An Afternoon of Bench/Trackwork

Laid down some more of the plywood base for the trackwork this afternoon.

A test run with my articulated loco and 2 wagons it seems to handle not only the tight curves but the steep grades without even the hint of a hiccup. I ran out of daylight and the mozzies came around for a visit before I managed to complete the upper track loop. Hopefully I can get that done early tomorrow morning so I can give it a better test run.

A bit of Bench Work

Added the lower layer of track bed

Hopefully I'll be able to get the track roughed out tonight ready for a test run.

TMTEX 2015

So over this last year a lot of things have happened for me. One thing that stands out is my new obsession for all things Anime which included the regularly seen train lines of Japan.

 
So I've being doing some research over the last week or so and found a particular line that I was interested in modeling. using the ever favorite models license of course.

 

The Ōito Line is a railway line in Japan which connects Matsumoto Station in Nagano Prefecture to Itoigawa Station in Niigata Prefecture. There are two operators on the line: East Japan Railway Company (JR East) operates the section south of Minami-Otari Station in Otari, Nagano Prefecture, and West Japan Railway Company (JR West) operates the remaining section.

The entire line is just 105.4 km (65.5 mile) in length. Originally the line between Matsumoto and Shinano-Ōmachi was built between 1915 and 1916. By 1926 is was the line was electrified.

The rest of the line was built by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR) and the Japanese National Railways (JNR) between 1929 and 1957. The Shinano-Ōmachi - Minami Otari section was electrified between 1959 and 1967. CTC signalling was commissioned in 1983, and freight services ceased in 1987. The line has been closed several times throughout its life due to land slides and snow fall.

History lesson aside while is it strictly narrow gauge (3'6" gauge), and anyone reading my blogs would know that, this is my thing. This model is going to be  made using standard gauge track. N gauge to be specific and yes before all you die hard rail purists email me about "its meant to be N-Scale not N-gauge". I know but N-Scale is 1:160 on 9mm track. but this model is 1:150 on 9 mm track, hence Nine mm track gauge... N-Gauge. Its a real thing look it up. Anyway... Why 1:150 I don't know but that's what the train is and most of the Japanese model buildings are scaled this way so I'm just gonna roll with it.

Since today is my day off I decided to get started on construction of the base board.

It's a New Year so is a new model railway project

Peach Trees

Yesterday and today I made 3 peach trees for the second module., I may do 2 more so I have 5 in total but I will do a mockup of where they sit first to see if I have the space.

 

and some closeups

 

TMTEX 2014

One of the Photos from the Toowoomba Show. The layout ran well the whole weekend and of course I come away fired up with a bunch of new ideas for the layout and its expansion. I even have an application for the Ipswich show ready to fill out.

Some Progress

Started adding some scenic detail to the layout and gluing down at least one of the buildings.

Less than two weeks until the show. I still have my work cut out for me

20 Days to the show

Nothing like leaving things to the last minute. With about 20 Days before the Toowoomba Show this is what the layout looks like. I think I should get my skates on if I'm gonna have it ready in time.
The good news is since I cleaned up the sheds I found the controller I was looking for and the train will go around and around reliably. Just need to get the buildings finished and the rest of the scenery down.

I was just thinking about how many time I started assignments the night before they were due when I was studying my nursing. I thrive on a challenge ... No Problem ...

Adding some detail

Shed Doors with scratch built Paddlock and chain for the front most low relief shed. Still need to add the roof detail but happy with the look of it.










Then went on to make a sack bowwow to move around a couple of peach boxes.
Again Scratch built using brass rod and some flat plate. The wheels were my own castings also. A left over from the O Scale parts that I had made a few years earlier.

Building Mockup

Made a few basic buildings from "Mat-Board" to get the basic structure in and to judge size and location of what would work best.After a few changes this is the final plan ... probably.

Making Pavers/Cobbles

To Answer Geoff's Question about how I did the Pavers or Cobbles.

I used some "Air Dry Modeling Clay" the type sold in one of the discount shops I simply grabbed a lump of the stuff and rolled it flat out on a flat surface. Next taking a steel ruler I cut groves in to the stuff. I specifically didn't do accurate measurements as I wanted them to be a little but random but the average around 7 mm square which in G scale is about right but the exact size of these in real life was so variable that I could really have made them anywhere between 3 and 10 mm square and still been prototypically correct.

For this first batch I let it dry in the air as suggested but soon became inpatient so for subsequent batches I laid out and rolled the lump of clay on to some tin foil so it could be transferred into a oven set to 200 Degrees for about 4 to 5 minutes. As they are so thin (About 2mm) that is all that was needed plus this also allowed me to still break apart the squares as the clay had not completely dried.

