Echoes of Shifting Sands

Thinking back to the picture of 'Shifting Sands' I posted last week one of the things that struck me was how I got a lot of end-to-end run in a small space. To get that same level of operation in a linear format you would need 6-7 feet of length, I know, because every time I think I can recreate the loop to fiddle yard operation (and include hands-free running around behind the scenes) in less space I find that I can't...

Since completing 'Odsock Corner' I have found myself wanting to plan something new, something that can provide some operation. I wondered if another common plan could be fit into less than its usual linear space, the 5-3-3 "Inglenook". It just so happens that another cork board (23.5" x 15.5") was to hand to try it. I've spared you the workbench clutter!

The other thing that struck me is that by going across a deep board at an angle you get a little more length to the run, essential where space is at a premium. If the main platform road didn't run at that angle up to the head shunt, and just went straight across the board, you wouldn't get three carriages in the loop. Looking again at that photo I was rather taken with the idea that the area I have outlined here in red is about 25" x 19", not far off the board I mocked-up the extended inglenook on.

I had been thinking recently about 'half-station' layouts, where you see one end of the platform and the head shunt, maybe a siding, but the rest is off under a bridge or overall roof and trains are represented by only some of their length.  They are perhaps not really my cup of tea but potentially offered a way of running the 'Shifting Sands' stock in a smaller space. As the idea grew in my head I mocked up this 3/4-station idea (with just the station throat off scene) that essentially gives a mini version of 'Shifting Sands'. It was late in the evening so the area was marked up on my desk!

Obviously it needs a workable fiddle yard to the right, with the ability to facilitate hands-free swapping of locos around stock as per the original layout. The main issue I foresee here is making that not too much longer than the layout (for balance) but still useable. With the tracks to the front it would be easier to operate this scheme than the inglenook, sitting it on the workbench without having to reach around the back as per 'Shifting Sands'. But in some ways 3/4 of the station isn't enough, I do like the act of running around a train, changing the points etc. Could I sacrifice a carriage length and actually have a fully modelled loop?

Food for thought...

Colin

Pop the Cork(board) - a 20th Anniversary

This photo popped up in my OneDrive "Memories" this week, from 14th October 2005. The creation of 'Shifting Sands' was underway with the cork board strengthened underneath and the turnouts and oddments of track loosely laid out in the original planned formation.

So here it began, taking nearly a year to become the layout featured in many of the static pages of this blog. To read more from October 2005, go to Shifting Sands: Baseboards and Track.

Back in 2025, there is a little modelling work going on, nothing spectacular but I hope to share some progress soon...

Colin

Alternative Coupling Analysis

Regular readers of the blog will be familiar with my use of MicroTrains couplers on my O9 locomotives and rolling stock and how this choice was decided upon more than 20 years ago when I wanted to have a single bogie/coupler arrangement for miniature railway outline carriages. I have often wondered how I might cope with an alternative, with the Greenwich couplers I have used on some of my 009 stock in mind. There are even some half-started experiments tucked away somewhere...

Looking around for something to occupy me over the last week, I started another experiment, this time using a familiar wagon in the shape of a Black Dog Mining style open wagon. Previously fitted with MicroTrains couplers I filled in the 5 x 2.5mm openings in the buffer beams with Evergreen styrene and made good the joins. Opting to fit the Greenwich couplers at the standard 009 height a small recess was removed to accommodate the 5.5mm mounting height. A tiny screw from a batch I bought on eBay holds the coupler in place.

The angle of the photo above doesn't really do it justice, but overall the look of the coupler doesn't look too bad. I did additionally try an angled shaft for the coupler to meet the alternative height of 8mm for the face plate but this looked a little more clumsy. I had ruled out directly mounting the coupler higher as it would require a larger cut-out in the buffer beam or a difficult to cut slot.

Underneath there is another change...

As a further experiment 7mm diameter Matheson wheelsets have been fitted, requiring only a little cut-away in the adhesive lead strip underneath to accommodate the flanges. These wheelsets fit nicely and really improve the appearance of the wagon, this is something I will certainly be looking at changing for other wagons using this chassis.

