Newtz1981

Sorry about the lack of posts everyone. I have been working on the layout, mainly adding weathering detail to the ballast, etc. Nothing that I can put photos up for anyway. I'm also getting closer to my UK visit and with work on top of that I haven't had much time to do a lot of modelling over the past month. However, this will change soon, so stay tuned

Hi Simon, Ironically they are in as far and as tight as they will go. Bachmann Brassworks supplied the loco like this. It may have been the same with other models of that tie, as this was one of the first RTR 7mm locos they had produced by the then 'new' San Cheng company. They look big and out of scale, etc, however for now I can live with it.

Using the Humbrol 'Rust' wash paint I have given all the rails and chairs a going over on board #1 (pits and shed). The result looks amazing!! I took a few photos of the 4F to show how the rails now look. I think that this is starting to look very very realistic indeed.

Working on the shed and pit area I have made up a mix of talcum powder and PVA glue. This has been spread between the rails and either side of the track to give the representation of built up soot which has become smooth with oil, grease, etc. This (I think) will end the use of the talcum on this board, although I know I will use it in areas on board #2 as well. Final painting with overall matt black will take place when it is all dry and then I can start to weather this board, get the pit walls in and work out how to make a start on the shed building - as it will be the first scratch built model I've produced.

Well I've been busy yesterday (Easter Monday) on the layout again. This time I have been working on the pit area and shed flooring. I really wanted to break away from the ply wood look and bring the texture to that of concrete. To achieve this I have adopted a technique from Steve Fay. Steve used talcum powder on his Cardiff Canton layout and I thought that this would make a great texture for the floor of the loco pit area, where the coal dust, oil and grime had been gathering. I stared on the first 3 pits and then after they were done I covered the last 3 pits. Here are some images of how it has been coming along. And here is what it looks like when the floor is painted matt black. I think the texture looks brilliant! On another note, I have made all the walls for the pits now and they have all been painted and weathered (see above for the result of the first few). Next step with the pits is to create the flooring and then build the pit steps, which I'm thinking of doing using Balsa wood. I'll keep you all posted

Being Easter Sunday I didn't get much chance to do a lot of modelling, however this morning I was able to complete two more sets of pit walls. That is 3 pits completed now, and 3 more to build.

I've started to experiment with puddles. I've seen ways of doing it before in magazines using glass, PVA, etc, however I thought I'd be a little creative. So I grabbed a 'Glad' resealable plastic bag, sprayed one side of it with matt black paint and then let it dry. After that I cut out a small piece and glued it black-side-down to my little test piece. I then covered the edge and a little part in the middle with talcum powder. Once it was dry and all the excess powder had been removed I gave the talcum a going over with matt black paint and a little weathering powder. The glossy side of the plastic was then cleaned with a wet cotton bud/ear cleaner. Here is the result While I can still see the edge shape of the plastic, this can and will be covered up later. In the light I think that the puddle looks very realistic. Given that the 'Glad' bag is thin and flimsy, it gives a slightly rippled effect to the puddle - which I think looks great!

I used a smoke machine to get the effect. By this I do not mean a small smoke generator that can be purchased in a model store, rather it is a large electric powered unit that is often used in the theater, etc. To get the effect I wanted I set the camera up and then filled the room with smoke. As the smoke started to drift across the layout I started taking photos. This raged from very thin smoke to so think that you could hardly see the models. After the photos were taken I choose the best ones to edit and upload. I hope that has been helpful to you Derbys65

Is this going to be the start of your shed scene layout Chris?

While most other people have spent Good Friday with the family, I have been busy working on Newton Grove again - this time my attention has turned to the locomotive pits. I have built the walls for 3 of the pits so far (there are 6 pits in total on the layout), each being made out plasticard sheets of Slaters 7mm brick and strengthened with 2mm plasticard. Before I started to paint and weather the pit walls I studied the look of pits that I have access too. Below are a few photos of the locomotive pit at the Victorian Goldfields Railway (Maldon, Victoria. Australia) You can see the oil stains, how black the pit walls are and also the highlights in the brickwork in some areas to. I started detailing my pit walls by spraying them in matt black paint. Once dried they were given an overall dusting with Humbrol 'Smoke' weathering powder. This was then sealed with hair spray. Once dry I mixed 30% Humbrol 'Sand' weathering powder with 70% Humbrol 'White' weathering powder to make up the dust/dirt in the brickwork. This was then applied very unevenly over the walls. Some parts were highlighted further by going over the area twice to bring out more definition. Again the walls were sprayed with hair spray and left to dry. After the walls were dry I applied Humbrol 'Gloss of Oil Stain' wash to the walls. This was applied in a downward motion, some small light streaks and others more heavy. A second application was given to certain areas to bring out more detail and show heavy oil deposits. The below photos show how the walls look after all this has been finished (Please note though that as I took these it was starting to get darker, and as a result the lighting is more blue than normal - resulting in the oil stains looking green. They actually look more mustard brown in better light.) If the oil stains dry looking too green, then I will make them darker with some Earth Brown powder.

Thank you for your wonderful comment William, as well as following with interest. It's amazing what can be achieved with a cheap smoke machine and natural light coming from a window.

Walking around Newton Grove this morning, it is another cold start to the day. The fog is dense and the light is very low. On shed, simmering away, is Black 5 44871. In the background 4F 43895 is coming on shed after an evening of shunting.

