Monks Ferry: a layout for the Grandchildren.

[simond]

At least you can (mostly) rely on it.

Some more modern inventions in that regard are, like politicians‘ promises, “open to interpretation”.

 

[John57sharp]

Probably best not to mix those particular spirits with the tea Jon….

Have a great holidays and we look forward to the next bits.

John

 

[jonte]

It was back to the bench today and after several short visits (it takes longer to clean the airbrush), I managed to paint the concrete plinths/bases.

This was a bit of a test to achieve the right shade for the scratch built signal box when the time comes, which I’m going to base on the concrete version that stood at Waterloo from the thirties:



At least several shades formed from at least six different shades of acrylic (mainly Vallejo with a base of Tamiya light grey) produced this, which I felt was along the right lines (perhaps an even lighter grey shade as a base might just swing it):



Then I decided to attempt the shade that seemed ubiquitous with those concrete line side huts, which was produced by washing on a thin wash of the enamel shade I’m using for the track sleepers to tie it all together:



I’ll run with this, but I won’t bother with the wash when it comes to the signal box to maintain that greyer shade sported by the original.

jonte

 

[Phil O]

Jonte,

That brings back memories of a school trip to Waterloo way back in 1970, where we were split into two groups one went to the offices, telephone enquiries and station announcers room and the other half went to the box and then we swapped over, me and a couple of lads spent an hour or so working the suburban side frame under the watchful eye of one of the bobbies.

 

[jonte]

Jonte,

That brings back memories of a school trip to Waterloo way back in 1970, where we were split into two groups one went to the offices, telephone enquiries and station announcers room and the other half went to the box and then we swapped over, me and a couple of lads spent an hour or so working the suburban side frame under the watchful eye of one of the bobbies.

Great stuff, Phil.

Thanks for sharing.

Jon

 

[jonte]

I had a clear day today, so thought I’d get back to the model and address one or two blemishes, and make a start attaching the railings:



End rails still to fit and ladders which are all pre-painted.

Might have another (brief) stint after the footy, but glad that I’m nearing the end.

jonte

 

[jonte]

Okay.

Apart from painting the pins with a similar coloured enamel to help them stay in place, I’m gonna call it ‘done’:



Hopefully I’ll be back with the thing wired up and a video to show it in action.

Cheers.

jonte

 

[John57sharp]

Looking forward to seeing it planted Jonte. That signal box is a beast!

 

[jonte]

Looking forward to seeing it planted Jonte. That signal box is a beast!

No more so than me, John. The phrase ‘kill the beast!’ Comes to mind here

For instance, when I checked it earlier, I discovered that one set of side rails had decided to ‘relax’ to a skewed angle overnight despite the presence of the blu-tac (which left residue which I’m now in the process of touching up, but will need several washes over the top to blend in ) and now the epoxy has gone off After several limp attempts to encourage it to sit upright (at the risk of breaking it or the holes in which its seated), I added a drop of superglue and held it proud. Seemed to work, but I’m not convinced and remedial work may be required.

This hasn’t been a pleasant exercise by any stretch of the imagination, and the hinderance of the (vital) wires has led to much frustration with the painting of the various different types of surfaces/materials represented by the model.

For instance, after attempting to remove some stubborn salt residue with a toothbrush, one of my home forged supports pinged off into the ether, I was forced to fabricate another (could I find it? Could I b*ggery!). After painting and weathering to match, I applied the glue only to find that I needed to remove slightly more material. Unfortunately, not only did the glue remove the paint from the parts and the area to which it was being attached, but surplus glue had got onto my fingers, and due to the presence of the wires making handling difficult, I transferred it to the gantry crossmember, the only convenient place to grab it, removing areas of paint in the process…….. Perhaps I might do a touch up in the future when I add the effects of smoke and other pollutants; perhaps I’ll just move on.

Thanks for your interest, John, as always, but I can’t wait to get back to track laying

Jon

 

[John57sharp]

I'm glad to hear that its not just me Jon… though sorry for your woes. I'm up to tracklaying too, not a lot, but more of this elsewhere soon.