I have to confess that the coupler used here (and the one I bent the shank on) were "borrowed" from an 009 wagon and just fiddling with an alternative loop with a longer dropper reminded me of the one thing I am not 100% sure of with these couplers, assembling them! Yes, there are jigs available now but I find that they are as fiddly as the MicroTrains ones but in a different way. 

So will anything come of this? We shall see, it may just prompt some other wagon tinkering, again regular readers will understand the significance of that statement...

Colin

Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)

No apologies for borrowing Simple Mind's song title, I heard it on the radio for the first time in a while on Bank Holiday Monday whilst proving to myself that painting models was preferrable to painting rooms (especially woodwork...). With the end of August now upon us it does perhaps feel that the summer is reaching the end.

Alas there is no modelling progress to report and not a great deal of railway activity to report on at all, our holiday destination of Flamborough being a narrow gauge/miniature railway desert (we "did" Scarborough last year). There is the amusement of the model village at Sewerby and land trains that operate in a railway-like fashion with platforms, passing and turning loops, from there to Bridlington.  

Sitting looking out to sea I could quite imagine something Groudle-Glen style around the headland from the lighthouse to Thornwick Bay...

Not enough to inspire any layout ideas at this stage, I'm still stuck between concepts and spaces, having concluded that Mosslanda shelves are maybe too restrictive, and having taken down a couple of floating shelves recently they do not appeal to me as the basis for anything portable. 

Maybe a trip to the Whistlestop Valley/Kirklees Light Railway gala over the weekend of 6th/7th September might provide a boost, I'm looking forward to the chance to ride behind Bure Valley no.9 'Mark Timothy' having missed out on previous trips to Norfolk.  

Also visiting is the partnership of 'Spirit of Adventure' and 'Mr Hallworth' from the Perrygrove Railway. I think I last saw 'Sprit' at Cleethorpes 30 years ago in 1995 (I had to check that calculation twice...) and I have not yet seen the newer locomotive.

Incidentally, 'Spirit' forms the basis of a new O9 resin print from Gubbin Box Models (Facebook) which allows you to add an Exmoor tank locomotive to your fleet without any of the trouble I had scratch-building 'St Edwin'!

Colin

A Black Cat Crossed My Path...

Sadly after 18 years Mr Sooty has now crossed the rainbow bridge. Often found lurking on the bed or windowsill whilst I was working or modelling and he would even give the workshop an inspection from time to time. In December 2008 he was keen to observe the test runs of the Knightwing-based diesel...

But perhaps too keen to inspect the sand dunes!

RIP

Colin

'Avalon' - Finishing Touches

'Avalon', my subtle reworking of a completed and pre-painted Avalon Line loco is now completed. Having realised that the model was lacking an exhaust I produced one from a length of brass tube, sitting in an appropriately sized hole drilled in the bonnet top.

As an added refinement I added a support on the cab front using a recycled split pin - without realising that one side had no pin from a previous use! It is not noticeable in practice. Both the tube and split pin were blackened using Birchwood Casey gun blue prior to fixing in place. Vallejo gunmetal was used as the basis of the final colour with additional weathering.

I have also added wire loops to the industrial couplers in a 'U' shape, with the top of the side through the coupler also representing the pin of the coupler. These loops were also blackened with gun blue and the bit that was not meant to be there painted with matt black and the pin weathered with gunmetal.

The position of these loops was set in such a way that a MicroTrains coupler can be manually coupled, seen here with my tool wagon. Whilst automatic uncoupling is not possible, for use on a layout such as 'Odsock Corner' that is not going to be an issue!

 

With the completion of 'Avalon' my workbench is looking rather empty and we are getting to that part of the year when modelling slows down considerably and at the moment I don't really have the inclination or motivation to start anything else... So having made a promise to myself just over a year ago to update the blog weekly on a Saturday, and having pretty much stuck to that, I think we are probably now heading for a hiatus... 

