Cramdin Yard

[Grimleygrid]

Agree with the previous posts you have done a great job, the sidings look superb. It is always nice to hear how people go about weathering track.

 

Excellent modelling.

[James Hilton]

I'm pretty sure it was a special edition from one of the box shifters but I can't remember who. I picked it up at Warley a couple of years ago as the price seemed right. I don't buy special editions of anything normally. Need a few more myself now.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

Thanks Dave. I think it was a Modelzone one - I've done some Googling... I could do with a pair so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled, otherwise it'll necessitate a repaint.

[Jaggzuk]

Love the look of the overgrown buffer ends. Great work James!

 

Paul

[mudmagnet]

What a great layout. I have been following your thread for sometime and always impressed with your modelling. Very inspirational. Thanks for sharing it.

[eldavo]

Been working most of the weekend on the trainset though there is not an awful lot of visible progress. Boring things like painting the cover panels and lighting gantry had to be done. Over the week the fuel storage tanks and gubbins have been weathered and installed in a brick and concrete burm. The environment folks wouldn't let me just slap down a couple of tanks with no leak protection!




Still need to sort out the discharge pipework and gear which I'll have to scratchbuild. Already on version two of how this will be arranged having ripped up version 1!

The other significant piee of work that had to be tackled was modeling the second side of the scenic break bridge. As this was originally the end of the layout I didn't model both sides surprisingly enough. The original side was built with Linka plaster castings but I couldn't be faffed with that again so bodged something up with plasticard. Much quicker and for me better results. On the assumption that no one can see both sides of the bridge at the same time I think I'll get away with the differences. This has all been given a slop of paint since the photo was taken.



I've also sorted the entry road tracks to the fiddleyard and cassettes that sit behind this area, twice! Again a mark I version bit the dust as it didn't work!

Also can't resist the temptation to take shots of locos in the overgrown sidings. These should probably be under the gratuitous loco shot thread but...

Here's Windsor Castle abandoned in the yard.




Pleasingly even though the rearmost track is only a smidge away from the backscene the lighting copes with it and I don't get any significant shadows. Here's a shed to show what I mean. This one is actually a bit of a pain and will be stripped down and checked out as it is misbehaving over pointwork. I spent an hour or two adjusting track to try and make it happy but no go.




Lots more to do yet.

Cheers
Dave

[Trainsrgr8]

Wonderful as allways Dave! really like how the extension is coming!

 

Danny

[eldavo]

More progress. The fuel storage point has had a bit more titivation and now is starting to look a little more "planted" ...




... the overbridge has a had a bit more paint applied...



.. and the approach tracks into the fiddleyard have been laid and wired.




The above shot shows something of an experiment fitted into the cassette slots. This is a Superbodgeamation MK I up/down cassette-o-matic. Basically a 2 entry road cassette with a crude Y point with one switch feeding some aluminium tracks.



This is Cramdin's answer to the bored operator syndrome that occurs at 2 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon when nobody can be bothered to run more than one train because it requires changing cassettes. With this a passenger train can run on the up line into the fiddleyard, here's a 153 with the little-known broken snowplow option...



The operator waits for the gentle thud as it hits the end of the fiddleyard then zeros the controls. At some point in the future the operator reverses the control and lo and behold the train reappears heading along the down line. No point switching required as the Y point in the up/down cassette-o-matic is sprung to the outgoing position.




Lazy or what. Saves the hike to the end of the layout (10 feet) and a change of cassette. The cassette can take up to a 2 car unit, such as a 158, or a loco and the 153.

Cheers
Dave

[Pete Harvey]

A great time saving "Simple" idea that works Dave. :icon_thumbsup2:

 

Pete

[Guest jim s-w]

Lazy? Not at all Dave

 

Sprung points are used on the real thing, why not a model?

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[Leon]

Great layout, your track and ballasting has just the effect I wanted, can I ask what you used to weather the ballast, I used a brown on mine but then lost the "grey" of the ballast. Also great looking fuel tanks, are they Knightwing ? Just bought two upright tanks for mine but rather the look of yours now.....

 

Regards

 

Leon

[eldavo]

... can I ask what you used to weather the ballast, I used a brown on mine but then lost the "grey" of the ballast. Also great looking fuel tanks, are they Knightwing ? Just bought two upright tanks for mine but rather the look of yours now.....

 

Hi Leon, the tanks are a Knightwing kit. Can't remember the part number and the packaging is long gone! The kit is designed to have the tanks alongside each other with the steps running up between but that configuration wouldn't fit my site so a few minor mods were made.

