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AySea

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  1. AySea
    Time for another small update on Stanley Yard, my layout built in the top of a tool box. It doesn't seem like much, but it's getting there slowly. The buffer stops for the three sidings have all been glued in place. They required a bit of adjustment to get to fit properly as hopefully the photo below shows. These are the Peco N gauge rail built buffer stops, product code SL-340. On the left is a buffer stop in position on a section of Peco code 55 track on my layout built in a toolbox. The horizontal sections of rail on the buffer stop is almost high enough to be sat on top of the rail it should be bolted to the side of. The buffer stop on the right is fitted to a spare section of Peco code 80 track that I had, which is coarser than the code 55. The extra depth in the code 80 track brings the buffer stop down a bit lower to the rail sides, but the horizontal sections of the buffer stop are still too high to look correct. The photo below shows the adjusted buffer stop in place where I have trimmed down the legs that clip between the sleepers to bring the height down. If anyone's interested, there's a bit more info about this on my modelling blog found by clicking here. Before starting to glue down the sheets of granite setts for the ground surface, I thought I should probably paint the sides of the rails and the buffer stops first. So having bought some Rust colour paint from Humbrol's acrylic Rail Paints range (Code RC402), I painted a coat on and have this as the result; The setts are just positioned loosely in place for the photo. The rust colour has a bit of a pinkish tinge to it which doesn't look too bad on the sides of the rails, but looks a bit odd on the buffer stops, so they will need some more work doing to them. The cross bar part of the buffer stops could also do with painting more realistic colours to resemble a timber beam.
  2. AySea
    The below is copied from the Nailsea MRC website; This two day event has a range of model railway layouts covering many different scales, regions and eras, with numerous trade stalls as well as society stands and demonstrations. 2018 marks the eighth year we have held our annual show at this venue, which has proved to be a popular choice with it’s space and facilities. When – Saturday 24th March 2018, 10:30am to 5pm - Sunday 25th March 2018, 10am to 4pm Where – Nailsea School, Mizzymead Road, Nailsea, North Somerset, BS48 2HJ Ground floor with no known issues with disabled access Free parking immediately outside the venue Refreshments Available (Additional Charges Apply) Admission Charges: Adult – £5.50 Child – £2.50 Family – £12.00 List of Layouts: Abercynon Shed – EM gauge Angst-Lesspork – OO-9 gauge Arun Quay – O gauge Ashgate – OO gauge Coldred – O gauge Elmfield – N gauge Hounslow Sidings – OO gauge Glb Bitterfeld – HO scale Launceston Steam Railway – OO-9 gauge Lego Layout Ludlow – N gauge Melton Mowbray North – N gauge New Andil Yard – O Gauge Swanford – Gauge 1 Trenance – OO gauge Vale of Oxbury – N gauge List of Traders: Alan Ward John Langley Keith’s Bits and Pieces Lord & Butler Modelmania & Just in Case Platform 3 Models Railroom Electronics Ray Heard List of Other Demonstrators and Stands: Nailsea Model Railway Club Information Stand and Test Track 4mm scale model buildings by Dave Barrett 4mm scale, 18.2 gauge. Achievable excellence by the EM gauge society Building 7mm models by Ian Roll John Anderson & Paul Taylor; CLevedon And PortisHead Armchair Modellers Childrens Hospice South-West Ffestiniog Railway Society Sandford Station Railway Heritage Centre Group WC&P Railway Group
  3. AySea
    A small update on this; I have started cutting out the ground surface from Metcalfe paving and cobblestone sheets, PN111. I've partially glued the buffer stop in place on the siding at the top of the photo, partly to help with cutting the granite setts to fit around it and also because it doesn't fit on code 55 track so well as code 80 track, so it needed a little trimming below rail head height. None of the setts have been glued in place yet which is why the space for wheel flanges doesn't look even between the rails of the siding. The card I had previously cut for between the rails did turn out to be too thick once the setts were laid on top as I had thought it may be. A replacement strip of card was cut from the edge of the metcalfe sheets being used for the top surface instead, which is about half the thickness, and that seems to be better. I decided to have the setts in this section at 90 degrees to the rails with a couple of rows of setts parallel to the rails to mark the swept path of any wagons moving along the siding for vehicles to keep clear of. Clicking on the image should open up a larger version which shows the pattern clearer. I've also modified the removable sub base that the central building will be glued to slightly, but you can't really see much of that in this photo.
