Easter Reflections

Six Easter's ago I started creation what should have been my next layout, an O9 version of the Julian Andrews brickworks plan, later known as 'Avalon Brickworks' in the stewardship of Howard Martin. We were in lockdown and the weekend saw rapid progress on the layout during the day and depletion of a small keg of Hobgoblin (Ruby) in the evenings, and maybe afternoons... All the details

This project became bogged down in difficulties about what it should represent and what should run on it, I could have persevered but it was later all lifted due to the following reasons:

• The curve at the top-right hand corner was never smooth enough and really needed completely relaying.
• The angle and curve in the middle siding could never be decided on (in many ways due to me persisting trying to use MicroTrains couplers) - now actually I think it looks right as first laid!
• The fiddle yard siding was later extended and curved and always seemed to get in the way.
• I should have raised the track bed up from the board surface as I did on 'Shifting Sands', it always looked too 'sunken' around the edges.

As it was, the track was recovered, the curved rail mostly got used up on 'Odsock Corner' and the points and board await re-use, hence why most recent planning uses a 'Y' and Right-hand point. That current layout planning presents some dilemmas, there are several competing ideas that come up against practicality and reality. 

You may have seen the ideas on these pages in the last few weeks, centred around the Scale Model Scenery board for a Really Useful 'wrapping paper' Box . The most recent, posted on April 1st, was not really trying to fool anyone other than myself! That scheme needed a substantial run-off board to work effectively and there are space considerations as to where it could actually be operated - it would inevitably end up only being able to be set up in the workshop and having to have rolling stock transported out to meet up for a running session. I think at the moment I really want something that can live and be operated in the house...

The inglenook variations on that board hold a little more possibility for this by using them as a desk-sitter, but the board length will only just fit across the desk and with a solid wall either side I foresee issues getting it into place reliably. The original 'Upcycle' scheme that was abandoned well before Easter 2020 was a little shorter in length and perhaps better for it, although it could have benefitted from a little more depth. Height-wise it was designed to fit into a space and was going to present a challenge with fairly low-key scenery up to hedge/fence height.

However, at the moment, the idea of a single board that is shorter than the 30" of the Scale Model Scenery board, desk-sits easily and has low height scenery to store away with ease, is quite appealing. If it could offer a continuous run and some shunting possibilities, have a fairly generic setting and use the stock built recently with Greenwich couplers, it might tick a lot of boxes. If it looks like what was laid six years ago, that will be entirely a coincidence...

Food for thought...

Colin 

The best laid plans... can be changed

The appearance of 'Brooking Vale Brewery' in the latest 'Modeller has prompted some further thought about my stalled O9 micro layout project. Although the builder of that layout did not reference it, I was reminded of my source material, Julian Andrew's United Brick (Avalon Brickworks). I revisited this to see what it was that didn't quite gel for me, aside from issues about a credible scenario... I realised part of the issue might be that I had watered down one of the elements of the original (and many of it's imitators) by moving the inner siding towards the running line rather than it going towards, or even through a building in front of the backscene. Indeed I had physically moved it forward twice since the track was first laid.

I pondered what could be done if I swung the siding into a 6" radius curve and to move the Petite Properties structure to this location. So I drew out a 6" curve on good old cereal packet and also created a new mock-up of the structure as I realised it would look better reversed. By moving the bigger tree forward from the backscene it potentially hides the line running through the backscene a little better.

I have used part of the older mock-up to disguise the right-hand-side curve. I think I would actually go for a slightly taller, maybe wider, but definitely more bland structure here, possibly in corrugated material. The key to this structure appears to be that is should be seen but not to draw the eye to it, and the more I think about it the more the Petite Properties kit would not meet that criteria!

I still think I am some way off (re)starting this build. Whilst it remains an aspiration to complete it, having worked on the Christmas pizza and taking great delight in the simplicity of it, part of me yearns to do something quite simple and accessible for my next project, but I am not sure what...

Colin

Getting on the Right Track

I've spent some time over the last few weeks making little tweaks to the Julian Andrews inspired micro layout as and when I've had time. Inspired by a discussion on the NGRM Online forum about how track looked (as a reaction to a piece by Iain Rice in Model Railway Journal), I revisited the sleeper spacing on the 'main line' around the curve. In order to lose the regularity (if you can call it that) of the Peco track I removed about 5-6 sleepers and respaced the remainder. The sidings had already been through a similar process when laid but I chose to lose a couple more sleepers there, and also to realign the inner siding to make a bit more room for the trees behind.

On one of my lunchtime walks, where I'll freely admit I ruminate about model railway projects, I realised that although I wouldn't have time to do much to this project over the summer, there would be a distinct advantage to getting the track painted during "better" weather. So last weekend I made preparations and sprayed away...

My method was to use Halfords matt dark brown sprayed at the rail sides, then to stand the board on end and a (lighter) Humbrol matt bown sprayed over the sleepers, with a smattering of grey primer too, after the Humbrol can splattered, failed and made a bit of a mess.

