saxokid

16 hours ago, 25901 said:

The flask I have is a un-named white metal kits that a mate let me have, he said there was too much work in it for him regarding removal of flash and the shape. I took it on and I think it's about right apart from some filler.

Yer it looks the part!!

You've done top job on it,ive asked frend about 3D printing them....

2 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Very nice mate. A bit of filler and a good paint/weathering job and it'll look the business.

Regards Lez. 

Yer think that's way to go with this Lez,

thanks for poping in my frend

On ‎11‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 19:27, Andy7 said:

Of late I have been very busy but mainly with buying stuff and lots of weathering. Below is some of the stuff I have been working on. 
I have completed a rake of 7 TTA aviation fuel tanks to replicate the Prestwick flow. All individually numbered and detailed. The end wagon has been detailed with tail lamp etc. That’s are also weathered and really look the part.

Also completed the weathering 4 of my MXA wagons, 2 graffitied Freightliner HIA’s, the first 3 of 18 Accurascale PCA’s,  various coaches and an RBA wagon.

Locos now complete include a Heljan 33, Colas 37521 and DB 60044.
Lots of work goes into the hand and airbrush weathering of the above including lots of individual detailing of each item. 
The DB 60 has TTS sound, wire loop couplings with detailed buffer beams, painted interior details behind grills, bespoke transfers and very bespoke weathering. 

Hope you enjoy the update. All

work including graffiti is by my own fair hand.

Lovely work as always Andi!!!

are the graffiti done by hand or decals my frend?

Cheers neil..

32 minutes ago, Kier Hardy said:

This may be of help, photo courtesy of Paul James.

Snapped from the old cross station footbridge at Liverpool Street station, a Cl31 and 47 stand on the buffers stops in Platforms 11 and 12.

Very useful picture here...

Im using block of balse wood and plastic cladding to try n make one of the fuel cell flask

Im not sure of the techy name for it..

Heres were im at so far in the build part...

On ‎08‎/‎04‎/‎2020 at 19:10, Phil-Essex said:

Hello everyone I haven't updated this thread in a while so here goes. I've made some more progress on the station area with the embankment and retaining wall now in place and a base layer of grass applied. I have also added a small baseboard extension so that the layout now flows around the corner better and think this has been a great improvement which probably doesn't come across in the pictures. Next jobs are to paint the retaining wall and platform faces and then install the platform edging.

 

 

 

 

  

 

I finally got around to fitting the Express models light kits to my Cross Country 170 & Voyager, think I've had these for over 5 years. The Voyager was very fiddly and I had to count to ten a few times! whereas the 170 was relatively straightforward. Programming the lights to work as normal i.e daytime/rears on F0 directional control was initially a major pain/impossible as I was trying to use my Z21. I gave up on that and dug out my SPROG which made things SO much easier. So much so that I have now set it up permanently.

 

Voyager before

 

After

 

Class 170 before and after

Top work here Phil im following now!!

thanks neil..

14 hours ago, Melangoose said:

I think I am correct in saying that the Graffiti was done by hand by Steve Adcock. The building is the first to be permanently re sited from Steve’s Russell Bridge layout.
 

An older picture of the building on Russell Bridge (RB).  Can I just say that when RB was built (for the Exhibition circuit), the  location was based on urban Teesside.  It had the honour of being in the initial edition of Rail Express, and appeared at shows all over the country, However in its retirement years I have run stock based in its traditional surroundings and also South Wales and Bristol area’s.  The layouts urban backdrop making it ideal for most provincial towns that have heavy industrial area’s.  The picture was previously used on the layout thread 

A day out on the big layout for 50019 Ramillies (DCWA pool)

 

 

Thanks for the info there very interesting,im following this progress keep up good work...

21 minutes ago, Bloodnok said:

 

Eventually this will be over -- and the layout will live on. I'd like a name for it that will outlive the events of this month.

Perhaps if I elaborate on the setting and the stock, that might get some interest along different lines.

The terminus station is intended to represent a significant regional destination, served by a mixture of local, cross country and InterCity trains. The InterCity trains originate on the WCML. Think a service pattern like a scaled down version of Liverpool Lime Street or Manchester Piccadilly, with some trains from the south, some trains from the east, and some trains from the local area.

I want to be able to run it anywhere between about 1966 and 1996 convincingly, although the "core" time period that I will represent is the mid-to-late 1980s.

That's good time scale 1966 to 1980s...

7 hours ago, Northmoor said:

If it was horizontal rather than vertical pattern you'd have a very effective sky backdrop to your models (but weird wallpaper).