  4. AySea
    Thanks for the comments everyone. Not sure when the next update wiill be, but hopefully not too far away. There's a small hole on the tie bar between the pip and the rails. The wire goes underneath and is bent 90 degrees so that it comes up through the hole. The wire is quite a bit smaller than the hole, so I slid a tiny length of the tube the wire runs in over the top and into the hole in the sleeper that filled the gap nicely. A small blob of glue then holds the tube it in place. I hope I've written that in a way that makes sense. I remember when I bought this toolbox I looked at one in Homebase and one in Argos. They were both exactly the same apart from colour and company branding. I chose the Stanley one because it was slightly cheaper at the time. I'm thinking I could do with some kind of removable cassette that joins on to the headshunt to make swapping engines and wagons easier. I've got to think about making some kind of removable buffer stop for that end so nothing runs off the end accidentally, but still looks like the tracks could continue on to somewhere.
  5. AySea
    Work has continued with cutting mount board for the ground surfaces. All three buildings now have parts for a sub-base and I have also cut the card to fill out the rest of the areas that will be permanently fixed to the board. The first photo shows the buildings with their sub-bases. The buildings on either side of the layout have some additional space in front of them for additional details to be fixed. I plan to have a vehicle being loaded with goods from the warehouse on the right hand side, but not decided about the one on the left yet. The rest of the areas that need raising up to match rail height were cut out next and the next photo shows all the pieces of card laid in place before gluing commences. The pieces of card between the tracks are only a sinlge thickness of card, but I may need to use some thinner sheet to ensure the road surface isn't high enough for the wagon couplings to snag on it, so they will be the last to be fixed in place after more testing with the road surface layer on top. The remaining areas where the cork is still visible will be covered with a layer of ballast once I'm entirely happy with the other ground surface cover. Need to get the permanent sections of card glued down before I think about ballasting though.
  6. AySea
    Can't believe it's been 6 months since my last update on this. Progress has been slow due to other things, but the buildings have had a little more work to them. Not much though... Anyway, the main purpose of this update regards how the buildings will be placed on the layout when in use. I had originally thought of making some kind of shallow groove for them to sit in that will locate them and disguise the fact that they aren't fixed down. Really the lower edges of the walls could do with more support to prevent damage over time with keep lifting them on and off though, so I have decided to make a base for each building that will lift off as part of the building. Some of the ground surface is going to be level with the top of the rails, so making individual bases for the buildings won't be a problem in regards to raising their height from the cork covering the baseboard. The photo below shows the sub base of the first building using two layers of mount board like card bought from The Works. I made a template first using graph paper to help me cut the two layers to shape, and it seems to be working so far. There will be another piece of thinner card on top of these for the actual ground surfaces and hopefully the joints in the sub bases won't be too obvious when it's finished.
  7. AySea
    I don't post on here very often, but I thought I would share this as it's something different (as far as I know) and I can use this topic for any other 3D printed stuff I consider worth sharing on here. I've been having a bit of a play with some 3D printing using Shapeways over the last few months and then decided to experiment with an idea. In the past I've modified some Peco Loco Lifts to make them slightly shorter and I wondered about joining together two Loco Lifts to fit a DMU without uncoupling the two halves. So, I have designed a replacement part to do just that. The photo below shows a standard Peco Loco Lift alongside a double length one using my 3D printed extension arch to join the two units together. The video below shows the extension arch as it arrives from Shapeways and how to assemble it all, followed by a demonstration video showing a two car DMU being lifted off the track with the Loco Lift. There is a bit of sagging in the middle when lifted where the two halves join, but with care it works and I never actually glued it all together, so that may help. I'm thinking some kind of diagonal supports running from the ends to the top of the centre may help, but haven't tried that yet.
  8. AySea
    It's been a while since I last posted an update, but here is a bit more progress to the buildings on my layout built in the top of a toolbox. The basic structures for all three buildings are now complete. They still need some finishing off, but it's getting there. The tower on the left hand building is complete, the bit to the right of the tower just needs some details once I finish the rest of the building. The left hand part still needs it's roof and front section with the doors. The middle building hasn't changed from before and still needs it's roof and various detail parts. The right hand building also needs it's roof and the front section with the doors fitting. To allow access to the switches for operating the points, the building on the right has a large cutout in the side at the back which took a bit of thinking to get it to work and try to keep it all strong and supported. Here's a photo of the back of it to show roughly how it's been done. I'm thinking of putting a couple of figures and crates or sacks inside a couple of the doorways, so I'll probably try to do that before the front doors are fitted. I figure it would probably be a bit easier to do it that way round than after the doors are fitted.
