artizen

Interesting how there are so many ways to do the same job! I tried using neat or at least a strong solution of PVA on the ballast but found I was getting a shine off the surface from the dried glue. Recently I have been using a 90:10 ratio of water to glue so it is very weak, mixed with a little detergent to help it along. I have ballasted this track last after the scenery was finished. A word of warning though - I build the layout with this method in mind so everything is capable of withstanding getting quite damp (I use plastic extensively for track base and construction, plus I use grass mats that are capable of getting completely wet). Here is the track - Peco 75 with Polak ballast. Every single stone is glued down - it took three goes but I got there in the end. Each dosing with glue only takes about three hours to dry in the sun. I still need to weather the track and the paint on the top surface needs to be rubbed off (Windsor and Newton Burnt Umber). For what it's worth, I would prefer to use a glue that stays slightly flexible. It appears to help the layout settle between variations in temperature and humidity. I have latex, but hate the smell (so does the rest of the family). Unfortunately, latex and to some extent, PVA, don't take well to the Peco plastic. On some sections I have had to resort to super glue to hold the track when the craft glue I was experimenting with failed completely.

Looking at that last view, have you used grass mats for the scenery? Looks suspiciously like a certain Model Scene mat that I have used myself! A nice small layout excellently executed. Well done.

There is a baseboard here in Brisbane which measures 7 metres x 3 metres - all steel construction - which is lowered and raised from the roof of the garage by a battery powered electric drill. The counter weight currently measures one tonne without anything being started on the surface of the layout yet!

I bet you've already thought of this - why not have a trap door arrangement so the board is held with two drawbolts and the other side is hinged? You are only going to be cleaning track or fixing electrical faults. This way the board is presented vertically so that both sides can be accessed when dropped? Still with me? Clear as mud? I just think the motor-driven screw drive arrangement is capable of giving you many grey hairs if it fails.

Martin - try to run your LEDs flexible strips on 9V DC - I am starting to believe that my 5050 strips are overclocked at 12V and will have a much reduced life. I am waiting for a variable regulator to be built by an electronics friend who assures me that I can run them at 9V with minimal loss of light but a much extended operating time (as in many hours instead of a few minutes before they heat up to the point of destroying cardboard). This might only apply to the 5050s I bought which are rated at 72W but 3528s are rated at 24W for 150 LEDs and 48W for 600 LEDs so it may pay to ask around and see what other people are running and test how hot they get. But I have used them in short lengths of 50mm inside buildings and they run fine using a 12V low amperage powerpack. Shame I know nothing about electricity!!!! As Simon says - the base has double-sided tape for adhesion. It's so strong that you really only get one chance at positioning it.

A curved platform!!! How did you cut the curve of the platform top accurately? I gave up on mine until my brain starts working again.

That link to the American NG layout is interesting. One of the changes I would have to make for Australian conditions is to glue and screw the blocks and rails due to the temperature/humidity extremes we experience in Brisbane. Seems a clever, low cost and accurate way of getting inclines on your baseboards.

What I meant by that was to create a different level of excellence in some parts (at least at first) so that good photography is possible. Then later, if you want, you can improve the standard in the other parts as the layout progresses. It would be impossible on a layout of this scale (and its third incarnation) to get everything perfect all over in anything less than two years. You would be happier to get something running and some small parts of the total design finished and polished before tackling another section. Think of it as creating a series of linked dioramas which do not need to be built in a sequential order. Your hand made track is sublime - make sure it is the star along with the rolling stock in photos.

Known as lizard litter in this country (available from pet shops). I found it impossible to get a good result on track with sleepers less than 2mm deep as the ballast needs to be at least three grains deep to be able to cover the surface without gaps (that's using crushed walnut shells or screened rock). I personally think screened rock simply looks far more realistic partly because crushed walnut shell is much too large for 1:76 scale. Glued down with a very weak mix of water and PVA to get a result that still leaves the individual particles clearly defined. Usually you need three goes at it but much better than drowning it all in a 50/50 mix and getting a shiny surface from the glue. Gordon - spend time on the important parts of the track that will feature in photos in the future - you will need to be able to show off your stock and scenics to best advantage and the track is going to play a large part in that.

Bring on the new layout then!!!! This is/was a superb layout. And don't worry that you write stuff for a magazine, I for one never knew that and wouldn't care - I am only here to be inspired by brilliant modelling.

