Shelf Island (intertwined micros)

[Talltim]

I wouldn't wear hot pants for anybody........................

 

Or a skirt.

 

You profile pic looks a little like you are wearing a nice tartan number...

[5050]

You profile pic looks a little like you are wearing a nice tartan number...

It's a blanket.  I need it to keep my delicate knees protected from the ravages of time and weather.

 

And it catches small parts before they hit the Carpet God.

 

Bit warm for the past couple of days though!

[CourthsVeil]

Now, where's the "not-so-funny" button?

   Armin

[47137]

The hot pants suggestion was declined, I suspect for reasons of aesthetics. However, I can report, she has explained the real reason for the damage:

 

"It was in a stupid place"

 

There you go - feminine logic explained and illustrated, all in a few topics.

 

- - 

 

Edit:

Sunday evening - I think, it is all sorted out. The axles on the rolling road snapped back in to their nylon mouldings. The turntable went back in, and its locating magnets are glued back on.

 

With everything dismantled, I added a power supply for the lighting rig, The rig draws a lot more current from a linear power supply than it did from the Gaugemaster controller. It's V/I curve is more extreme than ever, jumping from 0.5 A at 8V to 2+ A at 10V. With the transformer secondary rated at 20 VA and typical loads of 100 mA for stall motors and 300 mA for a loco on the rolling road, I can only really live with something near the smaller figure. Also, the 1A regulator, with its heatsink, gets too hot too quickly at 2A.

 

Most of this evening was spent tracing fresh electrical problems. It transpired, a wire had fallen out of a screw terminal block, and all of the terminals here took a little nipping up. This is 5 months since the build. And, believe it or not, the multi-way connector from the fiddle yard to the layout was plugged in "out of step" i.e. pin1 to socket 2, pin 2 to socket 3 and so on, with pin 7 and socket 1 unconnected. I think I need to move these connectors to somewhere I can see them.

 

What amazes me is how the track, which is largely C&L bullhead, survived the fall without a scratch.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

It sounds like you have a very clear view of what you want to achieve and I envy you that

 

Not really, but thanks for the kind thought and sorry for the extremely slow reply. I set up an Excel spreadsheet a while ago with a list of all of the features of the layout - civil engineering, cliff faces, buildings, lighting and so on. The spreadsheet has three columns - subject, source and progress. Entries are colour coded as 'complete', 'in progress' (quite a lot of these), 'parts to hand' and 'not sure how to approach this'. Using the list helps stop feature creep. The list has a special section at the bottom for abandoned ideas. At the moment this section has three entries - a shed, a lamp hut and a platelayers' hut. All seemed to add too much clutter.

 

The challenge at the moment is dividing the model into its three scenes in an aesthetically pleasing way. I think, the way to go is by making some structures which are functional and reasonably prototypical, but a bit uninteresting to look at. I have tried to allude to this in my blog post earlier today. The tunnel portal is the first of these models. The avalanche shelter (or short tunnel) at the front middle will be next. Models in the three "micro layouts" can have more detail.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

The avalanche shelter is causing problems. I've tried to make an authentic if shortened model . . .

 

. . . and ended up with a cross between Noah's Ark and a train ferry:

 

This is the view from my desk:

 

The shelter itself has been a real fiddle to build because the track changes gradient and includes the start of a turnout, so the rear wall is curved to fit the track and both the walls slope at the bottom. So having got this far I want to keep it.

 

I always admire those exhibition layouts where the scenery seems to spill over the front of the layout, getting rid of the need to provide a front fascia. This technique seems to blend the front of a layout into the room as well as the back of the layout can be blended into a backscene. So I am trying this with the water of the quayside and a slipway, and I'm wondering if the shelter should have a small hill on top. The sort of hill with a sheer cliff face dropping to the sea at the front, and perhaps some ancient standing stones on the top  giving a justification for driving the railway underneath it and not dynamiting the whole thing in the first place.

 

The hill would be across the middle of the shelter. The whole assembly (shelter with hill and cliffs) will lift out for maintenance of the track and if need be for transit, so weight is not a great constraint.

 

Any suggestions or links would be helpful, even if I end up carrying on and making something which we will politely call "not seen before".

 

- Richard.

[ColinK]

As you've made that nice avalance shelter, what you could do is model it in winter. Not a little covering of snow as that's been done before, but real deep snow so the shelter does the job its designed for.

 

Looking forward to seeing more.

[Neil]

Is the problem with the avalanche shelter something to with it not appearing to have anything behind it that might cause an avalanche? I don't know if you plan to put a steep hill to its rear; at the moment it looks to be a very nice model but without a clear purpose.