  9. AySea
    until
    Event Name: Nailsea Model Railway Show 2017 Classification: Exhibition Address: Nailsea School,Mizzymead Road,Nailsea,North Somerset,BS48 2HJ Day 1: Saturday 11th March 2017 Opening times Day 1: 10:30am to 5:00pm Day 2: Sunday 12th March 2017 Opening times Day 2: 10:00am to 4:00pm Prices: Adult – £5.50Senior – £5.00Child – £2.00Family – £12.00 Disability access: Yes Car parking: Yes Website: http://www.nailsea-district-mrc.co.uk/events/ Organising body: Nailsea and District Model Railway Club Only two weeks to go, so a bit short notice with posting this now, but the Nailsea and District Model Railway Club are holding their annual exhibition on Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th of March at Nailsea School. If you use Facebook, you can click the link to view, share, etc the Event listing on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/events/334216586964174/ The below is copied from the Nailsea MRC website; This two day event has a range of model railway layouts covering many different scales, regions and eras, with numerous trade stalls as well as society stands and demonstrations. 2017 marks the seventh year we have held our annual show at this venue, which has proved to be a popular choice with it’s space and facilities. When – Saturday 11th March 2017, 10:30am to 5pm - Sunday 12 March 2017, 10am to 4pm Where – Nailsea School, Mizzymead Road, Nailsea, North Somerset, BS48 2HJ Ground floor with no known issues with disabled access Free parking immediately outside the venue Refreshments Available (Additional Charges Apply) Admission Charges: Adult – £5.50 Senior – £5.00 Child – £2.00 Family – £12.00 List of Layouts: Banbury – N gauge Coburg – N gauge Lindau Hbf – N gauge Lower Clifton – N gauge Welton – N gauge Ashbrook – TT / 3mm scale Red Hook Bay – HO scale Wisteria Collop – OO-9 gauge Folkstone Junction MPD – OO gauge Lydgate – OO gauge Shed 101 – OO gauge M Shed – EM gauge Edford – P4 scale Nottingham Goods – P4 scale List of Traders: Alan Ward C&L Finescale Keith’s Bits and Pieces Modelmania & Just in Case Railroom Electronics Ray Heard Titfield Thunderbolt List of Other Demonstrators and Stands: Nailsea Model Railway Club Information Stand and Test Track 4mm scale model buildings by Dave Barrett 4mm scale, 18.2 gauge. Achievable excellence by the EM gauge society O gauge model locomotive construction by Dave Murdoch Building 7mm models by Ian Roll Gauge 1 model display by Dave Batstone Children’s Hospice South West Ffestiniog Railway Society N Gauge Society Weston-super-Mare Group Sandford Station Railway Heritage Centre W C & P Railway Group
  10. AySea
    More progress on the buildings has been made. First though, the connectors for the controller have finally been mounted in place. I decided to use 4mm banana plugs on the controller as that is what my local model railway club use for their DCC controllers, so if I ever decide to try DCC out on this, everything will be compatible. The screw thread on the sockets wasn't long enough to go through the depth of the baseboard, so they have been mounted using a couple of pieces of plastic (cut from a blank DVD disc (there's usually one without the part that data gets burned to to protect the one at the bottom of a stack of blank discs)). The position of the connectors has been partially determined by the frame of the baseboard and the construction of the building kit. The building is the Metcalfe warehouse kit, PN182, and has had a suitable section cut out of the back to hide the wires when viewed from the front. Below shows the current progress with the start of another warehouse building positioned roughly in place to disguise the switches for the points. Both the warehouse buildings will have a section of facade attached to them to fill in the gap either side of the central building, but I haven't quite got that far yet.
  11. AySea
    It's been a while since I last posted on here, but here's an update on my toolbox layout. I've moved on to starting on the buildings to make sure it all works. In the end I decided not to try modifying the Metcalfe warehouse kit to diguise the handle with, instead I opted for the Metcalfe bus / transport depot kit PN125. I've started with the building that covers the handle first so that I can check exactly how much space I have for the other buildings that will disguise the switches for the points and the connectors for the controller. I still plan on using the Metcalfe warehouse kit for those, but I feel the lower building in the middle looks better with it being so close to the track on such a small layout. The building still needs the roof adding and some other details, but I'll do those at a later point once I've sorted out how the rest of the scenery will look. For now though, here's a photo showing what it looks like so far.
