Anthony Ashley

Dear All, Work has begun again at a frantic pace. I have managed to cover the small mountain or hill from the Bangor side of the layout. Coffee is my cover of choice with a dash of tea to add more contrast, Photos are below I am about to buy a 55 kV Green keeper grass applicator for grass and weeds. Best place seems to be in Germany. Anyone know of a good supplier in the UK. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Simon, thanks for the idea, but the paper is rock hard ans is not going to move of the mesh, It is very secure. I have had a busy week end but added a little further relief to the mountain in a couple of spots to create deeper and longer gullies IAW the photos I have. The photos of the efforts are below. Looking at painting the underside of the mountain IAW the suggestion by Simon next to minimise moisture effects. The maybe painting but perhaps plaster. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, A very hot day making working on the paper mache quite difficult, particularly when I was at the top of the shed on a ladder for most of it. 2 hours was as much as I could handle during the day as the heat was just too much so close to the roof! I have completed another layer over the whole of the section being worked on. That is about 4 layers for the top half and five for the bottom. Perhaps another layer on the top half. I have enclosed photos of behind the mountain to show how the supports are holding it up. The other shots are of the area still to be started. It is just about the same size as what I have done so far, but much much steeper in gradient. Another layer of paper mache and then I need to decide my next step. Do I bother to put plaster on at all or just use the paper mache and foam as my surface to add dirt, sand and colour? Any thoughts would be appreciated from the wise knowledge base reading this blog. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, A fairly quiet day with another layer added to the lowest pat of the paper mache. I have included photos with my faithful double decker bus to give a sense of scale. Bus on the upper road below the cliff. Bus on the rail viaduct. Bus on the lower path. REgrads, Anthony Ashley

Simon and Lez, Thanks very much for the encouraging comments. I shall do some more work on the layout today, mainly paper mache. Ross has sent me some photos to publish on the blog to give an idea of the possibilities using plaster molds to create a cliff area. Simon we thought these photos of Ross's layout would give you better idea of one possible option. Photos are below. These are not of my layout but from Ross. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear Simon, My thoughts on using the plaster casts was that they more provide a more realistic finish for the cliff face. But I shall assess over time. I am really not sure if they will look better or not. 1st layer of paper mache has now been completed for the lower area. I am happy with the effect and the blending from wire to foam. Needed to ensure that the paper was well secured to the foam to educe lines. I shall continue the papering process with probably about 8 hours of work to complete it, Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, Further work on the foam and wire for the mountain. I have ply supports at the back of the foam to attach staples to hold the wire, I did a little experimentation with some plaster cats as possible cliff face instead of the foam. They would be attached by a hot glue gun if I use this technique in at least some areas. Did a little more sculpting and stapled the wire to the ply supports. Then cut the excess wire. Photos are below. A few of the flat plaster casts which could be used to make at least some of the cliff face. Ply has been added behind the foam and the wire stapled onto the ply and foam, with excess foam trimmed off. I have not yet finished the stapling process stapling and trimming the foam so more of that tomorrow. Then onto paper mache on the area between the bottom road and the top of the foam. All comments suggestions or ideas are very welcome. Regards, Anthony yAshley

Dear All, A team of 30 men have been working tirelessly on the Penyclip rock face over the course of the day setting explosives and chiselling out the rock face for the placement of the road viaduct. It is unclear if the chief engineer is content with the amount of material removed but future surveying will be required as the viaduct is being constructed to determine if they have completed the task. No lives were lost and the amount of debris at the base of the cliff is significant. the photos attest to the large amount off explosives involved in the removal of the debris. Photos of the days excavation are below!!! The Welsh appear to be quite adverse to publicity as none of the miners would appear on camera!!! Any comments on whether you think I should call back the miners for extra work would be appreciated. The wire will go to just below the top of the foam. Regards, Anthony Ashley

John, I have not yet purchased any TT so would consider very strongly your recommendations. As you have no doubt seen I have much to do before I get to that point, but slow and steady is the order of the day! I have been using ESU decoders, so imagine that would be a good option for a TT. Sarah and I will be coming to Canada some time after Jul this year after my retirement. The only plans to date are that we will be seeing her relatives in Victoria and doing a Rocky Mountain train trip. Everything else is still up for consideration. I have said I would like to have a thorough recon of what is in Canada before committing to any specific COA, as I do not have a great idea on what is where. The internet will be my friend in working out what we should see. Regards, Anthony Ashley

John, You are absolutely correct, a slip of the key board. I thought laser cutting and typed 3D printing. Perhaps age is creeping up on me!! I am thinking of getting one on retirement in Jul. Regards. Anthony Ashley

