Popular Post mightbe Posted May 24, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted May 24, 2015 (edited) Hi everyone, I'm up to a point with my layout that I feel comfortable sharing it on RMWeb. That's not to say there's anything spectacular about it or that it's at an advanced stage. Compton Goods is a lot of firsts for me: first layout, first foray in British model railways, first time building something out of wood, first time wiring anything, first time laying track (handbuilt turnouts with C&L bits to boot), first time using realistic radii etc etc I don't have any attachment to the name, I just liked it and it was near the South Western Main Line. If there's another layout under the name Compton I'll be happy to change it. The premise of the layout is that while the main railway station and goods facilities were at Shawford and thus named, a second, smaller goods facility was opened some years later just a bit north and west of the station, at the end of a short spur from the main line (which had an exchange siding and runaround adjacent to the up line). My fictional goods spur was opened shortly before 1900 and is slated to be closed at the end of 1966. The layout will hopefully capture the yard in its final months, with trains being infrequent and locos invariably neglected. I must admit I know relatively little about railways in the UK, so please don't hesitate to educate! Onto the pictures. So this is the revolutionary and earth-shattering layout. Basic 5-3-3 Inglenook with loads of extra space and huge radii--nothing under a scale 6 chains. My generosity wastefulness has landed it closer to an 8-4-4 in 5 feet but I didn't want it to look crowded. I created it in Templot and then carefully traced it with flextrack in Anyrail (upgraded the tracing the other day with C&L, which must be a new addition), mostly to plan the scenery and get a grasp of it all. The scenic bit shown here is 60" by 18". Cassette fiddle yard attaches at the right, with the bridge masking the hole in the backscene. The best way to describe the scene I imagined is look down into a very shallow valley. The edge of the fascia will be a gentle angle down to the left, and I imagine looking into the scene through/over wild grasses and patches of wildflowers--late summer/early fall of 1966. The bridge will be of brick and there will NOT be a bus parked on it. Build phase begins. May 2, 2015. Turnouts printed, cut and taped. It all looked so easy at the time.. One V down, done using Brian Harrap's method. Easy. Two down. No real problems. YET! Getting these soldered together, brass trimmed, filed and keeping everything at 1mm and aligned.. ARGGHHH. I rebuilt each at least twice.. made a new vee for one of them (I bent it out of shape). Timbers down. Vee tacked in place. I don't think the plastic cement had set at this time. This picture also shows how misaligned the second turnout's timbers were. This was rectified QUICKLY, as later pics will show. Haha First turnout in-progress. Going together very well. Perhaps a bit less fussy than copperclad turnouts. Fewer burnt fingers for sure. Huzzah! I love the look of chaired track. So much better than solder blobs. Sorry everything looks a bit steamy. I think taking pictures during the daytime might help. (NOTE TO SELF: learn how to take better pictures) Graceful and gentle curve becoming more and more apparent. Confession (if your name is Martin Wynne don't read this): after the first turnout at the bit of track leading to the baseboard edge, I didn't follow Templot. I did it by eye. Yes, even the other turnout was curved and shaped largely by eye. The end result isn't too bad and isn't very far off the original templates. By now the long track (terminology: road?) was laid and wired and I was antsy to see it all in action. I'm not new to DCC but am new to wiring and new to NCE (my first *real* DCC system.. the EZ Command doesn't count). Thank goodness it worked. I would've quit then and there. Haha Unfortunately it took a long while to read through the manual.. funnily I never read that page in the photo. I think I flipped to it, went "better take a photo" and went to bed. First loco to run on the layout was my sound-equipped Rock Island FP7 in late 1960s freight livery. Magnificent runner. Unparalleled in my (small) fleet. It took 4 minutes to CRAWL the entire length of my layout at a scale 1 mph. Not a flicker, stutter, or jitter the whole time. I was tickled pink. I took a video of the inaugural run and might upload that to YouTube later. Wiring was done largely (cough) entirely with these tap-in or suitcase connectors. My first time wiring. They work. I'm happy. This picture is also a stunning example of how NOT to wire the Blue Point manual switch machines! If using these, please note that in this picture I had done it incorrectly. The blue and red wires going to the switch machines should be reversed. I only got away with the inaugural run because the green wire to my frog was attached with a cold joint. The wheelbase was long enough and I didn't spot the problem until I ran a shorter engine over the frog. Oops. Completed track. Woo! I think it turned out pretty good for doing most of it by eye. The angle distorts it a bit. In reality it's much closer to the Templot/Anyrail plan, as the cork was cut from a print-off of the Anyrail plan. From the other end. I overdid it on the glue. Hopefully paint will cover that