Colin

'Avalon' - a midweek extra

These photos were meant to be pretty much the final ones of 'Avalon' with it's new LRS/Narrow Planet plates in place, but I realised that despite my diligent work, there was something missing...

There is no provision on the model for an exhaust! - so along with adding a wire to the couplers to meet a MicroTrains equipped wagon, I am now adding a suitable pipe from brass tube in front of the cab.

A quick look underneath reveals that I actually primed the chassis frame despite it being invisible in any normal circumstances. It somehow felt more complete that way...

More soon.

Colin

 

Parking up the Mini

Perusing Phil Parker's blog I spotted that he had recently completed a 7mm scale Mini from the Airfix/Heller kit. It is a later model than my Mk1 but interesting to see an alternative approach to modelling one. It did prompt me to carry out one more job on my model, to secure it in place on 'Odsock Corner. But before that I did a little extra painting and scenic work to add a moss effect to the top of the wall, having realised it still looked far too clean! 

So last weekend Saturday morning started with the Mini on it's roof with 1mm brass wire poking out of two of it's tyres... Before going any further, you may notice that I have added some body colour paint to the chassis piece under the front and rear bumpers. This was a result of a review of some more prototype photos and by Phil's model. It looks a different shade here under the light but in place on the layout it is not noticeably different.

I had been wondering for some time how to fix the Mini in place without actually sticking it down. For the Vauxhall Astra on 'Shifting Sands' I used the screw hole that previously held it into the packaging and a suitable bolt through the baseboard. No such luck here... and my original idea to use long 12 BA bolts into the tyres failed when I realised I had nothing long enough. I calculated the thickness of the baseboard and other layers to be getting for 20mm! Using a template I drilled into the tyres and fixed the rod with epoxy resin. It is seen below checking all is well prior to the next stage.

The template was then used to locate and drill the holes in the layout, initially at 1mm but then to 1.5mm to allow a little leeway and for the differences in materials (the wires tended to get stuck having gone on a wander through the foamcore layer over the main ply baseboard top). Here I have held the template using a cocktail stick in the first hole and I am drilling the second hole.

With the holes drilled I positioned the car and then undertook one of those jobs that needs three hands... I held the board on it's side, pushed the car down to the road surface and underneath, slid the inside of a small chocolate block connector over the wire and screwed it on tightly. Did I say three hands? make that four... This actually the system used on 'Shifting Sands' to hold the lamp-posts in place and allows for the Mini to be removed if required at a later date.

Whilst carrying out this work I decided that at some point soon I'll paint up my two remaining Pigeon castings to add to the wall ready to take aim at the car having no doubt added more mess to the wall!

Colin

Avalon Loco Progress

Work is progressing well on the reworking of the pre-built Avalon Line loco.  Although I want to keep as much of the original paint finish as possible, I felt that the all-encompassing grey finish needed something to both break it up and add some colour. The obvious and realistic thing to add was an area of red to the buffer beams and/or the coupler blocks. In the end the latter were carefully masked off, only to find that I had no red oxide primer to hand...

After a trip to the local motor factors Hycote primer was applied and then two coats of red acrylic paint.  At first this looked rather stark but with matt varnish and weathering applied they have blended in rather well. The tool box in the cab also benefitted from a touch of colour, a metallic blue and one of the in-cab levers gained a red handle.

Meanwhile I had to source a suitable driver figure. I suppose Although I have some 3D printed seated figures none are in a driving pose but I also have a small stockpile of whitemetal and plastic figures to use...  I seem to recall that this figure was likely bought in Burton Town Hall, but at one of the DEMU shows rather than the 7mm NGA convention where I would have seen Howard and Steve and not bought models like this! 

You may notice that he's had a little surgery (and was a pain to photograph)..

The cap pulled over the eyes to the nose really struck me as not great for any driver, it was only after trying to pose the arms that I realised that maybe the manufacturer meant a road vehicle driver rather than a locomotive driver, and that was his chauffer's cap!  The new head, secured with a short length of 0.5mm wire, was sourced from my oddments of plastic figures and is of Preiser origin. 

