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cromptonnut

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Blog Comments posted by cromptonnut

    Dad-1

    Posted

    Looks very impressive now I see the big picture wink.gif

    It's a diorama no question.

    BUT

    If you popped a platform on there and ran a DMU in and out of it to and from a fiddle yard. it would be layout. No question.

    Put a simple platfrom kit up there on top of the embankment. You know it makes sense

    Ian

     

    The Heljan "Takeley Station" kit would do the job just nicely ...

    Dad-1

    Posted

    Can I ask what you used for the culvert? I'm assuming you're modelling in OO - it looks a bit like an N gauge single tunnel mouth? Or is it one of the Woodland Scenics products?

     

    I've discovered that the "standard" for a twin track embankment works out about 8 inches in 7mm and I happen to have some 8 inch wide pieces of MDF that are just the right length. Am thinking of having the embankment perhaps just an inch or two high (less than yours when you scale it), with the back of the embankment dropping slightly towards the backscene which will be quite close to the back track.

     

    The rearmost track will be a now singled ex-double line, and the visible part of the second track is a headshunt/siding truncating several feet from the exit of the layout on the left, in a very similar manner to yours, with the rest of where that line would have gone leaving sleeper indents etc. The front part of the layout, on a lower level but above baseboard level (so I can put in the stream/culvert) will have sidings for an industrial unit - which, at present, I'm struggling to fit in - but good plan progress today after months of deliberation so now thanks to your inspiration I've got an idea what I want, it's just a case of how to fit it all in!

     

    O gauge is much bigger than I ever expected...

    Dad-1

    Posted

    My biggest problem - and I guess I'm not alone in this - is that I have about a quarter of the space I wish I had, so I'm still trying to squeeze in 12 carriage expresses when I only have room for 4.

     

    I'm deliberately making this project an "end to end" which will limit my train length to about 4ft due to using a traverser (to save space) rather than my usual "roundy roundy" as I just don't have the room at the moment for that. Of course, it wouldn't be difficult to update the layout to a roundy-roundy if I get more space in the future but at the moment I just have 12ft x 2ft or thereabouts.

     

    I really like the "lifted track" effect you have achieved there, and particularly on an embankment. Scenic breaks will enable me to run longer trains than the visible section. Watch this space!

     

     

    Dad-1

    Posted

    Paperclips for the culvert railings... very nice, might nick that idea myself.

     

    Particularly like the "open" feel of that first siding board, I always seem to cram track into every square inch of board that I can, and it all ends up looking like Clapham Junction on steroids rather than the run-down country feel that I sought to achieve - and you seem to have.

    cromptonnut

    Posted

    Hi Dave777, thanks for your thoughts.

     

    I'm using XTrackCAD for the basis of the plan above, which has the five Peco pieces of O gauge trackwork - but it's not really very helpful for planning long flowing curves in the way that something like Templot will.

     

    I do plan on adding gentle curves and whatnot into everything, and the roads etc are just straight because it's easier to draw them in Photoshop - my skills in which are about as good as my conversational Swahili.

     

    I'm actually slightly modifying the plan above as I speak, although keeping the same general layout concept. I do know what you mean about the 'general curviness' of good layouts. I wish I had the woodwork skills to make curved boards - see my comments about Photoshop above - but you never know, I might find someone with the skills. I wish I'd paid more attention in maths...

    cromptonnut

    Posted

    I'll be hopefully going for a Heljan 33 as well - need to pick up a DMU (or two) and a selection of wagons but I'd hope that would be all I need stockwise. This is planned as a minimum space, minimum (as far as you can with O) cost project, and not to end up with a fleet of 30 or 40 locos as my OO stock pile.

     

    As much as I like 10 carriage expresses thundering round a layout, I have to be realistic and accept that in my current living environment that just ain't gonna happen, as much as I'd love it to. In the next few years, a house move may well end up with a shed, garage or loft space that will enable me to bring that dream into reality - and then I can keep the O gauge layout in the living room, suitably framed and curtained, as a 'feature' :)

     

    I will most likely be thinning down some of my OO stock to fund the O gauge project, over the next few months.

     

    I hope you enjoy following the other aspects of the layout design and construction, and the thinking behind some of it.

    cromptonnut

    Posted

    This morning, I bought myself the reamer I needed to open up the holes slightly as required to get the "tight fit" needed for the bearings for the axles.

     

    This evening I used the reamer, then soldered the bushes to the chassis as per the instructions - and then discovered I shouldn't have soldered bushes to the gearbox, which isn't mentioned in the instructions, as nothing fitted! A few choice words and a little desoldering later, all was well.

     

    The wheels were then assembled and put together, with the worm gear screwed in as required, and the whole lot put on a length of flexitrack and power applied.

     

    There's a little tweaking still to be done to make the running smoother, but to all intents and purposes, it's running exactly as it should be.

     

    My next task will be to wire up the sound chip that I plan to put in there, and find somewhere to hide it. In my OO loco it stayed in the cab, but I reckon there should be plenty of room inbetween the chassis sides to hide the chip and its tiny, but powerful, speaker. If the sound can vent to outside then I don't need to worry about making holes, and as the speaker has its own built in soundbox, no further work needs doing.

     

    I've waffled enough. Here's the video.

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmFDNthCXlI

    cromptonnut

    Posted

    Next part completed this evening... the basic chassis. I can't complete it and put the two parts together this evening as I need to ream out the holes for the wheel bushes, and guess what I can't find.

     

    A trip to Maplin in the morning should furnish me with the appropriate tool.

     

    chassissmall.jpg

     

    All those solder joints are inside so the fact they're a bit messy doesn't really matter as they won't be seen unless the shunter tips over 180 degrees - and if that happens, the dodgy soldering will be the last thing I'll be worrying about :)

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