up. Oddly the plastic cement seems to be going away slowly (this picture is about a week old). The white glue on the other hand did not. So proud. And now for some more trains: A famous visitor was pulled from her box tonight. She likes the Lokpilot that my Standard 4 utterly rejected. Pay no attention to the foreigner in the background. I really like this loco. Perhaps that's why it's been abused so much. "Each man kills the thing he loves" Broken speedo and the pipes on the other side gave up today. They just jumped off. Double suicide the police report said. But I got the screw-links fitted without hassle. Still need to figure out how to get her to play nice with the Lenz Silver mini I installed earlier today. One last shot. Guess who forgot to put the brake rodding back? So there it is. I hope to get more done on it in the coming weeks before I relocate for school. Jobs currently at the top of the list: --fiddle yard, I must build and wire and figure out how to attach it. --fitting 3-links onto the rest of my stock. Luckily I only have eight wagons and a brake van to do now. --getting a start on the bridge and cutting/valley. Are there any bridge styles that would help place the layout in a sleepy Hampshire village? Thanks for reading--I apologize once again for my photography and for the mess in the background which is actually not mine. Haha Quentin Edited June 13, 2015 by mightbe 26 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted May 24, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 24, 2015 A generous first post on your layout, with plenty of pictures, plenty of comment and some learning. And a Rock Island FP7. Crikey - what a mixture! There are some very good Southern layouts on RMweb, plus a number of us who have yet to have much worth showing. Plenty of people to answer your questions, so do ask away. More please. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeH_83 Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Looking good there, The proper sleeper spacing really does make all the difference when it comes to oo. I see your using oo-sf for the pointwork? I have a few questions about that, Do you mind if I send you a pm? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Like it so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 Thanks guys. I've been cutting wood for the fiddle yard stub today, and will hopefully get some more of the Smith couplings fitted tonight. Mike, sure. Fire away. You can put them here in the thread if you like. In fact I'd prefer it, in case any others drop by with similar questions on 00-SF. Also, be sure to check out the Handbuilding and Templot forum if you haven't already. Loads of information. Quentin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60012 Commonwealth of Australia Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Hi Quentin, Looks great! I may even end up doing one of these (inglenook's) when Dunoon is finished, so I can practice hand-laying track - while it is nice and easy to use Peco code 75 Finescale track, it isn't quite as good as the handlaid stuff! Do you have a specific period for the layout, or is there no specific period. Also, I must ask, what is a large Pacific such as Mallard doing on what is seemingly a small branchline? As always Rule 1 applies - it is your layout and you can run whatever the heck you want to - but I do think it looks slightly out of place. Keep up the good work! Peter 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted May 26, 2015 Author Share Posted May 26, 2015 (edited) ^ My fictional goods spur was opened shortly before 1900 and is slated to be closed at the end of 1966. The layout will hopefully capture the yard in its final months late summer/early fall of 1966 Re: Mallard--you'll also notice there's a Rock Island FP7 in 2 of the photos. Mallard was also introduced with the caption "a famous visitor has been pulled from her box" with mentions of a new decoder. Neither will run on the layout, but were/are out and about for various reasons. The keen-eyed among you have also caught that the brick wall and window in the background is about 76.2 times over-scale, and that the whole lot is placed on a football field sized slab of wood perched on an utterly massive ping pong table, so in my mind the least distressing thing about that photo is Mallard. The especially pedantic will have crucified me as 80121 isn't Southern Region at all. In fact it spent its entire career in Scotland, and I believe was allocated to Polmadie from 1961-on. Luckily the track is three-bolt BR (and even passes for 3-bolt LSWR), so I at least got something right. Quentin Edited May 26, 2015 by mightbe 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeH_83 Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Mike, sure. Fire away. You can put them here in the thread if you like. In fact I'd prefer it, in case any others drop by with similar questions on 00-SF. Also, be sure to check out the Handbuilding and Templot forum if you haven't already. Loads of information. Quentin Thanks, Well it might be a few silly questions but just to be sure.. I am thinking about using peco code 75 and peco points for the non scenic section and then c&l flexi and hand-built oo-sf points for the scenic section. I assume there will be no issue in working all these together besides the sleeper height on the peco stuff? As I'm using flexi track then I won't need the 