Laying the land

Last night I spent a little time laying a new cork base for the new track alignment and adding modroc to the scenic base (brushed with water).  I also tore into many little pieces the carpet underlay ready for application as grass asap.  That is once the ground has been painted a background muddy brown colour (in case of show through/damage) - soil isn't usually white!

Steady progress on this area and it is already clear that the new track alignment will be significantly better and actually closer to the reality of the prototype too. 

Brilliant - 16mm slate splitting!

Find more videos like this on Garden Railway TV

Crazy or relastic? You decide.

Colin

Boards update

I have been gently pressing ahead with the board joins work this last few weeks (to improve the gaps) and can report now that all of the board edges have been planed and sanded and now abut nicely. The scenery needs touching up and making good, but this is a minor job.

The wrixoyd latches are now in stock and ready for installation and I have also procured the brass tubing for the sections between the hidden sidings and the boards (tube soldered to rails, pin inserted to assure good alignment). It looks like it's just one joint now that will be sub-prime (2mm gap), and this can be easily cut off and relaid - it's also a straight joint so it's no bother to alter.

Also today a replacement mashima motor has been delivered by backwoods, so work can start again on the NGG16.

However, we are moving house at the weekend, so this may be put back a bit!

Colin

Update

Much to report:

2 NWNGR 4 wheel carriages have been soldered together, I have the sides for the third but await the ends and chassis - Allen of worlsey works has temporarily lost them apparently. They look good and will complement my NWNGR train.

The two water tanks were scrubbed with ajax, dried and then sprayed with grey primer. Now they are dry the primer has covered 99% so they are ready for the red to be brushed on - railmatch acrylic 2311.

I managed to pick up an N gauge fleischmann 0-6-0 loco on ebay for £30. This was described as DCC ready, which I suspect partly explained the low price. It arrived today and to my great surprise was not just DCC ready, but had a decoder on board. A quick test and she works nicely - another great ebay deal! This chassis will be used under the WHR Kerr Stuart diesel. A quick bit on butchery on the white metal body underframe and she'll be ready to go - easy livery too - grey with white lettering.

I delivered a case full of the main WHR (C) carriage stock to the Cheltenham works for painting at the weekend. Dad has helpfully and very kindly agreed to get these going and there is also talk of a spray booth...cool.

Meanwhile I have continued painting a few random wagons - 7 skips, 3 FR 2t slates and 2 RAFs were painted mid grey last night and will be dry brushed and weathered with pastels later.

Further thought has gone into the design of board joins. Firstly, I have taken the advice of John DeFrayissnet (of County Gate) and ordered some super catches from wixroyd - http://www.wixroyd.com/purchase.php?p_no=4926&id=558&method=w The bolts drilled between boards will now be used as if they were dowels for alignment only.

Secondly, I am gradually removing the plaster bandage where it overlaps the board edges as these are causing greater gaps than necessary. This has shown that the end pieces of the two Fridd boards are not perfectly square and this explains why such a gap appears in the scenery. These will need to be taken off and reattached square. I may also in doing this be able to reduce some of the weight of the main Ffridd board - it is very heavy indeed.

Also at the entry to each hidden sidings I will be copying John's idea about half way down the page here: http://www.009.cd2.com/track_page.htm - i.e. solder tubing to the rails and insert a pin to ensure perfect line up.

This leaves a couple of joints which may need relaying as they may still be too wide, but we'll see where we get to with the above first, and anyway much of this will probably wait until Spring as I need to get on with stock.

I have also ordered a load of pipes from Knightwing - click here - to form the water tower piping.

Progress on all fronts really.

Colin

tanks glorious tanks

I now have two water tanks - one the brass topped one was built by Dad, the new one with the plasticard top was built by me. Both have also had their top detail added. Now some grey primer and then some railmatch 2311 for the red sides and bottom.

Picture fest

Whilst I await more sleeper grime, I have taken the yard board back downstairs so I can concentrate on soldering the other water tank up and prepare the first rake of carriages for painting. This was after I installed the model point levers, moved the point indicator and checked all the point motors by removing and reinstalling them.

The usual caveats about these shots - the garage is too dark, so the camera uses flash and the colours thus look different. Also the layout is without any details that are not yet fully stuck down - station building, cars, signs, benches, nameboards, water tanks etc etc...but hopefully you get the picture...

I'm really pleased with the results so far. My only remaining concerns are the backscene and the board join gaps, which I fear are in places too large. Work may be needed to close these gaps to ensure reliable running, but at the moment the boards aren't even fixed together and sit on a downward slope, so this is difficult to predict.

Error

Was looking again at many images of the real thing last night and then I noticed a bad error. I've erected the point indicator near the yard points, when it should be next to the loop points - whoops. The offending post has been removed and hole filled in. It will be reconnected when I'm back from Wales (including a trip to Pont Croesor from Caernarfon - cool!) next week.

