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Exhill Works and other adventures in 7/8ths


John Besley
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Ok we're back, Bit of spot check I can see some pictures from pages 1 - 4 but not all... Can someone check out so I can confirm what ones to reload please.

 

Once I've got it rebuilt I'll update on the scenary I've been working on

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On 01/04/2022 at 10:43, cliff park said:

There are no pictures after June 2021. There are lots of gaps earlier, but I can't see a pattern as to which ones appear.

 

That's what I thought, I'll reload them again

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The following is cut and pasted from the 7/8ths lounge....

 

While I wait for an stabilized 12V transformer following a spike that blew up 4 PWM controllers for the stationary engine and lighting, I've progressed on the scenary front.

Painted the ground on one board earth colour, then collected a batch of garden soil, dried this out and gave it a blast with the blowtorch to kill and bugs etc. Spread on some PVA and then built up the ground cover with soil, scrunched up leaves, twigs, and tea bags to give the appearance of a forest floor.

Found a pack of mixed grass fibers from Noch that I must have had for 38 years, sprinkled some of these around then followed up with additional thinned PVA and water. ... Now got to wait for it to dry before I add in my long grass

Been busy making clumps of grass out of garden twine by untwisting the twine and inserting into a block of foam to provide a custom tall grass bunch

 

427758873_Yard(27).jpg.1bc71ffb1da0477a5a5b8ec720d17e35.jpg

 

896773490_Yard(28).jpg.a7f1f527902c017c32951cd2e092fb40.jpg

 

 

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So far some 90 plus grass Tufts have been planted along with crushed dried leaf matter bedding around the grass and on the embankment this has also had carpet Tufts added as small plant shoots and twigs.

I have experimented with using dried tea leaves stuck on with hair spray as grass seed heads .... However these all seemed to brush off too easily ... May need a stronger hold spray or Matt varnish .... Work in progress

Next to be made is a bramble to cover one area of waste land 

 

441187124_Yard(29).jpg.2d41e6dd00fb58a8550bcb3c8b5bf39a.jpg

 

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The corner waste area is a general dumpng ground amongst the brambles and weeds will be an assortment of broken pallets and a scrap wagon chassis...

I cut off the end supports from a Triang Big Big Train skip wagon and cut off the bottom of the wheels as these will have sunken into the ground.

 

Next I made up a pallet, before the pallet had dried properly I gave it a twist to push it out of shape and when finally dry put it in the vice and snapped it in half.

 

The skip chassis was given a coat of dark camo brown and then while still wet dropped into a tub of bonfire ash to help represent heavy flaking rusty metal. 

 

The pallet was given a wash of grime and dirt and the skip a couple of coats of lighter rust finishing off with a dry brush of light tan.

 

770898447_Yard(34).jpg.43447443326e6cc01fb051867f6d8204.jpg

 

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1633118595_Yard(36).jpg.35771770b0016c036a5af8d0c9d1bf57.jpg

Edited by John Besley
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Further progress on the brambles this evening, the base  of this is a clump of Woodland Scenics sea moss for the scrubby root part and the next layer is torn up hanging basket, this is given a heavy spray of dark brown and dunked in Woodland Scenics loose foam, to fix this the whole lot is given a generous coat of Matt varnish before planting in place.

 

Found some tiny fern like moss today in a woodland, a hand full came home with me.. after drying out in the van all day at work... trimmed off a couple of pieces and sealed with Matt varnish before planting.

 

 

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Edited by John Besley
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On 03/04/2022 at 08:25, John Besley said:

So far some 90 plus grass Tufts have been planted…

 

 

 

Just holding that thought - 90 planted so far: respect!

 

On 03/04/2022 at 20:53, John Besley said:

Just completed reloading all the pictures as far as I can, still need to hunt up a couple bue at least we're back up and running 

 

Well done!  

 

I’ve listed my threads - an assortment totalling 28 in all - but not attempted any of the longer ones yet.  

 

Good to see the progress on this project, it’s very relaxing (at least for those of us just watching).  Keith. 

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We are now at around 150 grass tufts .... And there will be more...

 

I am setting the season in April, that way you can still have bare trees and fresh greenery with new buds showing (just look around outside today for inspiration) ... So now's the time to photograph plant life for the record.... need to make some daffodils as they help set the season

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Currently ballasted the main running lines and the siding yard area with ash and earth along with fine Woodland Scenics flock for that mossy appearance.

 

Will load pictures at some point once the issues are resolved

Edited by John Besley
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With a bit of a blitz I've finished off the ballasting, yard scatter etc.

 

1340719330_Yard(42).jpg.0ba670ff82f7ce84989253f0b0563350.jpg

 

To stop the ballast etc falling out of the gap I pinned a dam across the baseboard joint and once all had dried sanded the now hard overspill back flush to hide the joint.

 

Still plenty more to do, weeds to grow, plants to create, junk to make and dump in the way, but getting there slowly

 

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Behind Fred is a gutter running outlet shoe going into the gully, this feeds through to the main storm drain just beside the sleeper bufferstop , the drain and mounting ring are 3D printed items 

 

The paving slabs are made from air drying Das clay as individual slabs 3mm thick

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The aim on the ground cover in the yard as opposed to the borders was to portray a area largely covered in ash and fine clinker etc, this was made by sieving Smokebox char from The South Devon Railway and mixing with domestic ash and fine gravel (N Gauge ballast).

