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.

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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

Three - Finishing Touches

A little light weathering has now been applied to SMR No.3, just enough to be a work-a-day miniature railway machine, especially one that has seen recent workshop attention! 

Most of the focus has been on the underframe area, starting with a wash of black/brown to get into the detail and provide a base for the dry-brushing that followed. The dry-brushing started with various muck shades, gently introduced over the details and also over the vents and grilles on the body. The springs were treated to an application of gunmetal to bring out their details further and give a metallic sheen. The same colour was also used on the footplate under the cab door to represent wear to that area as drivers clamber in and out.

A lighter dry-brush was also applied in places, as a highlight to edges such as the bufferbeam and axleboxes. I also included some much thrown up from the wheels at the base of the bufferbeams, a very subtle but effective trick and representative of a pattern of muck often seen on miniature stock with low clearances at either end.

With that work completed the overhaul is completed and I am very happy with the result. Will there be any further re-workings of older models? There are no firm plans but time will tell...

Colin

'odsock Corner - Flora and Fauna

'odsock Corner is reaching a point where you might say that it is nearly complete (on the basis a model railway layout is never actually complete!) Since it's last appearance here there have been several enhancements to both the natural scenery and the man-made junk. The overall view below shows the current state of work, with the third tree in place back-left and lots of new smaller details.

Seen before they became lost in the undergrowth are some of the "animals of 'odsock Corner". From left to right, we start with a minor celebrity, "the Brookford Pheasant", obtained from the fabled Brookford layout some time ago; two rabbits from Northumbrian Painting Service, bought at the 7mm NGA event at Mickleover along with some pigeons who we will meet later! The cat is an Omen casting, and the duck from Duncan Castings. All apart from the pheasant were painted by myself.

The pheasant is lurking under the new tree, where I also added in some variety to the undergrowth with some Mininatur flowers and a raspberry bush. On the junk pile you can just see a child's trike in the bushes to the right. There are other new additions behind the tarpaulin and they are actually posed in such a away that you really cannot get the camera in to photograph them! I did try, as you will see later... 

Those pesky pigeons have taken up residence on the roof of the office building, and have left their mark using a stippled mixture of green-grey and yellow paints. I've also added a fair bit of moss growing on the lower rear edge of the roof under the tree. Other additions to this area are the bucket and the bin to the left of the hut, both West Hill Wagon Works 3D prints, and in-between these one of the rabbits is minding their own business. The ex-Shifting Sands bench, the cat and the lamp post all add more interest to this scene.

More Mininatur flowers can be seen around the layout and around near the gateway the other rabbit is seen. This area is also the home of the 'lost' duck. There is a puddle there which he has obviously mistaken for a much bigger expanse of water!

And finally... an attempt to see the extra junk in the centre of the scene. I suppose it is quite atmospheric! The carriage door is an Avalon Line left-over from the railcar conversion, but in front of that are some redundant bench ends lying flat on the floor, you'll have to take my word for that...

Colin

Ghost of Three

Missed out from Saturday's post on the rebuild and repaint of No.3 was an image of it in primer prior to painting. Unfortunately I only realised that I hadn't taken one after I had masked up for the white primer coat. However I did remember to take one before re-masking for the yellow, a ghostly image which was a bit awkward to colour-balance without washing out the top of the bonnet...

Weathering is now complete and the results will be seen very soon...

Colin
 

Take Three

Having managed a very minor refresh on my recent scratchbuilt i/c loco, I was enthused to carry out some rebuild work on another older O9 loco and after some thought the Shifting Sands workhorse, No.3, has emerged from the workshops resplendent in yellow livery for the first time in about 20 years.

I outlined No.3's history (Come in number 3) at the time of her last overhaul 12 years ago (The New Look No 3). When I first completed her in 2004 she was painted yellow and I always felt that at some stage I would restore that colour scheme, despite all the subsequent changes over the years. Back in January I dismantled the locomotive back to component parts and gave everything a bath in Dettol to begin the paint stripping process. 

