Shedmaster

Good Morning, Just a quick progress update on my layout so far.......... The laser cut ramp sections have been shaped and added to the main floor, with all the positions checked and double checked before gluing. Any errors here would mean that the rails passing through, do not sit tight against the sides of the acrylic at the right gauge. 1mm base strips were laid in for the running rails and also the check rails to sit on, as I won't be trying to fit chairs in this bit. Finally, the central 'concrete' bit that sits in the four foot was added, this slither of acrylic represents the floor that sits between the check rails : I am using 'Exactoscale Bridge Chairs' for this project, with C&L finescale code 75 'Bullhead' rail and so my next job was to 'key' the whole top area of the acrylic sheet before going any further. This will ensure no issues when gluing the chairs directly to the acrylic and will also give the paint a good key later on. Starting with No.1 road, I marked out the exact position of each individual chair, having measured precisely how wide they sit using guages and then their exact position drawn from various research material : The fun began in positioning the chairs on each rail to the spacing I needed and then getting the first datum position glued down, from this I just followed my markers and I hope they look about right to you guy's ? Thats all for now, Kindest Regards, Shed.

Hi all, Good Evening, I'd just like to second these thoughts Jon. I found this to be my favourite layout of the day and thought it came accross so much better in person than when in a magazine. Many Thanks, Kindest Regards, Shed.

Hi Mr Grimley, Please forgive me, for I have sinned........it has been 'xx' months since last paying you a visit and I promise to repent ! I'm really loving your layout mate and the attention to detail is fantastic, seriously, way back when you did the wheel lathe I thought you were doing amazing things even then ! Just wanted to drop a line and say how good this is looking, it's nice to see so much variety in that whatever era you choose to run, whatever liveries, they really look at home. Best of luck finishing those rooflights...............definately watching these coming along. Kindest Regards, Shed.

Hi Pete,, Lovely to hear from you, hope to see you on Sunday ? The top of the acrylic sheet represents the concrete floor. The rails will sit on exactoscale chairs, which are to be glued directly onto the acrylic sheet, giving me the prototypical look with a gap underneath the rails. Kindest regards, Shed.

Good evening, Just a quick progress report....... The ramp sections of the floor are now finished and ready for fitting, these will go to make the complicated shape at the door end of the shed. I finally found just the tool to do the job, so set each piece of 2mm acrylic securely onto double sided tape, before slowly filing away the front corner of each piece : ......a little while later and this is going really well : All I've done here is work horizontally from left to right, stopping every so often to brush away the dust and check the consistency of each ramp. I'm well pleased with progress, it's only taken several years to achieve such a simple thing as forming a ramp in 2mm plastic ! The next job now is to fit these pieces to the main floor in the right place, so that the rails sit in perfect alignment. Thats all for now, Shed.

Hiya Mr Grimley, Many Thanks for your continued interest.........I can assure you that my 60's will be the first thing coming on shed for gauging purposes ! They'll have been stored so long when this flaming shed becomes operational that I'll be needing to rebuild them as Super 60's ! I think they may still be indulging in a run to Toton though..............for a quick makeover ! Kindest Regards, Shed.

Hello again, What's this............two days worth of posts from Mr Shedmaster in a row ? Blimey, must have news......... Yep, I've been cracking on today, very pleased with myself for finding a supply of 2mm HIPS in my shed from which I could make the base for my acrylic floor. I had to be a little imaginative here though and fix it in such a way that I could get a full coating of Plastic Weld just where it needed to be ! I got plenty in for the job........and a HUGE brush : My job for today was to add the base sheet which also acts as the floor of the pits, and then I was able to add the Peco pit step units, nice and simple as the laser cutting accuracy allowed these to be a snug fit : It looks a bit messy at the moment I know, but thats what primer is for later on ! Of course, I'm saving the bestist job for last, forming the ramp sections. I've had a couple of rails and chairs in place today to check alignments with gauges as I go, and there seems to be no issues here. Very promising so far...............about bloomin time ! Time to walk away methinks.................just for now. Kindest Regards, Shed.

