7mm Bleddfa Road
- Thread starter Geoff
- Start date
john lewsey
Western Thunderer
It's all looking good to me
Brian T
Western Thunderer
To add to your confusion chaps, I am now going to further complicate things by including a model of Watlington signal cabin
Geoff
I`m sure we`ll get over it once we see some more of your most excellent modelling and the layout comes to life.......
Brian.
Geoff
Western Thunderer
I`m sure we`ll get over it once we see some more of your most excellent modelling and the layout comes to life.......
Brian.
I wish the layout would come to life Brian, it is as dead as a Dodo at the moment, all was fine until mid afternoon today but now there is a short circuit somewhere.
Geoff
Geoff
Western Thunderer
Normal service was restored on Friday afternoon after the mystery short circuit was traced to this........
The short was the very devil to trace but I can't really complain for the switch, one of four has given good service and must be over five years old. The repair was also easy enough and I also remembered some choice swear words, not much call for those since I retired. Normal service if you can call it that was restored soon afterwards..............
In all Friday was a good day because my order for point rodding stools arrived from Alan at Modelu, along with square rodding and etched detailing parts from Andrew at Wizard Models. So I've been busy plotting the rodding runs and generally faffing about with my new toys.
The plan of action is to install the mounting bases for the stools, cranks and what have you, and then to make a start on ballasting. The actual ballast being 4mm scale (medium) black ash from Greenscene. I'll be mixing my last supplies of Carr's ash into that for use in the goods yard.
I always leave track painting until last, so any drips and spills can be thinned down to penetrate the ballast and add to the weathering which is carried out later. To break the jobs up I will also be continuing with the landscaping and platform.
That little lot should keep me busy and out of mischief for a while
Geoff
The short was the very devil to trace but I can't really complain for the switch, one of four has given good service and must be over five years old. The repair was also easy enough and I also remembered some choice swear words, not much call for those since I retired. Normal service if you can call it that was restored soon afterwards..............
In all Friday was a good day because my order for point rodding stools arrived from Alan at Modelu, along with square rodding and etched detailing parts from Andrew at Wizard Models. So I've been busy plotting the rodding runs and generally faffing about with my new toys.
The plan of action is to install the mounting bases for the stools, cranks and what have you, and then to make a start on ballasting. The actual ballast being 4mm scale (medium) black ash from Greenscene. I'll be mixing my last supplies of Carr's ash into that for use in the goods yard.
I always leave track painting until last, so any drips and spills can be thinned down to penetrate the ballast and add to the weathering which is carried out later. To break the jobs up I will also be continuing with the landscaping and platform.
That little lot should keep me busy and out of mischief for a while
Geoff
Geoff
Western Thunderer
After yet another Cobalt switch failure I have lost confidence in them and have changed over to simple DPDT switches to operate my Tortoise point motors. With the electrics sorted I made a start on the landscape, the first job was to cover the styrofoam shell with plaster bandage.
With the plastering finished the supports for the point rodding stools, cranks and compensator's were laid in place. I then gave bare baseboard top surfaces several coats of textured paint, a job that is still in progress as I build things up.
After a coat of sap / green and burnt sienna acrylics the layout began to come to life...........
The quarry branch gently climbs up to the level crossing as does the road as it passes the crossing keepers cottage. Once the railway has been crossed the road drops down again, at the same time the cinder track to the station rises. Though it is early days I am pleased how the changes in levels are working, and just how open this part of the layout is beginning to look.
Meanwhile at the other end of the layout the goods yard surface is slowly being worked up, the yard will be slightly wider, I just got careless with the green paint
The bufferstops have also been installed, the one on the left will be hidden from view by the water tower so I've used an old Peco kit. I cut the lugs that hold it to the track away and replaced the beam with a wooden one, well its a piece of card actually that has been sandwiched between two pieces of ply sleeper strip. The other is a Ragstones Models kit for a GWR railbuilt type, the castings are superb and make up into a lovely model.
Finally I carried out a colour check to see if the shades that I previously used on my 4mm layouts would work in 7mm scale. The rail is a mix of Humbrol 173 track colour and 29 dark earth matt enamels. The sleepers supporting the bufferstop, and its beam have been painted with thinned Humbrol Gunmetal Metacote then buffed up with a cotton bud. Which tends to bring out the grain of the timber and leaves that silvery grey appearance of old sleepers. It would appear that the beam was once painted white, but the paint has since faded and worn away. I made the grass tufts from Mininatur static grass fibres, and planted them into a bed of neat PVA before adding Greenscene medium ash ballast. Planting the grass before the ballast gives the impression of it growing up through the ballast rather than just being plonked on top of it.
Over the coming days I'll be soldering up the MSE point rodding cranks and compensator's and no doubt suffering from burnt fingers. The platform face is also on my list of jobs, and I hope to work the scenic's up a bit more, especially the road and cinder track surfaces.
Geoff
With the plastering finished the supports for the point rodding stools, cranks and compensator's were laid in place. I then gave bare baseboard top surfaces several coats of textured paint, a job that is still in progress as I build things up.
After a coat of sap / green and burnt sienna acrylics the layout began to come to life...........
The quarry branch gently climbs up to the level crossing as does the road as it passes the crossing keepers cottage. Once the railway has been crossed the road drops down again, at the same time the cinder track to the station rises. Though it is early days I am pleased how the changes in levels are working, and just how open this part of the layout is beginning to look.
Meanwhile at the other end of the layout the goods yard surface is slowly being worked up, the yard will be slightly wider, I just got careless with the green paint
The bufferstops have also been installed, the one on the left will be hidden from view by the water tower so I've used an old Peco kit. I cut the lugs that hold it to the track away and replaced the beam with a wooden one, well its a piece of card actually that has been sandwiched between two pieces of ply sleeper strip. The other is a Ragstones Models kit for a GWR railbuilt type, the castings are superb and make up into a lovely model.