 

[James Spooner]

No more so than me, John. The phrase ‘kill the beast!’ Comes to mind here

For instance, when I checked it earlier, I discovered that one set of side rails had decided to ‘relax’ to a skewed angle overnight despite the presence of the blu-tac (which left residue which I’m now in the process of touching up, but will need several washes over the top to blend in ) and now the epoxy has gone off After several limp attempts to encourage it to sit upright (at the risk of breaking it or the holes in which its seated), I added a drop of superglue and held it proud. Seemed to work, but I’m not convinced and remedial work may be required.

This hasn’t been a pleasant exercise by any stretch of the imagination, and the hinderance of the (vital) wires has led to much frustration with the painting of the various different types of surfaces/materials represented by the model.

For instance, after attempting to remove some stubborn salt residue with a toothbrush, one of my home forged supports pinged off into the ether, I was forced to fabricate another (could I find it? Could I b*ggery!). After painting and weathering to match, I applied the glue only to find that I needed to remove slightly more material. Unfortunately, not only did the glue remove the paint from the parts and the area to which it was being attached, but surplus glue had got onto my fingers, and due to the presence of the wires making handling difficult, I transferred it to the gantry crossmember, the only convenient place to grab it, removing areas of paint in the process…….. Perhaps I might do a touch up in the future when I add the effects of smoke and other pollutants; perhaps I’ll just move on.

Thanks for your interest, John, as always, but I can’t wait to get back to track laying

Jon

Jon

You kindly remarked on my persistence in the Elmham Market thread but it is as nothing compared to the trials and tribulations you have gone through with this signal gantry. I’m sure you will achieve a satisfactory outcome and your grandchildren will be impressed by your creative skills; then it will all be worth while!

Nigel

 

[jonte]

I'm glad to hear that its not just me Jon… though sorry for your woes. I'm up to tracklaying too, not a lot, but more of this elsewhere soon.

And there’s me moaning about doing all this in 4 milli…….
Best of British, John, as they say

Jon

 

[jonte]

Jon

You kindly remarked on my persistence in the Elmham Market thread but it is as nothing compared to the trials and tribulations you have gone through with this signal gantry. I’m sure you will achieve a satisfactory outcome and your grandchildren will be impressed by your creative skills; then it will all be worth while!

Nigel

Crossing fingers, arms, legs and anything else I can twist!

Kind of you to say so, Nigel , but I simply made hard work of it in a mostly half hearted attempt, whilst yours was an engineering triumph in the true spirit of WT.
Thanks once again for your kind words and interest.

Jon

 

[Roger Pound]

This hasn’t been a pleasant exercise by any stretch of the imagination, and the hinderance of the (vital) wires has led to much frustration with the painting of the various different types of surfaces/materials represented by the model.

For instance, after attempting to remove some stubborn salt residue with a toothbrush, one of my home forged supports pinged off into the ether, I was forced to fabricate another (could I find it? Could I b*ggery!). After painting and weathering to match, I applied the glue only to find that I needed to remove slightly more material. Unfortunately, not only did the glue remove the paint from the parts and the area to which it was being attached, but surplus glue had got onto my fingers, and due to the presence of the wires making handling difficult, I transferred it to the gantry crossmember, the only convenient place to grab it, removing areas of paint in the process…….. Perhaps I might do a touch up in the future when I add the effects of smoke and other pollutants; perhaps I’ll just move on.

Jon,

Perhaps now you may be getting closer to understanding my finely-tuned hate of wiring, not to mention executing fine detail..............!

Roger

 

[jonte]

Jon,

Perhaps now you may be getting closer to understanding my finely-tuned hate of wiring, not to mention executing fine detail..............!

Roger

Absolutely, Roger. A hair’s breadth away I’d say

I doubt the second one will see the light of day after this, although the wiring aspect wasn’t too bad. Will probably take your advice and fork out for some ready made signals.