Hello again, Many Thanks for the welcome back and support... I have been out and measured the new floor and can finally sign this off as being 'correct'. So, what's the plan now then ? Because the models I own are all non-prototypically gauged at standard 'OO' gauge, I am sticking with that gauge for the rails to avoid a major re-wheeling project. To enable me to have a perfectly smooth 'concrete' floor inside my shed, I have opted for 10mm deep acrylic sheet, with 2mm sheet used to form the ramps at the end. This means that the pit sidewalls are a little deeper than the Peco pit mouldings but the same width, allowing me to use the Peco pit 'step' inserts for my project, without making the steps myself. The next steps will be to fix the acrylic floor to a 2mm base sheet, to lock it together and stop it flexing and cracking. This also becomes the floor of each of the pits. The ramp ends will be formed and fitted. The steps will be fitted to the ends of each pit. The rails and chairs will be fitted directly to the floor. The floor can be readied for painting, I'm told I can 'Maskol' the rails and chairs to detail paint them later. That's the plan anyway.............looking forward to some real progress now. Kindest Regards, Shed.

Good Afternoon all, I've not posted on my thread for a little too long, as I've been away scratching my head and waiting for some inspiration - to enable me to get my 'beloved' floor modelled properly. After many trials and tribulations, I have finally managed it ( sound familiar? yes, yes, been here before haven't we........? ). The floor for my 'Electric Loco Shed' has now been translated from the original architechts floor plan, via CAD drawings, to laser cut, 12mm thick Acrylic sheet and it has just arrived home with me : This is the 10mm thick, 'Electric Loco. Shed' floor. The three bars, one short and two long are the three underfloor 'pits'. The small rectangles are the locations for the 'I' girders of the building. The end you can see in the picture is the main door end of the shed, hence the short 'stub road' pit on the left. This is the 2mm thick, top ramp part of the floor. Various parts from this sit on top of the main floor at the door end, after I have profiled the ramps to a uniform shape right the way accross. Okay, thats all for now.........all hell is gonna break loose here soon when wife and kids get home, so I'd better get this lot packed away before " Daddy, look what I've got", Nooooooooooooooooo !!!!!!!!! C R A C K..... Regards, Shed.

I'd have to say this is a very reasonable idea, as opposed to my niche market fantasy idea for a fully working DCC 'Kirow' crane ! Would the 'Chiltern' plug door Mk3's be do-able from a 'Wessie' maybe ? Regards, Shed.

Good Evening all, I think we need to inject something 'special' into our hobby in the same way the 'Intercity 125' did for Inter-City rail travel back in the day, a real attention grabber, so, could we please have something modern and sleek looking produced, such as a............................ Class 442 'Wessex Electric' EMU or Class 375/376/377/378/379 'Electrostar' family of EMU's.......... Please Dave ? Many Thanks, Shed.

Good Morning, Talking of testing coaches over the floor ramps in an earlier post, reminded me of having some pictures of one of the fleet which we have been able to model here at 'The Lane'...... The prototype Mk2 #9502 is seen here at it's home depot : Our rendition of Mk2 #9502 is seen awaiting the rails to be laid at it's home depot : Our coach uses the Hornby Mk2 Brake as a donor model, which has been heavily modified to include Shawplan 'LaserGlaze' windows and frames, various end and bodyside details such as handrails and a full repaint as per the real P.O livery. The underframe has also been heavily modified to the extent that it is virtually scratchbuilt !!! The only thing left to correct is the 'Air-Con' fan unit ( change double fan to single ) and replace the associated parts with more detailed, accurate fittings. The usual disclaimer applies in that I did not complete any of the works on the model, this was done by somebody who actually knows what they're talking about......lol Hope you like..... Shed.

Hi Peter, Glad you like the look, it is of course thanks to YOUR assistance that this was possible for me, Thankyou. I have been really careful to make sure that the rails sit in the proper position here and have indeed tested a few different wheelsets for clearances. In fact, the only 'cheat' was to not fit proper check rails in the four foot. I was looking at a certain P4 layout at the weekend and feel that if it works for him, it can work for me too ! The rails sit about 1mm higher than any floor surface and this is to aid track cleaning as well as fault free wheel clearance.........even my Lima 59/2's will get in and out of here without grief ! The first coat of Tamiya TS59 'Pink' has now been applied to the overall floor, and when this has dried and been accepted as okay, I can start masking up for the white pit borders and yellow lines........ .....Blimey, at this rate of progress, I might get some track down before that new Dapol 73 arrives ! Shed.