John, Just enjoyed looking at you video of the turn table operation. Your video made it very clear on the operation of the turn table and was excellent. Thanks very much. I have one on my layout and given I will be running TC Gold I have a lot to learn! The vision of the trains running followed by the electronic ops made it all very clear. I may need to fly you out from Canada to Australia. I think my wife and I will be travelling to Canada later in the year after July!! Keep up the great modelling. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Simon, You have a great idea in sourcing a 3D printer to do the road viaduct. I shall have to look around and see what I can find in Australia. Thanks for your assistance, as always you are really helpful. I have been working on the foam behind and underneath the road viaduct. I cut and glued the horizontal foam, as I needed to raise the area by the 30ml. Once the horizontal elements had been secured I cut and glued the 30ml sections to reach to the bottom of the mountain. Photos are below. Bottom horizontal sections cut and glued with weights added . There is a 30ml gap to the front with a stone wall sitting below the road viaduct. Vertical section cut , glued and with clamps to secure them. Note the Gorilla glue in the fore ground, used to secure the foam to nearly any surface. Glue has taken with clamps removed. Next will be sculpting the foam to create a steep rather than sheep slope. Once that it is completed I need to cut back excess wire and secure it. Then paper mache time for the lower area. If any Australian readers have any contacts for 3D printing could you please add an entry to the blog. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, I have spent today adding in 3 further vertical supports for the large mountain. The wire allowed too much movement in the middle area. The addition of 3 more supports as shown in the photos below stabilise the whole upper structure. It is amazing how long such processes take. I have about 15 supports now under the mountain. I may need a few more on the Penmaenmawr side. I am going add foam to insert between the mountain and the road viaduct. I am going to use Ratio viaduct piers but make the viaduct carriageway out of ply, as the Ration viaduct structure does not recreate the oval shape between the piers. All of the arches I have seen in kits for viaducts are half circles arches. I can not find any other manufacturer for N gauge which comes close to the oval arch shape. I thought I would create a card board template, trace it out on ply and then hand cut with a fret saw both sides of the viaduct carriage way. This will be an exacting and difficult task to match the viaduct sides exactly. The arches are 80 feet in real life so quite large. If anyone knows of any close matches available commercially please let me know. I have realised that I do not have enough room between the road viaduct and the rail viaduct, so will add a few blocks of wood to the back of the frame to support the wire supports and push the road viaduct back into the mountain. This will also increase the slope between the 2 roads, which is closer to the real thing. Once the foam is inserted I shall continue with the paper mache on the lower areas. Regards, Any comments criticisms or ideas are greatly appreciated. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Peter, Thank you very much for your photos and contribution to the blog. The photos of the recreation are fascinating and those of the cars exceptional. If any one else has photos of North Wales in the 60s, particularly showing cars I would be very interested in seeing them on the blog, if the readers are able to do so. I have a number of period vehicles numbering 31 larger vehicles such as trucks, buses and caravans. I have about 60 normal size vehicles, so this makes approx 90 vehicles for the 3 towns I am modelling, or about 30 per town. I probably need a few more. I have recognised some of the vehicles in the photo you have provided of the cars. Photos are below. I have 4 versions of this model in different paint schemes. These two are very similar to the ones in the back ground. As raised above if anyone has 60s photos showing cars in North Wales I would love to see them. Part of my prior research was to get photos from the historical societies of the towns being modelled. I acquired quite a few using this method. I have now put 3 layers over the area being paper mached in the last post. Probably about another 3 to 5 to go. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Scotty, Your enthusiasm is infectious, but not sure how long this process will take. I have doe a significant patch over about 8 hours but only one or 2 layers. I think I shall need up to 6!!. The top section was done using rather watered down glue and was not as stable as the bit added last night which used much stronger strength mixture. I shall continue with the stronger mix as it provides a much higher level of stability. Given the structure is so large I did the very top but found I needed greater stability in the lower section just above the higher road. I let the top dry out over 10 hours and recommenced last night. Photos are below. I have added a brown land rover on the first curve on the road below the paper mache section to give a sense of scale. I tried photos with the land rover on the paper mache but it was lost in the scale of the photo. I have checked the latest work and it is well dry, so can continue the process. The whole structure is now much more stable as all of the wire between the top of the layout and the road, which are my stable points is covered in paper. With another 5 layers it should be very stable!!! Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, Work has commenced on the large mountain. I have started the process of paper mache. It has been about 35 degrees Celsius in Brisbane today and about 90% humidity so the work at the top of the shed was to say the least hot. I had great assistance from Ross. A few picture are below. The structure needs to dry to assess stability. The starting work area is at the top of the ladder and not all that comfortable!! I was told to look at the camera! I shall let what I have done dry out and then assess how it looks. Regatrds, Anthony Ashley

John, With the passage of many many months I forgot how inspiring your layout is in terms of detail and really interesting highlights. I particularly enjoyed seeing the static steam engine and the engine cleaning crew. They add much atmosphere to the layout with each vignette in your layout part of an overall story. I shall be a more proactive viewer over the next 12 months. Regards, Anthony Ashley Welsh Dragon rail

Yes that was my plan with a lever frame located at each station goods yard. You would need to be standing there to manage the shunting in N gauge!!!! Regards, Anthony