3 point gauges (as they are out of stock at c&l) and will just need the other 2 types? I was thinking of going down this route to make oo look alot better and because I want new rtr models to run off the shelf especially as I'm going steam which is why I won't go for EM. Thanks 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted May 26, 2015 Author Share Posted May 26, 2015 (edited) 1. Absolutely no issue at all. 2. Mostly correct; you'll also need a 16.5 mm gauge for the rest of the turnout. I don't actually have a 16.2 mm gauge though, and have used my own bodge method with only the DOGA 16.5mm track gauge and an 00-SF check gauge. It works OK, but I only built two turnouts this way and would suggest if you're building any more to splash out on the 16.2 mm gauge as well. I forgot to order one and the international postage turned me off ordering just one item. I don't recommend my method but I'll include it anyway: V and wing rails first. Lay according to template. Use the check gauge to set both check rails. Set the stock rails at the common crossing off of the check rails using the DOGA track gauge. I.e., using the inner notch with its adjacent outer notch as the two are 1 mm apart (the minimum in 00-SF). If you lay it so that the gauge fits over the two rails and rests loosely on top of the V or wing rails you'll probably get a resulting track gauge very slightly wider than 16.2 mm, but the only critical dimension is the check gauge, which you will have set correctly using the corresponding gauge. You could also use a steel rule or something and set it so the gauge rests away from the common crossing--the DOGA gauge is symmetrical so it doesn't matter which really, but the latter way guarantees a 1 mm gap between the check and stock rails assuming the gauge is kept level. You must build in this sequence if you use forgo the 16.2 mm gauge (common crossing, then check rails, then stock rails), but again I cannot wholeheartedly recommend not using a 16.2 mm gauge. For total accuracy, aka the orthodox way, you'll need the two 00-SF roller gauges and a 16.5 mm roller gauge. I would still suggest laying from the common crossing "out" for ease and accuracy. Regardless you'll need a 16.5mm gauge to flare out to full gauge for the remaining 3/4 of each turnout. You flare into and out of the narrower gauge used at the common crossing. I went the 00-SF and handbuilt route for pretty much the same reason. If I lived in the UK I'd have gone the whole hog and done P4 though. Quentin Edited May 26, 2015 by mightbe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeH_83 Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 (edited) 1. Absolutely no issue at all. 2. Mostly correct; you'll also need a 16.5 mm gauge for the rest of the turnout. I don't actually have a 16.2 mm gauge though, and have used my own bodge method with only the DOGA 16.5mm track gauge and an 00-SF check gauge. It works OK, but I only built two turnouts this way and would suggest if you're building any more to splash out on the 16.2 mm gauge as well. I forgot to order one and the international postage turned me off ordering just one item. I don't recommend my method but I'll include it anyway: V and wing rails first. Lay according to template. Use the check gauge to set both check rails. Set the stock rails at the common crossing off of the check rails using the DOGA track gauge. I.e., using the inner notch with its adjacent outer notch as the two are 1 mm apart (the minimum in 00-SF). If you lay it so that the gauge fits over the two rails and rests loosely on top of the V or wing rails you'll probably get a resulting track gauge very slightly wider than 16.2 mm, but the only critical dimension is the check gauge, which you will have set correctly using the corresponding gauge. You could also use a steel rule or something and set it so the gauge rests away from the common crossing--the DOGA gauge is symmetrical so it doesn't matter which really, but the latter way guarantees a 1 mm gap between the check and stock rails assuming the gauge is kept level. You must build in this sequence if you use forgo the 16.2 mm gauge (common crossing, then check rails, then stock rails), but again I cannot wholeheartedly recommend not using a 16.2 mm gauge. For total accuracy, aka the orthodox way, you'll need the two 00-SF roller gauges and a 16.5 mm roller gauge. I would still suggest laying from the common crossing "out" for ease and accuracy. Regardless you'll need a 16.5mm gauge to flare out to full gauge for the remaining 3/4 of each turnout. You flare into and out of the narrower gauge used at the common crossing. I went the 00-SF and handbuilt route for pretty much the same reason. If I lived in the UK I'd have gone the whole hog and done P4 though. Quentin Thanks, I will make sure to add the 16.5mm gauge to the shopping list. I did nearly go p4 but because I'm doing a large layout and I don't know what my abilities are I decided it's safer to stick to oo for now for that layout at least. Cheers Edited May 26, 2015 by MikeH_83 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted May 27, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 27, 2015 (edited) Regardless you'll need a 16.5mm gauge to flare out to full gauge for the remaining 3/4 of each turnout. You flare into and out of the narrower gauge used at the common crossing. I know some users like to do it that way. But strictly