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pauln

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Blog Entries posted by pauln

  1. pauln
    Well its two months since the last update. I'd like to say I have made massive progress but in reality it is only in the last few days I've found the time to work on the layout. I have, however, received my 4-CEPs and so far have chipped and run in one of the Green ones (the other green one arrived with one coach too many and one driving motor too few so am waiting for a swap).
     
    Anyway, the depot conundrum from last blog has been resolved by cladding the Hornby depot with Wills corrugated metal panels. Pics to follow tomorrow - it is in the spray shop at the moment.
     
    Spent some time tring to finish the retaining walls .. bit of a tedious task .. and now also finished the ballasting except for a few filling in bits. Big step forward was creating the "tunnel" that hides access to a small hidden siding (if I could work out how to use a Lenz reverse loop module so I can connect it to the loop at the rear. A ramp from above the tunnel will provide access to the station car park and a backscene probably of an Aldi or PCWorld or the like.
     
    As you'll see from one of the pics I have started to dig out all my old coaches (mostly Lima and Mainline) with a view to keeping the good ones and replacing those beyond redemption.
     
    I have also started laying a Scalescenes road in the centre of the layout providing limited vehicle access to the loco shed. I'm not convinced I have the transition between sheets of "road" quite right though.
     

     

     

     

     
    And a bit of an indulgence ... my local bus garage with a local bus outside it.
     

  2. pauln
    So the retaining walls around the loco depot are taking shape. As i said previously I bought, but haven't finished, a Scalescenes loco shed and I don't think this is going to look good enough even if I do get it finished. The Bachmann shed is too big to fit so as far as I can see I'm left with just a few options (1) use the old Hornby kit seen here with a coat of paint, replacing the floor and adding some dirt (2) the Peco shed which will just about fit (3) no shed at all. Actually best of all I'd like a single road shed (I think the one at Peterborough is like this). Any views on what might work best in this space welcome.
     
    Also this weekend I've managed to fit 5 of the remaining 7 point motors and wire them up to Lenz LS150s; last two to do next week. Any bright ideas on how best to number points also welcome. I'm thinking of doing the mainline with the low numbers in pairs (1/2) and the sidings with consecutive numbers so I can set 21,22,23 or 21,24,25 for example.
     

     

     

  3. pauln
    By May I'd managed to give the boards a coat of undercoat to give the scenics a base and completed the first bit of ballasting I've ever done. Having read lots of different techniques mine is very simple - a coat of sleeper grime from a Railmatch aerosol, sprinkle on the ballast (Riko ballast scatter), brush into the right sort of shape followed by the traditional mist of water spray with a drop of washing up liquid and applying the PVA with a dropper.
     

     

     

     
    Six months later the ballasting is still not complete ... I can very much see the appeal of smaller layouts now.
  4. pauln

    The boards fit together

    By pauln,

    This is an edited summary of my thread from the old RMWeb. Progress has been slow over the summer so let's start with the initial steps in September last year (wow! I did't realise it had taken me a year to get to where I am today .... how embarrassing).
     
    So the history ..... after four false starts (OO, N, Japanese N, OO) and 30 years since I possessed an actual model railway I finally put four baseboards together and roughly concluded on a track plan. The final layout has ended up as 16ft x about 4ft. No specific prototype in mind but will be south of the country rather than north and in BR Blue-ish (and green if Bachmann ever produce the CEP) with occasional steam excursions. Maybe eventually I'll have the skill and patience to add the third rail.
     
    This is the original track layout
     

     
    Which very quickly adapted into this

     
    The station will be partly hidden under a road overbridge so I can have longer trains than I have the platform space for. The other two tracks will be for "slower" trains maybe DMUs. In the far corner are carriage sidings and small loco depot so I need the diamond crossings to provide access to this. Reversing from the w/b slow to the e/b slow is also possible. I guess you might say I'm trying to squeeze too much in.
  5. pauln
    With a huge effort of will over Christmas 2008 I put most of the electrics into place before trying to run trains but I now have a near complete track layout on the front side and a simple rigged up circuit around the back (purely for "test" purposes).
     