The next step was the best part the actually laying of them on to the layout. Each one is placed on a thin layer of PVA glue. I worked in small areas of laying about 20 at a time before spreading out another patch of glue.

Pavers

Despite having to still complete the bench work I needed a break from the saw dust and the noise
So started making some clay pavers

Point Control and Backdrops

A quick trip down to Brisbane Airport yesterday gave me an opportunity to drop into HobbyOne, all be it 9 minutes before it closed :(
Anyway I picked up this Control Rod Cable for my point control

I also attached the actuating arm to the slide switch mounted under the layout

Tomorrow I'll be trying to get it all working to the edge of the back of the layout. I'll probably make some sort of recessed cut out on the back edge but I haven't totally figured that out just yet. I'll probably hash out a few ideas on paper later tonight so I know whats going to work.



I also managed to cut and undercoat the backing boards

Remembering back to previous years.... Wow has it been that long since I displayed a layout at a show.
Anyway remembering back I felt there was never enough space to simply put things down on or near a layout so I added a small shelf at the back. This has the added benefit of stiffing up the 3mm MDF backing board as well.

Track laying

The track in down and wired in and the hidden switch for the electro-frog point in installed and working. I just need to continue the brass control rod off the the edge of the layout and to a knob.


Other than just testing it with the multimeter I haven't tested it properly as I now can't seem to find the DCC controller in the shed :(. I know its there but it just to hot to go scouring through everything to find it.

The Layout also has a name. "Oakthorpe Valley Fruit Co." or simply "Oakthorpe".
The idea of the layout is based around a peach farm.
Here is a label from one of the peach boxes.

My plan is to have removable loads on short 4 wheel wagons. Things that this rail may carry could be quite varied. Fruit from a off scene orchard, finished and boxed fruit, both fresh and tinned, bottled drinks or even general items to maintain a farm / factory area the possibilities seem endless. 
I have BIG PLANS for my little layout.

New Start UPDATE

Two Posts in one day whats the world coming to.

So its about 2 in the afternoon and after a flury of activity a lot of noise and saw dust the main construction of the baseboard is done. 

A New Year a new start

So it's the last day of 2013 and in a major clean up I decided to do so work on the train layout. Actually the truth be known I was seriously considering throwing the entire lot of train things away but after a some time spend trawling through the forms of my favorite site I was re-invigorated to start building again. Who knows I might even get something for this years Toowoomba Show. Anyway I cleaned off all the dust and crap, yes crap, chicken crap to be exact, oh the joys of country living.  It took me the better part of a day to clean it and make it look almost usable, after all it had been sitting around for the last 12 months or so.

I pondered over it for a while while sitting down having a cool drink. Oh I might point out here that the drink was just soft drink. No I haven't given up alcohol, heaven forbid. No I managed to get some you bute infection about a week before Christmas and Antibiotics and Pain killers don't mix well with Vodka. So lucky me I've had a dry Christmas, New Year period, but I digress.

This layout was created a little bit on the fly, as in it just evolved. It never had any sort of master plan. A purpose for being there or even an idea of what was going to run on it. The bench work was ... well ... hap-hazard to say the least and it had twisted in the heat of the shed over time. 

So after salvaging what I could back off the baseboard the fate of this layout has been sealed as you can now see its final destination.

But don't disrepair, this morning I purchased some more plywood from the hardware. There will be a new layout this year.

So it looks like I've got some work to do.

Time off for good behaviour

So now that I've completed my studies and I'm a qualified nurse.
I can get back to my favorite pastime hobby of model trains
So as they say ... watch this space.

Spring time for the tree

With sping time here the tree stars to look a bit greener.
Extra branches, truck painted and foilage added.

And a close up of the tree trunk

I had several attempts at getting the colour on the tree right.
Initially I’d based it upon burnt umber but that was way too dark even mixing in white. 
It just ended up a muddy yucky colour.
So after a trip to Spotlight I picked up Jo Sonjas paint called Provincial Beige. 
Also to get a bit of variation in the colours of the leaves I painted a couple of bits with the el cheap'o Heriatge Green spray paint before applying it to the tree.



I'm very happy with the results. :)

 

Trees

Standing about 35cm tall this tree scales out to just a little over 27 feet in G-Scale(1:24) quite a modest tree but when compared to other scales ... wow. Especially when I look at some of the N-Scale trees that I have used as shrubs on this layout (just out of camera view) in fact I had to use 3 N-Scale trees twisted together to make a realistic looking shrub which only stands about 18-24 inches high.

This tree was make using the tried and true method of twisting wire and then coating them with "No More Gaps" however to get the size of base I needed to achieve the look I wanted I had to start with a piece of Balsa wood (5 one inch square pieces actually) and then continued building and shaping from there.

Still have to paint it and add foliage once this completely dry but I'm happy with the results so far.