Revolution Mike B

Nearly there with the weathering. Just need some dirt between the ballast and the platform, along with some damp patches and moss! Too say I'm really pleased would be an understatement because this is my first real attempt at modelling properly. Best crack on with the other platform........

Dave What ballast have you used on your plank and how have you fixed it down? Looks unbelievably real! Cheers Mike

Thanks guys. This is what I'm trying to replicate minus the modelling skills to achieve it! I've actually done my self quite a few favours by not trying to model the real thing because I can get away with a lot more 'modeller's license'. What I'm more impressed with (unless you know what you're looking for) is that the track doesn't look like HO/OO Peco track and has made it worth the two hours or so that it takes to lay 3 foot of the stuff.

Here's the progress on the platform. Plenty of mistakes but that's the only way I'm going to learn.....and if I'm honest, that's the whole reason I'm building this layout. Again based on something similar, but not exactly like Castle Cary. The middle will be filled in with Tarmac (modelled, not literally ).

Cheers. I'm using plasticard with paving slabs and tarmac / gravel as per Castle Cary. The only downside to it is that my modelling skills are a little limited (read that as, I have the ideas but have no clue how to achieve them!)

Couldn't resist sneaking in a picture of an HST. This is the plain power car to the Harry Patch set which doesn't match the coaches! The handrails aren't great either but I'm sure I'll live with it

A bit more progress last night - I managed to get the second wall of the mainline/bay platform fixed to the board. I need to shape the edge so that it follows the track line a little better though. I was a bit worried that the running lines were too close together but this picture shows that it looks pretty spot on. Next up will be the other platform wall and then I'll make a start on the platform tops which should be fun as they'r going to be a mixture of paving slabs and tarmac.

Hi Simon The curved points looked awful too due to the really tight radius of the Peco points. You're right in saying the issue is caused by the Y and curved point although in reality, this is pretty much how it would be but the transition would be much greater. Here's a good example Mike

Here's the track after it's been toned down. I think it looks a bit more realistic now.

Just watched all of the videos on YouTube Dave...... flippin' brilliant! I make no apologies for nicking any of your brilliant ideas. Mike

Here's a few pictures of some progress on the second board. Here's the station building.......looking remarkably like ....er Castle Cary There's a few mistakes, mainly the ridge tiles that wouldn't stick and melted with the glue. I'll sort this out later, along with some of the dodgy painting. This is the bay platform And here's the rather rusty looking mainline (it needs weathering)

I didn't have a clue how to achieve effects such as these when I started back in the hobby 2 years ago but it's people like yourself that give me confidence to try things I never knew I could do. Thanks for sharing the demo on the Wills sheet. Now all I need to do is learn to build stuff square.................................... Mike

Time for an update I think as things have moved on a little. I've managed to wire up the right hand end board and everything is working ok - always a bonus! I've now started on the other board and have laid most of the track apart from the virtual quarry. I've also marked out the platforms and a few other bits and pieces. I was intending to use servos for the point control along with Dave Fenton's excellent megapoints controllers but we had a load of old Conrad motors left over from the club's N Gauge layout so I wired them up to a 5v power supply and they operate really well. I'm going to try and drop the voltage a bit more to see if I can slow them right down. Whilst it would be good to go down the DDC route for the points, I've only got 8 and 6 of them throw in pairs so there's very little wiring back to the control panel and I'll save myself some money in the process. In keeping with my theme of 'lets see how good I can make RTR stuff look with a few modifications", I've acquired a Ratio station building which funnily enough is based on Castle Cary and looks easy kitbash into something resembling a modern version. Looking at the real building, it's lost its chimneys and the doors are blue (I guess they'll be green soon with the switch to GWR) so fairly straight forward I think! It was only after I'd done a bit more research on Castle Cary itself that I realised Oak Road isn't too dissimilar, if not in reverse - quite surprising as I've never been there except passing through on an HST down to Devon! Anyway, watch this space as I think I'll have a few more ideas based on it.

Glad to see you had another great exhibition Ian. Sorry I couldn't get there due to commitments at home...still, look on the bright side.....I didn't crash any trains!