 

I don't weather my track with any particular colour(s) but sort of slop stuff on until it looks how I want it (approximately). I never weather in a single pass/application either but will add to it over the course of a few days until it looks right. Basically I apply multiple applications of a very dilute mix of black and burnt umber acrylics. The less well used the track the more brown and more applications I use. The main line tracks have only had a couple of light applications whereas the yard tracks are pretty mucky. For areas where locos are liable to stand I apply additional washes of dilute black with sometimes the merest hint of blue for oil staining. I also tend to use a very dilute wash of rust colour alongside the rails to try and get a hint of the effect of water run off from rusty rails/fittings. Basically I just play with it until it looks OK to me!

 

By using very dilute washes you will retain the colour and texture of the ballast. If the paint totally obscures the ballast colour it needs diluting in my book. I hate the single colour sprayed look that appears on many layouts. No offence intended to those who use that technique but it doesn't work for me as my eye sees more than a single colour in railway ballast. I don't use an airbrush or aerosol but prefer to slop the paint on with a 1/2"(ish) brush. The dilute paint will run/seep around the ballast nicely. Very relaxing to do in 10 minutes when you either don't have time or the inclination to tackle something taxing.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Leon]

Thanks Dave, I know the kit you mean, I never got that one as with the same as you it would not fit, great idea to just change it around a bit. maybe I will get one. As for the paint on my layout "South Wales Freight" I did use a spray can which Im not happy with, I like the idea of a wash using a brush and hope you dont mind if I give that method ago also..

 

Thanks for your time and very well done.

 

All the best

 

Leon.

[Temeraire]

Dave

 

Only stumbled across your thread recently and have now read right through it and the layout looks superb. I can't wait to see it up close at Basingstoke in a couple of weeks and I will try to say hello if you're not too busy on the Sunday.

[Leon]

Hi Dave, been reading through trying to find out what you used for the long grass on the extension board and also along the embankment in front of the warehouse on the first board. Can we know ? lol

 

Cheers

 

Leon

[eldavo]

Hi Dave, been reading through trying to find out what you used for the long grass on the extension board and also along the embankment in front of the warehouse on the first board. Can we know ? lol

 

Cheers

 

Leon

 

Hi Leon,

The longer rougher grass areas are hanging basket liner teased out and stuck down with PVA. This then has other textures added such as traditional flock materials or static grass to give variation.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Leon]

Hi Leon,

The longer rougher grass areas are hanging basket liner teased out and stuck down with PVA. This then has other textures added such as traditional flock materials or static grass to give variation.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

 

Ahhh, hanging basket liner, I thought it was. I have heard about that and keeping meaning to get some. I feel that the foliage is one of the hardest pieces to model on a layout. However you got bang on.

 

Thanks, I will check out my neighbours hanging baskets when I get home..lol

 

Cheers

 

Leon

[eldavo]

Cramdin sits fully rigged but stock-free after a mega cleaning session prior to loading into the car for the trip up the road to Basingstoke and its maiden outing.



I could be loading it in the car now rather than fiddling on the forums except that it's currently pouring with rain and the paint is still wet!

Ho hum, time to clean some wheels.

Cheers
Dave

[Scale7JB]

Looking great there Dave...

 

From small acorns... eh ?! :icon_thumbsup2:

 

JB.

[Jenny Emily]

I've just been reading through this topic, and I have to say that I am extremely impressed. Tehre's so much detail and interest in every corner of the layout, and I do like the way that it has been extended in each direction. The traverser is a particularly neat idea.

[Arpleymodeller]

I really like the last picture showing cramdin yard in its true glory!

 

One improvement I can think of from looking at the pictures is adding security fencing around the office building as modern railways are rarely not fenced off!!

 

Regards

Lewis

[gwrman]

Hi, looking forward to seeing Cramdin Yard at Kernow MRC/Your Model Railway show in September.

 

 

[Guest Blackdog]

Hi Dave,

 

I am in the process of building a rusting corrugated shed.

 

Obviously this topic has been severely edited following the change over, but am I correct in recalling that on your roof, you cut a sheet of corrugated plastic into scale sheets and then glued them on to your shell so that the sheets were flush rather than overlapping

 

Thanks

Dave

 

 

 

[eldavo]

Hi Dave,

 

I am in the process of building a rusting corrugated shed.

 

Obviously this topic has been severely edited following the change over, but am I correct in recalling that on your roof, you cut a sheet of corrugated plastic into scale sheets and then glued them on to your shell so that the sheets were flush rather than overlapping

 

Thanks

Dave

 

Yes and no. I did indeed cut up the corrugated plastic (South Eastern Finecast I think!) into scale size sheets but they were then laid overlapping as per prototype(ish!). You can do this with the finecast sheets as they are much thinner than the other varieties of corrugated sheet. The downside is they are more expensive and you have to use PVA to glue it otherwise you are likely to end up with a melted mess!

 

Cheers

Dave

[Guest Blackdog]

Thank you

[Jon.G]

Hi,

 

Looking good nice scenery and track work + the loco's to compliment it all more pickys please

 

Cheers, Jon.