7mm When There Was Steam.

[Prairie Tank]

Hi John , i thought you had gone very quiet on that other o gauge forum . Its good to hear from you and back into the modelling again . I think we all go through stages where you wonder if its worth it , i didn't do any modelling as such for nearly 12 months and looked at other hobbies but in the end came back to the fold . When i told some of the guys in the club about this some of them admitted going through the same thing but most said they hadn't noticed my lack of modelling, who needs mates
In the end modelling should be something you enjoy doing , if its not working then have a break , go and poke a ball around some grass pushing it into holes , that will soon get you back to the hobby .
What you have done looks really good and there are plenty of people on here who will give you good advice if you get stuck , i would offer to help with trackwork but being in Australia does limit me in that area .
One question if i may , that lady in the printed dress keeps popping up , have you thought of doing a limited run and if so how much , I'm sure there are others who would put their hand up for one , only one though , i dont think a layout could take more than one
Cheers Paul

Hi Paul.

Thank you sir LOL "but most said they hadn't noticed my lack of modelling, who needs mates" Yes this forum does contain a very high proportion of very skilled modelers and any advice they give me will be invaluable.

I am more than happy to paint figures for people, normal cost for a 7mm figure is £7.50 plus the cost of the figure plus postage, how ever the lady in the floral dress takes several hours longer to do so unfortunately I would have to charge £10 plus cost of fig plus P&P for her or any other figure in that style.

Once again thank you for your very kind comments, I hope you are well away from those horrendous wild fires.

Have a great Christmas, all the best,

John

 

[Prairie Tank]

The Saga Of The Signal

I purchased one of the new Dapol O gauge signals for the lay out to control the exit from the station on the single track. They are fantastic value for money, nicely made and come with a control switch and every thing other than a power source to make them work. One word of warning, the length of wire on the switch is very short so it will need extending unless you plan to put it very close to the signal.

I weathered mine and painted the bottom of the ladder a dull faded white.

Now the fun began

I had decided to fill the small gap between the pavement retaining wall and the single track with card board pavement slabs just to have some thing different, I was soooooooo pleased that I did.
I choose a position for the signal which looked about right and drilled a hole in the board for it to sit in but did not have a drill bit big enough. I am lucky to have a few ex army/Para/REME friends and they are all ok at wood work, apart from the REME guy who tends to, in line with his army
training, just hit every thing with "a big 'ammer'
Unfortunately for me he was the only one with a big enough drill and instead of just letting me borrow it he felt obliged to come and drill the hole for me. Obviously this type of thing is well beyond the abilities of us mere Civvies.

Tim duly arrived with his drill and bits one Thursday evening and with the confidence that can only be gained from fixing helicopters and armoured fighting vehicles, made short work of the hole. He then gamely disappeared under the lay out with the control box...…"You daft person" or words to that effect he said, "There is a joist in the way of the control box, 3mm the other way and it would have fit. Pass me a rule and I will measure for another hole."

After a fair amount of muttering and grunting he reappeared and confidently marked the top of the board. He drilled the hole and with a confident wink, disappeared back under the board...…...Then it all went quiet. After a minute or so he wriggled out from under the board and muttered some thing I did not quite catch (well I did really but just wanted him to say it again) "That holes in the wrong place too, in fact it is worse that yours!"
I did not take the micky at all

After we had bough finish laughing and blaming each other I marked out a third hole and it was actually in the correct place. I then glued the paving slabs in place so Mrs PT could not tease us about our inept attempts.

The moral of the story is if you need a Chinook or a Challenger 2 fixing give Tim a call, if you need a whole drilling, then don't. Probably best not to call me either...…..

John

 

[Prairie Tank]

The next couple of items I decided to tackle were a buffer stop and a water crane (have you noticed how I was trying hard to avoid starting the track???).
Both of these models are by Ragstone and they are quite exquisite. The buffer stop is a Scale 7 version, I have five altogether.

I needed to build a buffer stop before I could commence laying the track because I planned to start from the finish of the track and work my way into the tunnel, that way if a sleeper did not quite fit the correct distance at the end it would be out of sight.

The buffer stop was cleaned, not that there was excessive flash on it, then under coated in a rust colour. I glued it together making sure I checked rail distances with a short piece of track I had pre built and fixed to a bit of spare board. The effort was worth when because when I came to fit the real track it was a perfect alinement, a miracle for me but I will take every one I can get!

I dry brushed in black, light rust and some white to match a couple shown in the instruction sheet, I even remembered to fit the tie bar, eventually The buffer beam was painted flat red, shaded with Agrax Earth Shade and dry brushed in orange.
I also cut the rear legs off because I wanted it to sit close to the platform wall.

The water crane was harder to build but well with in even my abilities, it is very nicely detailed and obviously very well researched. I decided to paint mine a very worn GWR light and dark stone finish, the referb being concentrated on the station area first (plus it does look cool in these colours).

