my plan Steve - once again taking the idea from Canton. I'll be adding that soon. I just wanted to make up this test piece without it first to see basic results. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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