londonbus

It took a bit of experimenting, but that shouldn’t put you off. The main challenge is getting the resolution high enough with the system i’m using: Design the graphic you want to replicate (I use Photoshop, but there are plenty of other options) I research as best I can the running number ranges for wagons and pick numbers at random. I keep a record for large rakes so I don’t replicate the same number Save as a .png file and import into Word Scale it to the size you want in Word (use the ruler), print on normal paper to check the size is correct IMPORTANT - depending on which Word you use, if you just save the document the images get saved in a lower resolution which is sufficient to show in the finished product (i.e. the numbers aren’t legible). So there is an option in the image menu to retain the image in a high resolution. To save decal paper print as many decals at the same time and keep the margins at minimum In the printer settings use the higher possible quality print (my inkjet has a high / vibrant option) but depending on the printer you may need to play around with the “paper type” setting. I got this wrong with these decals and the black is not particularly deep. I don’t remember the correct setting, so I will need to do some experimentation. Tip here is that description of the paper isn’t necesserily logical, i.e. photo paper won’t necesserily mean the decal paper result will be glossy - you will need to try one small decal on each setting (moving the image in word slightly so when you print it on the same paper it doesn’t overlap. And (my mistake) MAKE A NOT OF THE SETTINGS SOMEWHERE SAFE !!! When you have the decals printed two coats of matt varnish (I use Testors) then apply - The decal paper I use is very fragile so only 30 seconds is needed in warm water and a dip in Microsol so soften it before applying it immediately (surface pre-glossed) Hope that helps.

Time travel is a good explanation. I can track from 10am to 3am the following morning in the state you describe in very short order. However I am unable to travel back. Table has been set and cleared up in my absence.

Very nice. I used to use the Decalfix and powders routine and liked the resulting rough finish (as supposed to smooth!) But stopped doing it recently. Time for a review. Thanks for posting. Great result. T

Hi, i’m In Moscow right now and have a collection of Russian SZD and RZD stock back home. The shop you were at is either Rocoland www.rocoland.ru or one of the Eurotrain shops www.eurotrain.ru Rocoland is a great shop, but rather tricky to find, it has some good exclusives (mainly by LS Models / Roco) and a good selection but they don’t take cards which is a bit frustrating. Eurotrain has it’s own manufacturing to a very high standard, but is rather pricey. Rocoland general sells Eurotrain production too. Chris White at Red Star trains produces some great resin models and is lovely to deal with, however call him, don’t email. Eurotrain stuff can now be bought in Menzels Lokschuppen in Dusseldorf, and occasionally there are Russian locos available in HO through the normal continental (Europe) manufacturers, Piko, Roco, Fleischmann. Modellbahnshop Lippe (google it) has a good selection generally and will post internationally from Germany. LS Models do some excellent RZD sleepers and coaches. C&M Models in Carlisle are a good place and seem to order them in. Other shops will do this too, i’ve Just used C&M before and you need to be aware in advance of the production. Tillig / Heris and Eurotrain do the Ammendorf coaches that are synonymous with the Russian sleepers coming into Western Europe. There is also a producer in Latvia called Modela www.modela.lv resin casts - so not the same quality as we’re used to nowadays. Good luck! Tremayne If you need any more info please PM me! Ebay has some stuff but it’s very expensive.

Also something i’ve spent time on is getting weathering right for my hoppers. I’ve been experimenting a lot on the Dapol 21T hoppers before I move onto the Accurascale, Bachmann and other (more expensive) types and i’m now happy with the results. Basically it’s a tried and tested method well documents here and elsewhere - burnt umber and a lighter rust coat on first. Hairspray. Maslow dabbed on with a ragged sponge. Let it dry for 30 minutes. Coat of light grey (all Vallejo acrylics so far). Leave for 30 minutes, take the Maskol off. Wet the wagon and lightly agitate the acrylic paint in areas where you want more rust to seep through. Varnish. Leave overnight. Weathering powders, darl rust and coal black worked into the edges of the panels. And brought down with a wide brush slightly moist with thinners. Manipulate with a smaller brush with thinners to get the effects (vertically) and areas with more paintwork coming through. I have made my own decals with decal paper - as it’s the white paper the edges need touching up with a black pen. Also on the pictures below I have not got the ideal printer settings as I want a deeper black. I have achieved this in the past but did not make a note of the settings, so more experiments here needed in Word and the printer menu. The decals are also a bit on the large side so need reducing. Other than that I think it’s not bad and an improvement on previous efforts. My repertoire now includes heavy to light hopper weathering. Always room for improvement however. Tremayne

As I haven’t posted since RMWeb changed it’s format which is quite a while now I thought it’s time for a quick update. Still very busy with everything non layout related so progress is slow. However the track is now virtually all down, not all wired up though. BDL168 / DAC 20 boards are all wired and in place, so it should need a week of solid work to get it all powered up and ready to test properly.

