grahame

I'd forgotten that Wickes is open on Sunday so I popped down there this morning and picked up some ply. That has enabled me to finish the east end return loops baseboard and provide, hopefully sufficient, for the viaduct track bed.

Just a little work on the baseboards today. We've had rain this morning and a thunderstorm this afternoon which has prevented sawing and cutting in the garden. But there is only a little wood bashing left to do - some trim and finishing the east return loop baseboard surface for which I need to go to Wickes on Monday for a small sheet of ply.

Then it's laying out the buildings and establishing the viaduct position and trackwork plan. And then building the viaduct and cutting the sections to fit on top.

A little bit more wood bashing including the start of a small workbench for maintenance and repair of any errant rolling stock. But that's it for today. I've packed up and retired in to the house to have a shower and get ready to stroll down to the local for the regular Friday 4 o'clock meet and a few sherbets.

With some more basic schoolboy wood mangling I've made a start on the right hand (east) return loops. Everything is free standing and not attached to the shed walls and oddly enough it's very stable and solid. And I'd also dusted some white on the bottom of the grey to give the impression of the typical lighter sky nearer the horizon. It's quite faint so I might need to go over it again. 

On 01/08/2023 at 16:28, carlwooduk said:

Any others suggestions for Army kit?

 

The NGS does resin 1:148 scale Saxon APCs (1976 to present) kits. They were quite commonly carried by rail. The kit is straightforward - just clean, glue the wheels on and paint. Here a couple I finished:

And, as you can see from Phil's photos, the cathedral is architecturally ornate and detailed. My model is very much simplified and impressionistic of the real thing, otherwise I'd be building it for the rest of the year. It's also compressed and effectively low relief with the tower frontage and transept represented as 2D with a little added relief. The larger section, the nave, behind the transept is not represented at all.

Fortunately with it being located behind the viaduct and bridge, lower than the road and at the extreme left hand (west) edge of the layout, I'm hoping it won't be particularly noticeable and that I can get away with the basic representation.

Left the paint to dry overnight and this morning it's not too bad. It's dried lighter, probably more acceptable, although some touching up is required. I'll try and get that done today. And I'm in two minds over whether to dust some white on along the bottom - skies tend to get lighter towards the ground/horizon. The pic below has the wrong colour temperature balance set on the camera but it gives an idea of how things are going:

I've got some colour on the recently extended low relief cathedral and both parts are now joined together. But I probably need to add some details.

I got some grey emulsion yesterday and have painted a first coat this morning. It's going to need another coat and looks a little dark but seems to be drying lighter (maybe it's a stormy day - and will help with the urban grot look). I'd like to fade it downwards to a lighter finish - maybe some Halfords aerosol grey and white primer will help with blending by gentle spraying.

Meanwhile I'll watch the current women's world cup footie game while it dries. Fingers crossed.

For the second issue I've made a start on the cathedral this afternoon. I've kept the Lady Chapel/Retrochoir as I'd originally made but extended the choir and high altar area by two inches necessitating adding in two new flying buttresses. The transept/crossing and tower remain as the flat facsimile with minimal relief detail. The model is effectively partially hidden behind the railway bridge/viaduct and is lower than the road with a herb garden in front of the Lady Chapel meaning it can't be any deeper.

The new additions have been primer coated and now need painting to blend in with the other parts. And that'll have to wait. The 3D part is not properly lined up in place with the 2D section in the pic below. Currently they are not joined.

I trimmed away a suitable section with a sharp scalpel blade having marked it up with a pencil. It does need a little tidying up in the photo below.

A piece of card was taped in position to test sufficient had been cut away.

Then the card was trimmed to fit and glued in place. That's the first issue dealt with although the row does still need finishing.

I was always aware that the reality of building an operational model railway and fitting pre-built structures on it would cause some opportunities and necessary amendments. The first two have now already arisen. 

Firstly, the 'lowish relief' row of shops on the west side of Borough High Street will need some modification. This is due the extra curveage required to get the tracks off scene at the left end of the layout with an acceptable radius. The back corner of the building will need slimming down - not an excessively onerous or difficult task. And besides it needed to be re-visited as it had never been fully completed.

Secondly there is an opportunity to widen and improve my Southwark cathedral model which is very much a progressively compressed low relief effort. This means I can increase the depth and make it overall more prominent. I'll need to check out the real building and ascertain what I can do without too much destruction.

When I get around to these two card building amendments/developments I'll report it on this thread - should it be of interest.

This morning a little more work on the 'off scene' west end return loop baseboard. But now I need to go out for some more supplies. I've used a complete box of 200 screws and I need more and some panel pins. I'd also like to get some grey emulsion to paint the wall behind the scenic section - the London skies are often grey. Snag is I need to wait until the window cleaner has been.

Looks like that new fangled container is out of gauge.

A little bit more wood hacking this morning. And a start made on the baseboard framework for the west end return loops. 

It's a little higher than the scenic baseboard so that the trains run can straight on to (and off) the viaduct height with no slopes. You can see that it lines up with the bridge across Borough High Street abutments (Just under the right hand side of the window).

The wider area allows for a double return loop from Peco No3 and No4  radius setrack curves (currently on order). The entry, along the wall under the window, will be angled roughly in line with the wood moulding strip lying on top. But that requires more wood mangling and I'm now going to have a shower to get ready to stroll down to the local for a few sherbets.

39 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

Life at Kernow Towers is just sooo hard...

 

Cute tho.

The thumper is coming along impressively. You've made quite an effort on it.

 Did they actually run through Olympia?

I've made a start on the baseboard sawing, gluing and screwing. But it's slowly, slowly, school-boy wood-work. Not exactly cracking pace carpentry.

3 hours ago, carlwooduk said:

Inbewteen track tweaking work I  have  made  some progress on the Gas Storage Tower.

In real world when fully extended its about 140ft High. Up and down the country many towns had these close to the Railways being prominant features . The Horton Road one appears in about 75% of all Photos of the depot and Level Crossing so getting it as right as I can is important.  The kits for N Gauge were way too small for this and the solution came from Kit bashing a HO scale Walters Gas tower.  my model is just under half relief and stands 21 cm tall.

The railings are Plastruct; I need to add soem more deatiling before painting. Supports for teh bottom walkway  will be 3D printed as i need 12- cutting those  consistently out of Plasticard is way too hard.

 

 

The real thing fully extended.

 

The gas holder is a spiral type (invented 1890) with four lifts (telescopic sections) and an above ground water tank (the pale blue section). The lifts (the top three are fully up and the bottom one is about half full of gas) are guided by the angled rails on the sides as they raise and turn and do away with the need for a supporting framework that older gas holders had. The triangular frames are stairs to the top of each lift. 

Nice. Very nice.