Hello all, thought id share my new exhibition project with you, Thornton Gate.
Before you read on, please bear in mind that this project is only about 50% finished and the photos uploaded are of the early work and not the end product!
Right.... I've been modelling BR modern image in 00 for about 10 years now, a few years back I was on the old RM web where I showed my former 00 exhibition layout Headington Junction. Well a lot has changed since then, graduating from Uni being one of them!
I have for a while now wanted to get back onto the exhibition scene, but was getting tired of 00, and really felt i wanted to do something new and very different.... the answer, DCC fitted Blackpool Trams in N gauge! What a challenge!
Ive never been a tram or bus fan so this was something very new, I did however in 2007 have an opportunity to visit Cleveleys, and whilst there I visited the P'way sidings at Thornton Gate. Enginnering sidings have always interested me and so I took a few photos, not really thinking i would one day build a layout based on them.... In many ways im glad i did take these shots, as the next time I visited the area, April of this year (2012) it had all but gone as Thornton Gate had been upgraded along with the rest of the Blackpool tramway.
Above: Views of the p'way yard at Thornton Gate as it was in 2007
With these images and a large amount of research, I started late last year my new exhibition layout Thornton Gate in N gauge... and hit problems!
I was amazed that apart from the rather small Oxford Die-cast tram and infamous matchbox typhoo tea tram there was nothing available... So I decided to make my own, as you do.
Starting with the Bachmann brill trolly as a base, I first had to figure out a way to fit a 6-pin DCC chip, the brills having a live split chassis this was less then easy and some rather expensive lessons were learnt the hard way, but after a while I found a way that worked as was able to convert a small number of brill chassises over to DCC.
Above: A standard and a DCC converted chassis.
Above: The underside of the DCC converted Brill chassis, showing the self adhesive copper tape used for the bogie pickups.
Next where the body shells, for now I've picked two prototypes, the Jubilee class and my favourite the English Electric Balloon class. Using some drawings and a bit of guess work, I drew up the two classes on computer before printing onto card then using these as templates to cut sheet plastic card then after a few weeks of work created the first master prototypes in N gauge.
The next step was to create moulds from these masters to create clear cast resin duplicates. As this was something Id never done before my girlfriend offered to help, and got me some time at her uni workshops in stoke-on-trent, where the toolings where made for each tram.
I then used clear cast resin to cast a number of tram shells, so far ive only painted 2 and these still require pantograths and transfers, both of which im still to make from scratch.
Above: Freshly casted balloon trams sitting on converted brill chassises.
Above: Painted Jubilee and Balloon trams (still not finished) stand next to a matchbox typhoo N gauge(ish) tram, showing the size in comparison.
Above: The advantage of DCC! what will become Balloon 726 is seen with its directional lighting in operation with fellow class mates yet to be painted, but all fully operational, all stabled on Thornton Gate's centre road .
Above: A close up of 726, which will look so much better once its been finished and has its front bumpers and pantograth fitted!
As for buildings, Im slowly working my way though these, and due to the nature of the buildings around this area have been designing my own card kits from scratch, the first of which is for Thornton Gate's distinctive pink station house seen here in a more recent photo taken in April 2012.
And my card version of the building in place on the layout, again like everything else not finished yet...
Right well I think that's about it for now... here's one more shot of the whole layout, which I admit is somewhat chaotic at the moment, havent even began to build the scenics, currently the colours have been mostly blocked in waiting for scatters to be applied and lot of weathering!
Due to the cost involved in creating tooling and developing kits I am looking at making available some of the card kits and resin tram shells if there is enough interest.
Thornton Gate will be making its exhibition début next month (July 2012) more details shortly, and i'll keep this post updated as the work continues.
Hope you like what you've seen , and thanks for reading!
Hello all, thought id share my new exhibition project with you, Thornton Gate. Before you read on, please bear in mind that this project is only about 50% finished and the photos uploaded are of the early work and not the end product! Right.... I've been modelling BR modern image in 00 for about 10 years now, a few years back I was on the old RM web where I showed my former 00 exhibition layout Headington Junction. Well a lot has changed since then, graduating from Uni being one of them! I have for a while now wanted to get back onto the exhibition scene, but was getting tired of 00, and really felt i wanted to do something new and very different.... the answer, DCC fitted Blackpool Trams in N gauge! What a challenge! Ive never been a tram or bus fan so this was something very new, I did however in 2007 have an opportunity to visit Cleveleys, and whilst there I visited the P'way sidings at Thornton Gate. Enginnering sidings have always interested me and so I took a few photos, not really thinking i would one day build a layout based on them.... In many ways im glad i did take these shots, as the next time I visited the area, April of this year (2012) it had all but gone as Thornton Gate had been upgraded along with the rest of the Blackpool tramway. Above: Views of the p'way yard at Thornton Gate as it was in 2007 With these images and a large amount of research, I started late last year my new exhibition layout Thornton Gate in N gauge... and hit problems! I was amazed that apart from the rather small Oxford Die-cast tram and infamous matchbox typhoo tea tram there was nothing available... So I decided to make my own, as you do. Starting with the Bachmann brill trolly as a base, I first had to figure out a way to fit a 6-pin DCC chip, the brills having a live split chassis this was less then easy and some rather expensive lessons were learnt the hard way, but after a while I found a way that worked as was able to convert a small number of brill chassises over to DCC. Above: A standard and a DCC converted chassis. Above: The underside of the DCC converted Brill chassis, showing the self adhesive copper tape used for the bogie pickups. Next where the body shells, for now I've picked two prototypes, the Jubilee class and my favourite the English Electric Balloon class. Using some drawings and a bit of guess work, I drew up the two classes on computer before printing onto card then using these as templates to cut sheet plastic card then after a few weeks of work created the first master prototypes in N gauge. The next step was to create moulds from these masters to create clear cast resin duplicates. As this was something Id never done before my girlfriend offered to help, and got me some time at her uni workshops in stoke-on-trent, where the toolings where made for each tram. I then used clear cast resin to cast a number of tram shells, so far ive only painted 2 and these still require pantograths and transfers, both of which im still to make from scratch. Above: Freshly casted balloon trams sitting on converted brill chassises. Above: Painted Jubilee and Balloon trams (still not finished) stand next to a matchbox typhoo N gauge(ish) tram, showing the size in comparison. Above: The advantage of DCC! what will become Balloon 726 is seen with its directional lighting in operation with fellow class mates yet to be painted, but all fully operational, all stabled on Thornton Gate's centre road . Above: A close up of 726, which will look so much better once its been finished and has its front bumpers and pantograth fitted! As for buildings, Im slowly working my way though these, and due to the nature of the buildings around this area have been designing my own card kits from scratch, the first of which is for Thornton Gate's distinctive pink station house seen here in a more recent photo taken in April 2012. And my card version of the building in place on the layout, again like everything else not finished yet... Right well I think that's about it for now... here's one more shot of the whole layout, which I admit is somewhat chaotic at the moment, havent even began to build the scenics, currently the colours have been mostly blocked in waiting for scatters to be applied and lot of weathering! Due to the cost involved in creating tooling and developing kits I am looking at making available some of the card kits and resin tram shells if there is enough interest. Thornton Gate will be making its exhibition début next month (July 2012) more details shortly, and i'll keep this post updated as the work continues. Hope you like what you've seen , and thanks for reading!
