G.W.R. BLT: Almost there.

[Roger Pound]

Of course, as the backscene is designed to be removable, this won’t be until everything is has reached a point where I consider it ‘done’, whatever that means

jonte

Remember the long established saying - " a model railway is never finished....."

Roger

 

[jonte]

Remember the long established saying - " a model railway is never finished....."

Roger

 

[jonte]

The cold weather of late has extended the paint drying times, but I’m pleased that at last I can test fit the lid:



It’s occurred to me that in sporting these shades, it’s beginning to look like a Welsh signal box.

Elsewhere I’ve been returning some colour to the tracks after application the primer, mixing up various concentrations of Revell no 87 and the Matt black in their acrylics range in the process. Work stopped as I ran out of paint, however I’ve since managed to pick up a couple of pots. Once the lights are sorted, I’ll continue.

Mention of which has seen me jenning up on how to join strips of LED lights, which doesn’t appear too complicated. What seems to be the issue here is how to offer up the assemblage of strips and adjoining wires without it all ending up twisted and knotted together. I say this as a test fit of offcut stuck like the proverbial doings to a blanket when offered up to the white gloss finish under the lid. I think I’ve sussed it, but it will demand much patience on my part, which is not always forthcoming.

The idea of securing the strips via their adhesive backing to the underneath of the lid seemed far more doable, until the thought of a hot soldering iron being waved near to newly applied gloss paint left me cold.

The good part is that a quick test of the LEDs showed they worked straight out of the box.

jonte

 

[Alan]

Jonte at what height will the layout be?

 

[jonte]

Jonte at what height will the layout be?

At my sitting down height Alan, at risk of sounding facetious , which depends where it is.

On living room table, it will require bringing up to my viewing height;

On work bench in model room, I’m purchasing another adjustable height swivel chair to be placed on lowest setting as the bench is around four feet off the floor;

Freestanding, and I have trestles stored in the garage (from a long abandoned layout) that can raise it to my eye level at around 5’11” if I recall.

Built this way as you’ll recall, Alan, out of necessity in the main to negotiate doorways etc in the home, but I also began to savour the novel, picture frame appearance it rendered, which - as a bonus - stops the overhead shots of the track which I’m bit averse to on layout (especially Streamline) for some unearthly reason. Part of my many little foibles, I suppose.

Jon

 

[Jeremy Good]

Jon

The lid/layout structure is looking good.

When I bought the LED strip I also bought some connecting strips/pieces so that I could connect them as parallel strips as trying to bend/fold it around corners was a bit of a struggle.

According to my order history on Amazon this was a “FSJEE 2pin 8mm LED Connector Kit”. They are snap fit connectors that made the job very easy…

Good luck.

Jeremy

 

[jonte]

Thanks, Jeremy, and pleased you like my lid.

Thanks also for the link, which would definitely make the job easier as you advocate, and which I’m archiving in case my DIY solution melts the whole darned caboodle in the process, requiring the purchase of a replacement set!

Cheers,

Jon

 

[jonte]

So, now we have internal lighting.

As Jeremy wrote earlier, the connectors would have made the job easier, but after a couple of false starts, I eventually got into a rhythm with the soldering iron.

Here is the result with a couple of shots taken during the build:



I think you get the idea.

Arranged around all four sides, I didn’t feel the need to attach a strip to the centre as there appears more than enough illumination for its size. I was going to keep it to the front only, however experience has shown that without a rear light, shadows are cast onto the backscene. Not a great problem but my eye gets drawn to it every time.

So there we are; the construction is now complete and I can return to some modelling when time allows, but this can be picked up and dropped as the mood suits.

One final word about the LED: when I took the pictures with my iPad, I couldn’t help noticing the strobe effect. Luckily, this doesn’t seem to have affected the photos, but perhaps this might be apparent to the photographers amongst us?

Cheers.

jonte

 

[Joe's Garage]

Jonte, you have given me an idea of how to hide the layout in the front room, the cabinet could be described as a "coffee table". Lovely cabinet making, I like it.
Julian

 

[Jeremy Good]

Jonte,

That's looking good and certainly seems to give plenty of light. You were braver than me in soldering the joints but I'll bear that in mind for the future.

I haven't noticed the strobing effect on the ones I have used, photos on iPhone, but I wonder whether that is because there is also some background ambient light either natural or flourescent. I had hoped that staggering the strips slightly would help reduce this too.