After nearly 48 hours in the Dettol bath, the majority of the paint was gone. As the 2012 paint job was applied over the 2005 one, from outside in there was a layer of Dullcote, Citadel acrylic, primer, Railmatch varnish, Halfords topcoat and primer - it is hardly a surprise it took so long! One victim at this stage was the Black Dog casting used as a handbrake lever in the cab, an old break that had been reinforced with brass wire. I could have fixed this but...

...my intention was to enclose the cab and you wouldn't really see it, therefore it was removed, fixed, and used where it could be seen in the newer locomotive. The whole of the door-opening cab side was removed from the cab and replaced with a new fabrication. This did not follow the door position of the 2005 cab side but looked "right". At this stage I also shortened the main frames as the long front overhang always had the effect of making the bonnet look thinner than it already was. The cab and bonnet were moved forward and adjustments made within the cab. Where necessary all joints in materials were re-filled and sanding ready for a fresh coat of primer.

A coat of grey primer was followed by masking up for a coat of white primer in the areas to be painted yellow. The yellow was sprayed with Halfords 'Broom Yellow' and touched in with Vallejo Flat Yellow where necessary. The underframe was sprayed matt black and then over-painted with Vallejo Black Grey, the same colour being used on the various grilles on the bonnet. The cab interior is a lighter grey and a new brake lever has been added, created from an Airfix/Dapol mineral wagon handbrake lever.

Painting was concluded with a coat of Humbrol acrylic matt varnish from an aerosol, after which the task of adding the smaller detail parts was carried out, including an open sliding window on the cab side, a nod to the original 2004 model. The exhaust, headlights and air horns retain their original finish and the number plates were cleaned up prior to refitting with matt varnish. Lead window strip weights, removed prior to paint stripping, were reinstated to both body and underframe, where the primer from the previous rebuild was still visible as seen above.

I'm really happy that I have made this much progress in just two months. There is a little weathering to do to complete the model, this will largely be around the underframe area and the plan is to be as subtle as possible, although a workhorse it is still a miniature railway locomotive rather than an uncared for industrial machine. 

Colin

Caravan and Cake

I recently had one of those annual occurrences that involves cake and a few beers, and in amongst the presents were a couple of O9 models to build. On the left is a FK3D print of the Motor Rail/Simplex 'Caravan' which is designed to fit the Kato "core" in the same way as their Lister model, which will go a long way to overcome the issues I resolved on the 'Druid' print.

On the right is a self-directed present, a Unit Models 1-plank wagon cast resin kit. Years ago I built a Unit models 2-plank wagon kit but it didn't lead to any more purchases, this one was prompted by seeing Stephen Clulow's 'Apadobe Mine' at the 7mm NGA even to Mickleover in February (or January 32nd if you prefer...) It was a pleasure to meet Stephen for the first time and see the layout in operation, you can read more about his models on his blog Steve's Narrow Gauge Railway Adventure.

Stephen operated using a mixture of Black Dog Mining and Unit Models wagons and this prompted me to have a look again at the kits at the Doncaster exhibition the following week. Having purchased a 3D print Heywood-style wagon at Mickleover I now have a few "out of the box" projects to be getting on with in the coming months.

As for the special day, we had a trip on the Sherwood Forest Railway and Bob Colley treated me to the birthday headboard for the run!

In the next couple of weeks there should be developments to report on both 'odsock Corner and a project that I have been keeping under wraps...

Colin
 

Through the Gateway

Heading through the gateway featured last week finds further scenic finishing in place. In the area between the tracks and trees I added brambles using both coir hanging basket liner and a small offcut of rubberised horsehair as the basis. Both were teased to shape and sprayed with Humbrol matt brown before being glued in place with PVA, sprinkling some fine turf ground foam over any exposed glue.  Once dry hairspray was used to fix Woodland Scenics foliage mat in place with a sprinkling of loose material to complete.