Hi, i’m In Moscow right now and have a collection of Russian SZD and RZD stock back home. The shop you were at is either Rocoland www.rocoland.ru or one of the Eurotrain shops www.eurotrain.ru Rocoland is a great shop, but rather tricky to find, it has some good exclusives (mainly by LS Models / Roco) and a good selection but they don’t take cards which is a bit frustrating. Eurotrain has it’s own manufacturing to a very high standard, but is rather pricey. Rocoland general sells Eurotrain production too. Chris White at Red Star trains produces some great resin models and is lovely to deal with, however call him, don’t email. Eurotrain stuff can now be bought in Menzels Lokschuppen in Dusseldorf, and occasionally there are Russian locos available in HO through the normal continental (Europe) manufacturers, Piko, Roco, Fleischmann. Modellbahnshop Lippe (google it) has a good selection generally and will post internationally from Germany. LS Models do some excellent RZD sleepers and coaches. C&M Models in Carlisle are a good place and seem to order them in. Other shops will do this too, i’ve Just used C&M before and you need to be aware in advance of the production. Tillig / Heris and Eurotrain do the Ammendorf coaches that are synonymous with the Russian sleepers coming into Western Europe. Good luck! Tremayne If you need any more info please PM me! Ebay has some stuff but it’s very expensive.

Thanks - Vallejo is my preferred medium and was looking for this information! Much appreciated.

www.eurotrain.ru www.rocoland.ru Some Eurotrain stock is also now sold in Menzels Lokschuppen in Dusseldorf. Modellbahnshop-lippe is also a good place in Germany for Russian (and all continental). You can also search on SZD (soviet) and RZD (Russian) on Ebay. I've lived in Russia and have a growing collection of Russian stock - would be happy to share any info if you PM me.

Thanks for the positive comments Chamby... The uncouplers were certainly an afterthought and there has been so much to think. The Kadee magnets are unsightly, but I suppose could to some degree be partially disguised with weathering. Not ideal though. I’ve bought some 3mm x 3mm neodymium magnets, but haven’t had time to experiment. Off to Warley next weekend so will no doubt purchase one of the Kadee electromagnets for a trial before I settle on the final solution. Current thinking - normal Kadee magnets (or the neodymium) for the storage sidings where the cosmetics don’t matter, and electromagnets for the station area. I’ll need at least 10!

Thanks Corbs, on couplings the stock is mainly with the NEM pockets, however a reasonable amount of early stuff, already ordered 2 x bulk packs of standard whisker couplers and the corresponding draft gear boxes. Yet to be fitted. Have tried the NEM Kadees #17, #18, #19 and #20, the closest coupling I can get (and without buffer lock on the non-scenic 3rd radius curve) is a combination of 1 x #17 connected to 1x #18. I will experiment with 3 link coupling, Sprat & Winkle, some 3D printed NEM 3 link ones, all the proprietary ones and will knock up some hook and loop ones - all in due course, trying to focus on getting the track down, wired up and tested, i’m far too easily distracted! On turntables, there are two on the layout, one in the station area and one in the storage area. I have a Heljan already which will be used in the storage area. It’s still boxed but thanks for the comments, it’s a bit too “continental” looking for use in the main scenic section which is why (cough) i’ve Just ordered the ADM turntables version with detailing which is a very close match to the actual TT at Leicester C. This is expensive, but the reviews are exceptional and it really looks spot on. By far the most expensive single item on the entire layout. Mojo is currently high to get more work done, it always is when i’m travelling and not at home.