speaking you need to flare out to 16.5mm only for the last inch or so at each end of a turnout. And not at all if you are hand-building 16.2mm plain track rather than using flexi-track. If you are building a complex formation containing several turnouts, slips, etc., it is much better to stick to 16.2mm all through, and only flare out where needed to join flexi-track. • Note also that when building a diamond-crossing or slip, you must stick to the same gauge all through between the V-crossings, and it must match the gauge for which you printed the template. Otherwise the rails will not align properly. regards, Martin. Edited May 27, 2015 by martin_wynne Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeH_83 Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 I know some users like to do it that way. But strictly speaking you need to flare out to 16.5mm only for the last inch or so at each end of a turnout. And not at all if you are hand-building 16.2mm plain track rather than using flexi-track. If you are building a complex formation containing several turnouts, slips, etc., it is much better to stick to 16.2mm all through, and only flare out where needed to join flexi-track. • Note also that when building a diamond-crossing or slip, you must stick to the same gauge all through between the V-crossings, and it must match the gauge for which you printed the template. Otherwise the rails will not align properly. regards, Martin. Thanks Martin, Yeah my thoughts was to have 16.2 at one sleeper, miss one and fix that at 16.5 and then when I glue the middle one it should flare out evenly I would have thought. Either way payday next week so I'll give it a go and see what happens. Anyway I don't wish to hijack this thread so back to topic.. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted May 29, 2015 Author Share Posted May 29, 2015 (edited) Back again. I've got the fiddle yard board built; no track or wires yet (soon!). In fact it will probably be operational tomorrow, after I head to the hardware store to pick up some suitable bolts. Also on the agenda is to get the turnouts working by knobs mounted into the fascia. Then the track should (fingers crossed) be ready for primer and paint. I hesitate to think how long it might take to get to the scenery. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As with everything else about the layout, it's very basic. Right now it's loosely clamped so I can have a brief sense of achievement. It's 30 inches long which is enough for an 8" loco, 5 wagons and a 20T brake van plus some wiggle room. Generally it will only be used as an extended headshunt and for off-scene wagon-swapping. It's deliberately long enough for a departing train to completely vanish from view. The guts/upturned view. Aforementioned clamp. I also got a few more 3-links fitted. They may not show up well in the picture but they're there--I swear. Also, I count 8 wagons, enough to play trai operate a classic 5-3-3 inglenook. Still a few more to do but those can wait a bit. I've also had a change of thought: moving the coal yard to the bottommost siding. This gives more working space on the long track and allows me to scootch the shed and crane to the left. Judging by the amount of coal traffic that even a smallish village would generate, this would be more adequate. There's space for three wagons plus a wagon's length of elbow-room. I've read that coal staithes were generally set back farther away from the track and coal was unloaded directly onto the ground and then shovelled back into the staithes. However from reading magazines it seems many place their staithes right up next to the track, backward, so that coal it can be unloaded directly into them before being bagged. Which should I do? Is the latter arrangement more correct for a dedicated coal siding (as opposed to the shared space in the earlier plan)? Quentin Edited May 29, 2015 by mightbe 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeH_83 Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Ironically there has been a debate about coal staithes and unloading etc on the British railway moddelling group on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/137680486384860/ I don't know if this link will take you too it or not https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207123874161767&set=gm.496598980493007&type=1&theater Anyway the argument is still going on and there is pictures to suggest both ways were used but the correct way as per guidelines was to build it away from the siding. I think you can get away with whichever you choose but i'm sure someone more knowledgeable will come along soon 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 (edited) I've got some pictures of the ultra-sophisticated turnout control system . I took pieces of brass welding rod, flattened one end somewhat (enough to have a flat surface to drill into), drilled out a 1/16" hole in each, opened the bore of the hold on each switch machine and used the smallest screws I had to hold it together. Knobs were epoxied onto the other end. EDIT: No the brass isn't touching either suitcase connector--it's close but I checked very carefully. There's about 3/32" space. It may look a bit hokey but it works well. