Monks Ferry: a layout for the Grandchildren.

[John57sharp]

Terrific progress Jon its coming together very nicely indeed.

The architrave gives the building some gravitas too.

Nice one!

 

[jonte]

Jonte,

Superb work, just as we would expect, from you.

Your kind interest and flattery, Phil, (of which I’m really not worthy!), keeps me going when the blander aspects of modelling (like wrestling with thick plastic sheets) begin to make me reconsider the whole thing.

Thank you.

Jon

 

[jonte]

Terrific progress Jon its coming together very nicely indeed.

The architrave gives the building some gravitas too.

Nice one!

Really glad you like it, John.

Many thanks for letting me know

Hope you manage to enjoy your garden railway today as the sun’s currently out this side of the water, despite the increasing cloud.

Jon

 

[jonte]

My domestic timetable has been gathering speed once more, although I’ve seized the opportunity to progress the build when one arises.

To that end, I’ve been finishing off the architraving (still some further minor detailing to add and tidying up of mitred corners) and using this part of the build to develop the careworn appearance I’m aiming for.

The architraving is now fully fitted to the tops of the walls as described above:



I’ve tried to replicate the broken architraving that appears on Oxford Road above the entrance (with a detail or two to add) and chosen the eroding freeze on the prototype to bring home the atmosphere to the viewer:




I’ve given the freezes a wash of watercolour of varying hues to highlight the ‘crazing’ effect (over indulged myself perhaps along the way) although in doing so, the chipped areas - kept to a minimum - have been secreted, but at least I can see them more easily now as they’re quite feint.

Once the whole is primed and painted, I’ll repeat the washes (but in more authentic shades) in oils along with the weathered appearance of the original - or at least try and use it as a guide.

The side freezes are ready to go on, however only those under the eaves will be modelled due to the amount of handling they’ll receive when removing them first rail cleaning.

Next I’ll fabricate and fit the stone skirting before completing the roof.

Then it’s on to painting.

Thanks for looking.

jonte

 

[James Spooner]

Looking quite magnificent!

Nigel

 

[jonte]

Looking quite magnificent!

Nigel

Thank you, Nigel.

The task is to try and match the opulence of the platform facing side,with its flared crest and architraving, without going overboard as this side won’t be seen.



I suppose I’m just enjoying a bit of modelling before I have to roll up my sleeves and start the onerous task of cleaning the rails of the seemingly miles of track now that the good weather has arrived (whilst I prefer to work outdoors at these times, I suspect I’ll have to clean the track on the layout itself as the wires mean I can’t place the pieces on a flat surface).



With mention of track, I noticed after taking those Christmas photos that a bloom had started to appear on the sides, above where the wires had been soldered. Having since ventured into my garage workshop where the rest of the track has been overwintered, I discovered each section is annoyingly the same. Having ‘Cif-fed’ the soldered areas after soldering and washed off with soapy water, I’m pretty certain it’s not the flux that that’s the culprit (an absence of verdigris), rather I suspect it’s a reaction with the salt I used to coat the track whilst air spraying ( I hope!).



Hopefully warm soapy water will do the trick……



Also, the spring action in the points (whilst still holding the switch rails against the stocks) has become rather woolly in several, possibly due to the painting weathering process? This was identified before I had to postpone workshop working and a graphite lubricant was ordered in the hope it might remedy matters. I’m crossing my fingers that this will indeed rectify the problem i.e. the reassuring click will return.



Wish I’d stuck with Peco Setrack, but thought that using Hornby (Rivarossi - or Rivarubbishy as I prefer it) would be more in keeping with the traditional train set theme. Heigh, Ho.



Many thanks once again, Nigel, and sorry to bore you with my latest woes.



Jon

 

[Roger Pound]

Fine work, Jon. I might say buildings are right up your street............... !

Now running for cover,

Roger.

 

[jonte]

Fine work, Jon. I might say buildings are right up your street............... !

Now running for cover,

Roger.

Hi Roger, and I hope n trust I find you well.

Yeah, buildings aren’t too bad on the whole, but darned costly affairs as I’m finding

Frankly, I don’t mind any of it; I just like making stuff as you know (the fabulous BG engines on Paul’s Dartmouth and Highbridge thread, have really got my juices flowing!). It’s just when you think you’ve boxed off one thing (whilst eager to move onto the next) only to find that you’ve to retrace your steps to iron out some annoying little issue that’s arisen, that it all becomes a little daunting.

Still the World’s best hobby though in my humble.

Best,

Jon

 

[James Spooner]

Thank you, Nigel.

The task is to try and match the opulence of the platform facing side,with its flared crest and architraving, without going overboard as this side won’t be seen.



I suppose I’m just enjoying a bit of modelling before I have to roll up my sleeves and start the onerous task of cleaning the rails of the seemingly miles of track now that the good weather has arrived (whilst I prefer to work outdoors at these times, I suspect I’ll have to clean the track on the layout itself as the wires mean I can’t place the pieces on a flat surface).



With mention of track, I noticed after taking those Christmas photos that a bloom had started to appear on the sides, above where the wires had been soldered. Having since ventured into my garage workshop where the rest of the track has been overwintered, I discovered each section is annoyingly the same. Having ‘Cif-fed’ the soldered areas after soldering and washed off with soapy water, I’m pretty certain it’s not the flux that that’s the culprit (an absence of verdigris), rather I suspect it’s a reaction with the salt I used to coat the track whilst air spraying ( I hope!).