John

 

[john lewsey]

Hi John
It's all looking very nice
John

 

[LarryG]

I read somewhere that the Dapol O gauge signals were imminent, then all went quiet on the western front. So thanks for the heads up on their availability. What diameter drill or winged drill do the signals require? Your layout is coming on extremely well. What happened to all your locos?

 

[Prairie Tank]

I read somewhere that the Dapol O gauge signals were imminent, then all went quiet on the western front. So thanks for the heads up on their availability. What diameter drill or winged drill do the signals require? Your layout is coming on extremely well. What happened to all your locos?

Hi Larry.

Thank you for your very kind comments.

I have misplaced the instructions but if I remember correctly it is 15mm. The signals really are very nice, you even get a bounce when the arm returns to danger and it has fine tuning too All amazing for the price.
I am awaiting their double one, it will be ideal for the double track part of my lay out.

I have sold my Fine Scale Lee Marsh 61xx, both the Fine Scale Grange and Castle are spoken for. Mrs PT has taken over Shelby Wood sidings, she is extending it with the help of Tim, I think she will drill any holes

She has two Dapol Panniers (BR Black and London Transport) Two Dapol Terriers (BR Black and the Portishead one). A Dapol 08 and the Heljan 61xx. Tim also runs his massive Deltic on the line, all be it very carefully.

In Scale 7 Mrs PT has a kit built Jinty (a superb model) and this is being DCCed and sound chipped by a very capable fellow.
In scale 7 I have a Castle, Sir Edward Elgar 9which is a Christmas Prezzie off Mrs PT), 2 small Prairies and a Pannier, all by Master Piece Models plus a Dapol 08 that Colin converted to Scale 7 for me.

John

 

[LarryG]

Thanks for the info on locos and signals. I will look a Dapol 7mm signal up in the New Year.

Seasonal Greetings.
LG

 

[Prairie Tank]

I had glued the tunnel entrance in place so it was time to start building and laying the first piece of track...….gulp!

I had done a bit of track building before when Richard and I were trying to salvage the last lay out, however this time I was doing it alone with out the watchful eye of the Master Craftsman.
Remembering all of the mistakes I had made and having learned some quicker more accurate ways of getting sleepers the same distance apart and chairs in the correct place I decided to make some inexpensive gauges from old sleepers.
These worked well and saved fiddling around with a rule or doing templates.

I also now had the advantage of straight edges to work from so I could draw a line for the edge of the sleepers to rest against and know they would all look level once fixed in place. For the first sleeper I used a very accurate set square that the tool maker from work gave me and then just worked from that.
I also made sure that the rail cuts were well cleaned and hat gave a very good fit on the joins, I even managed to solder the droppers on so well that I could not pull them off, it was a miracle!!!!!

Once down and treble checked I did the wonderful job that every railway modeller loves...….weathering the track and doing the ballasting.

The rails were rusted and dry brushed using Rail Match and Army Painter rust colours, the sleepers were weathered having been pre stained in a dark ash colour.
For the ballasting I used a mix of Grey course and medium from the Woodland Scenics range. This was given a wash of Rail match Sleeper Grim. Once this had dried I dry brushed the ballast with Ash Grey.

John

 

[PaxtonP4]

Thank you Jonte.

It was the first brick work I had ever done, I would not have attempted to do it if I had not had some thing to glue it straight onto.

John

I think it looks much better than what you started with. I find the glossy brick papers look so toy like - almost like Hornby tin plate, except Hornby tin plate doesn't bubble!

 

[Prairie Tank]

I think it looks much better than what you started with. I find the glossy brick papers look so toy like - almost like Hornby tin plate, except Hornby tin plate doesn't bubble!

Thank you PaxtonP4

John

 

[Prairie Tank]

The next stage was to build the single track tunnel. I had already painted and weathered a Peco tunnel entrance, which to be honest looks good straight from the packet but I wanted mine to match the station buildings and platform front that was planned.

I glued the tunnel entrance in place, butting it up to the Das Clay and keeping it up right with some wooden blocks while the Copydex (a bit pongy but good) set.
While it was all setting I glued some engineering brick paper to a piece of cereal box cardboard and then, while it was still wet, shaped it to fit around the tunnel mouth enterace, holding in place with pegs and blocks. It was left over night to dry.

The brick paper was weathered and the glossy shine dulled down with varnish. Once completely dry I placed it backinto position and glued one half of it in place. The other half was not glued because I wanted access just in case any thing derailed or broke down inside the tunnel, which is bound to happen .

I made some card board hoops to hold the side in place and these are in turn held rigid by wooden blocks. The wooden blocks will also support the Alotments that are planed to go over the top and also my bird song back ground sound.

A little vegetation and a few bushes hid the join between the entrance and the clay.

John

 

[Prairie Tank]

I decided to do the platform next.