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an overhead view. I think I was able to match the original plan pretty well considering I didn't use the Templot pages for 3/4 of it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a problem I haven't showed you before: apparently PVA vapors chemically react with nickel silver. Not really a problem except in some places (where I suspect the glue was slightly thicker) the yellow is on the railheads as well and the look is a bit odd (echoes of brass rail). Does anyone have any method of cleaning the tarnish off? I started a help thread here as well: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/99739-nickel-silver-tarnish/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fiddle yard extension is also done, but I don't have any good pictures at the moment--they all turned out fuzzy for some reason. Quentin Edited May 31, 2015 by mightbe 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60012 Commonwealth of Australia Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 (edited) I've got some pictures of the ultra-sophisticated turnout control system . I took pieces of brass welding rod, flattened one end somewhat (enough to have a flat surface to drill into), drilled out a 1/16" hole in each, opened the bore of the hold on each switch machine and used the smallest screws I had to hold it together. Knobs were epoxied onto the other end. 35.JPG 36.JPG EDIT: No the brass isn't touching either suitcase connector--it's close but I checked very carefully. There's about 3/32" space. 37.JPG It may look a bit hokey but it works well. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39.JPG This is an overhead view. I think I was able to match the original plan pretty well considering I didn't use the Templot pages for 3/4 of it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 34.JPG This is a problem I haven't showed you before: apparently PVA vapors chemically react with nickel silver. Not really a problem except in some places (where I suspect the glue was slightly thicker) the yellow is on the railheads as well and the look is a bit odd (echoes of brass rail). Does anyone have any method of cleaning the tarnish off? I started a help thread here as well: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/99739-nickel-silver-tarnish/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fiddle yard extension is also done, but I don't have any good pictures at the moment--they all turned out fuzzy for some reason. Quentin I have had the same problem with PVA on Dunoon. I am leaving it in place however, as it will be covered by weathering when i get around to ballasting. An alternative is just to keep it as is, as I find it actually dulls the look of the rails and makes it look a lot better than the shiny rails. Undoubtedly you will at some stage be/need to weather the rails, as would be appropriate for a mid 60s siding, so that will cover it up later. Hope this helps Peter EDIT - For the top of the rails, I just used 240 grit sandpaper, which cleaned it off in a couple of passes, leaving the rail tops as shiny as brand new track. Edited June 3, 2015 by 60012 Commonwealth of Australia Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 This is coming along nicely. I look forward to following your progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 (edited) Back again with VISIBLE progress. Woot. The track has been primed, base coat has been sprayed, and the both sides of the rails and chairs brushed with a suitable rust color. I'm still trying to get a bit of paint off the rails, and whatever the eye misses the camera exploits through cruel magnification. It looks like I'll spend tomorrow touching-up. Impressed with myself for getting the rails hand painted in only two days, I forged ahead with figuring out ballast. The goal is ash and cinders ballast with some variation thrown in for variety. The base material is Woodland Scenics fine ballast--1 bag of cinders and 1 bag of bluff that had been colored with flat black spray paint (tedious process). Here's the result, just sort of dumped onto the area to get the effect. What do you think of the ballast? (I'll be fixing ballast the way Gordon S does, i.e. painting in white glue and sprinkling) With the ballast I'm getting a bit ahead of myself--the ties/sleepers still need to be drybrushed a bit to bring back a nice woody look and get some variation going. The paint mostly covered up the fine molding, except for the areas I had attacked with a metal pick. I'm not entirely happy with the finish or color of the sleepers, but I think it will work once drybrushed, ballasted, and weathered. After it's weathered the whole lot will get a spray of dullcoat to hide any remaining shine (so much for being "flat" paint). The paint is a bit darker and browner than in the photos, but on the second one I tried to make sure that the ballast was spot-on. EDIT: And I promise that some time I will use a real camera and take pictures with real lighting. Quentin Edited June 12, 2015 by mightbe 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted June 13, 2015 Author Share Posted June 13, 2015 (edited) After the other night, I was eager to ballast (not words heard often). Brief experimentation on a short piece of spare flex track told me to forget dry brushing and just skip straight to powders. I'm following this process, moving along about 6" at a time so that at any moment I have 6" of each step completed. First I give a general but heavy brushing of grays, yellow-grays, and black-yellows all over the (painted) track, in an