Hopefully warm soapy water will do the trick……



Also, the spring action in the points (whilst still holding the switch rails against the stocks) has become rather woolly in several, possibly due to the painting weathering process? This was identified before I had to postpone workshop working and a graphite lubricant was ordered in the hope it might remedy matters. I’m crossing my fingers that this will indeed rectify the problem i.e. the reassuring click will return.



Wish I’d stuck with Peco Setrack, but thought that using Hornby (Rivarossi - or Rivarubbishy as I prefer it) would be more in keeping with the traditional train set theme. Heigh, Ho.



Many thanks once again, Nigel, and sorry to bore you with my latest woes.



Jon

Not boring at all Jon; that’s the great thing about forums (fora?) like this. We can get these problems off our chest and just possibly someone might have an answer to help. Looking back at your thread I might have done things in a slightly different order. Get the track down and wired up first; make sure it all works and then start the weathering process. That last bit can often cause problems because of the nature of trying to dirty and clog up something that works best clean and unclogged. Keep the worst of the weathering stuff away from moving parts and rail tops is always a good start. Hopefully you have got to your track in time and it will all work as intended.

Best

Nigel

 

[jonte]

Not boring at all Jon; that’s the great thing about forums (fora?) like this. We can get these problems off our chest and just possibly someone might have an answer to help. Looking back at your thread I might have done things in a slightly different order. Get the track down and wired up first; make sure it all works and then start the weathering process. That last bit can often cause problems because of the nature of trying to dirty and clog up something that works best clean and unclogged. Keep the worst of the weathering stuff away from moving parts and rail tops is always a good start. Hopefully you have got to your track in time and it will all work as intended.

Best

Nigel

Thanks, Nigel, for listening/reading and getting back.

For once I broke with ‘protocol’ and decided to do it this way. Cart before horse? Perhaps

My thinking was along the lines of being able to do it seated at the desk for comfort, and using the ‘unit’ to suck away the fumes (especially from the enamels but also the acrylics which you may recall me using both) instead of donning the mask which I showed elsewhere several months back. I find it claustrophobic to be honest. Additionally, having pored over many images prior to starting, it was apparent that for the ‘piebald’ weathering displayed by the track at the sixties Waterloo, the usual uniform brown/grey painted rail, wafted over with a dirty black mix to weather wasn’t going to cut the mustard. Although it’s a toy, I just fancied the challenge. The sponge is good for this sort of effect, but not on a thin piece of rail with ‘relief’ where it splodges the paint, thus the age old salt method was best suited to the task, almost impossible once the track is in situ as it has to be turned to get it right.

As for exercising caution with moving parts, you’re dead right, Nigel, but I’ve never experienced this problem with Peco. Any other track I’ve used I’ve made myself (N, HO, OO, 18.83, where there are no springs to knacker .

I suppose one could ably coin the phrase that a bad workman blames his tools, but as soon as I removed these Rivarossi creations from their packets I suspected I was in for a rough ride (reading back, for instance, you’ll remember that the four slots into which solenoid point motors are supposed to fit to the bases were undersized and the wrong dimensions,even for the Hornby variety whose trademark was emblazoned on the blister pack in which the points came!!).

I suspect, for once, Nigel that I’m not wholly to blame here………

Should the worst come to the worst, I’ll just have to dig deep and replace the points with the Setrack variety (which also means buying the same amount of point motors as those I’ve wired up have been glued to the bases as I didn’t like the bent over tags showing).

One way or the other, we’ll get there, whether it’s this year, next year or five years. I’m determined.

Thanks again, Nigel, for your valued interest and advice.

Jon

 

[jonte]

You just know when something irks; when it doesn’t appeal; when it looks nothing like you want it to.

So, with alternatives made yesterday and ready to attach, I rose early and bit the bullet.

Clad with loose Stanley blades, a chisel shaped blade and a variety of appropriately shaped energy boards, I ended up back to square one with only minimal damage sustained (apart from my finger cut on the sharp plastic mitred edges, as the blood spatters will bear witness):



Here are the ones for the sides which I made after the first batch and which I’ve deemed more suitable (photographed on top of Olive’s vivarium while he sleeps in the early morning sunlight of yesterday morning; cloudy again today):



Think they’ll accept paint better too.

On the plus side, this building is as tough as old boots and stood up to some hammering whilst work was carried out on my lap.

Now, to grand parenting duties.

Cheers for now.

jonte

 

[John57sharp]

Blood, sweat and tears! Worth it though Jon. You are correct that once you see something irksome, it has to go…. I have multiple iterations that will testify to that. It’s looking good to me.

Sorry about the lack of input, major none-railway related works going on “out the back” while the weather is nice, but I have managed to do some much needed track maintenance out there as well as hacking back the enthusiastic growth that covers parts of the route,so trains soon….

Cheers
John

 

[jonte]

Blood, sweat and tears! Worth it though Jon. You are correct that once you see something irksome, it has to go…. I have multiple iterations that will testify to that. It’s looking good to me.

Sorry about the lack of input, major none-railway related works going on “out the back” while the weather is nice, but I have managed to do some much needed track maintenance out there as well as hacking back the enthusiastic growth that covers parts of the route,so trains soon….

Cheers
John

Many thanks for your kind encouragement and reassurance, John, as usual.

I think one or two of my interested parties might be losing their patience with this if I’m not too careful, but it’s approaching completion now before returning to a spot of track maintenance myself……unfortunately!

Glad to read that you’ve been able to spare some time for the railway, especially as it means something will soon be moving

Looking forward to viewing a photo or two.

Cheers.

Jon

 

[Phil O]

Jon,

I was given the mantra, that it wasn't a proper job, until a little bit of blood had been spilt.