I had removed the printed paper by soaking the platform in the bath and then scrapping the paper off. I had to fashion a soggy paper catcher to stop any bits escaping down the plug hole and blocking the pipe but that aside the rest was straight forward.
I then cut the platform to the size I required, glued the two sections together and covered the top in Slaters Plastic Sheets this was edged with printed paper and this in turn had white edges hand painted on.
I mixed Oak Brown, Ash Grey and Drake Tooth (yes I know but that is what it is called lol) in equal amounts to get a concrete/slab type colour. Once dry this was washed in a 50/50 mix of Agrax Earth & Nulin Oil and left to dry over night.
I high lighted and dry brushed using the original mix, adding a little white each time I did another 'coat' of dry brush.

The facing/platform wall is Slaters Cotswold Stone. This was painted over all in Iraqi sand, stained in the good old 50/50 Agrax Nulin mix then dry brushed, many times.

I had purchased some brass kits of GWR benches at the Telford O gauge show and set about building these next. They were a tad fiddley but can be made using super glue which is what I used. I did spend half the time removing the parts from my fingers because they seemed to prefer to stick to me rather than each other but after a little perseverance and a lot of cussing they were built.
I painted them brown and dry brushed them, I did pick out the GWR lettering but on reflection decided that when they were painted BR(W) Brown in 1956 they would probably not have bothered to pick out the lettering, I have seen photo's of just the W painted in a different colour so I may do that.

The lamps are Peco, plastic and a fairly simple construction job. I have added the burners but may illuminate them, I have not yet decided.
The flower tubs are from The Model Tree Shop and come ready planted and painted, each for the very reasonable price of £1.50, bargain.

The very dapper gentle man is waiting for his train which he hopes will be on time, his presence is required at a very important sporting event, one in which he plays a very important role. It could be Wimbledon, Lords or may be just a game of bowls. I will let you decide.

Cilla is off to meet her boy friend, they are going dancing later on, she does not yet know it but he is going to propose. Mean while Mr Redborn has brought his two lads, Danny and David to do a bit of train spotting, they often do this on a Saturday morning before catching the train to watch they favourite football team play football.

Figures are a mix of Andrew Stadden and Modelu.

John

 

[Prairie Tank]

I used the same techniques to do the area where the main station building will sit and the pavement behind. Peco fencing was used for both types.

I have positioned the waiting room on the platform, rather than in this area, to save passengers, who are changing train, having to walk back to the main station to shelter from any bad weather, they can step off their train and get into a nice warm waiting room.

John

 

[Prairie Tank]

It was back to work for me on Thursday but I have been busy working on the track both before and after my shift.

The run round turn outs are in pace and work and I have also managed to build my first ever curve, my Castle travers it with ease which is another miracle!

I have included a photo of my best ever buy, my most important bit of kit, my LED lamp. Also you may notice my scientifically tested, state of the art, track press.....my drill. This is often helped by my loco's depending on how long a length I have been brave enough to glue in place.
I have also left my metal rule in shot so it looks like I have a slight clue that I know what I am doing, even though I have not

The ballast is still to be weathered.

John

 

[Dikitriki]

Well done John.

It looks like you have aligned everything nicely

......apart from the Prairie front truck

Richard

 

[Prairie Tank]

Well done John.

It looks like you have aligned everything nicely

......apart from the Prairie front truck

Richard

Thank you Richard

Darn that pesky pony!!!!

John

 

[Prairie Tank]

John

 

[Prairie Tank]

Having finally decided on the exact lay out for Kingswood station I have been busy painting figures, building structures & accessories and gluing things in place.

John

 

[Prairie Tank]

This weekend I have mostly been doing......electrics, wiring in my control panel and turn out/signal motors.

I am not confident with electrics and even less so of my soldering abilities, unfortunately for me there were some tiny bits to solder to so Friday I had a very restless night.

I was up at 5am, doing Mrs PT's breakfast, feeding my dogs and exercising my Chinchilla, I even did the washing up from the night before but eventually I plucked up enough courage to go to my train room and switch on my soldering iron.

I had bought a set of switches and LED's from DCC concepts and had made the panel during the week. I had hoped to find fire prof materials but had to settle for wood, also I failed to get the Police and fire service to evacuate the district so I was worried about casualties in the inevitable fire and power outage I was going to cause

However, much to my surprise and relief, after a few hours of eye boggling, neck straining work I had a fully functioning control panel, working turn outs, signals and LED's.
Better still my house was not on fire, there had been no black out and all of the light house around our coast were still working!

There now follows some very boring photo's but to me they are testament to a miracle.

John

PS, the photo of Oscar is to warn of 3 things. 1 Watching some one build a Scale 7 lay out is exhausting, 2 never leave your Cuppichino unattended on the floor when you have Whippets. 3 Dogs are NOT man's best friend.

 

[Rob R]

Daddy's little helper - got 2 of them........

R