I also added a load more bushes and generally weathered the ballast. Two more pots of sleeper grime are on the way from gaugemaster as well as a length of the new peco 009 'mainline' track and an extra DCC plug for the base station, meaning I can switch between exhibition wiring and home setup easily, without constant screwing of wires in and out of the terminals.

I have also got the bits out ready to complete the yard points levers and ground frame.

I guess there is about 4 hours of work left on this board and then it can join the others downstairs again.

I have then decided to bring the hidden sidings boards upstairs to complete the layout to exhibitable standard (except minor details such as signs etc and the backscene) before I crack on with locos etc

3 kits for the 4 wheel NWNGR carriages arrived yesterday from Allen at worsley, so more soldering beckons.

Oh and the broken soldering iron turned out not to be broken at all, it was one of the 4 outlets on my 4 gang extension lead were the problem lay!

Colin

promised photos

Those promised images:

Firstly here is the maze of wiring underneath the yard board - all wired up and ready to go.

On top it looks like this now, with road markings in and spot reballasting continuing. I have however run out of railmatch 'sleeper grime' so there will be a short delay before this board is finished.

The station board just before it was removed to the garage - the JCB cost an arm and a leg! The flower beds and station planters are glued in place, as is the fencing. Final details such as water tanks(!), signs etc will come later.

Latest

Camera is out of battery, so no images...promise some in a few days.

Tonight the white lines for the Pitt's Head road have been added. I have not made these perfect, but have rather picked at them and tried to weather them into the road a bit to make them more believable.

Also the wiring on this board was completed and an error on a previous board corrected. All wiring is now done, apart from the links between the traversers and the hidden sidings proper. This shouldn't be too taxing though.

Today I also had the misfortune to require dental surgery, so I took the dental pick to the track on this last board and picked off any stray ballast that had got into the points and the inside of the rails. I will take each of the point motors out for a final clean, again this should be a quick job.

So it's coming together...must get going with locomotives and painting stock!

Colin

Last board taken upstairs

Yesterday the last of the boards was taken upstairs for the next stage of treatment. The station board is now at a stage where it is really only details that have to be added, and I really need to finish the second tank before anything more can be done...so that is back in the garage.

The last board (yard) has already been spot reballasted, the grass upgraded, the point indicator installed and...finally after a false start...the points decoder installed.

Tonight I hope to finish soldering the wiring up (some minor bits are required such as the 16v AC feed to the points decoder and the feed to the point indicator LED) and then I need to start work de-gumming the point blades. fun fun fun!

Colin

Further progress on the station board

A quick update in bullet points:

- Much of the fencing has now been test erected after the necessary holes were drilled.

- The first water tank has had roof-top details added.

- Many signs have been produced on the PC and printed out - more on this in another post soon.

- The two platform flower planters have had flowers added.

- A model JCB has been acquired.

- Ballast has been finally weathered and rail heads cleaned.

- The Fridd Isaf farm sign has been completed ready for erection on the level crossing board.

- The wendy house has had its final (5th) coat of brown and now just needs its windows painting.

Colin

More trees and other bits

A quick update:

- A water bowser for the station approach section has been created and has had its first coat of yellow paint.

- The two structures for the water tanks have had small base plates added to the bottoms of the supports and have been sprayed satin black.

- 3 new trees from' skale (sic) scenics' (i.e. hornby) have been acquired today and will be added asap. The 2 canyon creek trees arrived (from Oregon) recently too and have already been added.

- Further (last time?) ballasting has been done after the hoover (dyson) removed a bit more than I expected.

- The first two uprights for the platform nameboards have been set in place

- The first planter has had its busch flowers glued in place

- Final weathering of ballast will be completed now I have some more woodland scenics stone grey. This has already been started with sleeper grime and slate grey.

Colin

Latest images of progress

Board 3 continues to make good progress. Final ballasting has now been achieved with some blending of colours to do. I got outbid on a model JCB on ebay, so the ballast pile will have to wait for its digger.

Around the steps area you can see the new side walls, the area of bark chippings and the new edging stones.

Colin

much to report

Progress has been fast, so fast that I haven;t had time to blog...!

Anyway, all 4 station lamp columns have been wired up and an extra light added for inside the station shelter (wendy house). These were wired in parallel to two pieces of copper clad (one for positive, the other negative). To this were soldered two brass right angles, making it easy to attach the 12v DC supply by way of croc clips. Wires were then run from here to the two adjacent boards (via the usual kyosho connectors) to the lighthouse LEDs that act as point indicators.

The wendy house itself has had 3 coats of raw umber, with one final coat to come. The slate roof has had two coats of grey, but will also have some weathering yet.

The KMX tamper shed (container) has been positioned, as have the two platform flower beds. The two planters have been painted and filled with soil.

The area around the steps/ramp has been tidied up and the steps have gained wing walls. These will soon have coping stones added.

