Andrew D

Thanks for the kind encouragement @Weeny Works and @Kevin Johnson :) And @The Bandit - I'm planning a week's holiday near the NYMR at Easter, so not a million miles from you. I might carry out my threat of coming to film Bleak Moor Quarry Shed and M&J Brewery... so if you want to see that as a deadline, please do! ;)

INTRODUCING PHASE 2 I thought about starting a new topic, but to keep the threads tidy, 'Phase 2' works just as well. While I wait for my board for my 'proper' layout to be built, I thought about doing another box file, only this time try and correct everything I feel I did 'wrong' on the main build. Therefore this new box file project would be: Not too big - so just one box file to remain fully portable and caravan-friendly Box file to remain intact, without pulling down the front Electrofrog points, not Setrack There's not much you can do with one boxfile in OO gauge, and I was racking my brains to think of a raison d'être when it hit me: Build the 'goods in' yard of the bakery that extends from the middle siding of the main boxfile layout. Eureka! I could have a stand-alone layout but it could also be tacked on to the end of the existing layout - if only I had the room to do so! I intend to use Code 75 track so there's had to be some kind of short conversion bridge between the two if they ever get linked. Here's the plan: In the middle of the 'V' would be the loading platform. The SMS barn is a placeholder for the former stables and now stores, and on the left and rear faces would be ultra-low relief factory buildings from LCut Creative as per Boxes 1&2 of the main layout. I'm thinking of a coal pile behind the wagons and maybe building some kind of opening to a chute or coal cellar where the boilers would be. Of course, I'd now need more wagons, and I pulled out these four sad subjects from the projects drawer that I'd picked up a while ago at an exhibition for £10 for 4: I strive for an impression of realism rather than prototypical realism, so these would do just fine. I also much prefer the older 'D' type tension lock couplings for shunting over the newer style. I managed to get them to look like this: The box van got a new roof from Plasticard, heated up and shaped around a spice jar. Just like the two wooden open wagons, this was then sprayed with Poundland red oxide car primer and hand painted with artist acrylics, mixing my own colours using Burnt Umber as a base. These were weathered using a dark wash made out of said acrylics mixed with water and a drop of soap, then foofed up a bit with weathering powders: I am particularly pleased with how the 20/21t coal wagon came out, as this was my first attempt at Hairspray Weathering: If you're interested I've written about it on the weathering section of the forum here: After three weeks of not having a kitchen table I am craving some order in my life again, so the trains will have to go away for a while now as I take care of more boring stuff. But I'm looking forward to cracking on with Phase 2 once time permits. Thanks for reading! Andrew

To set the scene, I'm the kind of modeller who strives for an impression of realism rather than being 100% prototypical. I've recently renovated a few old Hornby wagons which cost a grand total of about £2.50 each, and I was keen to try Hairspray Weathering on this 20 (or 21?) ton coal wagon: It had been roughly painted white for an event where I used a model railway around the table in a hotel on a works' week away to deliver olives and peanuts to colleagues, much to the amusement of the hotel staff. Now it was time to turn it into something resembling a proper wagon. The white acrylic paint lifted in hot soapy water with a toothbrush. First off was checking out the excellent tutorial online from @Phil Parker The model was primed with car red oxide primer from a rattle can, which when dry was painted roughly with some darker browns in places. I use artist acrylics from The Works and Wilkos and mix my own colours. This was then laquered with matt varnish after masking off the underframe which had been glued on. Once dry, I applied two coats of hairspray, allowing each coat half an hour to dry. After mixing up some grey paint I had my first 'learning experience.' Phil uses a rattle can of acrylic paint in his video, I decided to try to hand paint. The trouble was, the paint was so thick it was leaving brush marks. So I thinned it down to alleviate this... which of course activated the hairspray and the whole thing ended up a complete mess. Learning point: Hand-brushing with acrylics doesn't really work for hairspray weathering, unless you're OK with brush marks. It was scrubbed off, another two coats of hairspray, and the unopened airbrush that had been sitting in my cupboard for two years finally saw the light of day. It's only the most basic of basic Amazon jobbies but did the job. I'm really pleased to have finally given it a go. Of course it's a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Although getting the artists acrylics to the correct viscosity was a mission. The first lot was too runny... so off it all came again.... Learning point: Invest in some proper airbrush paint Eventually, with the paint at the correct viscosity it covered well and was set to dry. I was aiming for a 'slightly used' look to the wagon, not half-derelict. However, where Phil had a bit of a tough job to get the water through the sprayed-on paint to get it to start flaking, I had the opposite effect. Way too much came off too quickly. Learning point: only ONE coat of hairspray seems to be needed if you are using an airbrush, and then be sparing with the water to start with. So one side of the wagon is a bit more rusty than I'd rather. Once dry, this was lacquered and allowed to dry before masking for the white lines on either side. I'm amazed at how well this came out: Once that was done, transfers were applied, laquered again, a light black wash applied made out of said acrylics with water and a drop of soap, this was wiped off, the wagon titivated with weathering powders, and finally lacquered again. If I say so myself, I am pleased with the result. I hope this encourages other inexperienced modellers like me to have a go. A reminder of the 'Before...' Thanks for reading. Andrew