 

By the way did you fully resolve the backscene issues? I became distracted by all the talk of hot pants. If you fancied souping up the Thomas one I've seen some very impressive toning down of commercial backscenes with a very light waft over of matt white auto primer from a rattle can. Here's Marc Smith's fabulous Poynton Sneer demonstrating the technique.

[47137]

Is the problem with the avalanche shelter something to with it not appearing to have anything behind it that might cause an avalanche? I don't know if you plan to put a steep hill to its rear; at the moment it looks to be a very nice model but without a clear purpose.

Yes - exactly! The avalanche shelter is there to hide the very acute angle of the bridge abutment behind it, to hide the fact that the high-level track is much too close to the track in front of it, and to provide a scenic break between the "quayside micro" front left and the "passenger halt micro" front right. The only thing the shelter protects against is ballast washing off the high level track, and I suppose a rather ghastly derailment. This photo shows an angle which will be on full view at an exhibition, less obvious on the layout at home. The shelter fits down against the strips of brown card.

 

So I'm thinking of a small hill to cover the middle of the shelter, extending forward over the edge of the baseboard and leaving the two ends of the shelter exposed as portals. Effectively, lose the two middle window spaces. Make a rock cutting on the back of the hill (being, above the back of the shelter), so the high level track appears to be on a ledge behind it.

 

The hill would be a rocky outcrop in its own right, probably not much grass. Something curious on the top, like some standing stones.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

By the way did you fully resolve the backscene issues? I became distracted by all the talk of hot pants. If you fancied souping up the Thomas one I've seen some very impressive toning down of commercial backscenes with a very light waft over of matt white auto primer from a rattle can. Here's Marc Smith's fabulous Poynton Sneer demonstrating the technique.

 

Yes I made a new backscene and described it on the blog, but forgot to wrap it up here - sorry. Gaugemaster sky, peco hills, emulsion paint, very simple. The blog is a funny thing - six thousand views but hardly any comments. So I am using it to describe things I have done, and this topic to describe things I am trying to do or planning. I've made a tiny edit to my signature so it is more obvious the last link is to the blog and not to this topic.

 

Poynton Sneer looks pretty fabulous - the white dusting might be just the thing to put some sea mist behind my layout.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

As you've made that nice avalance shelter, what you could do is model it in winter. Not a little covering of snow as that's been done before, but real deep snow so the shelter does the job its designed for.

 

Looking forward to seeing more.

Yes. I've had a look at pictures of snow on the Isle of Man (I don't know about recent records for Sodor) and snow would be quite possible for the location of Shelf. This would mean a third go at the backscene - extra white paint I suppose, see post above!

 

Icicles hanging over the quayside edge would be something a bit new. I am wanting to make a fairly upbeat / cheerful model, snow would probably make it a bit desolate.

 

- Richard.

[ColinK]

To make it more cheerful, it could be Christmas, decorated trees, carol singers, reindeer. If you added the sounds too, it would be interesting to exhibit it during the summer. You could even nip off for a brew and say its Christmas Day, so no trains are running.

 

Yes, I'm a serious modeller!

[Neil]

Yes I made a new backscene and described it on the blog, but forgot to wrap it up here - sorry. Gaugemaster sky, peco hills, emulsion paint, very simple. The blog is a funny thing - six thousand views but hardly any comments. ....

 

I'm afraid I missed it on the blog, should look a bit harder I suppose, but I do find navigating the blogs a good deal harder than threads in the main body of the forum. It also feels a bit more intrusive to pipe up and add comments, here there's a pleasant too and fro of ideas and that my be part of the reason why there's less interaction on the blog.

 

Re. the avalanche shelter I do like the way you're feeling your way/experimenting towards a solution to the appearance.

[47137]

At the moment the layout is an exercise in line and form, and a little colour.

 

The main elements like railway and backscene and ground works are at different angles to each other and I am trying to make as much as I can out of this 0.9 square metre layout.

 

Railway (this is an 18-inch curve):

 

Roadway/slipway:

 

The front edge of the model flows over the front of the baseboard structure so there will be no "front fascia" as such. So the model appears to float without a substructure, at least for me standing in front of the model in its home location.

 

I am happy with detail things. For example when I add the ground surface here it can be paved over and fall at 1:50 or so towards the wall and into a drain:

 

The areas for the three micros are well defined, but I need to flesh out the major break between them, be it an avalanche shelter or something else. Then I can relax and work up the three micros as individual scenes.

