GWL

2 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

Excellent. Do you mix in some poster colour with your ground mix, or is it painted over?

Hi Miss P, thanks! I’m not sure exactly what you mean, but I’ve added more detail and photos to the blog post which I hope will help.

The base colour is just brown acrylic painted over the paper mache and cork (see previous blog entry 6), and the footpaths & muddy areas are simply brown grout, stuck with PVA and then dropped over with water & IPA mix to make it into a paste.

Hope that helps!

51 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Very nice scenes, it's all coming alive. I'm off to track down some Crystal Clear Matt.

Thanks Mikkel, it works really well as a spray adhesive, fixer and sealant!

On 24/09/2020 at 20:20, RJEB said:

Having just now late in your day having come across your project, more strength to your arm.  Coincidentally, last week I finished scanning my photos of the Clevedon Branch which was my first note of railways, having lived my first six years with Clevedon Station across the playing fields at the end of Kingsley Road. 

 

Visiting the closed line on half term holidays from boarding school, I walked the line and took some photos of remaining features.

 

Picking up on a few points mentioned, please find by way of attachment

 

- a photo of Kingston Bridge looking down {towards Clevedon} the line, the other side of your backscene

 

- photos of the buffer stop at Clevedon platform as dragged up the line after the run-round loop and sidings were taken out

 

- a photo of the transition from concrete to wooden sleepers

 

- a photo of the transition from bullhead to flatbottomed rail

 

-  photo of Rust Bridge

 

The Western Region Chief Civil Engineer's drawings of the bridges and doubtless other works were sent to the NRM, York

 

Cheers,

 

Rob J. E. Bayliff

 

 

 

 

Rob I meant to reply to this ages ago - what wonderful photos, really useful! Thank you!

On 08/12/2020 at 13:49, Glob-Ally said:

Another one coming to this late... can I ask what glue you used to attach the cork to the linnmon tables? Other threads on this forum talk about best glues to go with the cork but the linnmon surface is much more shiny and smooth than ply or chipboard. Thanks.

Hiya, it is evostik Impact adhesive! You can see the tin in a couple of the photos. It sticks really well, no problems with it at all!

sorry for abandoning this thread folks, things had to pause as we came out of lockdown 1, but I’m now getting the layout back under way so hopefully some new posts over the coming weeks!

Good point... I think the bar has been set very high by these:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/KVV2JMJ2Q/nem-oo-type-9-couplings-step-up-3-link-x10?optionId=63382630

But I cannot argue with the price of the Bachmanns... I will give them a go - thanks!

Is there an affordable product out there for fixed wagon rakes? There is a shapeways option but gets a bit pricy with a long lead time from the US. I could buy Kadees and chop off of the arms but it feels wasteful for an expensive coupling.

The Bachmann 78035 NEM EZ Mate couplings are half the price (though not in stock anywhere right now), and although I've read they're not as good as Kadees perhaps they're ideal candidates for having their arms chopped off for use as non-decoupleable couplings... am I making sense?

My 3d printer is stuck at work, but I'm going to try to arrange to collect it so that I can design and print my own flexible 3 link NEM semi-permanent couplings I think...

Nice! I had never heard of Trix-C, just had a google - looks like great stuff!

Decoupling seems to be ok for me with this setup, but I've had issues far away from the magnets with the wagon bouncing away from the train when trying to couple. Similarly to your rogue decoupling issue, I think the Kadee's need a minimum rolling resistance so that the loco isn't ramming the wagon at 30mph just to get the knuckles to engage!  Coupling and decoupling is certainly a much more positive action when the wagon has a weight to it, it's the reason I'm attempting to make a removable weighted wagon load.

The "foam brake" solution sounds great - I'll give that a try. I've used adhesive foam tape for padding out sound practical props in my theatre day job... perhaps that would be a good product for sticking between wagon axles? Link below:

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/foam-tapes/2050877/

8 hours ago, Harlequin said:

Hi GWL,

• Code 75 track is a good choice IFF you intend to run modern stock on it. Older stock may have larger wheel flanges that may bump along the chairs.
  
  Indeed, I’ve got some older stock that i might re-wheel but thankfully my favourites are all relatively newer models!
   
• The loco release spur is worryingly short. Are you sure your largest intended loco will clear the points?
• The sidings are all very short.
  
  I’m about to lay the crossover points at the platform end, and the plan allows for a 2-6-2T to run around a B set sat in the platform, or a mixed with one coach and up to 5 wagons. This and shorter sidings were the compromises I made when planning this “micro” layout. Luckily I’m a fan of tank engines and I’m happy to shunt only a couple of wagons as the shunting spur on the run around loop is short - though this could change, see answer to your 5th point below.
   
• I'm sure you've got insulating joiners in the relevant places for DC. That will basically be fine for DCC too but with DCC you may want to keep sidings powered up while the points are against them and in that case you may need more insulated joints. If you haven't allowed for this don't worry, you can always slit the rails later on.
  
  I feel like I might be missing something, I have insulated joiners on the frogs of the points. Every piece of track has droppers, so everything will always be powered. Does that achieve the same thing if I move to DCC later or have I missed a missed a short circuit or air gap somewhere by doing that?
   
• Is your station at the end of a single or double track line? If single, like Clevedon was of course, then the plan suggests that the run round loop extends off scene and so why is the central crossover needed?
  
  Oops I’ve forgotten to draw the buffers on the plan - the loop spur ends at the left hand edge of the boardS on that plan, under the bridge. It is a single track line with a single slip to avoid facing points from the factory and bay sidings, as Clevedon had.
  
• The throw distance of the slider switch is probably not exactly the same as the throw of the points. So without an "omega loop" you may find that either the blades don't move properly or the wire-in-tube is under pressure from the switch, leading to potential mechanical failure in the future.
  
  Took me a while to hunt down the correct sized switch, but the slide travel is almost an exact match to the point throw. There is also a bit of tolerance between the diameter of the wire and tube (0.01mm) which allows a bit of give. I’ve installed 6 of the 8 points now and all seem to be working well, thankfully! I’ll go over it all In my next post.
   

Hope that's useful. It is! Thank you so much.

 

Thanks a lot for this Harlequin - my answers and queries are in blue above.

Thanks Rich, yes I think I will get away with it!

No probs Mikkel, yes the new caps have been much better  - I’d say they produce about a 40mm dot from a 15cm distance. I paint the track outside before laying, it’s still not controlled enough for me to use inside on the layout, but is less wasteful. Also I cannot stress enough the difference the low pressure paint cans make with the caps in terms of control.