Adventures in code 55

[peanuts]

Points on modern UK railways can be either wooden or concrete, so there is no problem using the wooden points that you have.

can also be steel as well any manufacturer ever produced some ?

[Gloucester Road]

Been busy the past few days. Decided to attack the area opposite the station and tunnel; static grass was applied in my usual method. There were six pieces used to cover the hill and i had to keep track of what bits were going where so the pieces all blended. Keeping track of colour and how they will blend is one area that my method leaves to be desired, but i think the pieces have matched pretty well.

 

 

 

 

Here is view down the track and into the tunnel, it still needs to boxed in to make it darker.

 

 

I wanted to make a grassy sidding, so i tried something different. First a pva water mix was appied to the siddiing then some static grass was spread by hand over the track and sidding. Next my grass applicator (empty) was waved over the grass and viola the grass stood up and stuck in place.

 

 

 

 

After the grassy hill was done i moved down the hill and set down some dirt and workers in the back of the cement works. A rocky out cropping was then made using some rocks from outside; these were then blended into the hill and dirty area.

 

 

 

Here is an overall of grassy hill and rocks

 

 

Next is to work on the dirt area and the digger that goes in there, but the glue needs to dry first.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Stephen

[devondynosoar118]

That worked very well. The model is starting to look like a cohesive finished whole and your standardisation of the scenic process definitely gives it a realistic feel.

One suggestion on the static grass, you can spray the completed area with hair spray then do another pass over the whole lot to pull the colour together.

Have you tried scenic shading? This process makes the lightly steeper hills we use look more natural and involves using lighter shades of grass at the tops, blended to darker shades in the valleys. It can be done with static grass, and added over the top of grass mats.

[shanks522]

Really nice Stephen, The scenic work has transformed the whole area, I especially like the 4th photo down.

 

Graham.

[Black Sheep]

After the grassy hill was done i moved down the hill and set down some dirt and workers in the back of the cement works. A rocky out cropping was then made using some rocks from outside; these were then blended into the hill and dirty area.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Stephen

 

Lovely work, really liking how it's coming on,

 

was wondering if adding a bit of smaller rubble amongst but mainly at the bottom of the rocks would enhance what you've already done?

looks as though someone's been round and cleared any fallen material away

[Gloucester Road]

Thanks for the comments.

 

So my digger has been working hard in the mud and is now dirty, also some tracks were added so that movement in the dirt is hinted at.

 

 

 

 

devondynosoar118:

 

Thanks for the suggestion; will try the shading technique over the grass that has been applied.

 

Lovely work, really liking how it's coming on,

 

was wondering if adding a bit of smaller rubble amongst but mainly at the bottom of the rocks would enhance what you've already done?

looks as though someone's been round and cleared any fallen material away

 

In light of the above suggestion some dirt and smaller rocks were picked up whilst walking today. Really does bed the rocks in a bit better and pulls it all together.

 

 

.

 

Thanks again for suggestions and reading.

[devondynosoar118]

Beautiful little cameo, what a good idea! What did you use for the earth?

Edited September 14, 2012 by devondynosoar118

[Gloucester Road]

Thanks, the dirt is a combination of real dirt, sand and woodland scenics ballast.

[Gloucester Road]

Small update. Most of this week has been spent coming up with train sequences and timetables. However some detail bits were added.

 

Some signage:

 

 

 

 

Hedging, to blend temp backscene and fencing around the mobile site.:

 

 

 

Some paving was done.

 

 

 

Next week im home planing on working on the concrete plant that is at the bottom of the hill.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Stephen

[Kris]

You made loads of progress to this since I last looked in, and very good it is too.

[Removed a/c]

Nice updates on the layout !! Looks great

 

[Gordini5]

Stephen

 

Just started reading this thread and very good it is. Attached a photo of rock lying in a quarry. Your addition of smaller stones greatly improves what you have created but could do with a bit more finer material IMO.

 

 

[Gloucester Road]

Thanks for those pictures of the quarry.

 

Well as promised work has progressed on the quarry area, scalscenes concrete paper were used, dirt, rocks, static grass and weathering powdersand here is what we ended with. Ive also turned the buildings in the aggregate plant and moved them further away from the track. Think it works a bit better.

 

Two photos from flying overhead

 

 

new quarry area

 

 

 

A drivers view looking towards new quarry

 

 

More details to add and photos to follow

Stephen

[Gloucester Road]

So whilst away flying this week there was an earthquake in NH it was centered in Maine and was 4.7magnitude. No damage to the house by the time it reached us but the layout did experience some scale damage.

 

rocks fell in the quarry

 

structurall damage

 

class 170 derailed

 

47474 will need to be re railed

 

 

Strange how the wave must have hit, things like the mobile tower next to the backscene didnt move (its not glued down), cars in the station car park are all in the same place. My class 60 which was stabled on a sidding about 8 inches from the 47 is still railed and the class 121 next to the 170 didnt move either.

 

Anyway thought it was interesting to see how a 4.7 magnitude affected n guage things. Wonder what it would scale to for the "n" richter scale?

