Carry on Again...

A midweek "extra", things must be moving along!

With the basic box assembled I added a few features to allow 'odsock corner to be securely stored within or displayed on top. A peculiarity of this build is that usually I would drill holes in the front and rear of the box as these are usually the longest elevations, but this one is square, and there is also the issue of the front of the layout being drop-framed and having less space underneath...

As well as drilling the holes for the bolts, on top of the box I added two plywood triangles which suffice to engage in the front corners of the baseboard to secure it when displayed. 

Although the bolt holes in the box are in the front and rear... the corresponding holes in the layout are in the sides of the board and a 90 degree turn is required on un-boxing, hardly arduous! Under the board captive bolts are held in place with small blocks of timber, drilled through and then opened out to hold the bolt. These were clamped and bolted into place whilst the PVA glue dried, with WD40 on the bolt threads to try and avoid any unwanted fixing.

After a mask up of the edges of the hardboard panels with low-tac decorators tape all the timberwork then had two coats of yacht varnish applied. Disaster then struck when the low-tac tape lifted the surface of the hardboard in places making a bit of a mess. Varnish also ended up where it wasn't really meant to leaving me to say this isn't my best work... The surface of the hardboard had some wax furniture polish applied which hides the worst of the damaged surface.

The layout board also had a coat of yacht varnish on the underside to protect the woodwork and then a couple of coats of grey primer on the outside edges, another coat of this may be the final colour in due course, applied after scenic work is completed. It is all looking very grey at this stage, the other day someone mentioned that they actually thought it was going to be a winter scene, but another season will soon roll around.

More soon...

Colin

Carry on Clamping

The storage box for 'odsock Corner is now complete, it has been something of a saga for what should be a simple job! Firstly, I didn't have the hardboard and timber strip in stock as I had used most of the supply last year when I enclosed part of my new shelving in the workshop (which of course I have done nothing with...), so a trip to B&Q ensued and a shock at the price of these supplies (my old hardboard was free from an old wardrobe!). The new timber strip, despite being the same size as the old stuff, was actually slightly bigger too but I've ignored that. 

After careful measurement of the baseboard and material thicknesses, I calculated the sizes of the hardboard panels (with a +1mm allowance) and cut them accordingly. The timber, 25x11mm section (which B&Q retail as 25x10.5mm) was cut, again slightly over-length, and panels then assembled one-by-one, to get as many clamps on each as possible. Allowing for drying time this took place over a couple of days, after which I sanded all the edges of the hardboard back to the edges of the timber to allow for neat and square corner joins.

From my home made kit of parts I could then assemble the box. Being a square layout my sides are not equal lengths, the two shorter ones sitting inside the two longer ones to make the square. I paired up one of each on a flat surface, glued and clamped them together, checking for squareness and then repeated for the second pair. My 18" clamps came into their own with this along the top edges (at the bottom) supported by the smaller clamps along the corners.

The two pairs of sides were then brought together, again on a flat surface, into one assembly. Again, plenty of clamping!

The final piece of hardboard to add was the top, this was slightly oversize and would be adjusted at a later stage. The timber lengths under the clamps are to spread the force along the edges of the board and keep pressure along the edge as the glue dries.

Once set the edges of the top were sanded smooth and then the saga took a new turn. The vertical timber sections protruded slightly below the hardboard sides and I decided to sand these down. My power sander had other ideas and when I wasn't looking took a chunk out of the hardboard in one corner. Words were said, tea was brewed and I went off and cut the grass... on my return I had cooked up an audacious plan to remove a strip from the entire base of the box, hardboard and timber. This was carefully measured out and the timber corners cut first with a fine saw, and the hardboard with a combination of Stanley knife and saw. It worked, and (gently) sanded to finish the result was actually better than it would have been originally. 

By co-incidence the height of the box was now actually identical to that of my 009 layout 'The Old Quarry Line's box, which it probably should have been all along! However, the saga (or given this post's title, the farce) would continue to throw a few curveballs at the subsequent stages...

Colin 

O9 Archeology

The 7mm Narrow Gauge Association has recently restarted it's second-hand sales service, as mail-order, members-only service with items listed and illustrated on a dedicated website page. Mention in 'Narrow News' that a quantity of O9 items were selling well led me to log in and take a look. Amongst the interesting items was an Owen Ryder R&ER coach kit, unopened... emails were exchanged. Paypal paid and the Royal Mail delivered.

It really is unopened, look at that tape! This really is a time capsule from one of the earliest manufacturers of O9 models. The range was later taken on by the late Howard Martin at Avalon Line from whom I bought a version of this kit a good few years ago. It's build was described in Building the Avalon Line 'Ratty' Coach Kit.

So, did I keep it wrapped up for posterity or break it open and build it? I gave in to temptation, opening the tape and removing everything from the bag, it was a very tight fit! Inside all the parts are still carefully wrapped up in tissue paper, secured with more tape. My temptation was only partial as I haven't opened that, yet...

Colin

The Road to Nowhere

With the rockfaces on 'odsock Corner coloured to an initial satisfactory finish my attention turned to the road surface. My aim is to achieve both of these finishes prior to general ground surfacing, in order to allow the latter to overlap in a realistic fashion. The basis of the roadway had been laid some time ago in the form of mounting card and treated with button polish to harden the surface. I had intended to then follow a similar principle to that used on 'Shifting Sands', only to find, much to my surprise, that the Green Scene product I had used 18 years ago, had dried up...