  12. AySea
    Part of the reason for using the train set controller is because I've got it to hand. I may upgrade to something else at a future point, so thanks for your thoughts on it. Here is my next update with a couple of pictures to show where things are at the moment. Here is an overal view to start with. In the top right are two slide switches to change the polarity of the frogs with wire in tube running to the tiebars. I want to keep clear of the hole for the handle of the toolbox's tray to fit through so that I can remove the baseboard from the tray if needed at all and I didn't think the wire in tube would go round a tight enough curve there. It may have done, but I decided to give the angle cranks a go in case it didn't. I bought a starter pack of the Mercontrol system from Lytchett Manor Models which gave me more than enough wire and tube for this layout and it also included the angle cranks, so I didn't have to buy multiple items for this little setup. I've never used wire in tube before, and while I found the short links from the points to the angle cranks easy enough, bending the wire at the end of the runs to thread through holes drilled in the switches proved a little awkward. It all seems to work okay so far though. Here's a closer shot of the angle cranks which will need to be covered over with some kind of scenery once it's all had a thorough testing. Still need to sort out the sockets for the controller to plug into to make sure they're easily accessable and able to be hidden by the removable buildings. As before, there's a couple more pictures on Flickr (click the images above) and on my modelling blog if anyone's interested ( http://misc-model-mix.weebly.com/ )
  13. AySea
    DC. I'm using a basic Bachmann controller from a Graham Farish trainset, but I've cut off the supplied connector for attaching it to the track and have fitted two banana plugs to the ends of the wires and will fit sockets for them to the layout. Unless there's anything I haven't considered, having not used DCC before, then as long as there's matching connectors on a DCC controller, there shouldn't be any reason why I couldn't use DCC at some point though. I don't fancy trying to fit decoders into such small locos myself though. The points will be operated using wire in tube with slide switches to change the frog polarity which I am halfway through attempting at the moment, so hopefully I'll have some more pictures with that done soon depending on what time I can find to work on it.
  14. AySea
    That certainly wasn't the kind of response I expected, thank you very much. It's nice to know that what little I have done has been able to inspire someone else. Personally, I do prefer working with plastic kits as a first choice I think. Though when I was younger I built a few card kits and some of them did look quite good even if my attempts weren't perfect, so I guess that and seeing other peoples models from card has helped me appreciate the use of both (Not that there's much of either on my offsite blog yet). Since I came back to model railways a couple of years ago, I've tried to learn more about making models look a bit more realistic than my old train set attempts, so the 'wide variety of techniques' is probably more a case of having a go with different methods that I've learnt about more recently to see how I get on with them. I hadn't considered that, no. That is quite a good idea though, will give it some thought. Something similar in N gauge would be useful. I wouldn't know where to start with something like that though. Would probably be easier to just build some basic cassettes as long as you remember to leave provision for joining them to the running lines somewhere.
  15. AySea
    I like the concept of this method of fitting a layout into a toolbox. Saves having to remove parts of the scenery when stored and can probably use the available space better. Continuing on with my planned layout though, a layer of cork has been glued to the top of the baseboard and I now have all the sections of track wired up. Just need to sort out the positioning of switches for wire in tube operation and changing frog polarity before I can solder the last few wires. The photo below shows where I am so far, with the loose ends of the wires temporarily routed up beside the handle on the tray so that I can play test it. The intention is to have the point switches and connection point for the controller to be hidden inside a building in the top right corner. It's had a quick test and it works so far. I did find that the short wheelbase of my class 04 struggled a bit with the gap in the frogs when using the siding nearest the handle, but the longer wheelbase of my pannier tank ran over it fine. All of the magnets for uncoupling the Dapol magnetic couplings are in place and mostly seem to work okay. Think I need to adjust some of them slightly and also need to convert more rolling stock to use them, so that will probably be next to do. I did mock up a quick example of how the scenery may look using photocopies of the Metcalfe Warehouse kit (PN182). (not a very good photo and taken before track was finished, but it serves it's purpose). To disguise the handle in the middle of the baseboard, two kits would be required to make the building long enough to cover it and I'm not altogether sure that I like the total height of the central building, so if I decide to use multiples of the warehouse kits, I may attempt to remove one storey so that there's only three floors. We'll see what I decide once the tracks finished. As before, there's a couple more pictures on Flickr (click the images above) and on my modelling blog if anyone's interested ( http://misc-model-mix.weebly.com/ )
  16. AySea
    Don't know about the foldable board idea. I guess it all depends on how it folds up and how it fits when folded. This tool box has about 8 1/2 inches of internal depth plus a little bit of extra space inside the lid. Maybe that's something else I could think about trying when I finish this one.