The 4 Rhyd Ddu signs have been painted black and that wiped off to show the letters in white. The rail posts have been painted black ready.

Fencing has all been painted ready for installation next week.

The next jobs are:

- fixing the water tower legs in place ready for their tanks.
- adding the final details to the platform including finishing the wendy house and installing
- final spot reballasting (a few patches)and painting to merge in with the other ballast colourings
- adding flowers to the area near the ramp and the planters (these have already been made up using busch kits)
- adding signs
- adding the two new trees from canyon creek (they are in the post apparently).

and then it's on to the last board...

Colin

update with images

Hi,

Below are some images of where I'm up to:

Board 2 has been completed and sent back downstairs - a point indicator using a lighthouse LED has been added (this is operated by a switch on the point motor), the grassland has been upgraded, ballasting tidied, track painted and details like the gates, rail stack and anti-pedestrian pieces added.

Now attention is on board 3. Dad visited with his new Peter Spoerer lining pen on Friday and added the yellow line for the platform. I've also added grass to the bund at the top of the car park/yard area, added extra static grass across the open ground, removed stray ballast, spot reballasted and repainted the rails.

Next I need to add the walls at the side of the steps, lots of fencing and platform details... on the latter note the rail posts for the nameboards have been cut and painted black and holes in the platform drilled for them. I've also created 2 more nameboards, which despite running out of 'D's was fun. I made more from half an 'O' and an 'I'!

Board 2

Board 2 has moved upstairs for treatment. Already the ballast has been tended to - Thomas is hoovering up the loose bits! I have also decided to remove the very yellowy-green conifers and to respray them a better green. There is one in the corner of this board and 3 others on the next board. 2 new conifers have been ordered from here: http://www.canyoncreekscenics.com/

This board features the first point to be properly degummed.

The edges of the first three boards have also been painted black for presentational reasons.

Colin

First board ready

As well as creating some very fiddly busch flowers this weekend, I also finalised board one - the bridge handrails were added, scenery tidied up, sleeper grime reapplied and now this board goes into store as materially complete (save for the backscene).

Colin

lay out the layout

I have decided to take each board upstairs for the following work:

- to complete outstanding scenics such as grass patches, fencing, station area details etc

- to improve the area around the board edges

- to complete wiring where it needs to be done (mainly the points decoder installation)

- to de-gum the points anc chekrails and reinstall (if necessary) the point motors

- to remove stray ballast from the railhead and spot reballast where gaps are found

- to apply a second coat of sleeper grime to the alignment

- to test the electrics

- etc

Moving each board upstairs will ensure I can get very good light and also makes it a bit more social than spending hours in the garage!

The first board has been taken upstairs, spot reballasted, board edges improved and tested. Tomorrow it will have its sleeper grime painted on and the bridge handrails will be attached. It will then go into store (i.e. back to the garage) as a complete board (save for the backscene, which will be a winter photoshop panarama job).

Colin

Tro Ffridd

This is a clever image of Tro Ffridd. No it's not a model! The original shot was taken by my friend Roger Dimmick and was altered by a guy called Adam on the WHR forum. I hope neither of them minds me repeating the image here. The effect is created by the breeze-block wall added behind, a blur around the train and some slight alterations to the curves in photoshop.

This technique is indeed very clever and more examples of this idea can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/automatt/3250878869/in/set-72057594078648378/

or

http://www.flickr.com/photos/automatt/110230819/in/set-72057594078648378/

you can also use so-called tilt-shift lenses to create this effect.

Anyway, I thought it was about time that I showed you all what Tro Ffridd looks like now. The problem is that under the 100W bulb in the garage I get two effects - far too yellow with no flash despite alterations in photoshop, and with flash the ballast and rocks look far too white and over-exposed. So, I've created a slideshow of images taken with and without flash. The real colour is somewhere between the two extremes. enjoy.

Or click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGzzxyKZp1s

Colin

progress

Some scenic progress ...the ballast deliveries at Rhyd Ddu tend to pile up behind the water tower, so 'new' ballast has been added there in a pile.


two flower beds have been built from plasticard and populated with rocks and grasses.

this shot shows the two beds.

On the carriage front, fresh off the bench are...the mess car 1000. This is built from an improved worsley kit. The first one (an inferior kit anyway) was recently scrapped by myself as it was the first kit I ever soldered together and it showed!

The two WHR saloons which retain the old style beading are 2042 and 2090, plastic strip was cut and glued on to represent the vents, which are not etched or provided for in the kit.

118 was finished, seats installed and now also has the roof soldered on and domed ends formed with filler.

26 was completed and 22's ride height altered to make sure they look right next to each other.

and, from a new worsley kit, here is 101, the FR obs used (along with 113) on the WHR for the last few years and which has been extensively used with two semi-opens on the crew training runs this year.

Colin