Good Morning ! After a long time away from doing any modelling, as I've not been particularly focussed in this area, I'm pleased to have something to show...... This is the finished ramp shape that has been holding things up: The difficulty in getting this right has been a challenge for me but, finally it is done. I've also klearnt a trick or two from the recent Scalefour show at Leatherhead and have employed this here. Looking 'into' the shed, you can see the front of the concrete apron that runs accross the three main doors. The girder siting holes that you can see, denote where the front of the building will be : Looking down from the sky, the flangeway is purposely huge, as we will be running all sorts of '00' stock here : Looking 'out' and through the shed doors, the ramp is to enable things such as forklift trucks to access all three roads : Now........must walk away while I'm ahead..............

Hi Pete, Lovely to hear from you, hope you are well ? Had a very good couple of days at Leatherhead thanks............however, it's the next 365 that are gonna be interesting, as I need to knuckle down and crack on with this now............ If there's anything I can say I brought away from the show in large sackfuls........it was inspiration to keep going ! Shed.

Hi All, Good evening, Just a quick post to say Thankyou to all those who stopped by to say hello at the Scaleforum show, today and yesterday. I had a great two days helping out on 'Laira' and it was a pleasure to meet new people and see some known faces ! I was able to 'pitch tent' and show off some stock for the forthcoming layout..... One of the Stew. Lane 'Fastrols' was also in attendance, demonstrating the loading ramps........ Our RES 47 768 and Intercity 47 844 were also out and about elsewhere, at Plymouth Laira, providing some 'alternative colour'............just to break up the NSE monopoly ! Seriously........it was a pleasure to be involved with such quality 50' action........ Hope you all had as much fun as I did......... Regards, Shed.

Good evening, Just a note to let you know I'll be making an appearance at Scaleforum, Leatherhead this coming weekend, as the wife and kids have allowed daddy out !!! I'll be dusting the cobwebs off of some the fleet and will have 'at least' the following on display......... EWS 47 790 + 2 x EWS 'QSA' Translator Coaches Mainline Freight 37 709 VSOE Pullman Car 'MONA' in current dilapidated condition VSOE Mk1 Baggage Car 9, #99538 VSOE Mk2 brake coach #9502 VSOE Pullman Car 'VERA' VSOE Pullman Car 'MINERVA' VSOE/EWS Generator Coach #6313 in EWS Livery Stewarts Lane 'Acid Wagon' #083405 Stewarts Lane 'Sturgeon Wagon' #994900 35028 'Clan Line' & Mk2 Support Coach #17096 NOT YET RELEASED FROM WORKS If there are any particular things you'd like me to bring along, then please advise..............not all the good stuff went for sale ! This will be a 'guest appearance' with '43179' of this forum............... Hope to see you there ! Kindest Regards, Shed.

Hi vac_basher, Thanks for checking in, however, no need for dissapointment as it is still the same project. I'm still making a 4mm scale model of Stewarts Lane, but am concentrating on the Electric Loco Shed. part of it as an 'Architechtural Model', where one side of it is 'open' and you can see the detailed interior, very much like 'Worcester Road', which inspired me to think again. There is also still planning consent to build the smaller C&W shed next door eventually, but I'm still yet to get the official drawing for that ! Regards, Shed. * edited to correct Vac_Basher to vac_basher

Thanks Peter, Despite all the accuracy going into this, I can't say exactly how the rails will sit yet until I get the chairs into stock and check it out. I'm not too concerned though as I do have options, which I'll be looking at later, including trimming to accommodate. I really want to see some primer on these soon to show up the faults so I can make them right/finish off...........but I won't be rushing to do this ! Incidentally.........I'm sure I got in at 00:30 last night but the post went on at 00:05 ? Regards, Shed.

