sdw7300 Posted December 2, 2013 Author Share Posted December 2, 2013 Good Morning All Mini update for you… Progress over the last week or so has been hampered by a 12 month old with a cold. Him not going down to sleep until late leaves much reduced garage sessions. That & the fact it’s chuffing cold in my garage. I think I might have to dig out a heater! That said a few bits have been achieved: Fiddle yard cover – now made and slots cut for the track so it sits nice & flush. I managed to slap some undercoat on yesterday. A coat of topcoat and a couple of handles to add then this will be finished. Inspection Pits – when wiring up the lights originally I cooked one of the LED’s. I managed to get a replacement so swopped this over last night. Jeff (D9JEF) asked for a photo of the underside…. (note in post #49 I described how to neatly wire these up – I didn’t follow my own advice so the wiring looks a bit like a rats nest!) And now for something completely different…. Like a moth with a very small brain I seem to be drawn to flashing lights! I’ve seen a few emergency vehicles on layouts with working lights and quite fancied having a play to see if I could make one. Last night I had a play with a Kytes Lights “Super Chip” & some blue LEDS. Whilst the results won’t come out well on photo, I can assure you it’s quite fun. Just need to await the vehicle (fire engine – ebay bargain) to arrive then see if I can fit this lot inside! That’s all folks! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D9JEF Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 Hi Sam, Thanks for the pic. It looks reasonably neat wiring.... Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted December 4, 2013 Author Share Posted December 4, 2013 Managed to sneak out to garage for a few minutes last night to fit a decoder in the Freightliner class 08. This takes my fleet of DCC locos to a respectable tally of 6: - 37428 - Bachmann - David Lloyd George in Petroleum sector - 37514 - Bachmann - Metals sector - 37140 - ViTrains - Dutch livery - 66610 - Bachmann - Freightliner livery - 08691 - Bachmann - Freightliner livery - 08513 - Hornby - Railroad red livery I have a few older locos that have not been chipped yet & will require hard wiring..... but I think I should crack on with the layout before getting distracted chipping more loco's! Cheers 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimleygrid Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Hi Sam, I really like your inspection pit lights. Very nice Sir. I look forward to seeing 37428 and 37514 on shed being serviced. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Nice 37s Sam.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted December 5, 2013 Author Share Posted December 5, 2013 Hi Sam, I really like your inspection pit lights. Very nice Sir. I look forward to seeing 37428 and 37514 on shed being serviced. Nice 37s Sam.... Thanks both. As the 37's seem to be popular (I must admit I have quite a soft spot for them) I better crack on with chipping 37688 & 37080 - both Lima models in triple grey. I actually made some progress on the scenics last night by assembling some oil tanks. These from two Rix kits. They looked a bit dis-proportionally tall at full height (6 bands) so using four bands per tank means I had enough parts for a third tank. I've just got to make a top for the third tank now. The tanks roughly in position. The plan is to add pipes & valves etc and tie in somehow with an unloading facility & pump house. TTFN 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Looking very interesting!! wil watch this... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted December 10, 2013 Author Share Posted December 10, 2013 (edited) Over the weekend I finished off the lid to the fiddle yard. This now means I don't need to spend an age putting stock away at the end of a playing session. Work has now started on the TMD area. The area is to be "concreted" using a polyfiller / PVA mix. By way of prepareation I assembled some buffer stops and fitted a 3mm red LED to each. Having looked around at other layouts (& photos of the real thing) I had decided at glue additional rails in between the running rails in the yard area. The gaps will then be packed with rope or card and the whole lot concreted over. Once the packing is removed, this should leave a neat groove for the wheels to roll freely in. Well that's the plan anyway..... As always, your thoughts or comments are most welcome. Cheers <edit for typo> Edited December 10, 2013 by sdw7300 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ColinK Posted December 10, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 10, 2013 Just found this, its given me a few ideas. Like the track plan. Superb backscene, how did you make it/get it from. Fiddle yard cover is a great idea, I'll have to try and make one. I had been wondering how to make a lift our section - now I know! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted December 10, 2013 Author Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi Marcus. I!'ve previously subscribed to Everard Junction. His videos are my "go to" guides! Colin, glad Laoson Valley is providing some inspiration. The back scene is from Gaugemaster. It was a bit short so I scanned the right hand end, flipped it and printed an extension piece. For the lift out sections I think I got the alignment dowels from eBay. For the catches, Screwfix are by far the cheapest. Happy modelling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted December 26, 2013 Author Share Posted December 26, 2013 Belated Merry Christmas Laoson Valley followers! The run up to Christmas was a bit manic at work so not too much progress to report. That said I have managed to lay the concrete in the Shed area. Now it's dry it needs sanding flat. Once it looks a bit more presentable i'll post so piccys. Santa was good to me. A rolling road from RollingRails.co.uk should allow me to run in my loco's - something end-to-end layout owners struggle with. Hope everyone had a good Christmas & hopefully 2014 will see alot more progress on Laoson Valley. