InvernessTMD
Western Thunderer
I used some 1/8th" brass angle for some of the checkrailing on Iceni Road, as I found it matched the height of the flatbottom rail I used... I think it is slightly lower but it works!
Neil's HO workbench - Been back to Belgium
- Thread starter Neil
- Start date
I used some 1/8th" brass angle for some of the checkrailing on Iceni Road, as I found it matched the height of the flatbottom rail I used... I think it is slightly lower but it works!
Neil
Western Thunderer
Vischkaai went to its first exhibition over the weekend and while far from complete it looked ok and (in the main) worked ok. By the time Friday and the need to pack it into the car had come round I had finished the cobbled area and laid the adjoining road which bisects the layout front to back. The cobbles were painted but the road was in the raw off white of the Das clay.
Also painted were the unfinished building facades, only in Halfords grey primer, a big improvement though over the semi translucent cream of the resin castings. I had also managed to finish the scratchbuilt warehouse/workshop featured in the initial post in this thread and put together a believable boundary wall to enclose its yard.
I'd been hanging back from painting the building as I worry about making a mess of things at the finish. Some days I know that picking up the brushes would be foolish, but some days all goes well. Though I can offer no logical explanation I seem to know when to start.
Operation over the weekend went well, I had test run the layout at each major stage in the construction but never with any thought to logical and purposeful operation. It's obviously a matter of personal taste but I feel as though I've hit the sweet spot with operation being just awkward enough to maintain interest without being so awkward it becomes a pain in the neck.
Also painted were the unfinished building facades, only in Halfords grey primer, a big improvement though over the semi translucent cream of the resin castings. I had also managed to finish the scratchbuilt warehouse/workshop featured in the initial post in this thread and put together a believable boundary wall to enclose its yard.
I'd been hanging back from painting the building as I worry about making a mess of things at the finish. Some days I know that picking up the brushes would be foolish, but some days all goes well. Though I can offer no logical explanation I seem to know when to start.
Operation over the weekend went well, I had test run the layout at each major stage in the construction but never with any thought to logical and purposeful operation. It's obviously a matter of personal taste but I feel as though I've hit the sweet spot with operation being just awkward enough to maintain interest without being so awkward it becomes a pain in the neck.
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
It's looking good already Neil. The buildings and the pavé roads really look the part 
.
.
Neil
Western Thunderer
Having fooled about with my British toys earlier today the thought struck that if I overlooked a mere half a millimetre I could combine both home and away stock in a moderately believable scenario.
Of course the ferry vans are OO and the rest HO but in this arrangement the sleight of hand isn't too obvious. Put an HO van into the picture and the mismatch would be all too obvious. Ultimately I'd like to have an HO BR ferry van but I'm not aware of any rtr option so it may be some time as there are other priorities like finishing the layout which must take precedence.
Of course the ferry vans are OO and the rest HO but in this arrangement the sleight of hand isn't too obvious. Put an HO van into the picture and the mismatch would be all too obvious. Ultimately I'd like to have an HO BR ferry van but I'm not aware of any rtr option so it may be some time as there are other priorities like finishing the layout which must take precedence.
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
Roco and Liliput produce the German variants though. Klein Modellbahn and Saschenmodelle did produce the USATC stock and the bogie tankers were still in use in epoch III.
Neil
Western Thunderer
I haven't had much time to devote to model making this last month, but late last week I managed to finish the cobbles/pave on Vischkaai's main board. Not all the road surfaces are cobbled. Though I enjoy the process I wanted to differentiate the different streets and areas and give them something in keeping with their character.
Here the areas of pave have been painted grey whilst the tarmac remains in the off white of the Das clay.
Cobbled areas grinning through a layer of tarmac are particularly easy to represent. Before final smoothing of the wet clay I tear a piece of cartridge paper into the shape and size of the patch, plonk it down onto the surface and finish the smoothing with the paper in place. With a sharp craft knife blade lift the paper, revealing the slightly lower layer of clay which can then be embossed with the cobble tool whist still pliable.
Here the areas of pave have been painted grey whilst the tarmac remains in the off white of the Das clay.