Yer sadly wall paper only went one way down wards,so have to live with it for now..

11 hours ago, Aberbrothock said:

Very unusual cloud effect in the sky above 47535...................

A meteorological phenomenon?????

Long as theres no ufo"s above 47535...

Few pictures of the gates on the depot so far...

6 minutes ago, Bloodnok said:

As most of us are no doubt aware, we recently got told to stay inside. For a lot of us, that means lots of lovely extra time with the model railway.
 

However, the layout project I was involved in is ... in a location I can now no longer visit. This is obviously untenable, and ... something had to be done.
 

We did have a tiny bit of advance notice though. Enough for me to look at all my then-current track plans for building a layout in the study, decide they were all awful for one reason or another, cut'n'paste the best bits of them together into another plan, and order a few tools I was used to using but didn't own, and some wood. The decree that we must stay indoors arrived the morning after I'd placed the orders.

The current iteration of the plan:



What's happening in those tunnels I hear you ask?

This:



The plan is fundamentally a terminus to fiddleyard, with one and a half laps of the room on the way there. There is a twist though -- by crossing over at the bridge, it becomes a continuous run. And by using the triangle, trains can get between the storage yard and the continuous run in either direction, so I can have trains that would be inappropriate to turn up at the terminus. They can come from storage, circulate, and go back into storage. Inly the 3rd central line in the ascent/descent requires polarity reversing.

Some of the wood I ordered turned up very quickly, and Phase 1 of construction commenced the following Saturday. At the end of the day, it looked like this:

I was sort of expecting this to occupy me for a while during lockdown, but instead I found I had used all the wood on the first Saturday. That was ... a bit of a surprise.

(If you are wondering why the legs are taller than the frame, that's the height of the visible surface, whereas the frame is at the level of the storage yard. Tying them in at two levels should mean I don't need to add extensive bracing below the surface so it's easier to put stuff under there for storage).

Apparently even the timber yard were subject to panic buying, so a week later the rest of my order still had not shown up yet. All I got done that weekend was completing that corner piece (closest to the camera in the above picture), and shifting stuff around in the study so that a bunch of stuff that was in the way of future construction was out of the way.

Another week has passed, and this morning the rest of the wood arrived -- and just in time for the Easter long weekend, too. Phase 2 of frame construction, enough to build the entire storage yard, incline and the triangle is now underway. Pictures to follow when it's not just a pile of wood with notches cut in it.

What this layout really really needs, though, is a name.

Any suggestions for how to come up with a good one?

Nice plans so far here

2 hours ago, rob D2 said:

Nice one Neil, much better than the one tone of farm muck Bachmann normally spray 

Yes your right here Rob,

just not fan of the poor factory weathering they do on there locos..

Started adding some of the Jarvis 00 gauge "barb wire" on the main road gates into the site and warning notices too..

Looking forward to your next picture update now Ian

thanks neil..

10 hours ago, fishytrains said:

Further layers of static grass added. I will leave this area for a while now, just to be sure it feels right!

One final one taken through the bridge arches for the mainline. The only snag is this view would not be possible if the mainline was built as originally intended. Fortunately it is not so making sure there is an arch here is now possible.

 

Still lots to do, but with time to do it!

 

Mike

Looks nice again mike

What make of grass you using by the way??

Another nice update Alcanman

5 minutes ago, Lyddrail said:

Layout is coming along very well. See you have made CCTV camera posts. Just checked some of my pics (Lydd 2007) hadn't noticed them. Yes, they will add some height.

Cheers.

Are thank you  Lyddrail your star!!!!

very handy pictures,ive been looking over old ones from dungness and bridgewater ive got..

15 hours ago, 25901 said:

I'm working on similar lines to you plus a DRS wagon depot. Have yet to cut open a FNA but have a flask done already

That looks very nice!!

Great work here Robin,im just making mine now,ile be happy to have it little close as to yours

1 hour ago, Dave-5-5-7 said:

Little progress this week, having passed out my first signal box and been verified on my rules, I've been stood down to reside at home until needed. So I've been doing bits where I can. 

 

The line through the station of the previous plan, has been realigned, the control panel has received the wiring from the Saltfleet side of the layout. The Skidbrooke wiring will go in tomorrow. 

After being pestered by the four year old, I've added a length of line so Thomas can run, this will form a preserved line where I can get away with running RC that wouldn't normally be seen. 

DMUD lines 1 and 2 have been laid. These are 4 car and 3 car lengths, lines 3 and 4 will be 2 car lengths. One issue I've noticed is I have a 3 car 108 and the headshunt is only 2 car lenghts long so I'll have to sort that out. 