effort to tone everything down. Then seal it with a can of matte finish. I go again with the grays and yellows (this time mostly separately to get more variation) and after I'm convinced that most of the shine is gone and everything is dull, I seal it a second time. Immediately wipe the running surfaces with IPA both before spraying and after (taking care not to remove any paint or powder from the check and wing rails). The heavy application of grays mutes frankly alarming colors that I had painted. Second I paint in undiluted white glue/PVA in between the ties. After about 6" of glue is in place and I've gotten any stray glue off the rails or sleepers, I lightly sprinkle on my peppery ballast mix and almost immediately vacuum the excess off, catching it with the cut off foot of a pair of pantyhose. This is the way Gordon S does it and I wouldn't do it any other way now that I've tried it. Mind you, I would only use it for thin-sleepered, scale-spaced track. Once the glue is dry I use a largeish paintbrush to "stab" in black weathering powder/chalk near and between the rails, and continue this process with dark gray mixes, trying to keep the darkest colors in the middle. Light "stabbing" of some grays and yellows along the edges adds contrast and a quick brushing to blend. I wouldn't recommend trying to mix everything in the ballast as the powders cling quite strongly and mixing is nearly impossible. Thoroughly wipe the rails with IPA, dust on some matte finish, and build up more and more layers of powders. Rinse/repeat This shows the track after step two. In the extreme far corner you can see a tiny bit of track that hasn't had any powders added at all. At this point I hadn't started on the final coloring and the paint's still shining a bit. The effect after the third step x2 (I think). I still wouldn't call it "done" but it's getting there and I'm liking it. NOTE: this is the view from the back of the layout so that conspicuous dropper won't be visible. The one that looks just like it on the other side will. The other happy benefit of using powder is that the powder starts to fill-in areas without completely losing its texture--a good technique for ash and cinders ballast. Quentin Edited June 13, 2015 by mightbe 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 (edited) Quick check-in to show some recent progress: Got all the track ballasted, weathered, and am finishing touch-up where overzealous ballast picking (from under the rails) removed a bit of paint. EDIT: Almost forgot (even though it's right in the picture)-- I also glued down some cork which will support the coal yard. A layer of DAS to come as soon as I have the courage. Also the removeable backdrop is nearly ready to attach. I've used some spare 1.5" square angle iron, drilled a some holes and threaded some to accept the bolts that will hold on the aluminum sheet. I can't take credit for using aluminum flashing as a backdrop--I've nicked the idea from Lance Mindheim. I'll upload some pictures when it's done. Quentin Edited June 24, 2015 by mightbe 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 The goods yard and coal yard have been more or less completed in terms of surfacing, though I think I'll touch them up with some more browns and yellows to add a bit more dirt color. From above the color looks like a gray plastic (eek) but from lower angles all looks *okay*. Also, there's been a change of venue; it was a nice sunny day so I took the layout outside to the patio table. I didn't take any in progress pictures this time (usually I do but they're so bad I don't use them). I used DAS clay that I worked into 1/16" thick blobs and pressed them down onto a very thin layer of Elmer's glue, working them into their neighbor blobs until it was one continuous surface. To get it reasonably level I pressed hard with the broad side of a small piece of 2" by 4". For the texture I pressed a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper into the clay with the rounded handle of a screwdriver and the outward sides of my hands, smoothing patches of uneven clay out and adding the texture. A day later, after all was dry (or very nearly dry) I brushed on heavily thinned flat black enamel with a sponge brush. This was done several times until coverage was good, without letting the surface dry in between brushings. Afterwards I used a large brush to work in some ground up weathering chalks. Black as a base coat first, giving the look of fresh tarmac, followed by a deluge of grays. More brown color is needed over both areas, but I need to make a supply run soon to get more yellow and brown chalks. And now a few pictures of stock (mostly unweathered) plonked into semi-realistic places. The main thing is the aged tarmac, which I think I caught fairly well for a first attempt. Like I said the colors look all wrong from a bird's eye view. It's amazing what a bit of light can do for photo quality! Quentin 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Great stuff, Quentin. Small but beautifully formed as they say. Now following. Regards, Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightbe Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 (edited) Many thanks to the button clickers and Brian, the combined effect persuading me to get some visible progress done. I wouldn't call it perfect, but it's finally coming together. Apologies now for the return of the bad photographs; it's been