This weekend the stars were aligned, the wife was away, I had a light week travelling and managed to get work finished for the week by Thursday evening. Tidied the railway room up and had a plan. Basically not to get distracted and ONLY lay track. This is the result. The station area is now basically laid. There are some bits to finish off in the loco servicing are (on the right) and i'm thinking about an ADM turntable (haven't done much research beyond check out the price and pictures. Very little is wired up, hence the droppers all over the baseboard. But these will be drilled through and connected to the BDL168 occupation detectors. The Cobalts will then be fitted (holes already drilled) and then testing will start. I've already noticed a few mistakes with some missed insulated connectors, so i'll just dremel and stick a little bit of Plasticard in to ensure the two tracks don't touch. I have cosmetically improved the PECO points (Electrofrog code 100) by trimming the sides. They are all wired up for DCC. Everything's stuck down with copydex and every single seperate section of track is independently wired to avoid any poor connections once the ballast is down (not relishing that). One of the many little projects i've been busy doing to avoid laying track is experimenting with different couplings. I've settled on Kadees for the locos and either end of fixed rakes. I will also have a number of loose wagons (parcels, vans and other) for shunting around the station's sidings and bays which will all have Kadees or at least in small rakes of three. I haven't yet settled on which couplings to use everywhere else. The cost of Kadees for the entire stock I have would be prohibitive. Travelling now for a few weeks, but do hope to speed up the progress a bit. I am quite mojo'd up to get it wired and working. Then I will be laying the storage sidings. Anybody with experience of motorised turntables I would greatly appreciate your comments. I will research fully in due course. Tremayne

have a cuppa then go for it. Looking forward to updates and pics of progress

I just found your “blog” here, but have been following your Flickr stream for quite some time. Nice subtle work and a reminder that less is more with weathering.

Hello Albion 47509! What a great find, i’ve Checked out the website and there is a dealer literally 6 miles from where I live near Frankfurt. I have plenty of renumbering and other decal work to do so may take a good look at this option, expensive though it is, if the quality of the white is good enough it will probably make sense. Thanks. T

Hi Chamby, thanks for your comment! it's taken quite a few hours (understatement) to get this track plan as close to the original using proprietry pointwork. The elevated trackbed is in place but the area in front of the station will also be modelled taking in Bath Road etc. So the South signal box will be modeled - found a great colour photo on " The Jeyes' " Great Central Flickr Photostream from the road side and it shows the detail of the signal box supports: https://www.flickr.com/photos/108977492@N02/38011168364/in/album-72157687941513193/

Had enough for the day, I had to spend an hour or so on Anyrail as I had reduced the track centre to centre measurement to 4.5cm on the down lines. But I hadn't changed it on the software. The up lines were still set at 5cm centre to centre. So having had a problem with the allignment of the curve on the down, I decided to do it right so I could print the pointwork off. The result of this was in fact that the distance from the 3-way point until the point for the up fast and up slow lines increased by 25cm. I can fit a 9 coach train in the down main platform but only an 8 coach on the up. However the width of the platforms had to be the same. The perspective is a bit misleading, I can get 4 coaches and an engine in the south bays. And a 3 car DMU in the northern bays. But the area for station buildings sandwiched in the middle is much smaller as just the platforms if built to scale would be 5 meters or nearly 17 feet long. Packing up for the day.