  17. AySea
    Thanks for the Likes and comments so far. That's a good idea about making the layout fit upside down for storage. That way none of the scenery would need to be removed at all. Never occured to me to try doing that. Just had a look at putting the tray in the toolbox upside down, but the lid doesn't close. It would be possible to make a baseboard that would fit without using the tray though, so I'll keep that in mind for another time. Thanks.
  18. AySea
    I started on this idea two years ago not long before I started modelling in OO. Now I have gone back to N gauge for a bit and actually starting to get somewhere with one of many ideas. I liked the idea of some of the box file layouts that people have done and thought that if I could build a small shunting layout in a toolbox, I'd be able to store the controller, scenery and rolling stock inside below the layout for transport (although I'm sure someone else has probably had the same idea before me). So I have finally got a baseboard built inside the top of a Stanley 24" Series 2000 toolbox. The removable tray in the top gives me approximately 20 inches by 8 inches to work with, although a handle does sit in the middle of that space. The proposed track plan is shown below using code 55 track just laid in place to check the fit. The scenery will mostly be warehouse type buildings to hide the handle and give an appropriate backdrop. This is a mini version of the Inglenook shunting puzzle and fits two wagons in the sidings nearest the front of the toolbox and will hopefully fit three wagons in the other siding. Will check that once I'm nearer to actual track laying as I plan on using the Dapol magnetic couplings and need check the clearances for the magnets to allow space for stock to pass on the adjacent line and give space to actually couple the wagons up again after uncoupling. I also still need to glue some cork down before I lay the track properly. Because of the label still attached to the front of the toolbox, I'm considering something like Stanley Yard as a name, but any other suggestions are welcome. There's a couple more pictures of the baseboard construction on Flickr (click the image above) and on my modelling blog if anyone's interested ( http://misc-model-mix.weebly.com/blog/a-model-railway-in-a-toolbox ), but the most important information is already written above. Finally for now, thanks for looking.
  19. AySea
    Didn't see this thread before, but I've just finished modifying some Peco Loco Lifts to fit inside a Really Useful Box. I wanted something to fit the Loco Lifts because I've got an old N gauge pannier tank (the first engine I owned) where much of the printing on the side has worn off from being put on and off the layout by hand so much. I'm hoping to handle my OO stock much less by using the Loco Lifts, but obviously for storage I needed a box for them to go in. I bought an 11 Litre one on the off chance that it would be the right size for a number of Loco Lifts to go in and found that when placed in lengthways 5 went in okay, but left a lot of space either end. The other way round just wasn't quite wide enough for the length of the Loco Lifts, but by shortening them slightly, a total of 6 Loco Lifts fit. Obviously that's not as much stock as if I went for just using pieces of foam to protect the stock like other people have, but I think it was worth giving a go. Here's a picture, but I've not filled it with stock yet. There's some more info on what I did on my modelling blog if anyone's interested; http://misc-model-mix.weebly.com/blog/unboxed-rolling-stock-storage
  20. AySea
    That could be possible. I don't know how accurate the book is on that as it focuses on the Avonmouth area and only really breifly mentions the USA Tanks.
  21. AySea
    I've had a quick look, but can't see this information anywhere, so thought I'd ask here to see if anyone may be able to help me. According to the book 'Lines to Avonmouth' by Mike Vincent, three of these USA tanks went on loan to Avonmouth. There are two pictures on page 92 showing three locos, one photo is dated 24th March 1944 and shows two USA tanks on barges, the other picture is dated 30th August 1944 and shows a loco hauling some open wagons. The text on page 93 says the batch that were loaned out (Six to Liverpool, three to Manchester, one to Bromborough, two to Tilbury and three to Avonmouth) were sent out on the 1st June 1944. Based on these dates, the first photo implies that the locos in the barges were waiting to be unloaded having just arrivied in the country, so no guarentee that those two operated at Avonmouth. The other picture showing one that did operate at Avonmouth isn't quite clear enough for me to be sure of the number (the livery appears to match MR-101 with 'Transportation Corps U.S. Army' on the side, so that would be a good place to start for re-numbering). So finally to my actual question; Does anyone know details of the three that apparently operated at Avonmouth Docks (numbers, livery, etc)? Thanks in advance for any replies I get.
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