Good Morning, Just got in from the layout.....at half past midnight and thought I'd squeeze in a quick update. A package arrived here today with a number of laser cut, top floor segments... These form the top level of the shed floor at the front of the building and have caused major headaches to get right... The '1', '2' and '3' relate to where the tracks pass through this part of the floor, better shown as... or The ramp you can see here, exists for things such as forklift trucks and wheeled barrows etc to pass between roads within the shed. The prototype ramps is a very shallow affair and this is what I'm trying to recreate properly... I'm liking progress so far as I seem to have managed a uniform ramp that is smooth too... When this is finally signed off, I'm hoping to look at getting some painting done ! Thats all for now, Kindest Regards, Shed.

Hiya, Thanks for your comments, it's good to be back with something of a more positive outlook for the project. There are only so many times you can chase round in circles before realising your doing something wrong ! I'm now working on an engineered solution for the ramp at the London End and want this to be right as it is fundamental to the project. Hopefully, when this is cracked I can get the floor painted and then start on the main framework for the building, internal walls and overhead gantry cranes. This is one of the resident vehicles relying on this project to succeed : I'm really hoping it will have somewhere great to live one day ! Shed.

Hi Pete, Many Thanks. I'm much happier with it now as I am working towards an actual plan, literally from the foundations upwards ! There is definately a long way to go, I can't wait to get building the girder work, but I see it more of a 'kit build' now than an approximation. It's a bit of a pain with the research here though..........I've counted 1283 detailed photo's of the place in my collection ! Digital camera's eh ? Regards, Shed.

Hi, Just a few trial and error pics tonight, This is the 3mm BASE sitting in position on top of the FOUNDATION : The side walls of the building will butt up to the edge of this piece and between the vertical girders. Next up is how the rails will be fitted, using exactoscale and C&L components, literally sited either side of the pit opening : The way the pits are now made, enables me to line the sides with the correct brickwork sheet as required : The issue of the ramp at the 'London End' of the shed still has to be solved........but I think it's doable now. Regards, Shed.

Evening folks, It's been a while since writing, but tonight I have reached a stage where I feel I have something worthwhile to post....... There is a whole load of stock sitting in boxes here waiting for a home, and so here we go again. After accessing and copying the official floor plan for the Electric loco. Shed, ( with all relevant permissions ) a very good friend translated this into a working 4mm drawing AND laser cutting file..... This was sent to a laser cutting company and two pieces were produced for me, a FOUNDATION and a BASE. We won't be indulging in Peco pits for THIS attempt, but using the floor pieces themselves to make them. I was also very fortunate to notice some VERY high quality baseboards become available, that would be perfect for the new version of the project. I jumped at these like a rabied dog, knowing that they would be truly square and level, and then converted them for my use, that is to say I made them into one 4ft x 30inch and one 8ft x 30inch configuration, to make a portable 12ft x 30inch overall size. I topped these with a 9mm Plywood sheet, itself topped with a 9mm MDF sheet. I had the foundation made out of 9mm MDF and the base made out of 3mm MDF, which gives me 3ft deep pits, although the real ones are actually slightly deeper. After buying and teaching myself how to use a router, I took out a rectangle panel of the 9mm MDF in the position where the building would sit. After water sealing this cut out with watered down PVA sealer, I primed it and then popped in the 9mm foundation piece.......securing it with THIRTY SIX screws !!! Because the 9mm plywood baseboard tops are sitting perfectly flat on the baseboard frames, this causes the 9mm MDF to sit perfectly flat also. The 3mm MDF base will sit on top of this and again, will be perfectly flat. The girders that form the building will sit in the rectangular holes shown and will have the first 12mm anchored under the floor ! The piece in these pictures is the FOUNDATION, the base is not shown. De-classified from our 'Top Link' pool, 73 101 is now relegated to measurement proving work. It's replacement has been ordered Thankyou Mr Dapol....... The Loco. is pictured on what is known as the 'stub road', and it is a very flexible location because it can be adjusted for length by the shed staff to accommodate whatever they are working on. The rails finish at the end of the row of holes to the right of the pit, not at the 'actual' end of the pit, this is how you can fit any length of Loco. in this road, with some of it overhanging the end of the pit and is, for example, where 'Clan Line' sits when undergoing rebuilding work. The trackplan is currently planned as being this, but tommorrow I might have a better idea....... Thats all for now, Regards, Shed.

Matt, Thankyou for the tip. Your post has just cost me 124.99GBP !!! Thanks again, Shed.