Cobbled areas grinning through a layer of tarmac are particularly easy to represent. Before final smoothing of the wet clay I tear a piece of cartridge paper into the shape and size of the patch, plonk it down onto the surface and finish the smoothing with the paper in place. With a sharp craft knife blade lift the paper, revealing the slightly lower layer of clay which can then be embossed with the cobble tool whist still pliable.
Neil
Western Thunderer
The DAS clay is stuck to the grey primered plywood baseboard. The primer I use is Rustins quick dry primer-undercoat. I glue my track down with pva so under most of the clay will be a layer of pva too. I don't use terracotta for the top layer because I wanted to be able to tint the cobbles ratrher than paint them. In the end to get the colour I wanted I painted them with artists acrylic (home brewed blue grey with just a hint of brown) which I then wiped off the surface. Effectively the gaps have been painted whilst the tops of the cobbles have been tinted. In fact having experienced some bleed though contamination with a terracotta under layer for the first section of cobbles I've switched to the off white for both under and top layers. The flangeway grooves are painted dilute black once they've been checked and adjusted where necessary.
Neil
Western Thunderer
Looking at the layout very little seems to have taken place over the past month. Model making has not been forgotten but I've been busy researching Belgian paving and experimenting how best to represent it. After several blind alleys I think I've hit on an appropriate technique, much of the difficulty was getting a representation of the real thing which also sat well with the tarmac and cobbles of the road surfaces and the buildings too. More on this later when start to fill in the footpaths on the layout.
I've also indulged in a little retail therapy by way of bumping up an order from Gaugemaster to avoid their small order handling charge, at least that's my excuse to myself. It's a Roco model of a DB van for the transport of goods which need to be kept cool. I also have an old Fleishmann model of the same van bought s/h for a couple of quid from one of those rummage boxes under a toy-fair table. I had reservations about the Fleischmann van from the off as it looked a fair bit bigger than the rest of my HO stock, this was confirmed when placed alongside the Roco model.
This cloud has a particularly pleasant lining as next year I hope to be starting a new OO layout where international traffic will be a strong theme running through the project. The Fleisschmann van should look good with my breathed on Triang ferry vans. I'll be keeping an eye out for further examples.
I've also indulged in a little retail therapy by way of bumping up an order from Gaugemaster to avoid their small order handling charge, at least that's my excuse to myself. It's a Roco model of a DB van for the transport of goods which need to be kept cool. I also have an old Fleishmann model of the same van bought s/h for a couple of quid from one of those rummage boxes under a toy-fair table. I had reservations about the Fleischmann van from the off as it looked a fair bit bigger than the rest of my HO stock, this was confirmed when placed alongside the Roco model.
This cloud has a particularly pleasant lining as next year I hope to be starting a new OO layout where international traffic will be a strong theme running through the project. The Fleisschmann van should look good with my breathed on Triang ferry vans. I'll be keeping an eye out for further examples.
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
You have to watch some of the older Fleischmann models as they were 1:85 rather than 1:87 scale. Since inception all Roco HO models were and are produced to 1:87 scale.
I see the vans have different style doors.
I see the vans have different style doors.
Neil
Western Thunderer
Thanks Dave, I'd noticed the different style of door latches too. I'm not an expert on DB vans but as all the other details match I assume (dangerous I know) that either the latches were modified or the vans are from different batches of the same overall design. I took a ruler to both the Roco and Fleischmann vans and assuming that the Roco model is spot on my calculations would put the Fleishmann van at a scale of 1:78.5 ish. Not 4mm/1' but near enough to appear credible.
I realise that this dimensional tolerance isn't the mainstream Thunder approach to things but I think I could marshal arguments in its favour other than the 'my trainset and I'll do what I want' gambit.
I realise that this dimensional tolerance isn't the mainstream Thunder approach to things but I think I could marshal arguments in its favour other than the 'my trainset and I'll do what I want' gambit.
Neil
Western Thunderer
Last year in May we travelled to Ghent for a weeks break. Whilst there a day out in Antwerp was undertaken. Some of you will probably know that Antwerp Central station is an absolutely stunning piece of architecture.