Wife's gone away to help out with little ones, leaving her other infant alone in the railway room. Attention turns to the Shinohara Double Crossover, Code 100, No.6. I bought this recently from Scalelink and it fits the purpose of the Northern Bay Crossover nicely. Peco quality it is not, however with some experimenting i've got it do do what I want. The option of butchering 4 points and a crossover would have just been too time consuming and fiddly, and probably no cheaper. The first thing I noticed with my continuity meter is that the entire frog and full length of the switch blades are live. The polarity is supposed to change by using a quite flimsy connector under the end of the switch blade. To add to the potential for failure the fishplates between the frog and the switchblades don't appear to give a completely satisfactory connection. Although I should point out that the crossover works fine out of the box, in my view it's only a matter of time until it doesn't. So I set about a belt and braces solution. The points are not self-latching, i.e. they don't click shut like the PECO ones do. This is not a problem for me anyway as i'll be using COBALT stall motors. The additional benefit of the Cobalts (and probably the Tortoise, although i've never used these) is that you have output to change the polarity of the frog a the motor switched the points. The points are nicely insulated where they need to be and this means I can incorporate the four occupancy detection zones with little bother. I just have to make one cut on the black line (as the red is common), otherwise the "Up" direction (The top line in the above picture) would join the two detection zone. This would have the unwanted result of showing the "Up" throat pointwork as occupied if there was a Loco or coach / wagon drawing a current in Bay 1. It's taken forever to understand this. But now it has sunk in. In the image above you can see how i've connected the frog rails together and also made a connection over the joint where the fishplate was the only way of conducting power. So that the wire (Excess wire supplied with the Peco three way point!) that makes a more secure connection doesn't sit proud of the sleepers I cut HALF WAY through the plastic to create a small channel. Dremel on low and very careful not to cut completely through the sleeper. The wire will then go to one of the four Cobalts to received the correct polarity power when the points change. I quickly clipped the sleepers where you attach point motor as they are not flush with the sleepers (just as on the PECO points too). Lastly I soldered on the droppers, gapped the rail (in the middle / top black) and stuck it down with Copydex. Hopefully it'll work and I won't have to take it up again. All in all about 2 hour work with tea breaks. Lunch break over - back to work.

I'm now following you and well considering this project has been on the cards for about 10 years you're significantly ahead of me!

Looking forward to more updates!

Just a quick update not warranting a new post. Some more progress on the southern end. Track laid but still need to drill the droppers through and wire up a new Bus wire from the PM42 as the up lines are on a different zone to the down lines. This means that if there's a short on the down lines it will not affect the running on the up lines and v.v. The storage sidings will also be likewise wired and the loco storage and turntable will be the 4th zone. A little bit of reading up on the Peco Insulfrog 3 way point resulted in a little belt and braces approach. I cut out some webbing to ensure contact between the + and - rails. It seems these were reliant on the blades making contact which doesn't seem very rugged to me. So I soldered them together. 1st try with a 3 way so we'll see. Lower one is new and the top one has the webbing cut away. And this is after i've soldered a wire connecting the + rails and independently the - rails (obviously not the + to the -!) The 2 x frog polarities will be changed over from the 2 x Cobalts.

Thanks Markus, it's slow work but getting quicker (it's all relative). Best wishes for Easter!

Some progress laying the south bays and also trackwork on the up lines. Droppers soldered and dropped, points doctored for DCC, "throw" mechanism taken out as i'm using Cobalts, and the sides of the points also streamlined to cosmetically improve them. Got the bays nice and straight with my metal rule. Also the centre to centre measurement is 50mm. When I cut out the baseboards I misjudged the width so i'm going to add some extra width on the the western side of the neck. Also as the Cobalts are powering the points the bridge might need some headscratching too. A little bit of fiddling getting the curves as best I can. All Peco Streamline code 100. So some head scratching and lots of hours on Anyrail to get the result I wanted. I gave up with cutting the webbing from the sleepers to space them more widely, the layout's taking long enough as it is. A friend in the UK has offered to mill out two Deltics to fit the EM2 "Earth Mover" speakers for Prototype Deltic and 55022. Unfortunately the speakers still didn't fit, so I got the Dremel out and slowly ground out a further 1mm. Also filing the roof and the speakers, it's a very tight fit, but it fits. Royal Scots Grey is done now. At some point down the line i'll put some lights in it. But that'll wait for another year. (post post edit, the dremeling below is a Cl37 I recently fitted 2 speakers in, not the deltic.) Here's a short video. Turn the sound down a bit. And last and not least another excuse not to lay track... playing with blending acrylics (Tamiya) thinned and blended with a brush. Home made decals will go on top and the whole lot weathered a bit.

Thanks for the info and background on this wagon. It’ll be winging it’s way to Germany very soon.

There was a reference to this online photo on the www.traintesting.com site quite a few pages back but nothing since - it’s my only hope to run one of these wagons with a degree of credibility! The image (not mine) is at Sileby in 1983. http://www.traintesting.com/images/M4_0016.jpg Any history to this lone wagon? And it’s very difficult to see if it has ICI lettering, painted over or taken off. Whether it has the TOPS panel (can’t see any black on the photo). It’s loaded with what is presumably Limestone. So which would be the closest? Presumably it’s ICI004A (no black TOPS) but difficult to say. Maybe ICI005A?