The Weekends Progress.

I was given the go ahead after lunch to the return to the shed on Saturday, so there was no stopping me! Below are some pictures of that progress over the weekend and how my construction method looks.

I used the templates you can download from Peco's site to plan my track work. After doing this I measured 35mm either side from centre, as that is the width of timber I am using for my risers, then cut with a circular saw.

The view from the Sydney end showing the cuts in the baseboard.

The risers nailed in place. I started about 20mm above the base board and kept it level through to the turntable and coal road. The road to Sydney has a slight grade in it. The theory here is to get the sound on the engines working hard as they exit the station.

The terminus showing the poly styrene that will fill the gap and allow me to carve the scenery below rail level. At this stage this yard will be quite flat. The plan is to get the track up at least 100-150 mm to get some real terrain in closer to the centre and the other end.

A over all view of the weekends accomplishments. The risers in the background are already at 50 mm above the baseboard.

The view from the turntable end. The turntable road is the short road in the centre. I hope to install the table into a pit.

To keep with true branchline status I intentionally nailed some risers low to give that undulation look in the rail. This is obvious in the picture as you can see the track bowing under the straight edge of the spirit level. I am also trying not to be to anal with the level as I don't want perfect track work. The only place I am trying to keep flat is the sidings, this is to prevent runaway wagons.

The construction begins

After not doing any travel for work in the last three weeks, I got a little stir crazy and decided it was time to clean out my shed since moving to the new house.

It all started out good until I thought I would duck down to Mitre 10 and have a look at prices on timber. Well I didn't know you could get non structural timber (35x75x2410) for $3 a length. The visit ended with me purchasing 25 lengths of timber, 3 packing sheets of MDF ($5 each) and a nail gun. Below is the end result of working a couple of hours each night after work. I guess you could say I got a little excited as the bench work was up within the first week. I also found that using the nail gun instead of screws sped up the process massively.

The layout has no track plan at this stage, just ideas of what I like about branch lines. Being that it is based on a branch line code 75 Peco will be used. To better represent a branch line I will pop out a few sleepers here and there, and try not to lay it too straight.

The decision to use peco over hand laid was easy as I have a friend doing hand laid and it is taking far too long to get operational and the points can be a little unreliable, also I want to enjoy my layout before I die. I love the look of hand laid track but the time saved on track work can be put into the scenery and if I put enough work into the scenery no one will notice the track.

The track will have grades in it and be roughly laid as a branch line would be. So the idea is to put the ply down on the base trace out where the track will be and cut out with a jigsaw. Then raise the track above the base at least 100mm to begin with then fill out with foam and shape.

The intended era will be prior to the demise of the branch lines. So most trains will be short and of the 4 wheel variety. Large grain trains will serve the silos and ballast trains the quarry. The stations will be derelict and overgrown.

The above photo is the terminus (44 class). It is based loosely on Boggabilla.

This section of track will be a grain complex. Boggabilla is in the background on the right.

Just a corner module. It will probably have a small passing loop before it with a PC1. A bridge will be on the short straight to the left.

Another straight section and corner module. I will put a quarry loader on the straight section to serve ballast trains.

The other end. For now it will be a terminus. The whole layout has been constructed with dismantling in mind. In future when we move to the "dream house" this end will come directly off a helix and the whole layout will be the top layer. The lower level will be a double tracked loop to run large trains. But for now I am taking small bites and building the layout in stages.

You spin me right round baby......

I managed to get enough time to paint the turntable this week.

The finished product.

The steps to painting. Undercoat grey first for better paint adhesion and a good base colour.

Next a blue grey mixture

Then some areas are lightly covered with grey to depict faded paint.

Closer view.

Next a dusting of rust on the underframe.

Using a paint brush I painted the walkways with a brown grey mixture.

When gluing on the rails I used 3 sleepers close together to maintain the gauge rather than trying to measure it.

Good Buy!