Yes it is made by San Cheng. They produced it for Bachmann's 'Brassworks' range many years ago. It's not the most detailed and accurate 4F, however the weathering has hidden many of the short-comings.

My 4F is finally back from my local after having had its gears replaced. The loco has also been fitted with a decoder and sound system, which worked very well when it was tested at the shop. I'm yet to set my DCC system up, however I will get to it soon. In the meantime I decided to play around with board #2 of Newton Grove, the 4F and a smoke machine. The result is below. I welcome your thoughts everyone

Thank you for the image Chris. I'm glad to hear you're inspired to start a shed scene layout. I look forward to seeing your progress, should you choose to create a following for it here on RMweb

Hi Chris, If you do build a shed layout I would be very keen to follow your progress on the project. The weathering powders are doing a great job I think and they will all be sealed over time. I'll have a look in Spotlight at the product you suggested Many Thanks

I have started to weather the ballast and track on board #2. For this I am using Humbrol weathering powders, Smoke and Dark Earth. The results speak for themselves and I am looking forward to building up the colours and tones over time to create something truly realistic.

Hello Simon, Yes, it is all very black right now. I'm using that as a base and I'll be adding colour and shade from there. I made a start on weathering last night actually using Humbrol weathering powders and so far the little area that I have done looks great! It's going to take some time to go over all three boards however I'm in no rush and I'm aiming for maximum realism for the end result. Thank you for following my progress. Newtz

Great news! All three boards have now been ballasted and painted in flat/matt black. What a task this proved to be! Board #3 was probably the easiest, followed by board #1 and board #2 being the most time consuming - however I must say that the process too a lot longer than I thought it would. However, the results are very pleasing and so it has all been worth the effort. Now that the ballast is down and the base paint has been applied I can start to add detail, colours, shades and weathering to the track and ballast. So here are a few photos of board #2, the very last board to be ballasted. Now, more of the fun starts!

Thank you Steve, I'll have a good look at SWD as I have been wanting to know where to get good sound chips for the fleet. Knowing that they do so many classes is great, as I have many different ones, and late 2015/early 2016 I take delivery of a 9F and a Britannia too.

And so, the DCC system has been paid off and collected. Now all I have to do it put it all together and await the return of my 4F - which apart from getting the gears replaced is also the first of my loco's to be fitted with a DCC chip, with sound. And here are some images of the weathering powder test that I talked about before. I need to tone the Earth shade down with some soot/smoke powder, however I'm very pleased with the results. Don't pay too much attention to the Yellow and/or Green shades - that was just me testing to see how they would look.

Hi Chris, Yes, I thought that myself yesterday. As a result, last night board #3 was positioned in front of the heater and left there for several hours. This has worked a treat and the ballast is now 100% dry and ready. Last night I also started to play around with weathering the track and ballast on the small test piece I had made up last week (see earlier post). I used Humbrol powders for this and it looks amazing. I'll post a photo of it soon however it's convinced me to use these powders on the layout when all 3 boards have been ballasted.

Board number 3 has been ballasted and painted, however it's taking its time to dry. I may have added a little too much water to the PVA/water mix :/ Given that it is also getting cold now here in Melbourne, it could be taking longer to dry. I'll see how it goes and if I need to take it up and do it again, so be it.

Ballasting has commenced on the first board. I took off the shed and pit board and prepared it for the treatment. I made up a large mix of PVA 50/50 with water and added washing liquid too, then I started to apply the sand to the layout. This was not done with a huge deal of care, however I was making sure that it was not over done and that the sleepers were all still exposed at all times. I made up a mock shed wall to use in situation of where the real shed will go once it has been built, as this acted as a natural barrier for the sand and ultimately it will help to secure the shed building in its position. Here are some photos of the sand being glued down: When the sand was down and the glue was in place I went along and gave it all a light tapping with my fingers. There was a lot of glue and it was very easy to get a more even finish and take away the splash marks, etc from where the glue had fallen hard onto the sand. The intention though was and is to make sure the ballast is not perfectly flat, as no loco shed I have ever been around ever is. After the glue mix had been applied I went over the entire area with a hair drier for 5-7 minutes. This helped to take away a lot of the really wet and runny patches and give the glue some strength as it ran into the sand. After this was done I sprayed the whole area in Matt Black paint. I like to apply this when the ballast is still wet as the paint will run down in to the ballast, helping to colour it. I believe that it also helps make the ballast dry harder - however that's just my thoughts. Here are some images of what the track looked like after painting: The whole board was then taken inside and left to dry a little for an hour. The temp shed wall was then taken away and the entire pit area, including the shed interior, was sprayed Matt Black. The board has been drying over night and it is looking fantastic. Rail heads have now been cleaned and the board is ready for step 2 of the artistic session - however I'll be working on the other two boards first, getting them to the stage that the shed board is now. By the end of the week all three boards will be ballasted and painted and naturally I will post photos of all the work. Stay tuned Also, thank you to everyone for their tips, ideas, suggestions, support and encouragement. I appreciate it all

Thank you Steve, Now that all the track is down and has been tested, I'm ready to start getting the sand down for the yard. This morning I have split the boards into their 3 sections and I shall make a start very soon on them. The first board I will work on is the one with the pits, as this is by far the easiest of the lot. During the next week I'll probably have all three boards done and ready for painting. Naturally, I will post photos and updates as I progress ahead.