I have been using Polak ballast - it is too dear to import much into Australia at $15 per kilo airfreight but is available locally from here - Polak website - http://www.polakmodel.com/en/vyrobky/main/Ballast-scale-H0/ Polak distributor in Germany - http://shop.strato.de/epages/61258909.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61258909/Categories/Schotter Polak distributor in Ireland - http://stores.ebay.com.au/models-at-quicksolutions/Ballast-/_i.html?_fsub=2765435013&_sid=574957343&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322 Made from real screened rock as well. Heavy, probably noisy but really realistic!!!!

Are you over the pain of the slates then? The building looks really good.

So if I log into this thread next week it will all be finished then? You certainly work fast!

Hope you buy your wire in bulk reels! Concerning the board access over the stairs - have you thought of nailing a skirting board to the wall and placing cross beams between the railing and the wall so you can work on the board in situ? I am sure once the board you have just nailed to the wall is painted white, no-one would ever know why it was there!

Me being me I had a look at this photo and saw nice things. I also took out the tension lock couplings and the dust(?) Unfortunately now the lighting looks artificial (but the detail is sensational).

You have a kindred spirit in this thread - http://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=1358.15

If you do the telephone lines, make sure they are on the far side of the tracks!!!!

I'm strapped into my seat waiting for the ride of my life!!!!! :good: :good:

At my last show I was placed next to the 501st which if you don't know is the Star Wars Stormtroopers and Darth Vader gang. Really good for pulling a crowd!!!! Around the corner was Captain Kirk of Starship Enterprise and then of course, we have the wild-eyed ex-army type who is convinced he is on a hit list issued by the secret service, closely followed by a rather muscular lady with a five o'clock shadow and biceps. Great show - wish train shows were like that!!! (It was an IPMS show in case you were wondering.) Even they need the whiffometer on some of them!!!!

If you want to emulate fluoro tubes along the walls of the pits then why not try a piece of acrylic rod flattened on one side. Pump some light into the end with fibre optics and cover up the bits you don't want emitting light with plasticard (paint is not dense enough usually). Or Plan B - using cheap LEDs strips, place the strip behind the wall and cut fluoro sized openings which are covered with translucent acrylic panels to represent the fittings seen in the photos.

Pit lighting - personally I would go for flexible LED strips. Cut holes in the side walls to match up with the spacing of the LEDs on the strip rather than try to get rivet counting accuracy with distances etc. If you end up using every second LED then the blanked off one simply gets covered up. The current price of flexible LED strips online now is now so cheap that a £10 investment would give you around 5 metres of 3528. If you get only 150 LEDs (five metres) then the spacing should be about right as well? As said elsewhere, when you come to photograph this monster, you will need internal lighting!!!

Have you seen this little bit of light reading? (LOL) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent-lamp_formats I have special daylight-corrected triphosphor lighting in my workroom. The fluoro output is softer but clean (accurate for colour matching), the LED strip is much more intense but pure daylight colour (5500-6000K). Both sources need shielding from direct eye contact in my opinion. Be careful of the high UV output of tubes - it can affect the colour-fastness of some materials.

Did you mention what type of lighting you would be using? I favour LEDs (I use these on my layout) - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/16FT-5M-12V-Flexible-300-LED-5050-SMD-Strip-Light-White-Car-Light-7-/200790213077?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ec00781d5#ht_3694wt_1141 Blindingly bright - don't operate this layout from the back with these lights!

In my opinion sand doesn't look like screened rock as it normally lacks the sharp edges on all the individual bits. Sand being sand has been rolled and tumbled by the tide for a couple of years and is too rounded. Up to you of course but if the layout never leaves home, how about doing good ballast only in the hero places (that get photographed) and use something cheaper at the back etc which can be hidden by clever camera angles? 500g with free postage in the UK - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GREY-FINE-GRANITE-RAILWAY-BALLAST-FOR-MODEL-RAILWAYS-LOOK-THE-REAL-THING-/110942649151?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item19d4b27b3f#ht_3767wt_907

August in Spain sounds like January in Australia! I have just had to wait for supplies from the Czech Republic because the August holidays are marked in indelible ink on the calendar... apparently. All we get is one Wednesday for the local agricultural show! Good to hear from you again. I thought we had lost this one. Crack the whip over your Spanish builders - we need more photos!