Caught up with an old friend at the Toowoomba exhibition whom I hadn't seen in a while. Lucky I did as he offered me a Auscision B class in VR blue and gold for $150! It didn't take long to realise that was a great deal. I would have preferred a Tangerine and grey but for that price I ain't complaining. So straight to the weathering bench...... One problem, I moved house and my bench is in 20 pieces on the floor of the new shed. So a makeshift bench was found to achieve this.

Firstly a spray of grimey black around the bogie's, lower section of the loco and the roof area.

A light dusting on the roof to knock back the new shine.

A touch of gloss back with a brush to simulate spilt diesel and oil on the tank and oil from the engine or exhaust out of the engine bay. I also touched up the bearing areas on the bogie's, not shown in this picture.

A view of the other side. As I am not that old and don't live in Victoria, I find it great to use the Train Hobby publication books to find pictures of Locos and select the condition/state I want to reproduce.

Then a spray of rust/mud to simulate road grime on lower areas.

The other side view of the Loco.

A view from the nose.

Lastly a coat of dull coat to knock back any remaining shine and seal on the weathering to prevent fingers wiping it off when removing and replacing it in the box.

Prototypicaly Delcious!

It was my eldest boys 4th birthday today so I decided to put to use my modelling skills.

No styrene, timber or brass wire here just lamingtons and heaps of lollies!

2-6-2 Lamcomotive. powered by marshmellows.

The entire consist can easily negotiate tight curves.



The LCH lolly hoppers.

The wheels were a little out of gauge, but that didn't matter it didn't make it through the day.

Never too sick to model!

Had a sick day today to help look after the kids which are all sick plus fighting a cold myself. So between taking one to and from Kindy and the others to the doctor I managed to spare a little time for myself. So what better to do than build another turntable. I was reading that the 60ft turntables were very predominate so I better have one of those too.

Nearly complete model. Not sure what I want to use for the flooring, options are sheet styrene or that plastic packing strip. I've seen it used in the past so I'll have to get some tomorrow at work to check the thickness and realism.

I had to cheat a little again as I was getting tired of making 3 x 3 angle out of strip styrene. I made the angle brackets of strip instead of the angle.

The wheel brackets and more underside detail.

Closer view.

The 2 compared.

A Miserable Long weekend.

Due to the miserable weather here this weekend there was nothing to do but put some time into modelling. I've been wanting to build a turntable for some time now so I gathered up the research info I have and got right into it. I decided to build a 50 ft turntable as one day I hope to build a layout which incorporates a branch line with a terminus, therefore I need a turntable to spin those old steamers round or maybe just have it sitting around unused as I mostly run diesels.

Side on shot of the model, only requiring the rails.

Due to the weather painting was not an option, it will have to wait for another day.

Another view from the turn assist handle.



I cut the sides from a sheet of .20 styrene. Then added all the strengthening beams for the sides. Because evergreen don't make a 'T' in styrene it was all made up from strip styrene, very time consuming but worth it.

Top view of the two sides together with strengthening cross members. I added a little extra styrene on the insides for strength and to assist with the squareness. It will be hidden with the top member which the rail attaches to.

I chose to use scale timber for the walkways as I wanted to model a realistic look and effect. It would have been stronger with styrene but due to the amount of use it will get I think the timber is a better option.

I went with styrene for the hand rails as a strength option, plus they are usually painted white so it will nearly be unnoticed. I also left the pinion cover until I can decide on a method to have the turntable rotate and power the rails.

A view showing the walkway brackets. I had to cheat a little as it was very difficult to get the styrene to bend all the way around the bracket to create the tee shaped steel used. Hopefully it will go largely unnoticed as it is underneath.

I found an old pair of plastic wheels which came in handy too bastardise. They are a little oversize but I prefer that so they will easily find the rail in the pit.

Another view of the mechanical assist handle. I will update as soon as the paint and rails go on.