Peter & Seth

Scalescenes.com Low Relief Warehouse We've built several N-gauge Metcalfe kits but now that we have decided to model a modern diesel-era scene we don't have much use for a period country station or goods shed (shame, I was rather pleased with the finished results but my wife thinks they looks great on the mantelpiece). We like card modelling and have scratchbuilt other non-railway models such as space rockets, satellites and famous landmarks. After a little Googling we discovered Scalescenes.com. Whilst not strictly scratchbuilding in its purest form the flexibility of the kits and wide range of extra textures and accessories make creating unique models very easy. As a tester/taster we downloaded the free Low Relief Warehouse R002b in TX07 Aged Brown Brick and hastily printed it out on cheap copier paper using the office colour laser printer. Construction was very straight forward as the instructions are very well presented (the owner of Scalescenes.com is a graphic designer by trade) and clearly a lot of thought and experimentation has gone into the design. There were some very good tips, such as using a glue-stick for large flat areas and then rollering to remove air bubbles. What we like most about these kits though is the careful use of real photographic textures. They have been applied with care such that there is no discernible pattern repeat. So here is the result of two short evenings of work with scalpel, ruler, cutting mat and Roket Card Glue: The only problem we had was cracking of the printed surface when wrapped back on itself around thin edges. The solution we found was to use liberal amounts of PVA to soften the paper for a few minutes before fixing in place, much like the effect paste has on wallpaper. Peter & Seth

Hi Bryn, Very interested to see you constructing a 3-way using Easitrac for this layout. I would really like a 3-way for my layout (Harpers Road) although I'm going to be using Peco Code 55 so may not be a good match. I couldn't find anything on the 2mm Finescale website concerning 3-way points. I'd be most grateful if you could give me some pointers as to plans, parts required, costs, etc. Regards, Peter

As described in our first post our bookshelf N-gauge layout is going to be closely based on the excellent OO Dudley Road by Pete Harvey. We have attempted to recreate the plan using Peco Code 55 in XTrkCad. One problem we have encountered so far seems to be the lack of 3-way points in N-gauge let alone a set with Code 55 rail. We've looked at offerings from Fleischmann, Trix and Arnold but they look so different they'd really stick out like a sore thumb. Rumour has it that Peco are due to release an asymmetric 3-way point in 2010 but according to the first comment on our first blog entry it's not likely until Q4 2010! We may have to have a little re-think concerning the location of the engine shed in the back-left corner. One possible solution would be to extend the baseboard by 6-12" so that an extra 2-way could be used to get the additional split. The drawback is that I'd have to buy a larger piece of MDF when I already have some 1200mm x 600mm sheets. Another option, as suggested by James Hilton, would be to use the rear track for a station. Nothing is set in stone at this point so we'll see what comes about. In the mean time we have printed a 1:1 copy of the layout and affixed it to the uncut baseboard to get a feel for the general size by placing a few engines on it: Also visible on the baseboard are many of our N-gauge items chosen by Seth over the last few years (hence the very random selection!) during visits to The Watercress Line, The Warley Show, Didcot Parkway, Alton Models, Antics (Guildford), Models of Distinction (Farnham) and many others: Farish Class 04 in BR blue Farish Class 08 in Railfreight Distribution livery Peco SL-E392F left-hand points Gaugemaster dual controller A complete loop with sidings in Peco Setrack 3 x Roco flatbeds (one with set of pipes) Various Dapol, Peco and Farish trucks/wagons Peco re-railer Metcalfe N-gauge station and goods shed Scalescenes.com Low Relief Warehouse (more about that later...) Japanese 1:160 scale people carrier Expo razor saw + handle A few odd trees We're really getting into this now. See you soon in post #3. Peter & Seth

This layout blog is about the design and construction of the model railway that I am building for my 6-year old son, Seth. It is also the first model railway we have built. Because we live in a tiny Victorian terrace there is no room for grand schemes and we have decided that for our first effort we will stick to a compact book-shelf layout and so that we can fit in as much as possible it will be N-gauge. We don't know much about trains other than we like watching and riding on them (we live a few hundred yards across a field from a small village station), and that we like playing with model trains, particularly modern diesels and EMUs. As we don't know much about trains or tracks I thought it would best to follow someone else's lead and use an existing layout as the basis for our own. After much Googling I found a superb modern-image diesel layout listed on this very site, Dudley Road. I contacted its creator, Pete Harvey, to ask if he would mind if we used his plan as the basis for our layout. He has very kindly consented. Thank you, Pete. Dudley Road is OO and 8' long by 1' wide. As we will modelling in N-gauge this roughly reduces to 4' long by 6" wide. We're going to maintain the 4' length as I have several pre-cut 1200mm x 600mm MDF sheets but I will make it a deeper at around 8-9" so that I can add a little more scenic architecture along the back edge than Dudley Road. A plan has been put together using XTrkCad and, as I would like to be as detailed as possible, I will be using Peco Streamline Code 55 track. The only problem is finding a 3-way point in Code 55 - I hear rumour that Peco are releasing an asymmetric point in 2010 but no news about as yet. The next step will be to build the baseboard. Hopefully another update will follow soon. Peter & Seth