awoodford Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 47137 on 11 May 2015... A nice thing about the 'windows' approach is you can work them up one at a time, and even model three different seasons of the year! Different seasons, I should have thought of that. I quite like the idea of a train setting out mid-winter and arriving at its destination the following autumn. One hopes it has a decent buffet service! Alan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Different seasons, I should have thought of that. I quite like the idea of a train setting out mid-winter and arriving at its destination the following autumn. One hopes it has a decent buffet service! Alan. Sounds like a normal Cross Country service to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted May 26, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted May 26, 2015 I have reached a milestone - all track feeds and point motors are now wired and working. So I can "use" the layout as a model railway. First impressions are this will be quite a fun model to operate because there are three destinations in view as well as the fiddle yard. So the trains will be very short, but each one has up to four possible destinations. There is some minor work needed on one of the points, where something is out of gauge and didn't show up during testing on the workbench. Apart from this, I think my next task is to work out a list of model features (landscape and man-made) - hopefully, this will reveal a pleasing way to treat the landscape so it manages to both "unify" and "divide" the different areas of the layout. It would also be sensible to plan the signalling installation now too - but I'm thinking this will be best as one signal to protect the tunnel and operated automatically by the trains. The initial "control panel" is a freebie Android app on my phone to work the relays to switch the points. My first impression here is some kind of "route-clearing" operation would be good - a system whereby points return to their normal state when you select a new route. At the moment, this seems more useful than a "route setting" system which sets up multiple points in one go. - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
awoodford Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Very impressed with the neat and well thought out wiring system. Alan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted June 15, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 15, 2015 It sounds like you have a very clear view of what you want to achieve and I envy you that Thanks for this. Yes I suppose I have expressed some fairly clear ideas on things I want, at least for things which are easy to write down. But there are other things which are more difficult to pin down. For example, I want a layout which is interesting to operate, and significantly different to the current crop of similarly-sized exhibition layouts. I am thinking, if treat the layout as a series of micros then operation will be more interesting. I will be able to send trains from one place to another (and even, reversing at an intermediate location) and this ought to hold my attention and possibly even that of exhibition visitors. But I don't know how to express this in a topic on the forum, beyond a list: Quayside area - a micro layout Passenger halt - a micro layout where trains reverse Ore processing plant - a micro layout on a short branch plus Airport extension/headshunt - a scenic bit track where trains reverse Avalanche shelter (shown as a tunnel in post #1) and rail over rail bridge - scenic break (five "areas of interest" in all) I want an uncluttered look too. Below are some photos of the quayside area, with track laid and some structures resting in place. There will be a culvert at the extreme left, and the harbour wall will go around the front from here about as far as in front of the equipment building. There will be a very small maintenance depot at the rear left where the coach is. I want visual balance in each "micro area" and a reasonably uncramped, open sort of a look and feel. I bought the water tower kit for the other end of the layout but it looks much more at home here. This is rather different to the original plan, which had a Portacabin in front of the refuelling point. I am trying to build a reasonably scale-free landscape where both 00 and HO trains will look at home, tho' not both at the same time! HO in the photos today. - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 This seems a very unique layout concept. I will be interested to see how you fit the different elements together without making it appear cluttered. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted June 15, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 15, 2015 This seems a very unique layout concept. I will be interested to see how you fit the different elements together without making it appear cluttered. I am hoping the backscene will glue it all together. This will be a ready-made print but I am still faffing around trying to work out how to hang it on the wall. Perhaps tomorrow. - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Will look forward to seeing more progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted June 17, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 17, 2015 Progress! The backscene is a 4-metre long frieze entitled "Thomas Country" by Quality Backscenes: http://www.qualitybackscenes.co.uk/the_backscenes.html This is difficult to photograph in its entirety (I can't get far enough away from it and most of the shot will be of my furniture), but here is a sample - the layout area in this photo is only about 39 x 17 inches: The colours are a bit intense for my taste, but I do now know I need cool white not warm white LED lighting for the layout and I can blend in the landscape to match the background. This photo is with the usual daylight-balanced flash. The room walls and ceiling are all "Absolute White" emulsion by Dulux. The "black gap" between backscene and layout is the rear profile board, this is 5 mm foam board. - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Coming together nicely. Isn't that Bertie the 'bus? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 It certainly looks like it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted June 18, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 18, 2015 It looks like Bertie to me too. And Harold at the other end: I am frustrated - the composition fits the layout perfectly, even down to the gradient on the NG line matching the printed road, but the colours are too vivid. It's like a backscene with a model in front of it. Any ideas on how to desaturate a paper backscene - thin white paint? - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cklammer Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Use very, very, very thinly diluted black paint by wiping it on evenly.They do that at the theatre to make new props and scenes appear old/weathered.Test first on a cutoff Edit: You can even use darkish watercolours Edit: Added signature from PC - I never sign when posting from mobe Best Regards, Christian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted June 19, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 19, 2015 A sheets of thin tracing paper / greaseproof paper in front of the backscene ? ( Many years ago I saw Tony Hart use layers of tracing paper to make a superb picture, with each layer receding the ones underneath further away.