The triangle to the right of the felled log will soon be host to a little extra junk and more growth around it. Across the line I added more hanging basket liner based undergrowth/brambles to the area around the location of the third tree. I had originally intended to add higher hedgerows here using rubberised horsehair but found that it looked out of balance visually and put the pieces to one side for another day. 

When adding further material to the bramble patches, over-spray of the hairspray into the static grass caught some of the loose foliage material and gave a pleasing effect of growth within the grass. Having used similar techniques within hanging basket liner grass before I had intended to experiment on the static grass anyway, so rather than put it off for another day, I opted to add some growth around the tree stump.

Darker green material was used on the longer grass around the stump itself, whilst in front some lighter green and yellow material from Green Scene gives us the look of daisies in the grass. I find that adding effects like this can really enhance the grass areas so I went on to add more in several places around the layout.

More soon...

Colin

Saturday Snapshot V - Growth

Although there are still some areas to revisit and enhance, I'm pleased to report that 'odsock Corner has finally reached the stage where all the scenic ground cover is in place and there are no (unintentional) patches of bare earth. The previously turf-only narrow strip along the back edge of the layout can be glimpsed here through the gateway sporting a mixture of wild grass and brambles. 

A recent purchase of Green Scene 4mm straw grass, mixed with other longer grasses I already had to hand, has allowed me to create a pleasing colour and texture different to the other grassed areas on the layout. The brambles added along this edge and in the centre of the layout, use coir hanging basket liner material as a base and Woodland Scenics foliage material, with some added effects. Foliage creeps over the wall to effectively disguise the point it cuts off at the baseboard edge.

Colin

That tree in the corner...

In best railway tradition, this post is running late, at least a fortnight and possibly a month! It has got close to being published a couple of times but I really wanted to get the heading photo right and for various reasons it has taken a few attempts. 

We last featured this tree back in December in Twigging On when it looked suitably wintery and bare. it has now progressed scenically by about six months to be in full bloom. This is a task that was taken steadily and whilst usually a workshop task, the cold weather actually saw it completed in the house with a lot of cleaning up after each session.

Over the course of about a week the tree was fully foliaged using Woodland Scenics material, matt medium and hairspray, getting to the halfway point on the Sunday evening and completed on the weeknights.

The base layers of teased-out foliage material were secured to the branches using matt medium, working around the tree from the lower levels upwards. After the matt medium was dry on a level,  hairspray was used to secure additional material over the first layer to build up the effect of bushiness. 

Being indoors allowed the matt medium to dry fairly quickly so I could go away, do something else and return to take the next steps, then repeat... Working up the tree this way makes for pleasant, short working sessions before the task becomes too repetitive or the mind wanders... Once each layer was complete more hairspray secured the foliage in place and some lose material from the packet was sieved over to tree to further add to the layered effect.

Although nominally complete in the picture above a few extra layers of foliage were added to the top of the tree before I was satisfied enough to call the process to a halt, with the final result as shown in the heading photo.

Those paying attention and taking notes may notice from the heading photo that despite my careful planning to get items in place below the trees, there has been a re-arrangement of the various elements, hopefully giving a more coherent look. The broken Hudson wagon frame has been turned around and propped up on offcuts of timber, with the intention of having the other wheelset in front of it once modified and weathered. The cement bags have been placed on the floor near the slabs and just in case you needed to know they were cement bags, the top one has a clue added... 

A few extra items of junk are being produced to add a little more to this scene, hopefully to break up the linear feel everything has to the present time.

More soon...

Colin

It was 20 years ago today...

Well, yesterday (ahem), that I took the first under-construction photographs of what was to become 'Cumbria'. I may not have realised it at the time but this model was pivotal in my O9 modelling journey, being a step away from the heavy kit-bashing that had gone before and my first model closely following a prototype, in this case the Ravenglass steam tram 'Flower of the Forest'. My styrene techniques had been honed on a couple of experimental models in the month previously and would develop further as the months went on.