    I've tried to keep the electrics as tidy as possible allowing for the fact I have never wired up a DCC layout before nor done any soldering. Some of the track droppers soldered to the rails look rather hamfisted but I guess I can go back and redo. The glue gun is a new technique for me too and so far I'm impressed with how much tidier I can make it all look.
     

     

     
    So with this done a few test trains could run. Sound fitted 37 254 takes a run.
     


  6. pauln

    Summer Progress

    By pauln,

    So bringing the blog up to date after very little progress over the summer due to work and hols. Ballasting of the two main lines is complete at last as is most of the carriage sidings trackwork.
     
    I was rather taken by a Virgin Voyager advertised for sale here on RMweb so I now have yet another piece of rolling stock that doesn't really fit with the geography .... but it will do for fun until the layout is finished.
     

     
    A couple of years back at Warley I bought a very cheap Heljan plastic kit of a sanding bay (US outline) with a thought I could use the walkways in carriage sidings. You can see the unpainted version in the first pic. In the background you can see the overbridge that hides the curve to the backscene.
     

     
    And the painted version in the second. Was painted with Halfords Grey Primer and Halfords Silver metallic spray. To be honest I thought it would come out rather lighter silver. Will get round to a repaint in due course.
     

     
    On the overbridge the plan is either for a road or for a warehouse / depot of some sort. In the meantime I have indulged a little side interest. A month or two back I found a web site that sold card models of London Transport bus garages (plus a few provincial ones). I couldn't resist having a go at my local garage Sutton so this will sit here until replacement buildings are made (only after finishing the model did I realise I only have one single model bus that represents a Sutton route - the RF is obviously an interloper ... so I might have to buy one or two more buses or maybe a different garage).
     
    (I should have added the web site is Kingsway Models. Highly recommended. Delivery of my kit was within a couple of days. They come ready mounted on card which needs cutting out but the card is relatively thin ... though the models when built are plenty sturdy enough (think Metcalf/Superquick))
     

  7. pauln
    Today's efforts have seen progres on the retaining walls that will run around the edge of the small diesel shed area. These are obviously a Scalescenes kit. I did buy a Scalescenes Diesel Depot but I have entirely lost patience with it - I'm sure they are good when finished but there is just far too much cutting of cardboard for my liking. Anyway back to the retaining walls; they still require a fair bit of cutting but since they take shape much quicker it is easier (for me at least) to maintain some impetus.
     

     
    The Class 50 here is very much the worse for wear as you can see having taken a long drive off a short piece of track onto the floor a year or two back. It is still useful as a test engine though and doesn't matter if it gets a bit grubby.
     

     
    Tomorrow's job will be to clean the lens on the camera so that the pics are a bit clearer.
  8. pauln
    Progress on the loco shed at last. I decided to use the Hornby diesel depot as a base. The side windows have been covered with Wills corrugated metal sheets and a coat of Halfords Grey over the top. The roof has had a coat of Halfords Matt Black and I still need to do some dirtying up of the walls and some painting of the interior fittings. The shed floor is from the Scalescenes kit (which was my first attempt at a depot). I'm not sure how long the card approach will last ... hopefully long enough for me to finish the layout and then get round to more detailed finishing.
     

     

     
    I've also ... carefully... fitted chips into two of my Bachmann 4-CEPs - here they are in the sidings waiting for duties. The chips are the new Hornby Sapphires which seem to be working out ok.
     

     
    And finally another chipping effort. A Hornby 08 that has been fitted with the TCS DP2X-UK (the direct fit one). With a 60 minute running in (one of the benefits of having a circuit) this is running very smoothly.
     

     
    The flash on this photo shows up the rather horrible colour I used for the last bit of the track spraying. Its a bit too glossy so i'm going to tone this down soon with some matt paint.
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