Some project build here

27 minutes ago, Jack374 said:

Evening all, hope you’re keeping well.

 

Firstly thanks Neil and everyone who has popped in or liked, many thanks!

 

Bit of progress to report on the points and signalling. Following guidance from Simon Paley (St Simon) about signalling for the layout - also obtained from his excellent book 'Colour Light Signalling for Model Railways' - I’ve decided the yard will be manually worked and not signalled, with only the bi-directional main line and the loop signalled. Pictured is a revised signalling diagram, with some extra showing a 'what could be' scenario beyond just the layout:

 

So signals needed are a 3-aspect + PL, 3-aspect platform, 3x GPLs and possibly a Banner Repeater. I’ve already got a CR Signals 3-aspect, so I’ll get another to match and make the position lights at some point. I’m undecided whether I need/want a banner repeater...it would be good to dispatch trains towards Preston, but is complex to make and expensive to buy! I’ll probably end up making one as a challenge. This plan has since been scrawled all over with more equipment positions, but more on this at a later date.....

 

This signalling change has meant a change in points operating equipment (POE). A trio of cosmetic point motors (electrically-operated type sold by Peco) were removed, and new sleeper extensions made from thick wooden tea stirrer; must’ve gone to Costa at some point to have nabbed such a thick stirrer! Also a couple of POE positions were changed to the other side of the point to give more clearance...the ballasting will be tidied up later. These were cut to match the sleepers around the point blade ends, and glued in place with wood glue and painted Railmatch 'Frame Dirt' in the absence of 'Track Dirt', but I can’t tell a difference and it’ll all be weathered again anyway...

 

 

This is to allow some hand point levers to be added. These are a lovely etch from Shire Scenes (part of the MJT/Dart Castings family IIRC), so these were soldered up. Blu-Tack and patience were my friend here, making sure the components were sufficiently hot before attempting to add solder and not adding too much solder. By the last one I had it down to a tee. I also added base plates from brass, with one from diamond plate (A1 Models) for variety. The others have protecting grids made from some spare Bachmann cl 57/3 radiator grilles of all things, as they were the perfect size! Holes were drilled to allow track pins through to secure to the board, as I’ve gone 'belt and braces' on these in the (misguided) hope that they’ll withstand the odd knock, maybe with a track cleaner, and not ping off.

 

Grids were sprayed yellow and levers white, and any other parts will be painted rusty/brown by hand.

 

Speaking of points, the real-life POE was added to board 1 in the form of some brazing rod to manually change the points. These were done the same as the second board (detailed earlier probably), with a simple chocolate block to attach some stiff wire which goes through the tie bar hole. Remember to thread on the choccy block before the last bend...doh! I also added some heat shrink/insulation tape to protect fingers from the copper and make them a bit more user-friendly. Pictures will explain better!
 

Some plastic tube is used to attach to the board with hot glue, which is surprisingly strong. This allows operation from either the front or back of the layout. Off the back of adding these, I need to find some stiffer wire and also order some large switches/microswitches to mechanically alter the polarity Of the live frog, as I’m currently relying on the blades making good electrical contact...not a good plan.

 

And finally, a couple of photos of the 20s. Taken on Good Friday, the pair have been shunted with cabs together...I heard rumours it was something to do with changing ends during reversal and the distance walked...

Big Jim can be seen in the cab finishing off before the pair are shut down for Easter with no inbound services due.

 

 

That's all for now, more soon!

 

Happy modelling,

Jack.

Wow more great modelling and tips here Jack

12 hours ago, Tangoman69 said:

Fantastic detailing on here Neil

looks superb!

Are thank you Tangoman69 for your kindness here

14 hours ago, Crisis Rail said:

 

Looks well. Are the pump housings from the Hornby diesel depot? 

 

Ian 

Yer I wanted something different so went for the Hornby pumps...

Another little update this afternoon,

ive now made this flask were you open or close its on sliders...

Next job is the Fuel cell load they carry inside...

10 hours ago, Jack374 said:

Eek! You may have found out Neil but the white top bit is a separate moulding and you should just be able to break the glue on the tabs with some pressure and by twisting the white part...no drastic cutting disk required. See below one of mine:

 

 

Granted it took a bit of effort but it should easily come off. Hope you managed ok...

 

Jack.

Hi Jack374  first tried breaking it apart with no joy as it was well glued down,

so it was quick and easy job to cut with the wizza as seen in photos my mate