Finally I carried out a colour check to see if the shades that I previously used on my 4mm layouts would work in 7mm scale. The rail is a mix of Humbrol 173 track colour and 29 dark earth matt enamels. The sleepers supporting the bufferstop, and its beam have been painted with thinned Humbrol Gunmetal Metacote then buffed up with a cotton bud. Which tends to bring out the grain of the timber and leaves that silvery grey appearance of old sleepers. It would appear that the beam was once painted white, but the paint has since faded and worn away. I made the grass tufts from Mininatur static grass fibres, and planted them into a bed of neat PVA before adding Greenscene medium ash ballast. Planting the grass before the ballast gives the impression of it growing up through the ballast rather than just being plonked on top of it.
Over the coming days I'll be soldering up the MSE point rodding cranks and compensator's and no doubt suffering from burnt fingers. The platform face is also on my list of jobs, and I hope to work the scenic's up a bit more, especially the road and cinder track surfaces.
Geoff
Brian T
Western Thunderer
Can really start to see this come alive now you added some basic colour to the layout. And sticking with your usual palette will also give it a famillar look to your followers too...
Tough there is one thing that`s caught my eye,and that`s the canopy for the goods shed.It could be the angle of the photo,but it look`s (to me) to be sticking out quite far,well futher than i would expect.
Brian.
Tough there is one thing that`s caught my eye,and that`s the canopy for the goods shed.It could be the angle of the photo,but it look`s (to me) to be sticking out quite far,well futher than i would expect.
Brian.
Geoff
Western Thunderer
Brian, those goods shed canopies on the Tanat Valley line did stick out an awful lot, but I take your point. I think the fact that it is white and close to the station building canopy makes it look strange to you. Then again it could be the camera angle as you suggest, the good news is I can always follow the prototype and cut it back
Alan, I'm pleased that you are enjoying the 7mm journey and look forward to seeing your scenery develop
Geoff
Alan, I'm pleased that you are enjoying the 7mm journey and look forward to seeing your scenery develop
Geoff
Muddysblues
Western Thunderer
Geoff, this is building up to be as stunning as your 4mm layouts, it's now on my watch list.
Best regards
Craig.
Best regards
Craig.
Geoff
Western Thunderer
Cheers Craig
I suppose they needed as much shelter as they could get in those parts Brian, the cut back version actually appeals to be honest.
My canopy has yet to be modified, the ends should have a cut out for extra clearance for goods vans not to mention chimneys.
Geoff
Geoff
Western Thunderer
Thanks for your kind words Rob,
Having finally got my head around the size of buildings and structures I am now getting to grips with texture. Experiments are being carried out with 'Sandtex' textured masonry paint, and 'Greenscene' texture paint. Both are giving good results when stippled onto the various surfaces with a stiff 1/2" paint brush.
I've slowly been adding texture and colour to the road surface and then standing back whilst I take things in. To my eye the edges of the road need to be worked up a bit more, and a few potholes added in the right foreground along with some weeds and tufts of grass.
The cinder track has a much rougher surface and needs to be a tad darker, it also needs a few potholes, ruts and signs of water erosion. Gordon Gravett's ideas and methods are being tried and tested, not sure if I can reach his standards but I'll try my best. Looking across the track towards the goods shed I'm seeing an area of scrub bordered by long grasses. I rather like this view and am beginning to think that my ideas for a truncated branch line in the middle of nowhere might just work. Ideally I would like to press on but we have relatives staying over until the New Year so my modelling is now being cutback.
Geoff
Having finally got my head around the size of buildings and structures I am now getting to grips with texture. Experiments are being carried out with 'Sandtex' textured masonry paint, and 'Greenscene' texture paint. Both are giving good results when stippled onto the various surfaces with a stiff 1/2" paint brush.
I've slowly been adding texture and colour to the road surface and then standing back whilst I take things in. To my eye the edges of the road need to be worked up a bit more, and a few potholes added in the right foreground along with some weeds and tufts of grass.
The cinder track has a much rougher surface and needs to be a tad darker, it also needs a few potholes, ruts and signs of water erosion. Gordon Gravett's ideas and methods are being tried and tested, not sure if I can reach his standards but I'll try my best. Looking across the track towards the goods shed I'm seeing an area of scrub bordered by long grasses. I rather like this view and am beginning to think that my ideas for a truncated branch line in the middle of nowhere might just work. Ideally I would like to press on but we have relatives staying over until the New Year so my modelling is now being cutback.
Geoff
john lewsey
Western Thunderer
You just have the knack Geoff the whole scene is really starting to come to life
John
John
Geoff
Western Thunderer
Thanks for your kind comments chaps......
Alan I'm still experimenting with the texture paints and am getting some rather interesting results. If you try them then the best advice that I can give is to build the surface up slowly, and the stipple the paint onto the surface rather than brush it.
Thank you John, I wouldn't say that I have the knack, I just take inspiration from photographs and what I see out in the real world.
Thanks Jordan, at times I'm glad there is no 'crap' button
Geoff
Alan I'm still experimenting with the texture paints and am getting some rather interesting results. If you try them then the best advice that I can give is to build the surface up slowly, and the stipple the paint onto the surface rather than brush it.
Thank you John, I wouldn't say that I have the knack, I just take inspiration from photographs and what I see out in the real world.
Yet again with one of your layouts, Geoff, just clicking the 'like' button is so inadequate....
Thanks Jordan, at times I'm glad there is no 'crap' button
Geoff