What was originally supposed to be a jacket and trousers has become a boiler suit. Painting was my usual primer/dark wash/almost dry brush of colours and to ring the changes the main colour is green, contributing to the splash of colour methodology. His hands are rather big (maybe he's wearing driving gloves) but I don't think is too noticeable once he's in the cab. He looks like he's in control of the loco even if he hasn't got a full grip on the controls.

More soon, as that final picture reveals, things have progressed well...

Colin

Avalon and Austria

Last seen on arrival in January (An Avalon Arrival), work has finally progressed on the pre-built Avalon Line locomotive that I acquired from 7mm NGA secondhand sales. Since the last post my theory that the model had been built and finished by Steve Bennett has been confirmed via a contact on Facebook. Apparently there were several models in the Avalon and Black Dog ranges finished in this way for direct sale, making this an interesting bit of O9 history.

I also left the last post on a bit of a cliffhanger in relation to my plans to power the model, whether to try and repower a Farish 08 chassis or investigate using a Halling 21mm wheelbase unit. As you might guess from the title, the Halling unit won. Due to the way the postage charges work it makes sense to order more than one at a time, so I acquired units for some other projects too.

As they come the modern Halling units are tiny, even compared to the Kato 'core' from their modern chassis. There really isn't much to aid fixing it in place in your chosen model so I had to carefully plan how it would fit into the void of the model. The solution is seen below... 

Taking things at first principles, I opted to create a sub-frame and carefully measured the space available under the loco body and the space the chassis required to 'clip' into something (there are clips either side of the motor). With a few scribbled plans I found could suit both (just), with only 1.5mm difference at either end. I marked out and cut a piece of 40 thou styrene to which Evergreen strip was then added above and below this to strengthen it. Once set a "nibble" was taken at either end to fully clear the worm gears. Below this recess is a small 20 thou piece that firmly holds the end of the chassis under the worm.

Platforms extend at either end sit onto the positions within the body designed to accommodate the Farish chassis. The joins for these are re-enforced to hopefully prevent sagging. Two tiny screws in opposing corners hold the sub-frame in place within the loco. In the recess above the frame I added some adhesive window lead strip to add some weight, and also added more strips behind the sideframes of the body. A further piece of lead in the bonnet end is ready to counterbalance a whitemetal driver figure, currently undergoing surgery!

More soon.

Colin

 

Sign of the Time

The office at 'odsock Corner now has a sign to indicate to all lost souls where they have ended up. However, it may not assist their confusion...

Whilst I could have created this sign and the ghost letter effect entirely on the computer I actually went down a more convoluted, yet practical route by starting with an actual sign. This uses a wooden sign blank purchased from The Works (cut-down to three planks from four) and self-adhesive cardboard letters from Boyes. 

The sign blank was sprayed with grey primer and sanded to a weathered effect, whilst the letters were temporarily fixed to a scrap of cardboard and sprayed black. The letters were then stuck to the sign and because the adhesive wasn't that great, the whole thing was then sealed with diluted matt medium. The letters were then dry-brushed with grey emulsion from a match-pot to give them a worn effect.

The intention is that the bottom plank will eventually have some extra info added such as scale/gauge info. However I needed to leave it blank to create the model sign... 

The next stage was to photograph the sign square-on on the back step of the house in daylight (but not bright sunlight), adding in an unpainted 'H' on the bottom plank in order to create the ghost letter on the final sign. This photo was then manipulated in my editing software to create the signs for the model, moving the ghost letter to join the top plank and carefully blending the join.

Three sizes of sign were printed on glossy photo paper, which was given a coat of spray matt varnish and left to dry overnight. The middle size was chosen and cut out with the raw edges touched in with a pencil. The resultant signs were then fixed in position and matt varnish run around the edges to kill the shine from the pencil.

