7mm , Blackney, A Glimpse of the Forest

[Alan]

I have done some more basic painting of the track, but work has paused at the moment due to a short vacation.
Painting will possibly resume when I return, and --------there is also the possibility of some wiring and even gluing the track down. As you may have noticed as this is my hobby I have no intention of rushing, I will gently take my time. Eventually what may be produced may look something like the images in my head and possibly look something like a Ben Ashworth image.
At the moment slow and easy is the way forward. Plenty of time for longer periods of modelling when the weather gets worse and the evenings draw in.

 

[Geoff]

As you may have noticed as this is my hobby I have no intention of rushing, I will gently take my time. Eventually what may be produced may look something like the images in my head and possibly look something like a Ben Ashworth image.
At the moment slow and easy is the way forward. Plenty of time for longer periods of modelling when the weather gets worse and the evenings draw in.

Couldn't agree more Alan, working to deadlines and rushing things spoils the journey. As a newcomer to 7mm scale I am also taking my time as I experiment with a few ideas, Ben Ashworth and Geoff Bannister images amongst them.

Enjoy your vacation and don't forget your sketch pad

Geoff

 

[Alan]

Well back from hols in Spain looking at the Alhambra in Grenada and the Great Mosque in Cordoba and various other of the sights and buildings of Andalusia and a very pleasant sherry tasting in Jerez which enabled my mojo which seemed to be fast disappearing to make a comeback. So at long last started on the preparations for track laying, eg converting the points for switching the frog polarity and pre wiring the track before sticking down. The points by the way will be operated by my version of wire in tube, as I did on Louville Lane. I have discovered a couple of problems with pre painting the track, it sticks the track to the sleepers thus making it almost impossible to bend (Luckily all but one short bit was pre benta nd also coming up the points, now luckily freed with the use of a very thin blade to release the track from the chairs. Hopefully there may be more frequent updates........................................................or not depending on my mojo staying with me.

 

[LarryG]

Pre-painting the track can indeed glue the rail to the chairs, but I have always used this to my advantage. The track is cut, joined and laid down exactly where it will go, then I spray it with Howes 'Sleeper Grime'. When thoroughly dry, the track is removed in convenient sections while retaining its shape. It also leaves behind an imprint of where it will go when the PVA is spread. It's then a case of PVA, lay track, align, pour on ballast & tamp down, add weights and bobs yer uncle.

 

[Alan]

I do like that idea Larry.

 

[Alan]

At last the first piece of track stuck down, one of the crossover points. The thin white stipe ending at the switch I and the so far unattached wires is the tube that contains the wire for changing the point which is my version of the wire in the tube point changing and the wires which will be soldered to the switch are the frog change of polarity wires.
Hopefully tomorrow the other half of the cross over will be laid plus the short good siding and the mainline? heading off the baseboard.

 

[jonte]

Well back from hols in Spain looking at the Alhambra in Grenada and the Great Mosque in Cordoba and various other of the sights and buildings of Andalusia and a very pleasant sherry tasting in Jerez which enabled my mojo which seemed to be fast disappearing to make a comeback. So at long last started on the preparations for track laying, eg converting the points for switching the frog polarity and pre wiring the track before sticking down. The points by the way will be operated by my version of wire in tube, as I did on Louville Lane. I have discovered a couple of problems with pre painting the track, it sticks the track to the sleepers thus making it almost impossible to bend (Luckily all but one short bit was pre benta nd also coming up the points, now luckily freed with the use of a very thin blade to release the track from the chairs. Hopefully there may be more frequent updates........................................................or not depending on my mojo staying with me.

To avoid the sticky paint syndrome and retain flexibility of track, I prime it first and then wash on the paint with plenty of thinners. Once laid, it can be touched up with more concentrated amounts of paint to touch up areas that may have succumbed during the laying process.

It can, of course, be painted after laying but occasionally, the presence of backscenes etc can hinder access.

 

[Alan]

Mojo is definitely back (at the moment) I have now laid all the pre-painted track. Before I lay the rest (Plain track) I will shape it and then paint it. Nearly got caught out last time.

Some photos of my labours, by the way I used Copydex to glue the track to the foam.

 

[Alan]

Another piece of track laid today. the branch to the industry at the front of the layout i.e. the fiddle yard ( not the sector plate). I decided that for the last pieces of track laying I would NOT pre-paint the sides as all the new pieces have curves in them and now knowing that the paint makes flexible track inflexible I thought it wise to paint after it was laid so that I can fine tune the curve before the glue sets.

Pictures later in the week when the rest of the track has been laid and painted. Getting so near to the end of track laying I am beginning to think of the scenic side. I've decided to base the station building on the very simple stone affair at Rusbridge and to night I have been drawing a rough side elevation based on some photos of what it might look like and how big it might look on the layout. Again pix later when I am happy with it and can rough up a model

 

[Alan]

As promised some photos now that the track is laid, ie stuck to the foam, again I have used Copydex . It's very useful if you need to lift track without damaging the foam underlay as I found out. The next step is to electrify the layout which means joining all the droppers that at the moment are dangling through holes under the track. So sometime over the weekend I will be scrabbling under the baseboard joining them all up. It will not be tomorrow as I'm going to the Exhibition at Bury St Edmunds.




And to finish with an overall photo of all 11ft of the whole layout.

 

[Alan]

I've started connecting wires, about 40% done.

As stated in my previous post I and my wife went to the Bury St. Edmunds show yesterday and it was very busy. The star for me was Paul Clarkes delightful O gauge Orford a . slice of imagined GER country set in the 1950s.







I also liked the host clubs S7 Cobbolds Wharf.

 

[Alan]

After sorting out some wiring mess ups (thanks to Simond) the layout now runs ptoperly. To add to my joy this morning the postman brought this



A Daersted 57ft suburban BS. It does look to me.

 

[Alan]

Now that the wiring has been sorted and the layout runs well I've started to the ballasting. As I am using Klear for the first time I decided to start on the right hand siding. I'm using Woodland Scenics Grey Blend Medium Ballast. The first thing I did was to raise the ground around the track by gluing down some 3mm cork, I then painted the sleepers with Lifecolor Sleeper Grime. The sides of thetrack were then masked to get a reasonable edge to the ballast. When all the ballasting has been completed it will be given various washes to darken it and look like old ballast.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I've never seen 'Klear' used like this before. Does it hold the ballast together?

 

[Alan]

I'm pleased to it looks as if it does. In fact I've just checked and it has. The reason I settled on the siding was that if it didn't work it would be easy to correct. I can't take any credit for the idea, I'm sure I've read somewhere on here or RMweb that other people have used it successfully.

 

[NHY 581]

Hi Alan.

The more I look at the way this nice little project is developing along with Geoff's project, the harder it is to resist the lure of 7mm.......

I really fancy a go.


Rob.

 

[Alan]

Thank you Rob. If I can get anywhere near yours or Geoff's ability to create atmosphere I will be well pleased.

 

[Alan]

I've not posted for a few days as I've been away however work has restarted on the ballasting and is now nearly complete. The white strip on the far side of the layout is where the platform will be. Like Geoff I'm finding the size of things after changing scale a bit difficult, occasionally, to get my head around, but I am learning.

 

[Jordan]

....the harder it is to resist the lure of 7mm.......

I really fancy a go.


Rob.

Resistance is Futile!!

 

[Dog Star]

Resistance is Futile!!

SOO true.
Especially if the intended model is down in the Forest...