 

- Richard.

 

Edited to make the photos look better.

[47137]

Re. the avalanche shelter I do like the way you're feeling your way/experimenting towards a solution to the appearance.

 

Went to the local garden centre today - tropical fish section - aquarium ornaments - came home with this:

 

It is hollow and seems to be moulded from some kind of resin . . .

 

. . . and an ideal size too:

 

 

Edit on 29 Sep 2015: This moulding is now a part of the layout instead of the avalanche shelter I described earlier in this topic.

 

Edit on 28 Sep 2015: This topic has sat in the marvellous "Boxfiles, Micro layouts & Dioramas" area of the RMWeb until 1 Sep 2015. The model is obviously a bit off-beat and will not be to some people's tastes, but perhaps the topic will get more replies in the main layouts area here. Thanks to Andy Y for moving the topic for me - Richard.

[47137]

Rock, Paper, Scissors

 

I want the three micros to have three distinct styles and I am thinking "rock, paper scissors" to differentiate between them (letters correspond to the map):

 

A/ the quayside area will be dominated by paper textures. I have always wanted to build what I will call a "clean" model, being dominated by line, form, close-fitting surfaces and flat rather than 3-d textures, and this will be it. The engine shed will have laser-cut tiles and laser-cut walls too - essentially the emphasis will be on precision. The retaining wall at the back will still be moulded, to keep it balanced.

 

B/ the passenger halt is quite a small area so I'll go to town with natural and individual finishes like real stone and detailed natural features like trees and grass. I've started this area with some stone slips sold as 1/12 scale cobbles for dolls houses, to clad one of the archway portals. The emphasis will be on "hand-made".

 

C/ the processing area will be dominated by the processing plant itself, This will be a plastic kit bash with etched details. The source materials of the models will be mostly hidden below their finishes. The emphasis will be "complete model".

 

The link with scissors is pretty tenuous, just the shape of the tracks. The other two are more obvious. But the analogy should make for some operating games if there are two or more operators, and it gives some working names.

 

I made new mock-ups of the three micros a week or so ago, to try to finalise what features to aim for:

Paper

Rock

Scissors

 

Now I have taken them apart and moved the whole model downstairs to make a start on plastering. I've cast the rocks for the cliff faces, but in practice I need to build and finish all of the bridge abutments, retaining walls and archway portals before I can glue any of these down. Incidentally, I call it an archway not a tunnel because it is so short.

 

The stone slips are some kind of sandstone, I really do like the colours here:

 

I am trying to devise some place names related to rock, paper and scissors, and stuck for inspiration at the moment so ideas welcome. I may need to look to foreign languages.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

Names for the Three Locations and Other Details

 

Choosing the names for the three locations to be portrayed as three micros has turned out easier than I expected - use Manx:

 

Keiy Pabyr (paper quay)

Creg (rock) . . . the halt

Cab ry Cheilley (scissors) . . . the processing plant

 

I've run these past a native speaker and teacher of Scots Gaelic in Skye - a different language of course, but she confirmed the adjective comes after the noun, and the discussion gave me a good deal of confidence.

 

To this I shall add:

 

Cronk Noo Olave (Saint Olaf's hill) . . . the hill at the front of the layout

Cruill ny Meayl (Bare Curve) . . . the former railway junction near the beach (possible future extension of the model)

Purt Margey (a transliteration using Margey to mean a fayre makes part of a pun on Shell Fairport) . . . the airport (possible future extension of the model)

 

These look good to me, quite pleasing really, but if someone with first-hand knowledge of Manx could confirm whether these names are reasonable this would be good to know. I'm fairly confident of Creg (from Creg Ny Baa) but I spent too many years of my life working with English technical specification documents created from source Italian using Babelfish.

 

Thanks.

 

- Richard.

 

Edit: posting rewritten and expanded several times after first posting, but before any comments received.

[47137]

I am now the proud owner of a Roco 0-6-0 diesel shunter, an English Electric class 11 in Dutch guise. My first presentable British HO model. If I can create or butcher four or five wagons and get some kind of railcar to run a passenger service I shall be a very happy railway modeller, with a modest HO layout to display for exhibitions and a passable 00 set up for home use too.

 

In fact, with just a few items of HO rolling stock the two hidden tracks under the processing plant will be enough to be the fiddle yard for an exhibition. The external fiddle yard is only likely to be needed if I want to run my 00 stock instead, because there is more of it.

 

- Richard.

 

[Allegheny1600]

Hello Richard,

My goodness! How great minds think alike!