Looking forward to seeing you work your magic on the new arrivals Steve 👍

Them there point blades cannot be relied upon one iota! Everything is wired to feed both sides of the points and fitted with isolating sections. Indeed there might be resistance, but I don’t get this problem with other locos. I think it’s more likely a pick-up issue.

I have the same suspicion. Will do the necessary via the website etc. Many thanks for the support 👍

I don’t understand why I am getting pick-up issues Rob, when the chassis design is supposed to improve matters. As I mentioned in the vid, the W4 has seen similar use. When cleaning the wheels for the video I blackened 4 cotton buds (8 tips) on the back of its wheels (where the wipers contact) which obviously came from the running in process, but I don’t want to disassemble a new locomotive (Hunslet) to try and clean inside the axles at this early stage. The Hattons Andrew Barclay and Bachmann 08 shunter are my best runners. I guess I was expecting similar performance to the 08. I’ve slept on it and I think it might have to go back. I don’t want to be negative and I really do not want to rain on Rapido’s parade. This IS a great loco IF you have the right kind of layout. I don’t. For me it’s back to the £17 Caley Pug with a home-made pick-up tender which runs beautifully but looks terrible.

Throwing my hat into the ring... Lovely model but it does not like poor Setrack in a wobbly boxfile. I'm looking forward to having a layout with trackwork that supports it better.

Ferry booked and accommodation sorted. Always my favourite show of the year. Let’s hope that a sparrow doesn’t fart in Aberdeen which is usually enough to disrupt the Lochboisdale-Mallaig sailings ;)

Great stuff, enjoyed the video thanks. I really love how you’ve managed to combine the appeal of a roundy-roundy with attractive staging and scenics in such a small space. Had I seen this two years ago before I built my boxfile layout I’d definitely have ripped it off taken inspiration! ;)

I doubt these would be prototypical, Rule 1 would need to be employed, but these buffer stops from Lanarkshire Models certainly tick the Space Saving box. http://www.lanarkshiremodels.com/lanarkshiremodelsandsupplieswebsite_235.htm

When I joined my boxes 1&2 together I used thin plywood to reinforce, simply glued on with PVA. It’s worked well. I realise these pics have disappeared from my build thread so here they are. First picture is the base, second the back and top.

Glad to see you are moving along with your plans Dave. Yes, that @Booking Hallhas a lot to answer for! ;) I agree with Keith above, a loop will give more operational interest IMHO. Will be following with interest.

This looks really interesting! I've not seen dual gauge in use before. Looks like you've made great progress already.

That’s really useful James, thank you 👍

Outstanding! To think you did all that fine craftsmanship in the time it took me to build a very basic boxfile layout… One quick question please James - Going back to those excellent buildings, what was the thickness of the card and where did you procure it please? Looking forward to seeing more pictures of this when you have time. Cheers, Andrew

That looks fantastic James. I agree that removing the goods platform gives the area room to breathe and creates a more pleasing and relaxed look. I’ll be trying your ‘ash rubbing’ technique on my next layout. Top job as always!

More Triumph pics please. I thenk yaw.

Oh my, how I miss those hilarious Terry Wogan stories. How he got away with some of them I’ll never know. Thanks for all the tips. Very very helpful.

Thanks for the thorough rundown on how you made the buildings - very useful! It’s all looking most excellent. As for the speed, I’d still be deciding what kind of tea and biscuits…

@Nigelcliffe That’s brilliant, thank you so much Nigel 👍

That's absolutely brilliant, thank you Luke.

Ooh, I like! Will have to look out for something at the Glasgow show. Thank you! Pokey-finger :) Thanks Phil, I do like simple, but on the two layouts I have built, despite taking extra care with the ballasting and painting around the points, they have almost all failed and I no longer want to rely on the point blades making contact. Cheers!

Apologies if this has been answered a hundred times but my searches aren’t coming to anything. I’d like to use an electrofrog point (code 75 OO gauge) on my DC layout and wire the blades for reliability, which means of course switching the polarity of the frog. But I do not want to use a point motor. I’m guessing I need to use a simple ‘On/On’ switch to control the frog polarity? Or is there a better way? Both roads will be to dead end sidings so I assume no need for insulating rail joiners. ‘Simple’ is good in my book! Many thanks in advance.

Love those images! Looking forward to seeing this develop.