[SNCF stephen]

Earthquakes are interesting things. They affect smaller buildings more than the larger ones with the larger ones able to absorb more of the forces over the height of their structure (I am sure someone more scientifically minded than me will be able to say why).

 

It is quite interesting to see the affect on your layout. A real earthquake would possibly do some similar damage (prbably not to the trains though!).

[Gordini5]

I suggest you get a spill kit quickly as excavators don't like lying on their sides

[Gloucester Road]

Earthquake damage has been repaired and digger fuel spill has been cleaned up . I had a bit of an 80's 90's time the othernight and got out some of my older Graham Farish stock. We turned the clock back to loco hauled trains and NSE.

 

Early in the morning Superb and Spitfire were found in the shed

 

56074 was spotted in the quarry after having brought in some empties for loading

 

After Superb headed out to find its coaches 47598 was brought in for fuel

 

Superb was later photographed pulling its trains

 

47598 was then seen in a passing sidding as a NSE bubble car on a stopping service pulled into the station.

 

Right enough playing have some arches and shops under arches to make.

 

Stephen

Edited October 23, 2012 by Gloucester Road

[roundhouse]

Glad to hear you sorted out the seismic activity fairly easily.

 

I have always managed to miss any such movement both here in the UK and in the States..a strange feeling of being disappointed not to experience an earthquake but also glad in other ways!

 

Ian

[Gloucester Road]

Funny thing ive wondered about with earthquakes, especially from the flying aspect, what would one look like from the air? Often thought of this flying around California; presumabnly one would see buildings moving but could you see it moving across the ground like a shock wave or tsunami?

 

Any way back to the trains. The area behind the quarry had a temporary retaining wall behind it. If you look at some of the last posts there was a large green waste land and then the retaining wall, wasnt happy with it so out came the knife. Using scalescenes.com kits r017 and r019 ive started makeing some viaduct arches and workshops. The grassy area was cut back a bit, some road was added in, some fencing, dirt and then the viaduct and workshops. When these pics were taken we are in early development, two shops have been done with three to go.

 

Looking across the quarry and grassy area

 

then zooming in

 

and close up

 

 

So there we are, more work for tomorrow.

 

Stephen

[Gloucester Road]

Workshops under the viaduct is complete. The mini spares workshop is inspired by a similar scene on Gresby. The moss on the walls was done by drizzling white glue in a path that the moss would grow then adding green scatter, letting it dry and shaking of the extra scatter.

 

from afar:

 

mini workshop:

 

and the end:

 

I think that this looks much better than the green waste land and wall that was there before.

 

Thanks for looking

Stephen

[MrSimon]

Hey Stephen, the arches look really good - wish I could have built them as quickly!

 

Whats the next project?

 

Cheers

 

Simon

[HealeyMills]

Hi Stephen,

 

Those arches look very good indeed, some nice detailing and the surface growth adds a really nice touch.

 

I like the fencing too - where did you purchase that from?

 

Cheers

Lee

[Gloucester Road]

Hey Stephen, the arches look really good - wish I could have built them as quickly!

 

Whats the next project?

 

Cheers

 

Simon

 

Thank you Simon, wish I could work in plasticard like you do I think more depth is achieved. Not sure what is next.

Hi Stephen,

 

Those arches look very good indeed, some nice detailing and the surface growth adds a really nice touch.

 

I like the fencing too - where did you purchase that from?

 

Cheers

Lee

 

Fencing is ordered through nscalesupply.com, made by a complany called Gold Medal Metals.

[Gloucester Road]

Ive decided that I dont like Octobers and plan on skipping next years all together. Last October I broke my ankle and missed work for three months, this year due to some issues at work we are on a voluntray stand down and ive been furloughed. So no work or pay until our planes are up and flying again.

 

However as last year i am getting stuck into the train, just not spending money except glue:so scalescenes kits that i have are being put together. After putting the viaduct and workshops together i moved onto the road bridge that passe under the station.

 

Here is the opening that needs the bridge and some more viaduct to fill the gap.

 

So pieces were measured up and the Viaduct/workshops and Arched bridge (r011) are slightlly different heights so there was going to be some bodging going on to make all the pieces meet and be off similar heights. However i had atticipated the following problem.

 

I had realised that i would need to make the butress longer on either side, but had forgotton to include the depth of the wood. With the area that was supposed to be at track level the entire area of the arch was blocked by the upper level. Much scratching of head and contemplating of a saw and dremmel usage was considered. Thought about cutting out the arch in the wood or using just a flat surface to depict the tunnel. I really wanted a true tunnel and didnt want to attack the area witha saw.

 

Came up with and idea of lowering the structure to ground level so the arch fitted under the wood and then filled in the area between the upper buttress, this would mean makeing some adjustments to the instructions and building sequence. This is where we are at with the interior and end wall installed

 

My bodge job is going to work (?).

 

Now to make sure we are ready for this storm called sandy.

 

Stephen

[Kris]

Looks like the bodge will work, after all bridge parapets come in many sizes.