twm483

Evening All, Its been a productive couple of days with the creation of dock walls using styrofoam. So to prove my work here are a few photos After scoring the Styrofoam and coating it with a fine layer of ordinary filler, I rubbed down the filler just enough to leave it in the recesses, once this was done I coated the wall in a watered down mix of black, white and burnt umber to get the grey stone colour I desired. To give the stone some variation I mixed darker and lighter greys and randomly painted stones along each length of the wall. After the walls had dried detail was added in the form of painted matchsticks glued vertically along the wall at 6cm intervals to mimic real dock walls once dried in place, the walls were given a light wash of watered down black acrylic to highlight mortar courses and the texture given by the filler and also to weather the matchsticks that were glued, overall pleased with how they turned out. The bridge support pillar was given similar treatment, instead of selecting individual stones to highlight, the pillar was coated in a darker grey and then a lighter grey was lightly brushed over the top to give it the appearance that over time they had faded. All walls have been decorated with Woodlands Scenics foliage materials to give the docks the appearance that they are rarely used and weeds have been allowed to grow. Once hardstanding is laid I'll get the static grass applicator out and give it more of an overgrown feel in places. Once I was happy, it was time to stick them to the celotex boards using a liberal application of No More Nails, because all the walls were cut to fit before scoring began it was simply a case of remembering where they went luckily I had the forethought to mark them numerically. Both bridges and related pieces of track were removed in order from the walls to be fixed without obstruction and replaced once the walls were in place, both have lateral supports that help pin the wall sections to the celotex whilst they set. Curved sections were pinned in order for them to keep their shape. Overall very pleased with the result, took a few days to complete but I found it a lot easier and more cost effective than Plasti-kard or card and will definitely use this method again for the seafront wall once I get round to completing the next board in the meantime I might experiment with doing brick and other finer detailed masonry. Anyway that's all for now, next step is prepping the points to receive motors and for DCC running. Cheers Twm

Afternoon all, Cork finally arrived at the end of last week so I got straight to work lining the celotex sheet to insulated it from potentially shorting out the track once its wired up and live. Using spray adhesive the sheets were stuck down and them trimmed using the celotex sheet as a template which were then also stuck down with spray adhesive and a healthy application of weights (first time they have been put to good use in a few months). Once I was satisfied that they were stuck in place I got to work laying the track, so far the plan has worked out quite well considering it was essentially a doodle in a notebook and no specific measurements were taken. Unfortunately I ran out of insulated fishplates on the last siding so it currently sits waiting for some new ones to come through the post, I did however build a longer fiddle yard board so the overall length of the board has increased from 12ft to 15ft. Whilst I was laying the track I took the opportunity to lay 15mm x 10mm x 2mm rare earth magnets under the track in the sidings for hands free uncoupling, on previous layouts they were a late addition and ended up being stuck with hot glue to the underside of the boards, this proved to be hit and miss with locating them correctly under the track so I'm glad I had the foresight to do it now rather than later. Stuck waiting for stuff to come through the post I made a start on the bridges in the fore and background, I wanted to get a feel that the base was made of oak like beams which I know isn't prototypical in dockland areas (not that I've researched anyway), I decided on construction using lollipop sticks for the base and Peco truss girder and vari-girders to give them variation. After a bit of adjustment to ensure that they will sit correctly and flush with the existing scenery, I began work on the dock walls. I had considered a few techniques to achieve the look I was going for, ideas included using Metcalfe builders sheets, resin casts, plaster casts and plastikard etc but then I stumbled across a YouTube video by marklinofsweden who used Styrofoam sheets cut and scored to mimic stone then skimmed with a sand based plaster/filler which he then complimented with acrylics and other accessories to give it the desired effect. I highly recommend checking out his channel for scenery tips. So here is the dock area with the bare Styrofoam sheets cut to the desired height and later on I began scoring and filling to achieve the desired effect I was going for. That is where I am at the moment hoping to have the walls scored, filled and painted by next week and hopefully I will have the track wired up and ready to receive loco movements in the new year and then I can begin working on the seaside BLT. Cheers Twm

Some progress that I have admittedly made a week or so ago but hadn't started this thread. You'll see the half completed baseboard, I will eventually replace the non dock board with a longer board to accommodate the fiddle yard and give me more room for the triangle junction to the seaside station. The base for the docks and rough laying of the track in accordance with the plan It was at this point it dawned on me that the metal surface of the celotex sheets may cause shorting on the wired fishplates, so at the moment I'm waiting for 2mm thick cork sheet to arrive to rectify this. You'll notice the curves coming off the board into nothingness eventually these will run into the station. So this is the state of play at the moment I do have a few buildings to make by Metcalfe that also need a bit of modification so they sit where I want them. In the meantime has anyone seen this layout (known as Ashington and Lower Hadley) about this forum? I sold it earlier this year and was wondering if the bloke who bought it ended up on this forum, be interested to see its progress. Cheers Stu

Plenty points of interest in this location, that sweeping bridge over the river would be a worthy challenge if you were to replicate it. I'll add this to my watch list. Stu

Thanks Ade, I always try and draw my plans where I can, doesn't always translate well to the boards because there is no specific measurements but I find it quite enjoyable. Stu

Afternoon all, After a small absence from the hobby to pursue collecting Star Wars figures, I got the bug to build a new layout after visiting Sharpness docks near gloucester and seeing the vast unused railway network that still exists but sadly is unused (thankfully there are a group of volunteers who look to restore part of it to its former glory as a heritage railway). It inspired me to try something new that would stretch my abilities having previously made heritage themed railways set in the hills of Wales on flat baseboards that were either end to end or a circuit and not really anything more experimental than that. I got to work doing a bit of research into dock railways based in the GWR region of the UK such as Barry, Swansea and Gloucester which would allow me to model water and run down/ in-use harbour areas. So I have come up with the following plan which also incorporates a seaside station and goods yard which will allow me to run some of my passenger rolling stock as well as freight. I am not much of a stickler for sticking to era's so but I plan on keeping the eras separate when I get round to doing running sessions. Being based in the South West most stock will be late GWR/Early BR Steam and Diesel with the occasional cameo from newer stock. This is the above plan, the dock scenic board and the fiddle yard board have been built with the seaside extension in the construction phase. I have used celotex sheets in order to build the level for the dock area however it dawned on me after the track arrived that the metal lining might end up shorting the track so I am waiting for some 2mm thick cork sheet to arrive before I can start pinning the track down. Anyway enjoy