As part of the same exercise I also created some small 'Private Keep Out' signs for the gateway, these were created entirely in my image software but treated in the same way as the nameboards.

I'm not sure if the rabbit will pay any attention... 

Colin

Tyred

I realised that a feature of the Mini was not really apparent in the pictures posted recently. As a fairly cheap model the tyres left a little to be desired, moulded in hard plastic with no representation of tread around the circumference. Realising I could not easily and reliably scribe this detail on to the model I opted to create the effect by weathering.  

So I found myself cutting very thin strips of masking tape and wrapping them around the wheels, one centred and one either side. In fact I did this twice as during the first attempt I realised the strips were not thin or consistent enough. I then dry-brushed the effect of driving on a dusty roadway onto the treads of the wheels, and once dry removed the masking...

To my surprise the effect, although subtle, works! Not bad for an idea sparked by looking at my car tyres after a trip down the lane to the Sherwood Forest Railway...

Colin

Three Pound Mini

There is a new arrival at 'odsock Corner in the form of a Mk1 Mini tucked to one side of the lane. It's very unlikely anything will be able to get past!

The original sketch from many years ago that was eventually brough to life as 'odsock Corner did indicate a vehicle could fit here, and I teased an ice cream van in the space last year. However to be as practical as possible in the daft space a smaller vehicle was going to give a better balance to the scene so I sought out a Mini. After some research into the various options in 1:43 scale I opted to go with the Lledo Vanguards model as I felt the shape looked about right. A trip to a local toy fair before Christmas found one in the original packaging for just £3.00.

It is quite a basic model, I think later versions were probably improved a little but the basis was there for some modelling work to create something unique. Creating a reasonable "layout" model from a cheap diecast is the sort of thing the late Chris Ellis, editor of Sale Trains and Model Trains International, would have encouraged. The model required old-school dismantling using a power drill to drill out the rivetted joint underneath the bonnet and then unclip the rear registration plate.

I failed to take any work in progress shots but the notable work included:

• Fixing the front wheels with a slight steer to the right and sanding a flat into the base of the tyres so the model sits better on the road,
• T-cutting the paintwork on the body to remove imperfections in the surface (I picked this tip up in one of Gordon Gravett's books) and carefully removing paint from handles and trim reveal the metal surface,
• Spraying the body, chassis and interior with Humbrol matt varnish, subsequently re-coating the body in Halfords matt lacquer as it looked too matt (!),
• Weathering, including the wheels (more about them another time...) and a few bird deposits to hide lumps in the paint on the roof,
• Adding (HO scale) windscreen wipers over the moulded originals and weathering the screen.

Finally everything was re-assembled and the drilled out rivet filled with Araldite and clamped together whilst drying. 

A few other additions of note are the usual Araldite on the headlights and some printed items in the form of a newspaper and crisp packet in the front window and a Tesco carrier bag on the parcel shelf, These came from a Scale Model Scenery print-at-home sheet printed on matte photo paper. The registration plates were created using an online generator for real plates, screenshot and manipulated to size and printed on glossy photo paper. In all these cases I have peeled back the layers at the back of the paper to make it thinner with less of an "edge". The registration plates had the edges touched in with a pencil to hide the whiteness.

All in all this has been a very pleasing project. Whilst the result may not pass really close scrutiny (especially the windscreen wipers) it is really at home on the layout.

Colin 

 

Watching the World

A new addition to 'odsock Corner is a lone figure sat on the bench outside the office watching the world go by... I've decided to be very careful and not over-populate the tiny scene so apart from train drivers and passengers, this is likely to be the only figure actually on the ground, so to speak.

In a new direction for me this is a resin 3D print, sourced very economically from Eddie King's 3D Printing For Charity who attend many shows in Lincolnshire, the East Midlands and surrounding area and raise money for the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance. I've seen the air ambulance land in our village twice in the last year, so this is a very deserving cause.

Whether he is pondering the options for an Ikea Mosslanda shelf or has been distracted by the O9 possibilities of the Peco Rail 200 Competition Baseboard we shall have to see...

