4mm London Road Sidings (formerly Poppy Lane)

T

Terry

Western Thunderer
A little bit of detail has been added. I would have liked to add a railing behind the pipework but it would foul the coupling rods of 08 shunters. There is a limit to what can be squeezed into five and a half inches width of baseboard! The oil drums are produced by Dart Castings. I think that I'll give the gas cylinders a wash of something mucky to make them look a bit unloved. They are Bachmann products.

Terry

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Phil O

Phil O

Western Thunderer
Hi Terry,

There's usually some white stencilled writing on gas bottles around the middle of it, with some of it scratched.
 
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T

Terry

Western Thunderer
London Road Sidings has had it's first (and probably last!) exhibition invite. If you fancy staring at a piece of 4' x 5.5" mdf, it will be appearing at the Orpington & District Model Railway Society's exhibition on Sat/Sun 13th/14th April, at Pratts Bottom Village Hall, Norsted Lane, Pratts Bottom, Kent. BR6 7PQ. If you do visit, make yourself known to me and have a play with the layout.
Interestingly, this village hall featured in the recently aired drama production about the Sub-Postmasters scandal.

Terry
 
T

Terry

Western Thunderer
in the 4th post of this thread I mentioned that I had constructed two small support frames. These would stand on a typical village hall type table, thereby bringing the layout up to adult viewing height. I came to realise that the fiddle-stick, protruding from the left-hand end, would require some support so that heavier diesels could be run on the layout. This is how the support arrangement looks. I have to source a curtain to cover the woodwork.

Terry
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steve50

steve50

Western Thunderer
Fine looking layout Terry. I've only just found your thread and found it both interesting and inspirational, I've a couple of 'baseboards' doing nothing and that's given me some ideas!
 
T

Terry

Western Thunderer
michael mott said:
Like Steve just found your layout, learned a few new things and like how much story can be squeezed into a small footprint.
Michael
Click to expand...
It certainly focuses your mind having such a small area to work with. Good fun though!

Terry
 
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T

Terry

Western Thunderer
Now that London Road Sidings is booked to appear at a forthcoming exhibition in April, my mind is focused on ensuring that it is presentable to the fee paying public. I decided to block gaps at the ends of the scenic section with card painted the same colour as the surrounding facia. It was also niggling me that it was possible to view the choc-block connectors beyond the bridge on the fiddlestick. These have also been obscured from view, again using painted card. Simple, but makes all the difference to the presentation.

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Of course all that woodwork beneath the layout, shown in the previous post, would need masking if the layout is to be presented in public. A trip to the local B&M chain store resulted in the purchase of a suitable throw (a kind of blanket), for the princely sum of £3! Whilst there I also picked up a small jar of black-headed pins with which to attach said throw. Sorted!

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Terry
 
T

Terry

Western Thunderer
Yard lights have been niggling me for a few weeks. Clearly lights would be provided around the sidings, or how would anyone be able to work after 4pm in the Winter? I was quite pleased with myself for buying some ready made specimens at a recent show. Unfortunately when I offered them up to the layout it was apparent that they were far too large. Although supposed to be for 4mm scale (or 00 as the packet incorrectly stated. Don't get me started on this! You can't have a 00 lamp. 00 is the track gauge. Oh, and whilst we are about it, there is no such thing as 00 scale. You have 4mm scale and 00 Gauge. Manufacturers please note!) the lamps were clearly suitable for 7mm scale. Back to square one!

The only answer is to make them yourself. I mulled it over and formed a plan. The following items were produced after a rummage through various boxes...

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On the left we have brass washers of 7mm outside diameter. On the right we have 3BA brass washers of about 5mm outside diameter. In the centre we have some 4mm scale brass axle bearings. First job is to clean them up and solder a small washer to a large washer. But how to ensure that the centres are aligned? Like this...

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The tool being held vertically is from a soldering kit. What is important is that it is tapered. The card is in place to prevent the heat from the soldering iron disappearing into the pliers. Apply liquid flux and solder to get this..

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Now solder the axle bearing in place over the hole..

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Next, snip of the protruding bit at the top and file flat. Turn over and drill a hole through the centre of the axle bearing. Now solder a suitable length of wire through the hole..

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I have actually produced four today which should be enough for the layout.