In a turn-around that I'd struggle to achieve these days, three weeks later the construction and detail work was complete and the paintshop was on speed-dial. After spending thirteen years as 'Cumbria' a partial repaint and rebranding undertaken by James Hilton saw 'Flower of the Forest' finally emerge from the works as a reminder of many journeys behind the prototype at Cleethorpes. 

As the coming months may offer up several 20th anniversaries I am considering how to best present these on the blog, especially as the recreated Fotopic site pages of the era are already hosted on the site, for example this page for the 'Cumbria' build. I expect I will highlight the milestone events such as this and maybe casually mention the others now and then... (OK, enough with the Beatles references!)

Colin

Stirring the wagon pot

In the last 'odsock Corner update I explained how I had substituted the intended Black Dog Mining based wagon in the siding scene with my "damaged" Hudson skip-frame flat. Before I had decided on this switch I had actually altered the original model and I thought it worth recording the work here.

Inspired by the work of Steve's Narrow Gauge Adventure, the planks of the damaged flat wagon destined for the siding were actually replaced like-for-like with real wood in the form of weathered coffee-stirrers. Fixings were represented simply by pushing a compass point into the wood and then the tip of a mechanical pencil after weathering.

This gave a much better representation of weathered wood than I had managed with the original scribed and painted styrene, which to be honest I wasn't too happy with anyway...

Once I had opted not to use the wagon in the siding scene it gained some "repairs" made in the form of new planks from un-weathered coffee stirrers. In my mind I was perhaps formulating a plan that involved it retaining the Black Dog coupler blocks and being used with the Avalon Line loco (and other suitable stock).

That may not come to pass, in truth the stock that will run around the Pizza is yet to be finalised (if indeed it needs to be) and equally what couplings they will have. I've said it before but when I start wagon tinkering it isn't always a sign of a good thing... In this vein a few recent wagon kit builds have left the fleet in the last week or so as they didn't quite meet my current thinking but that was not a reflection on them as models, just my thinking...

My cloud storage reminds me daily with an 'on this day' photo selection and ironically this week threw up several images of now-sold models. I'll leave you with this one from 2021, both the loco and diorama now have new homes, and I had space to build new things and a little money to re-invest.

Colin

Rainy Day Rebuild

Regular readers may recall that nearly three years ago I completed a scratchbuilt O9 i/c locomotive built ago on an unmodified Kato 11-109 chassis (Finished Business). Following the work I did on the Simplex to better hide the Kato chassis I decided to revisit this model as well. I am rather pleased with the result as seen below.

I actually commenced work back in November, with storm Bert making the shed rather unpleasant to work on the layout I opted to stay in the house and tinker. Having separated the top of the Kato chassis from the motor unit I used a fine razor saw to remove everything outside the representation of brake gear to the end of the chassis, resulting in some pleasing daylight at each end when viewed side-on.

I also took the opportunity to correct something else that bothered me about this model, which was that the coupler units looked a bit too "industrial", so these were carefully parted from the buffer beams and everything smoothed back. New bolt heads were added to break up the otherwise featureless space. Behind the bufferbeam a new mount for the MicroTrains coupler was added in the space freed up by shortening the chassis moulding.

The bufferbeams were then carefully masked up, primed and painted red well before Christmas, but after that sat awaiting a coat of Humbrol aerosol matt varnish for some time. I was waiting on the weather to be fine/dry enough and ideally something else to varnish at the same time to make it worth getting spray booth out... I finally got around to it last week, allowing me to re-assemble everything the following morning.   

The new position of the coupling now looks like a simple mount on the buffer beam in the style of a link-and-pin coupler, MicroTrains even mould a little dimple in the top that looks like the hole the pin drops through! As the side-on view at the top of the page shows, the lack of the end parts of the Kato chassis really improves the look compared to the views when first completed.