There was more fun ‘n’ games later when I began wiring it up to the test board. The holes for the wires descending were way too small and it was a b*gger of a job threading all those wires through each, whilst trying to hold on to the loose signal gantry on top without breaking anything, and whilst the board balanced on my knee at a hazardous ninety degree angle

Managed it eventually only to discover that the gantry was the wrong way round on top………..

Managing - just about! - to keep a level head, I managed to remove the whole ensemble without damaging anything before taking a break just to get away from it. When I returned, I took drastic measures as I wasn’t going through that again, so out came that set of tooth edged drilling discs bought for drilling the holes fir the overhead lighting, and choosing one of appropriate size, I set to work enlarging the two holes in the test board (to be frank, that took a while as I’d forgotten how to assemble the cutting discs and then to attach to the drill ).

Anyway, it made the job easier and I’m pleased to report that the lamps wired up to this point (about 75% of the total) are working, and it’s just the two three ways to wire up now (I just need to solder on some additional wires to the leads on the green and yellows (which I’d forgotten to do!) and then I’m there

Here’s a couple more of progress to date, although the wiring needs tidying and the two ladders need fixing on:



Thanks for your interest, Roger

Jon

 

[jonte]

Many thanks to all fellow WT-ers who expressed an interest in the build and offered kind words of encouragement.

Thanks especially to Simon @simond without whose generous help this wouldn’t have worked.

On the test bed ready for testing:



And (thankfully) working:

jonte

 

[simond]

Jon,

great job!

best
Simon

 

[John57sharp]

Well done Jon!

 

[jonte]

Following a dire need to clean up the workshop last weekend after my protracted build of the signal gantry, I was finally able to return to painting the track by Thursday.

With the points for the station area pretty much finished in this respect, it was time to turn my attention to the plain track.

Whilst not a faithful reproduction of the prototype, I wanted to give a feint nod to the rails which existed around London termini in the late fifties and sixties, so to keep from straying too far into the imagination, I’ve been using images found in books (but mainly) and internet such as these to get a feeling for the real thing:



Having already laid the base colour(s) earlier, it was simply a case of sloshing on a grimy wash similar to that used fir the sleepers:




A final thin wash should see this complete.

Attention then turned to the (mountain) of running track which had merely been primed late summer.

It was apparent that mainline track (rail) seemed very dark by comparison so a decision was made to use a darkened version of the sleeper colour (I’d already started one or two examples and was happy with the result).
It was also apparent that the sleepers were wholly different to those in the station area, noticeably so from this still I took from a video of Waterloo station:




To mine ill educated eye, the sleepers appeared a light grey but with a warm hue, so to replicate, I simply painted them a Humbrol enamel light grey but- well, I started painting them grey, but with time ticking away and a bundle of track to face in the corner of my eye, I simply took the easier and quicker route of merely painting over the grey primer with a wash of some (appropriate? I’ll leave that to the discretion of the viewer) ancient tin of Humbrol gloss found in the bottom of the paint tin:



They will be toned down when it comes to ballasting (6:1 of sand to fine N gauge ballast which I find is the best for proprietary track, lest the under nourished sleepers become overwhelmed) as I wash it all with black for the purpose, as well as to blend.

Desperately aware that I also need to return to finishing the station building, especially the station facing side (the images before show me using the outward facing aspect for the purpose), thoughts have returned to a solution.
I’ll probably run with something similar to the build thus far, but in doing so, I have to be aware of limits on time and space. In relation to the latter especially, I think a platform end which masks much of the forecourt - to save on extra modelling - will be order of the day, and to that end, this is an image of which I’m quite fond and might just be the ideal solution (Waterloo again):



As the cabin will be seen almost head on, I think it can be modelled in relief to save space and cover up what might have been behind. I also think the hydraulic stops can be represented by some circles of plasticard attached to these which are nice n cheap, and as a bonus, will simply fit o er the rails:



I do as much mind-modelling - if not more- as actual modelling.

Cheers,

jonte

 

[Roger Pound]

As I have previously mentioned elsewhere Jon - it's all in the mind......... If I had managed to actually complete in fact the tiniest fraction of my many modelling thoughts, I would be a happy chappie.

Roger (currently waiting for the men in white coats.........)