Jeremy

 

[jonte]

Jonte, you have given me an idea of how to hide the layout in the front room, the cabinet could be described as a "coffee table". Lovely cabinet making, I like it.
Julian

Hi Julian.

You’re very kind, but I’m afraid you’re not looking closely enough…….I must reiterate that I couldn’t cut in a straight line, even with a brand new saw, to save my life never mind the blunted antique at my disposal

Still, I’m chuffed that you like it.

Jon

 

[jonte]

Jonte,

That's looking good and certainly seems to give plenty of light. You were braver than me in soldering the joints but I'll bear that in mind for the future.

I haven't noticed the strobing effect on the ones I have used, photos on iPhone, but I wonder whether that is because there is also some background ambient light either natural or flourescent. I had hoped that staggering the strips slightly would help reduce this too.

Jeremy

Thanks, Jeremy.

Initially, I was worried about waving a hot iron around recently dried gloss paint, so soldered the wires on to the copper tags on the bench. However, trying to cajole wires into choc-bloc connectors and/or going round corners led to the tags being ripped from the backing…… . In the end,the foil on the back served as a heat shield so my concerns were unwarranted. It was also a darned sight easier fixing down the tape and soldering up to it rather than the other way round.

Making mention of the choc-blocs, I’ve decided that the low ceiling makes them a little too apparent, and knowing that the wires are robust enough to cope, I’ll remove the connectors and extend the wires by soldering, sheathing the exposed wire in heat shrink.

The light is a little too bright at present, but as it was a little late by the time I’d finished and taken the photos, I didn’t fancy addressing it, however, I’ll pop out later and test out the remote controlled dimmer that comes with it to see what effects I can achieve.

In answer to your query regarding the strobing, the LEDs were the only lights in operation at the time. In fact, when I extinguished them, I had to give it a couple of minutes for my eyes to adjust to the pitch black before I could leave

Many thanks once again for your valuable advice and interest.

Jon

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

The strobe effect of the LEDs and the phone/digital camera in simple terms is caused by a mismatch between the refresh rate of the LEDs and the refresh rate of the digital camera screen.

There are a number of webpages which explain further. Why Do LED Lights Flicker When Viewed From A Camera?

 

[jonte]

Sleeper painting completed:



Next, rail painting with mix of Humbrol enamel Matt black and track colour.

jonte

 

[jonte]

Painting of rails completed as previously described.

During painting:



Completed:



This is purely a case of applying a base colour to the track.

The next task will be to apply some ash recovered from a barbecue to the recesses and then my own mix of ballast to the track.

Once completed, I will be weathering the whole employing the excellent techniques employed by fellow WT-er and near neighbour, @PjKing1, whose results have to be seen to be believed. Kindly Paul has approved.

I’ll finish by showing a test piece made using the ash, applied in the usual ballasting way and via a tea strainer:

Still a little overscale, I’ll be grinding it down prior to applying, as another test piece scaled down by sanding was a little hit and miss. I’m pleased with the colour which will be shaded using various black washes to produce a rather pleasing effect.

jonte

 

[PjKing1]

Looking forward to how you get on with this mate, I best get my finger out and get that ‘how to’ video I promised you done!

Paul

 

[jonte]

Looking forward to how you get on with this mate, I best get my finger out and get that ‘how to’ video I promised you done!

Paul

Cheers, Paul.

It will be a treat for all we WT-ers

Jon

 

[jonte]

As mentioned in my last, I’ll be adopting, or at least TRYING to replicate, Paul’s (@PjKing1) excellent track weathering techniques. I thought rather than try and explain and bore you all to death in the process, I’d show you a couple of previous tutorials Paul provided on how to go about it.

So with Paul’s kind permission, here you go (I know that one or two other members have expressed an interest in how I intend to go about this, so these should be of help):

Thanks, Paul.

Incidentally, these techniques were carried out on 7mm scale track but are universal IMHO. In any case, Paul is about to provide a further tutorial this time with 4mm scale (EM gauge), so keep your eyes peeled folks!

jonte

 

[PjKing1]

Thanks for the kind words Jon, I’ll hopefully have a new video done soon, just testing the electrics then need to install the point motors then the ballasting can begin!

Thanks again

Paul

 

[Roger Pound]

As one who has ballasting to do on Whatborough Camp layout (Cropsham now has a huge question mark hanging over it .) this was very interesting although I shall require less diesel gunk and more steam loco oil gunk.......... It's the same story but with different charactors....!
Thank you Jon and Paul for posting such helpful information.

Roger