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Just found this, looking good so far. The lid for the fiddle yard is a neat idea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 Happy New Year (very late, I know…) Only a couple of modelling sessions achieved over the Christmas & New Year break but I managed to make some good progress…. TMD yard – Finished off preparing for the “concrete” and then managed to get this laid. I used a mixture of Homebase filler, PVA, Water and a little bit of black emulsion. This gave a reasonable concrete colour. I left this to dry for a couple of days and then sanded it flat. I could then fish out the rope fillers and after a little cleaning, I managed to run a loco up all three lines. I quite like the colour so gave it a couple of coats of cheap matt varnish to seal. Sleeper grime – Last night I tried out for the first time my Christmas present from 12 months ago – an airbrush. I thought I’d be a smart arse & mix the paint & thinners in the airbrush cup – bad idea – the paint just formed lumps & blocked the airbrush. No matter how much stirring the paint (Railmatch acrylic sleeper grime) wouldn’t mix with the thinners. Once I’d completely taken apart the airbrush & cleaned all the paint lumps out, attempt two was more successful. Rather than using Revell acrylic thinners I used IPA which worked much better. Anyway, for my first ever attempt with the airbrush I was quite pleased with the results and perhaps more importantly I learnt loads about using the airbrush. End result was about half the track is sprayed with sleeper grime. I plan to hand paint the rails a rusty colour. Being a yard rather than a mainline I suspect the rails would be quite rusty. Do people agree? I have a few different shades of rust / brown / orange which I painted on the track on my test board last night. I’ll post a pic once it dries and canvass people’s opinions. Cheers 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 As promised yesterday a photo of the test track with various "rusty rail" shades. I want a bit of a contrast to the Railmatch Sleeper Grime. I'm favouring Humbrol 62 (featuring twice on the test track, on the left with sleepers painted in Sleeper Grime and middle/right, on raw track). The plan is to paint the rail sides & chairs, lay the ballast and then spray the whole lot lightly with Sleeper Grime to tone it down / tie it all in. No idea how long that will take...... This is all a bit new to me so as always any comments / suggestions are very welcome. TTFN 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinklein Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 something between humbrol 62 and revell 84, for me:-D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Very nice work on your depot Sam!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Thanks for the positive comments - it really does help spur me on. I finished soldering push fit connector blocks between all the boards last night so I can drop in the lift out section and wire it all up in seconds rather than faffing with a screwdriver & terminal blocks. To celebrate I thought I have my first proper running session! Thankfully I had my (phone) camera to hand.... 37428 David Lloyd George arrives into Laoson Valley with a load of TEA tanks. She draws forward and splits the load into two 37428 pulls all the way forward into the headshunt & 08513 shunts the two TEA's into the oil terminal (to be built!) The shunter then collects the other two TEAs from the 37 and shunts them into the second siding in the oil terminal 37428 then heads to the shed for a spot of light maintenance. 37140 arrives in Laoson Valley with a load of engineering wagons. She runs around and shunts the wagons into the P-Way yard (to be built!) 37140 then heads to the shed to join her class mate The gronk then does what it does best - a spot of shunting! First on the engineering wagons... and then on the tanks. Finally the 37's leave the shed to pick up their respective loads. (The camera man obviously didn't know his own strength when he leant against the shed!) And finally a close up of the two tractors ready to leave. It was good fun playing trains but made me realise quite how much more I need to do to get the layout looking respectable! Thanks for looking. 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 The eagle-eyed of you may have spotted the shed in the previous photos has the wrong name. Lewison Valley was the name of my previous aborted attempt at a layout and I had never got round to making a new sign for the shed....until yesterday..... Laoson Valley TMD Main Shed with new signage. (One day i'd like to build a better shed but that's quite far down the to-do list!) TTFN 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Depot looks great Sam.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 The remaining track got it's first spray of Sleeper Grime earlier in the week and then last night I painted the track... something between humbrol 62 and revell 84, for me:-D I would go for the revell 84. I think the toned down look is better imho. Marcus I was initially favouring Humbrol 62 but in the end went with a 3:1 mix of Humbrol 62 & Revell 84. I must admit i'm quite pleased with the results.... And an overview shot of the whole layout Next job - give some thought to trunking..... Although I don't suppose there would be much inside an oil terminal/ yard / depot..... Any thoughts? 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 Hello - I've still alive, honest.... Those minor irritations that get in the way of modelling (Work & Family) have been doing their best to keep me out the garage recently but my work busy season is due to end this week so hopefully I'll get chance to make some proper progress soon. I have managed a couple of half hour sessions. My test plank now has three different types of ballast. I want to give them all a weather before deciding on what to use on the main layout. I've also started to build the control panel for the fiddle yard. Once I have a bit more visable progress I've add some photos. Cheers 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Hello - I've still alive, honest.... Those minor irritations that get in the way of modelling (Work & Family) have been doing their best to keep me out the garage recently but my work busy season is due to end this week so hopefully I'll get chance to make some proper progress soon. I have managed a couple of half hour sessions. My test plank now has three different types of ballast. I want to give them all a weather before deciding on what to use on the main layout. I've also started to build the control panel for the fiddle yard. Once I have a bit more visable progress I've add some photos. Cheers Stil coming along great Sam... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 (edited) Wow, has it really been 6 weeks since I've posted any meaningful progress.... sorry folks, must do better.... I fancied having a play at the electronics next so have been busy installing point motors on the fiddle yard. I had a few SEEP PM1 point motors from my previous layout and having been reading Brain Lambet's electrical section on his excellent website (http://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/), I thought I'd have a go at making a diode matrix. The idea is each of the 6 sidings (plus one kick back) can be selected by pressing one push-to-make switch. The control panel will look like this (blue being P-T-M switches, red being LED's showing which route is selected): I've not finished yet, but some photo's of progress so far: The lift out section will house the control panel. This will be connected to the main fiddle yard board using a 25 way D plug. Quite time consuming to solder up but quite a neat solution once finished! That's all folks! Edited April 16, 2015 by sdw7300 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D9JEF Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Looking good Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobster Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Good work and Pics - Coming along Nicely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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