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I'm minded to bend the wire to produce some a 'swan-necked' type lamp standards, or even a typical yard lamp with a loop surrounding the lamp housing. Another lamp will be of the bracket type over a door.
Next I'll solder up two pieces of tube to make each post,

Terry
 
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Lyndhurstman

Lyndhurstman

Western Thunderer
Terry said:
Yard lights have been niggling me for a few weeks. Clearly lights would be provided around the sidings, or how would anyone be able to work after 4pm in the Winter? I was quite pleased with myself for buying some ready made specimens at a recent show. Unfortunately when I offered them up to the layout it was apparent that they were far too large. Although supposed to be for 4mm scale (or 00 as the packet incorrectly stated. Don't get me started on this! You can't have a 00 lamp. 00 is the track gauge. Oh, and whilst we are about it, there is no such thing as 00 scale. You have 4mm scale and 00 Gauge. Manufacturers please note!) the lamps were clearly suitable for 7mm scale. Back to square one!

The only answer is to make them yourself. I mulled it over and formed a plan. The following items were produced after a rummage through various boxes...


On the left we have brass washers of 7mm outside diameter. On the right we have 3BA brass washers of about 5mm outside diameter. In the centre we have some 4mm scale brass axle bearings. First job is to clean them up and solder a small washer to a large washer. But how to ensure that the centres are aligned? Like this...


The tool being held vertically is from a soldering kit. What is imoprtant is that it is tapered. The card is in place to prevent the heat from the soldering iron disappearing into the pliers. Apply liquid flux and solder to get this..



Now solder the axle bearing in place over the hole..


Next, snip of the protruding bit at the top and file flat. Turn over and drill a hole through the centre of the axle bearing. Now solder a suitable length of wire through the hole..

View attachment 208507


I have actually produced four today which should be enough for the layout.


I'm minded to bend the wire to produce some a 'swan-necked' type lamp standards, or even a typical yard lamp with a loop surrounding the lamp housing. Another lamp will be of the bracket type over a door.
Next I'll solder up two pieces of tube to make each post,

Terry
Click to expand...
Hello Terry
That’s a very clever solution. And the blow-by-blow account is very useful. Stored away in my JIC folder… Thanks

Cheers

Jan
 
T

Terry

Western Thunderer
Yorkshire Dave said:
Hi Terry,

Coming back to the fiddlestick I'd be inclined to cover the ringed board with brickpaper so viewers think there is a brick wall beyond the bridge should they peer down the layout - which they are bound to do :).

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Good idea Dave, although the view onto the fiddlestick is quite restricted. Of course the choc-block connectors are white, and are situated just beyond the bridge, making them rather obvious. I don't know why I didn't think of your suggestion. Ironically, with my layout 'Farleigh' I went to great lenghts to give the impression of the scenery continuing into the fiddle-yard, as shown here..

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Terry
 
T

Terry

Western Thunderer
More progress has been made with the lamps this evening. I must say that the process of making these lamps is not very time consuming. I estimate that one lamp could be made from scratch, and ready for the paint shop, in about thirty minutes or less, assuming that you weren't rushing the job. On with the work..

I found a few short offcuts of tube for the post. One is brass tube of the type used for wire in tube control of turnouts and signals, and the other is a slightly larger diameter copper tube. Any tube will do as long as one will slide neatly inside the other.

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Assuming the lampposts are about 20ft high, a scale drawing would be useful. Obviously, you can adjust the drawing to your preferred height.

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Cut a 16mm length from the larger diameter tube. This will form the lower, and wider, part of the post. Once cleaned up, slide it over the narrower tube and establish its position using the drawing. Also decide on the position of the top of the post, represented by the narrower tube. Solder the tubes together at the top of the wider tube. The narrower tube, protruding from below the wider tube, is to allow the lamppost to be mounted through a hole in the baseboard.

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Bend the wire, previously soldered to the lamp tops, around a suitable former. I had used .7mm nickel silver wire and it was a simple job to form a bend around the outside of a drawing pen, using just finger pressure..

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Trim the wire and push it into the top of the post. Lay it on the drawing and adjust to the correct height..

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Solder the wire to the top of the post. You should have something akin to this, ready for the paint shop..

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Terry
 
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T

Terry

Western Thunderer
The lampposts were given a coat of Halfords' red primer. The underside of the lamp housing was painted white. To finish the model a small bead was glued beneath the lamp housing to represent the lamp. This is how they look situated on the layout..

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The two lamps destined to be attached to the walls require some extra detailing which I hope to complete shortly. Then I shall turn my attention to populating the layout.

Terry
 
T

Terry

Western Thunderer
The staff have arrived for work. Three Modelu figures at present. I am thinking of adding another figure to the left of the layout, outside the bothy, to balance the scene. I don't want to overpopulate this small layout.

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I must say that the Modelu figures are a joy to paint, and so realistic.

Terry
 
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