At the time I started this I did propose to myself at least one other winter rebuild and this may still appear in due course, watch this space!

Colin

'odsock Corner - Trees, Leaves and Junk

We left 'odsock Corner' with the office building and walls in place and the next stage was to start to infill the central section of the scene. There needed to be a certain order to this to avoid having to fiddle around adding items under the trees once they were fixed in place. The eagle-eyed will notice that since they were last featured some of the items being used have changed, such is the nature of layout development.

The first notable change is that the post and rail fence that I created to go alongside the office building has been replaced by something a little more makeshift in the form of a wattle fence panel supported by three weathered offcuts of cocktail stick. 

The fence panel itself was one of a couple of items I acquired in the sell off of bits and pieces from the well-known 7mm standard/narrow gauge layout 'Brookford' a few years ago, I think it suits the location well as a makeshift but elegant solution in an estate setting.

Behind the fence another change in plan sees the wagon in the siding changed to the Hudson skip frame with broken axleboxes that I created a few years ago. Until very recently it had been in place on 'The Headshunt' but it actually looks better in context here. In the photo below I was trialling the arrangement of various bits and pieces that needed to be fixed underneath the tree.

The sheeted object is a Ten Commandments casting, the pallet and oil drum Knightwing and the oil can from a Cararama set. The wooden crate and sacks piled on the wagon are Black Dog Mining castings. The paving slabs propped up against the wall are home-made from mounting card. As part of the process of placing these items I wanted to add in a layer of leaf litter around several areas under the trees, This mix of brown scatter, dried tea leaves, crushed Green Scene leaves and various other materials was applied over a layer of WWS basing glue and additionally secured from above with dilute matt medium.

With hindsight I perhaps have some over-sized material in there, the Green Scene leaves did not break down too well in a pestle and mortar, I don't run to a coffee grinder ala Mr Gravett but it would probably be better. I may revisit/refine this mixture before too long. A similar mix was applied on the road side of the wall but I actually think I got the balance about right here in terms of material size. I really must add some vegetation climbing over the wall itself at some point...

Work is now underway to add foliage to the remaining tree and after a bit of a saga I have the spray paint required to add a little colour variation to my base material for bushes and brambles so hopefully if the weather isn't too cold and the workshop not too inhospitable, some more progress will be made soon.

Colin

An Avalon Arrival

As mentioned a couple of months ago in O9 Archaeology, the revived 7mmNGA sales operation under  has recently turned up several interesting O9 items of late and it has provided an opportunity to acquire a few older commercial O9 models that are no longer in production. With a little Christmas money to spend I picked up another couple of items in early January, including another unopened Owen Ryder kit, this time the Heywood open wagon. Yes, other models are now available of this but I never got around to buying one from Howard Martin when the range was revived...

Since Howard's passing I've felt a small pang of guilt that I actually do not have anything in my collection that truly reflected the Avalon Line range so the opportunity to purchase a ALD2-9 diesel was also taken. It is actually a built and painted example very close in appearance to the one illustrated on the old Black Dog Mining website but differs in small details, including the coupler position. 

I therefore believe that this may actually have been finished by Steve Bennett. It has clearly never had a chassis fitted as the paint underneath shows no signs of wear. In fact an attempt to pose it on a motor-less Farish 08 chassis failed as it was too tight a fit! I am looking at the options to power it, the obvious low-cost way (as the source is in stock) would be to make some careful adjustments underneath to take a Kato 'core' and accept that the wheelbase won't match the axleboxes, but that it won't be too obvious.

An alternative would be to look at repowering the 08 chassis with a Tramfabriek motor but I have some qualms about having a 6-coupled chassis hidden away under there. To my surprise the 08 chassis has been propelled around the 5" curves of 'odsock Corner without any issue. However, a further alternative in the form of a Halling motor unit has been suggested by members of the NGRM Online Forum so that will also be investigated.

Colin