It's about an hours journey from Ghent to Antwerp so we had plenty of time to wander into town, a visit to the Rubenshuis and a gentle drift through the old town to the bank of the Schelde. I had no idea what would be there, happily a row of old transit sheds and old boats greeted us.
On the river side of the sheds tracks were still embedded in the cobbles upon which stood a solitary tank wagon.
All very nice and not wholly unexpected, many dock and port areas seem to retain embedded track for far longer than would be usual in other locations. However earlier this week while browsing I found out what the inland side of the sheds look like and it was a fantastic riot of track with improbable Harrap like complexity. This Flickr page gives the best overview I've found so far.
It's about an hours journey from Ghent to Antwerp so we had plenty of time to wander into town, a visit to the Rubenshuis and a gentle drift through the old town to the bank of the Schelde. I had no idea what would be there, happily a row of old transit sheds and old boats greeted us.
On the river side of the sheds tracks were still embedded in the cobbles upon which stood a solitary tank wagon.
All very nice and not wholly unexpected, many dock and port areas seem to retain embedded track for far longer than would be usual in other locations. However earlier this week while browsing I found out what the inland side of the sheds look like and it was a fantastic riot of track with improbable Harrap like complexity. This Flickr page gives the best overview I've found so far.
Neil
Western Thunderer
After getting my eye in again with the serendipitous brake van, I've started further work on Vischkaai. We left it with the pavé /cobbles finished and painted but with the tarmac areas blindingly white. Using the same colour mix as for the pavé the tarmac surfaces were painted with a thinned mix which was then stippled with a washing up sponge to take out the brush marks.
I thought it may be a bit pale, but placing a couple of buildings down in roughly their final positions convinced me that it was about the right shade though I may tweak small areas with a very slightly darker shade.
I thought it may be a bit pale, but placing a couple of buildings down in roughly their final positions convinced me that it was about the right shade though I may tweak small areas with a very slightly darker shade.
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
The shade is about right. It's only when it rains that tarmac and stone setts appear darker.
Neil
Western Thunderer
Over the last month I have become most interested in Belgian paving. It's different to what we're used to in the UK and though there seem to be many variations there are some common factors in the size of the blocks, roughly around 30cm square and that they're usually (but not always) laid in rows at 90 degrees to the road and building line.
They generally present a smoother appearance than the road surface so fabricating another stamp and embossing in Das clay was out. Cutting out individual squares was quickly ruled out as the test piece took ages and I struggled to maintain regular spacing. So I came up with the following. I drew out on the computer a grid of 3.5mm squares and added a few rows of kerb stones which I printed out on thin white card.
I also took a tracing from the layout of the areas to be paved and drew them out on the pc adding some blue guide lines to try and keep the paving in line. I glued this to some grey board .75mm thick and left it under weight for a couple of days.
Needles to say it still had a tendency to curl up. On top of this I first glued down the kerbs cut from the first print out, floowed by strips of the paving which I cut back to the building line as I progressed along.
I stuck the strips down with dilute pva and then trimmed to length.
As I progressed I notched each slab join on the row before sticking down the next one.
The state of play so far is a complete first section of paving cut out and ready to paint before I apply it to the layout. It is disappointingly curly but it remains flexible enough to stick down and weight flat so I have every hope of success.
They generally present a smoother appearance than the road surface so fabricating another stamp and embossing in Das clay was out. Cutting out individual squares was quickly ruled out as the test piece took ages and I struggled to maintain regular spacing. So I came up with the following. I drew out on the computer a grid of 3.5mm squares and added a few rows of kerb stones which I printed out on thin white card.
I also took a tracing from the layout of the areas to be paved and drew them out on the pc adding some blue guide lines to try and keep the paving in line. I glued this to some grey board .75mm thick and left it under weight for a couple of days.
Needles to say it still had a tendency to curl up. On top of this I first glued down the kerbs cut from the first print out, floowed by strips of the paving which I cut back to the building line as I progressed along.
I stuck the strips down with dilute pva and then trimmed to length.
As I progressed I notched each slab join on the row before sticking down the next one.
The state of play so far is a complete first section of paving cut out and ready to paint before I apply it to the layout. It is disappointingly curly but it remains flexible enough to stick down and weight flat so I have every hope of success.