The first step I took was to weather the planking on the first crossing, using various washes of acrylic followed by dry brushing in weathered wood shades. The centre planks are not yet stuck in place and are out of line in the picture.

The roadway itself is a concoction of grey tester pot paint (with a spot of brown), PVA glue, grey tile grout powder, very fine sand and the finest material sieved from my ballast mix. This was applied liberally over the roadway, adding in extra loose ballast material on the surface where required, in particular around the second crossing and to the right hand side in the areas that I had previously excavated in the road surface. The surface was stippled whilst wet to add some extra texture to the surface.

Once left overnight to dry I revisited the surface and despite my texturing I actually went over it with 400 grit wet and dry to smooth it a little. This had the added bonus of removing the mixture from some of the ballast in the mix and adding some further variation of colour. I then spent some time with watercolour paints and weathering powders to further vary the surface colours and add impressions of tyre tracks and wear.

Despite looking complete, this is really a base for further work once the surrounding scenery is in place, I can foresee adding some further "loose" material and some cracking to really get the impression of a broken-up surface.

More soon.

Colin

Saturday Snapshot III - Rocks

As anticipated I have applied some colouring to the rocks around the pizza layout using various shades of acrylic paints in the beige/grey spectrum. Dry-brushing has brought the rocks to natural shades including green at the base of the rocks to represent a damper area and staining from vegetation growth.

I've also added water stains running down the faces of the rocks, maybe a bit too obvious at the moment... There will be another round of dry-brushing in due course to add a more sandy/yellow tint and as scenic work progresses there will be moss/lichen effects to add using ground foam etc.

Colin

 

Low Cost at 'odsock Corner

I spend a few idle moments a week watching videos on YouTube, as I suspect many of us do. Railway modelling is only one of several topics I follow but I have noticed that there is an increasing number of commentators talking about the cost of new products. Yes, railway Modelling can be an expensive hobby, if you want it to be...

I'm time, space and cash limited, buying new RTR products is not on the agenda, notwithstanding the fact I mostly model in a scale where RTR does not exist, the temptations of a Quarry Hunslet in 009 or NG7/O-16.5 have (so far) been avoided. Even many of the newer, closer to home temptations of quality 3D printed O9 models have not yet drawn me in. I actually find at the moment I'm happier in the workshop with recycled card and polystyrene, PVA and DAS modelling clay creating the foundations for a miniature world.

I realise that I am out of step with most of the (railway) modelling world by appearing to spend so much time on my groundwork, but in reality there aren't that many hours in what you see here, just spread out over many weeks! For instance this last week more clay work was the initial focus of work, with Isla assisting around the side and back of the office building. This included the last vast expanse of  exposed corrugated cardboard, in reality a double-corrugated sheet with the top layer carefully peeled off when I realised it was too thick, leaving a rather weak exposed inner layer. Getting it all covered up will make life a lot easier in the long run. 

In between the clay sessions with Isla I had added clay to the two outer areas to blend in the different levels and hide the joins with the outer timber strips. My attention then turned to how to initially cover the polystyrene areas ad in particular it's join along the timber strips. I really didn't want to use tiny bits or mod-roc and the mess that brings. The quick and easy alternative was to recycle the brown paper that you sometimes find in Amazon packaging, torn into strips and applied in two layers with lashings of PVA (hence the sheen catching the light). Again I had some assistance with this task... On the edges of the board the strips were laid oversize and cut back once the glue had dried. 

The eagle-eyed may spot that during the clay work I filled in the extra holes that I had made whilst finding the optimum position for the tree, allowing for accurate location in due course. The basic  foundation of my groundwork is now complete and attention can turn to the next stages, which will be colouring in the rock formations and surfacing the roadway, before moving on to the next stages of surface coating. Whilst good quality scenic material does have a cost, by working on a small project I don't need the vast quantities that some of the YouTubers must require, and I have enough in hand not to need to buy anything at this stage...

Colin

Steady Pace at 'odsock Corner

It always seems to be a bit of a struggle to get back into the swing of things after the summer holidays and this year has been no exception. Things are now slowly moving and the ballasting of 'odsock Corner is now completed. Now you might think that is an easy one-hit job, but it was actually spread over several sessions taking it nice and steady. Unfortunately it's not the easiest thing to get a decent picture of in the evening gloom of the workshop.

I have to admit to being as gloomy as the light in the workshop after taking that photo, suddenly going into negative mode about the whole project. I'd like to say the next day dawned bright and I was refreshed, but the weather had other ideas. So did I...

I hired in a keen sub-contractor to assist with the modelling clay work that could now be completed around the roadway, walls and office building. The walls and building were carefully wrapped as tightly as we could in cling film before placing them in location. The usual PVA base was applied before using DAS 'stone' clay to infill and shape the landscape, finishing off by stippling with a stiff brush to add texture.

 

My assistant had to go out to a friends house leaving me to complete the area in the front of the office, covering the quite poor quality corrugated card in this area. Having used up all the clay that I had taken out of the packet I stopped at this point, as I think that I may have assistance for the next session, where we can continue around the side and back of the building.

After leaving the clay to set for a few hours I carefully removed the walls and office (before the PVA got too stuck the cling film!) and by large the desired effect has been achieved. I did have to poke a few bits back down so maybe I could have left it a little longer before removing the items. We'll see next time! 

Colin