I had been working on the idea for something akin to this, a couple of years back only mine was to be set in a quarrying area.

Not only that but in British H0 too! Please see the link in my signature for details of the appropriate society, unless you already know, of course.

I really like how you have progressed with your layout and look forward to seeing it develop.

Cheers,

John E.

[47137]

I am so glad someone else is out there, this topic was becoming a monologue!

 

I spend a lot of time looking at the layout, trying out different positions for features. These don’t get written up - it’s too difficult to show how one thing “works” better than another one. However, getting an HO locomotive makes everything easier, because I can run this alongside an idea, see how it looks, and then do the same with an 00 one.

 

The big benefit of HO on a small layout is you get “25% extra free” in terms of space i.e. 12% extra each way. So if I can make it look bearable with 00 trains, it ought to be quite spacious with HO ones. I am pondering having an interchangeable building in the quayside area - a Portacabin perhaps, with the HO one fixed down and the 00 one dropped over the top when wanted. This could be the Knightwing kit outside, and a home-made copy inside.

 

Regarding the British HO society - I would like to tackle building some kind of wagon first. If this is a success, I’ll probably apply to join. Their web site certainly has lots of inspiration; especially (for me) the cut and shut job on the Airfix/Dapol Drewery shunter.

 

- Richard.

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Richard,

Just for info, the British H0 society is FREE to join!!!

It's basically currently an email group on Yahoo https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/british-ho/conversations/messages

I seem to recall that 'we' received an inheritance that allowed us to drop membership subs for a while then we evolved the Yahoo group, anyway the price is right!

When I've got my German layout/s completed, I shall do more work in British outline.

Cheers,

John.

[47137]

Hi Richard,

Just for info, the British H0 society is FREE to join!!!

It's basically currently an email group on Yahoo https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/british-ho/conversations/messages

I seem to recall that 'we' received an inheritance that allowed us to drop membership subs for a while then we evolved the Yahoo group, anyway the price is right!

When I've got my German layout/s completed, I shall do more work in British outline.

Cheers,

John.

Hi John,

 

I'm now a member of the group on Yahoo, and this is clearly a very good resource. For example I now see my old Mainline J72 in a completely different light - this model could get a new lease of life! I have been looking through my PO wagons to see which one to try slicing down the middle - the Hornby 3-plank "Easter Iron Mines" looks like a good one to try - it's not terribly prototypical for the layout, but it's never been useful on any of my layouts. I think I bought it because I liked the printing on the body.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

Setts on the Quayside

 

This is my interpretation of inset track on a quayside, with a surface of stone setts or cobbles.

 

I "made" the track using Peco code 75 FB rail and copperclad sleeper strips. This makes it easier later on because you don't have to contend with moulded rail fixings, and also you can set the flangeways to a more realistic width. I used two roller gauges to set up the inner rails first, to the usual 00 gauge spacing. Then I used a feeler gauge to set up the outer rails 1 mm away from the inner rails. This gives a track gauge of about 16.2 mm, which is ok with RTR stock when the back to backs are set up to the usual 14.4 to 14.5 mm.

 

The stone setts are moulded in foam about 0.5 mm thick. It is important to keep these below the surfaces of the running rails, and also, if you use Kadee couplers (like me) below the tops of the inner rails. I filled in the space between the inner rails with Milliput, levelling it off 1 mm below the tops of the rails.

 

Then I added the ground surface outside the rails (stopping about 6 mm short of the rails) and then filled in the gaps with Milliput.

 

Having a nice flat foundation made it easy to attach the sheets of cobbles. They will stretch to go round gentle curves.

 

Hopefully everything will look more natural after painting - I expect I will do this all in one go on the whole of this part of the layout.

 

The next step here is to add some timber battens along the edge of the quayside.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

I have discovered, I can lay a strip of the foam sheet in a curve. So the roadway behind the quayside is now in setts to match:

 

Making the roadway match the rest of the surface actually makes everything look bigger and less fussy. The thin white line behind the roadway is a strip of styrene to represent a kerb, I want to put a fence along here.

 

There must be most of forty years between the Lima van and the Roco shunter, but they are moulded in identical shades of yellow. Thoughts turn to making the van into an engineers' vehicle.

 

- Richard.

[CourthsVeil]

That's looking really good, Richard. Well done!

 

Just a little advice: try out painting the cobbles on a scrap piece BEFORE you start on the layout.

For, it's not easy to get a satisfactory result ( ask how I know… ).

 

Best wishes

  Armin