too wet to risk a trip outside. Work continues apace on the supersized microlayout, with much progress to report. Sadly this may be the last update for a while, as I'll be relocating back to Cincinnati within a week. The backdrop is finally moving FORWARD. The aluminum flashing idea from Lance Mindheim ended up being a complete failure and set the progress on the scenery back at least a week if not two. The flashing could not support itself and bowed and flexed all over the place. While it seemed like a good idea I had to let it go (and only cost $10 in flashing). Bottlenecking occurred because both chucks of 'hillage' had to follow the curve of the backdrop, and I KNEW I wasn't going to be able to match the aluminum's curve with the masonite so I didn't touch the scenery until I was happy with how the more-conventional replacement was looking. Ultimately the curve achieved with steaming and clamped-on weights was very close to the what had been done with aluminum. Then a small hole was cut with a coping saw to let the board sit level without resting on the rails. I ended up reusing the system that I'd done for the aluminum sheet: (photo taken from before the excess masonite was trimmed off the end) A small piece of angle iron with two holes drilled through it, one on each 'side'. One of the 1/4" holes was then threaded with a tappet set to allow the backdrop to simply be bolted without accessing the other side, ideal for the 4 mounts hidden under hillside: (the bolt from the back side) It looks pretty good. The hole for stock to pass through has been carefully cut to closely match the bridge arch, or at least prevent the edges from being seen at eye level from 90% of angles. The basic Wills kit is seen above in an early stage, built to a skew (don't ask me the angle; I eyeballed it and copied the angle and its supplement onto styrene sheet ) An early view of the developing hillside, created from 1" insulation foam. Most of the third layer was removed before being glued into place and further shaped with a serrated knife, rasp, and coarse sandpaper. UNPICTURED: The backdrop has been painted plain Sky Blue (That's the actual name on the can and seems to meet all expectations! Haha). On the other side a small cluster of buffer stops have cropped up (by way of Lanarkshire Models). When I had originally selected the Lanarkshire SR buffers it wasn't clear whether the running rails in the picture were physically the same piece of whitemetal as the sides, and upon receipt I was a bit frustrated to find that there were in fact integral pieces. Foolishly I decided that even with my limited skills I could snip and file off every trace of the faux rail and simply plop the superglued side-assemblies onto the ends of the flextrack. Foolish me did not realize that the whitemetal "rail" was considerably thinner than the C&L code 75, and the first side-assembly had to be forced in-situ to fit around the rail. You can *almost* see the terrific disaster that that led to on the closest side of the middle buffer stop. Undeterred I then took the unassembled side pieces and carefully filed away extra space to accomodate the scale-width rail (this must be the only instance of any model component being underscale, with the obvious exception of Peco code 75 flatbottom rail). In the end I accidentally mangled one of the triangular pieces that I'd removed from the faux rail. Otherwise they seem to have turned out --OK-- and I'm reasonably happy with them. Up-close viewing and photography will be, however, strictly avoided. Hopefully I can disguise my ham-fisted attempts with some static grass and smallish clusters of Woodland Scenics foam (the product name escapes me at the moment). This should be passable in the broad stripes, as the spur is slated for closure within the coming year and BR would be unlikely to devote any further money on it for their famously effective weed-killer. (I've read that the base chemical was one of the two compounds used in Agent Orange? Can anyone confirm?) Additionally, some limited weeding will happen in between the tracks of the goods yard. In other news, some unlikely weather has struck Hampshire, along with a nearly completed bridge! I'm quite happy with how the bridge turned out. Though I'd initially planned to paint it the way Gordon S had done his walls for an early ET (using the technique of another modeller whose name I cannot recall), it ended up being a total bodge.The speed of the evolving-on-the-fly process prevented me from working more closely to pictures I'd found of some similar bridges in Southern England. Powders and some much-needed dullcoat will hopefully complete it. ________________________________________________________________________ And now for an overview showing the general shape of the plaster-white "snowdrifts" (I promise some brown paint will come SOON, the glare off the plaster gauze has ruined the photos something fierce): Finally, a low-angle shot I liked. Methinks this could become a prime spot to take pictures of shunting. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and sorry for the delay! Quentin Edited July 22, 2015 by mightbe 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Looking impressive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Track work looks great as does the ground cover Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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