It's funny how I'd been waiting to see this layout for ages and then when it was on my doorstep, I missed half of the flippin' stuff on it because I was too busy talking to you, Chris and Pete! Mike

Things are moving on, albeit very slowly. I got the airbrush out at the weekend and gave the wooden sleepered track a bit of a blast. Interestingly enough, this is straight forward burnt umber acrylic from the Range store - £1.25 and 6 times the size of the Humbrol / Railmatch stuff. The rails are painted with a mix of burnt umber and burnt sienna.....it's not quite right but I'm sure I'll get there in the end. Looking at the picture this morning, I've noticed that I should've removed the end sleeper from the heel because the lack of chairs on it stick out like a sore thumb. I'm a bit happier with the branch track - the next job is to make the sleepers slightly grey (not the best description ever but I know what I mean) and add some cosmetic fishplates to the 60ft lengths. So far, my use of budget track is working out pretty well, although it takes forever to lay it.....hopefully, it'll be worth it in the end.

Not much done this weekend because I was out looking at model railways courtesy of Victory MRC in Portsmouth (must be the only exhibition I can walk to from my house!) but I did manage to finish laying the track on the end board (except the escape road for the virtual quarry due to needing the next board). I need to give the rails another coat of paint and then I'll start on the next board. 2 hours to lay one 3ft length of track is probably overkill for most people but I'm getting to the stage whereby I don't need to use my sleeper spacer now as I've done so many I can now guess the distance. Rivet counters please look away now.......

Great to meet the Loftus Road Crew today, and cheers James, Chris and Pete for sharing your modelling skills with me. I know you guys had a few problems with running issues but it didnt bother me because I was more interested in the scenery. Laugh of the day was the bloke that said Chris had wound the HST up too much and it was way too fast.........I've got a video that proves otherwise :-)

Here's a picture of two 158 cars next to each other. The gap is approximately 1 scale foot at the nearest point which is really too close. Why on earth I didn't realise that going with a 6ft plus 4ft track centre would be wrong due to the overhang on the bodies I'll never know! ​ It does look pretty good when they're parallel though Another thing that I've noticed is that although the crossover looks right, the long coaches look awful traversing it. Luckily enough, it'll only have stone trains using it but it's going to rule out using the bay platform for passenger trains if I wanted to.

Note to self: OO track is HO and narrower than it would be in real life......therefore when measuring the 6ft way don't make it 24mm.....158s and MK3s will be dangerously close to each other going round curves!!! ARRRRRRGH!!!!!

Just strips of plasticard - remembering to make sure that the height decreases gradually towards the end of the curve.

Here's the pictures from last nights antics (excuse the quality - taken with my phone) The toe of the curved point has now been lined up and the track checked to make sure nothing derails. To be honest, I know it's a lot of messing around when I'm effectively trying to make RTR track like hand built stuff but I'm really enjoying experimenting with it. Whilst it's never going to look like the same as EM, P4 or even good OO gauge hand built stuff, it's a cheap way (if not time consuming) of finding some middle ground. Unfortunately, this picture doesn't really do the elevation much justice but in reality, it looks about right for the line speed. A bit easier to see here even though the picture isn't as clear Tonight's job will be to lay the rest of the track and then make a start on the next board.

Tonight I lifted the track and added some superelevation, which isn't overly visible to the eye at first glance but with a MK3 coach sat on it gives a good representation of a 75 mph line speed. I decided against changing the point tie bars to copper clad ones because now that I've filed the large oversize sleeper down it doesn't become that apparent.....the blades look much worse than my modifications! Once I've finished laying the rest of the track I'll get some pictures up.

Today I acquired some copper clad to finish off the point mods and to fix the track to at the board joints. After spending what seemed like a decade sticking the plain track sleepers down with superglue I may take it back up because I want to add some super elevation to the curves. I was already planning to do it to the tunnel end and through the station but thought it was a bit of a waste of time if I couldn't do it at the other end. If there's any PWay guys looking in on this they may wish to correct me but my understanding is that the diverging part of the crossover would be flat, and the outside line would be laid higher than the inner one (which completely ignores the 'both lines laid on the same plane' rule). I'm sure this would be a lot easier with hand built points but given that I'm using modified Peco ones I'm expecting to be ruining a few in the process! Watch this space.......

It's OO Gauge Ben