John and St Enodoc, My plan is to computerise all of the main line points and the first section into the goods lines of each station for Conwy, Penmaenmawr and Bangor. Only the rest of the goods yards will be wire and tube and hence need a lever frame. For Bangor this will still require a significant number of points. My apologioes for adding comments on my layout to to the St Enodoc blog, so I shall keep it short. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Scotty, Thanks for the encouraging comments. I hope your Christmas brought great joy to you and your family and that you will enjoy a very successful 2019. My same thoughts to all who read this blog. I have secured the all road surfaces to the supports so am ready for the next stage. Ross is over tomorrow to help support the wire into the correct shape while I add a 1,000 or so staples to secure it to the under surface of the road. If we finish that it is onto the paper mache. Simon I shall follow your advice and paint the under-surface of the paper mache. A busy train day modelling tomorrow. Regards, Anthony Ashley

St Enodoc, I have not looked at the model rail sites in the last 6 months due to work pressures. I have looked through yours recently and was very impressed with the lever frame. A very large engineering job, and one I am sure you were happy to finish. It looks fantastic. I was interested in your comment that the best arrangement you could come up with was to virtually replicate the real thing. I have to do large lever frame for Bangor and not sure if I should interlock it or not any thoughts either way. I look forward to your further progress in 2018. All the best Anthony Ashley

Dear Simon, thanks again for your insightful comments. I really appreciate the feedback, as posting in a vacuum is much less fun than getting the odd response which keeps me interested and active. I think the vertical distances in this case are about right, although I do normally exagerate the vertical differences in height, as in N gauge unless you do so they are almost impossible to notice, especially with the viewing distances involved. I have taken a screen shot to show the area under construction and think the overall balance of the landscape with vertical differences looks about right,with maybe a few liberties taken. In this photo I have shown most of the road area under construction in view. This shot shows the start of the road divide, as far as I have gone. This shot shows the upper road in place at the top of the photo. The posts with nothing on them are at about the height of the road viaduct, which has yet to be constructed. I am thinking of using Ratio N gauge viaduct piers and then building the carriageway. Shot from the other side of the layout. I have put a cardboard strip to better show the height of the viaduct supported road. . I now have to put the chicken wire between the supports and the roads. I shall staple the chicken wire and then screw the roads. I then need to shape the wire. Once this is complete the paper mache process can begin. I may also plaster the mountain which has already had paper mache applied to see how it goes. All comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear Simon, Thanks for your reply. It has been a long time between entries but I am back in the swing!!! I spent today reworking the plan for western Penmaenmawr in order to properly fit in the mountain, roads and as many of the western Penmaenmawr buildings as possible. This meant deleting some buildings, chopping off some of the actual western part of Penmanmawr and realigning the road to fit in the mountain supports and all of the road space. The reworked plan is below. The road had to be curved to fit in the height of the mountain. I need to secure the roads to stabilise the wire before I add the paper mache. The mountain will be a huge task to finish. I have added most of the track supports but have two more to go. These support the start of the divided road section As the model is set in 1960 the freeway is not yet in existence. The section being held down by the drill needs to be cut down the middle for most of its length to create the higher and lower road. The lower road will connet to the road viaduct. Each road section will be screwed to the supports with the wire sandwiched between the two to secure it. I need to cut and secure the remaining 2 supports and the road base to the supports. All comments are most welcome. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear Faza, My apologies for not getting back to you earlier. My promises of retiring in Jul of 2018 have not worked out as expected. I have had an extremely busy year back filling someone in a prior job I have done. This has resulted in one of my busiest 6 months in my job. Even though I have been back in Brisbane I have had nearly 3 months away in the last 8 months, This has included remote exercise areas in North Queensland and three trips to Papua New Guinea. In between these trips I was preparing material for overseas and managing domestic issues. Time has been of a premium with no time for my model railway. I went on leave on 21 Dec and am off till 16 Jan. I am now retiring in Jul 19 but expect solid work on the layout over the next 6 months. My train colleague Ross came over today to inspire me to kick on with more modelling in the shed and it worked. I stripped back the removable mountain which I covered in cloth and plaster, Simon in his prior comment was exactly correct, the plaster was too brittle over the chicken wire. I further experimented today with the assistance of Ross, We tried a newspaper base soaked in a 50/50 mixture of aquadere (white wood working glue) and water. The base is very much tighter stronger and more stable with hardly any movement in the paper mache base. As recommended Simon you were quite right! The other advantage is the weight which is next to nothing. A thin layer f plaster should complete the effect. Photos of my work are below. You will have to trust how much stronger the base is. Once I have done a little more with the removable hill I need to set up the roads on the bottom of the layout at Pen-y-clip and then plaster the large mountain at the bottom of the lay out. Regards, Anthony Ashley

LAYOUT UPDATE 12 Aug 18 Dear All, Completed first layer of the material dipped in pigmented plaster. With quite a good effect. The structure is still very light and movable with the hidden track underneath. I shall try another layer today. I did the initial layer with the hill in situ, but it is difficult to reach so now I know it works will remove and do the next layer in a more convenient location. I used a bucket with a piece of dowling to wipe the material of excess plaster. Photos are below. I shall put some scrunched newspaper behind to push the wire forward before the next layer so that the supports are less visible. Regards, Anthony