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted June 19, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 19, 2015 Tony Hart was a genius! I've just bought a roll of Sainsbury's own brand greaseproof paper - this is too heavy, a bit like shiny fog but the idea is right. I'll try to find some tracing paper next. If I could trim this to cover the sky and the distant hills it might be just the thing. If it looks like sea mist this wouldn't matter. The hills on the background are around 7 inches above mid-level track and they look "geometrically right" and "in proportion" but intrude too much. The photos yesterday (phone camera, no flash) look more muted than the original, the photo on 17th June (real camera + bounced flash) is close to the original. I have a generous offcut and most of a second sheet to play with so I could try out the paint wash idea there. The paper is quite heavy, about 170 gms so it should take water without collapsing. A third option would be to repaint the entire sky, and drop parts of the horizon at the same time. The scale of the print is spot-on everywhere for around HO to S scales, except the green tractor above the refuelling point. My ideas here are to scan a patch from the second sheet and reduce it on a printer, or superimpose a combine harvester. Then again a small barn would be less ambitious!! The funny thing is, I bought this backscene because I felt I did not have a hope of painting anything passable. I've painted out a road bridge (wrong place) and a horse drawn cart (incongruous for the model) with some acrylics and my improvisations blend in pretty well. Edit: incidentally, I don't know the name of the tractor :-) - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Terence the tractor, I believe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted June 19, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 19, 2015 Terence the tractor, I believe. Terence is orange and has caterpillar tracks! - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Yes it is Terence. He was orange and had caterpillar tracks. That green tractor definitely looks too big. A bit of editing and it could become George the steam roller. It is at least the correct colour. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted June 19, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 19, 2015 George is a road traction engine and would be most unhappy in a field. Everything is easy to explain. Harold is running an inter-island commuter service. Bertie was banned from the EU and permanently exported to Shelf because he has steps and no level access. The green tractor has always worked here, but is larger than the tractors we know. As scale modellers we find this difficult to accept, even in a fictitious setting. - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 George is a road traction engine and would be most unhappy in a field. Everything is easy to explain. Harold is running an inter-island commuter service. Bertie was banned from the EU and permanently exported to Shelf because he has steps and no level access. The green tractor has always worked here, but is larger than the tractors we know. As scale modellers we find this difficult to accept, even in a fictitious setting. - Richard. Correction. Trevor is the traction engine. George is a road roller. He would of course be unhappy in a field, but did end up a ditch in one story. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted June 21, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 21, 2015 I have discovered, the look of the backscene can be greatly improved with some better lighting. At the moment the room has a pendant lamp with a "warm" LED bulb, hung in the middle of the ceiling, and I cast my own shadow as soon as I walk up to the layout. I have set up an experimental lighting rig using some of those flexible strips of LEDs you buy on 5-metre reels. Three rows of "bright white" and one row of "warm white" tied onto a timber batten with elastic bands. The "bright white" ones were too blue on their own. Both LED strips are advertised with the part number "5630" being the brightest ones on offer. This seems to be a success. The lights need to be fixed in front of the layout (not directly above it), like a theatre stage, but there seems to be a lot of flexibility in how high. Edit: I don't claim any originality for this. I read about using them somewhere on a US modeller's blog. - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted June 30, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 30, 2015 Some progress on the backscene, but not enough. The lighting rig is done (write up on the blog), and this sorts out the colours of the hills in the backscene, but not the sky which is still too intense. Probably my own fault for buying a backscene designed for children. I have experimented with four grades of tracing paper, but they all seem to have much the same degree of opacity and it is just a bit too strong. The most promising of these is a roll of 40 gsm paper, so I won't need any joins. Perhaps I can hang it in front of the sky and the distant hills, to look a bit like a sea mist. I also have a large offcut of backscene, I can try some washes of very thin paint. - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted July 3, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 3, 2015 A Salutary Tale I decided to take down the backscene and start with an empty canvas, a cloudy sky. Invited girlfriend to come round for dinner, so she could hold this nine-foot strip while I hung it on the wall. I took down the layout, and stood the fiddle yard on end so it could supply power to the lighting rig and we could see what we were doing. As we finished, she walked away and her skirt caught in the fiddle yard which took a heavy tumble, landing on the rolling road and also (by hitting the tool box on the floor), the turntable. Heavy damage to both rolling road rollers, and the turntable lost its deck retention collar, two magnets and a drain cover. I made a strong plywood cover for the model, for transit, and had decided it wasn't worth fixing on the cover because it would mean moving the wires to the lighting rig. I could have asked her to hang the backscene, and stood myself in front of the fiddle yard. I could have stood the fiddle yard on end with its heavy end at the bottom and not at the top. We could have done it without the lighting rig (and its wiring to the fiddle yard) Retrouting wires = five minutes Rebuilding model = this weekend? Power supplies, controllers and wiring are still serviceable. Steel locating dowels haven't moved. Track looks ok, and the end still aligns with the layout. Just please don't hit that bl**dy heart-shaped button! - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joppyuk1 Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 The moral of the story - when getting girlfriend to help with layout, no skirts, only hot-pants! (and use the layout cover). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
5050 Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 The moral of the story - when getting girlfriend to help with layout, no skirts, only hot-pants! (and use the layout cover). I wouldn't wear hot pants for anybody........................ Or a skirt. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.