All of this was stuck down with diluted PVA administered with a syringe and a LFT test dripper of which I've saved dozens for this task... Over all of this mess was sprinkled fine Woodland Scenics mid green scatter to represent moss and then some 4mm static grass mixed with some 7mm 

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By way of a diversion a fresh start has been made on detailing the scenary

First off a crop of daisies has been made ...

1. Punch out a 2.5mm disc with a hole punch
2. This then has a centre hole pierced through with a map pin
3. Cut a short length of fine gauge wire for a stem and thread the flower head up the wire, as this is pushed up it should form a cup shape
4. Apply a small dot of PVA to the end of the wire and push the flower head up into this to form the seed head
5. Apply a drop of Superglue Loctite (other breeds are available) to the underside of the flower and leave to dry
6. Once dry spray the plant with an light earth colour and pick out the upper part of the daisy petals in white and a spot of yellow in the centre.
 

Making Daisy (1).jpg

 

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Edited by John Besley
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Next off was a dock leaf plant...

 

1. Clean up a unwanted aluminium foil pie dish and cut out a section - fold in half
2. Mark out the shape of a leaf with a pencil and cut out
3. You should now have two leaves  separate them form a v section on the leaf stem.
4. Useing a short piece of fine bell wire or data cable wire Superglue this into the leaf and up to form the spine.
5. Once dry useing a map pin or nail scribe in the rest of the leaf veins on the back and fold the leaf stem over the wire
6. Crimp up the stem with a pair of engineers pliers and form the leaf edges by crimping between your fingers, pliers, cut out small indent with a pin
7. Gather up the bunch of leaves - around 5 - 7 is good and twist the stem tight to hold the bunch
8. Paint onto the plant stem a good cost of emulsion  to cover the wire armiture and spray in primer
9. Spray the plant mid green and plant up

 

1135963112_MakingDockLeaves(1).jpg.1f486a9f01f570b02b7fb6aa6763aa1a.jpg

 

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At this point the plant is only temporary fixed in situ pending further plants to be made..

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I've aslso knocked up a small fiddle yard, this has a two road traverser with the current collection to the rail through brass angle sliders, two locking pins locate into the aluminium angle to secure the table  

 

Space was tight with the table being 375mm long just enough to hold 3 wagons per track, still need to add some rear panels and a stop end but it's works

 

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The door needs reinventing possabilly fit lift off hinges and some form of fence or panels to give the effect of the yard wall when veiwed through the opened doorway.

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For sometime I had been pondering couplings while I had initially used a link and pin set up this was becoming a fiddle as to couple up was a two handed operation.

 

1973100842_Couplings(1).jpg.12c78a1a4014ff800180506357394291.jpg

 

To resolve this I reinvented my old 16mm P&J Models C1 Chopper Coupling.

 

992165646_Couplings(3).jpg.f8e48a9c27bf33609eb5498ef50a0eb8.jpg

 

This looked right for a minimum gauge railway, had a batch cast in brass, cleaned up and assembled, gave them a prolonged soak in patinating fluid so the turned out a dark steel colour.

 

Then fitted a set on the Baldwin with pull out pins and set up 5 of the wagons thus far, the wagons needed their chassis respraying and then weathered with washes and finished off with MIG weathering powders

 

 

1396592733_Couplings(4).jpg.9d37447cd400309a406b13587bca1e13.jpg

 

839015091_Couplings(5).jpg.8938b1b8102d1ac9843a2a2ee54e245f.jpg

 

1560289524_Couplings(6).jpg.8c459b7d41288858d19f39c355da978c.jpg

Edited by John Besley
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Having finished the Baldwin's couplings then set about the final items, installed glazing in the cab by cutting up a CD cover, finished off the cab seat and gearbox, completed the headlamp.

 

1854023173_WW1Baldwin(16).jpg.a920cb3f9aa193d1d84bda21021bfa37.jpg

 

574282973_WW1Baldwin(17).jpg.fa48632a8355d40a1803e0212922e9d4.jpg

 

Then gave the exhaust chimney a subtle rusting and added spilt deisel fuel around the tank, and oil and grease to the axleboxes 

 

2046245700_WW1Baldwin(18).jpg.c34e54e8bdb698177701676c4ea4681f.jpg

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Following the successful re - motoring of the Baldwin I bit the bullet and striped out The Bat' ditching the old Wren 3 pole motor and fitted a High Level gears 60:1 gearbox and coreless motor.

Part of this also ended up requiring new wheels as the Wren ones would not run true, purchased a set of Romford drivers and crankpins and axles.

 

To reuse the original Wren side rods I had to turn up some 6 tiny side rod bushes that I silver soldered into the side rods.

 

1040989608_TheBat(8).thumb.jpg.5b66a1530ec6410647f51ac4169b5812.jpg

 

Next job to ream out the main gear to fit the crank axle

 

1220038421_TheBat(10).jpg.5f25b99122f7a4f08a66fbe45b84c233.jpg

 

 

Edited by John Besley
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