What I can say is that he was cleaned up, sprayed with grey plastic primer, washed with a black-wash and then carefully painted with acrylics, using dry-brushing techniques to leave shadows in the creases of the clothing and head/hands. The trousers used an initial darker shade and subsequent lighter shade to further enhance the creases. A waft of matt varnish completed the finish and I think he's turned out rather well.

Colin

Saturday Snapshot VI - One Year On

This popped up in my memories feed this week, a year ago I was playing with the cardboard mock-up for what would become 'odsock Corner'. I suppose I really shouldn't share this as it highlights that it has taken a year to get to the point of a scenically complete scene in a very small space...

I'm not sure I've used this particular shot on the blog before, demonstrating that there was room to park a vehicle between the crossings... Whilst the ice cream van is may be a bit too much, work is underway on a vehicle for that spot. More soon...

Colin

Mosslanda Musings

A few weeks ago I was browsing in Ikea and just happened to pick up a Mosslanda picture shelf, the latest item in their inventory that has appealed to micro layout builders. It has been championed by the likes of James Hilton on his blog and Ian Holmes on his Micro Model Railway Dispatches YouTube channel. Interestingly they have different ideas about use, scale and construction style and I find myself in agreement with aspects of both of their approaches.

Whilst James favours smaller scales and a minimalist approach to trackwork, Ian has shown a scheme in 009 incorporating pointwork that caught my eye as a potential desk-sitter micro layout. Playing about with a few bits of track I devised the scheme below as a potential O9 shed scene, the wooden mock-up representing a shipping container or flat-roofed shed - a two-road shed would be in low relief on the left.

.

I'll be honest and say that I think it probably looks a little too "busy", so an alternative is this 'tuning fork' scheme that could have a lot in common with my old Gn15 project 'Ambassador Works' as a shunting layout, with a warehouse building along the back with a loading dock.

A third option would be more along the lines of some of James' work, with a single-line scene of some sort. I've not felt the need to mock that up - yet...

Colin

Batteries not Included

One of our local exhibitions takes the form of a joint event with the Model Bus Federation and attracts an interesting range of traders. One of my fellow NGRM Online members described them as some of the best rummage boxes around... At the most recent show my eye was drawn to what looked like a large tramcar controller, the sticker said it was Tomytec, needed batteries and better still was just a pound! I've experimented with battery control on the Christmas pizza and I thought it would make a novel controller for the O9 battery railcar on 'odsock Corner.

Opening up the back I was surprised to see it used 4x AA batteries, and a quick test confirmed that was more than enough as the railcar was at an acceptable speed just opening up the controller with top speeds more suited to HS2. A comment on the NGRM online forum confirmed what I thought from a quick look at the inner workings, that you could bypass two of the battery slots and it would work at half-power. The retained batteries are at the base of the unit for better weight distribution.

With a suitable DIN plug added to the wire it has proved successful, the layout currently residing on the lit shelf in the shed that was intended to be home to so much more layout...

Another battery related project is one that provision was made for earlier in the build, adding an LED light to the office building. I'm not a huge fan of overly-lit layouts and feel that light does not scale easily, so the intention here is not over-bright illumination to use in the dark, just enough to see what is inside when scene depicts day time. Before Christmas I found a trader on eBay selling pre-wired LED units and bought a single-LED unit to try.

The two wires pre-soldered to the single  LED were sprayed grey to disguise them within the building, they drop through the hole in the floor and under the board. At present they lead through a hole in the framing that I had to drill by hand, to a switched battery pack for 2x AAA batteries hidden under the baseboard. I found that a unit for 2x AA was just a little oversize to fit. If the 3v provided by these batteries proves not to be enough in the long term I can possibly fit a 9v battery in the space. 

Photographing a very dimly-lit light in daylight is rather tricky, so I resorted to turning the room lights out after all. In reality that street lamp would be lit as well, but the railway at 'odsock Corner probably sleeps at night!

Colin