Gedward

Just noticed the colours look over saturated on my screen. So have adjusted in PSD.

The best just keeps getting bester!

George

I will probably get myself banned by saying this. But I am more into modelling than the railway. 

And a sleepy bucolic scene like this, just does it for me.

George

Oh and the cobbled courtyard looks the business too, nicely weathered. Did you scribe it out of Das?

George

The rivers look very convincing. Love the different depths of the water and the way the light dances on the top.

What did you use for the water effect? The vegetation along the edge works really well too.

On Bovey Tor, we have a long canal winding away along the front edge. I decided to use perspex for the water. Not sure if I'll introduce ripples or not. Like the idea of seeing the narrow boats reflected in the water with reeds and shrubs along the edge.

George

Some lovely modelling right there. The scenic work looks excellent.

Hope I can achieve something as good on my layout, Bovey Tor.

George

Welcome aboard Si. This is an amazing place full of so much useful information. It's like a one stop shop for everything you need to know.

BTW, you joined up on my birthday 

George

Welcome to the forum Evan. Not a bad bunch here, have found much useful info around.

Hi Mike and welcome to the forum, as Andrew mentioned, there really is a huge amount of research needed before buying the plywood. Personally, I tried to cover all the bases by making sketches and even making a small mock up of the layout out of card. That's because it's so hard to visualise how everything will come together. Have read about so many layouts that had to be heavily tweaked at a later stage. And sadly, some that were abandoned because they didn't work out as intended. 

I spent so long trying to figure everything out before building baseboards, that I almost gave up. This damn fine hobby requires so many different skills and abilities. For me, I dreaded the electricery but by reading everything on here, plus watching countless videos online, I managed it.

OK so not a building but cobblestones test for the goods yard area at Bovey Tor.

13 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

If its just theevery end of the tie bar with the point motor peg on it that is causing the problem chopping that off is a lot simpler and will not affect the working of the point; indeed I have seen a number of layouts where all the tie bars have shortened at both ends to make the point look slightly more like the real thing,

Yes, they do look ungainly as is. Good point.

27 minutes ago, Rowsley17D said:

Cut the chairs off the sleeper on the plain track and move the freed sleeper under the rail joiners. Then try cutting the web underneath the plain track and respace the sleepers to make as many as possible fit in between the sleepers of the adjacent track. In the last resort shorten the sleepers on the plain track. Carefully removing the knob on the ends of the tie bars improves the look too.

Thanks, will do.

Just started laying track after many years absence. What would be the best solution with the tie bars clashing with the other sleepers? Would you cut the tie bar or the sleepers or both?

Good to get so much feedback on this, thanks guys. Even though this is not my first layout, it's the second, in many ways I feel like a beginner. Because that was 25 years ago and so much has changed since then. And the last time I used an airbrush was even longer!

Thanks guys. Didn't think about what curving the track would do.

Thanks 34theletterbetweenB&D. Very good advice, will do.

I'm working on my first DCC OO layout using Peco 75. I intend to solder droppers to the side or underside of track. And modify all points by soldering wires across from stock rail to the blade. So my question is, would I still need to mask off areas before track weathering?

My plan is: 1. Cleaning with IPA. 2. Soldering. 3. Weathering on the bench. 4. Laying. 5. Ballasting. 6. Weathering in situ.

Sorry, I've also posted this in the permanent way section

I'm working on my first DCC OO layout using Peco 75. I intend to solder droppers to the underside of track. And modify all points by soldering wires across from stock rail to the blade. So my question is, do I still need to mask areas before track weathering?

My plan is: 1. Cleaning with IPA. 2. Soldering. 3. Weathering on the bench. 4. Laying. 5. Ballasting. 6. Weathering in situ.

Bovey Tor is a OO layout which will include part of the Tavistock canal. Built this as a test as I'm completely new to scratch building. 

Hi there, George from London here! 

I've been a lurker here for a short while and am so amazed by the quality of modelling and creativity here.

This being my first post, a bit of back story. I grew up in Paddington very near Royal Oak station in the 50s. So I can just about remember those nasty, noisy, smelly beasts, we hold so dear. I envied my brother as he was 8 years older and therefore saw a great deal more than I, of the end the steam era. He was an avid spotter and I used to join him at Royal Oak station. We often talked about building a layout, but never got past the train set stage. I would love to watch the Warships and the class 52’s. And there was a fair bit of shunting being carried out by class 08's I remember.

As we had relatives in Devon, we would often spend our summer holidays there. I can just about remember the journey from Paddington to Brixham probably changing at Torquay.

Then life got in the way and so it was many years later that I finally got a chance to design and build a layout. As we didn’t have a great deal of space, I decided on N scale. My wife and I set out to build a rural scene with a railway running through it. And after a couple of years of building, we were quie pleased with the results. We ended up selling it once our daughter was born.

Well that was over 25 years ago and now I’m retired and have got the time to dive back in. 

So this time I have about 12' x 2’ 6” for an end to end layout. And because I want to scratch build as many structures as possible. I’ve decided OO will be more practical. And of course my eyesight is 20 years older too! Am planning another rural landscape with lots of trees and a canal/river. Oh, and a railway running through it too. So inspired by the wonderful Pendon layouts, aren’t we all! And so here we go with another bloody GWR branch line.