It did all look a bit of an unhappy mess for a while, but it was only ever intended as a base. A couple of evenings tinkering with acrylics added some slightly rustier tones to rail sides and dry-brushing the sleepers with some woody tones. A recent article in the NGIRM Review on track is also worth reading with regard to how nature interacts with the permanent way so there will no doubt be further adjustments once ballasting and scenic treatments begin, whenever that might be... 

Colin

Reet Petite

I've been playing again with mock-ups for the Julian Andrews-inspired O9 scheme. The building represents Petite Properties 'Harpers Yard' with a little extra depth added. I've liked the look of this range of structures for some time and in particular I was impressed with the effects that Michael Campbell had achieved with them in 4mm scale on Loctern Quay.

The manufacturers website says this structure is 17.5cm wide and 20.8cm tall but I could not help feel those dimensions were transposed as it scales out the other way from the photos, and the dimensions of the 4mm version are shown wider than it is tall. Through a request on the 7mm NGA Facebook group Ian Leese kindly confirmed the dimensions as 18.5 cm wide and 15 cm tall, so I could dimension the image of the front accordingly. I must also thank Simon Andrews as he confirmed the doorway height at 49mm so there may need to be an adjustment to get some items on O9 stock through.

I think the next adjustment might be to the inner siding, bringing it closer to the inside of the curve to give more space for the tree... we shall see!

Colin

Moving on from Paper and Pencil?

It's four months (yes really) since I last posted my thoughts on the scenic treatment for my O9 interpretation of the Julian Andrews brickworks plan. Since then there has been little creative thought about the project until this week. In fact there has been more thought on alternative schemes but they have all drawn a blank...

There are a few items that I wish to use on the project and in some ways these are either driving or stopping my thoughts on how the scene should look. One of these is a photograpic backscene, and I was having a few thoughts that this could be overpowering to the scene, especially compared to my usual "restrained" style. To test how it would look I downloaded the images of it from the internet and resized them to full size and then printed in draft, temporarily mounting them on a spare piece of ply. With the addition of new dummy foreground trees, better representing the two Skale Scenics examples I wish to use on the project, this doesn't look too bad. 

My attention then turned to the grouping of buildings on the right hiding the return curve. As mocked up this is the building shown last time (based on one I built a few years ago) with a modified Airfix/Dapol water tank behind. This didn't look quite right, to me it looks too obvious that the line can curve through the structure. But what if the building moved back and the track entered a lean-to at the side? There would be enough of the main building wall visible to trick the eye, as in the first sketch.

Wishing to incorporate the water tank and break the roof line up a little I created the second sketch, turning the main building roof through 90 degrees. The lean-to would have a more varied roofline where it leant on the water tank supports (brick piers would replace the kit pillars). This would have to be one carefully planned, removable structure but I think it is a much better trick on the eye to hide the return curve.

I even have a potential prototype for part of the structure, this field shelter at Hall Farm Park in Lincolnshire. I would envisage it repurposed as a small workshop, perhaps with a Land Rover parked half in/out. 

There is something to be said for keeping the structures simple, I am yet again reminded of Neil Rushby's 'Isle of Avalon Tramway' (seen here with a later owner) - the simplicity of the structures hiding the sector plate on the left is very deceiving, there is little actual detail but interest is created by shape and colour. 

Thinking cap firmly on...

Colin

More in Paper, Pencil and Cardboard

After planning a scenic treatment for the Julian Andrews brickworks plan that didn't incorporate a running line hidden in a building, I decided to try a version that was closer to the original in that respect. This plan also moved the trees towards the background and potentially does away with the backscene on the left hand side of the board.

The building as sketched is a close copy of the one completed Misterton Fen Tramway structure, the workshop. I sold this on, due to storage space constraints, so it would be good to recreate it in some way.

Mocking this up in finest cereal packet card created a better effect than I had anticipated, The grouping on either side of the trees/smaller huts and the tree/tank/workshop seems to work well. The idea is that this layout will be my first use of a photographic backscene so there won't be quite such an apparent gap in the scene. The Port Wynnstay hut features again whilst the adjacent engine shed could equally be a concrete sectional structure rather like the old Skegness miniature railway example that I built extra wide and in low relief a few years ago.

There may be a few more ideas to consider, but I might have to eat some more cornflakes!

Colin

Planning in Paper, Pencil and Cardboard

Drawing inspiration from the old 'Misterton Fen Tramway' sketches and the more recent pizza exercises I have now sketched a few ideas for my project based on the plan of Julian Andrews brickworks layout. These initial ideas have dropped the line running through a building approach of the original.

The first sketch uses a round tank on stilts very much like the one in the old sketches. The arrangement on he left hand side incorporates a workshop containing some machine tools that I have in my possession. The building would be based architecturally on the one part of the MFT that got completed - the workshop. I sold this on, due to space constraints, so it would be good to recreate it in some way.

I came up with an alternative for the right hand side that used the Port Wynnstay hut and a modified Airfix/Dapol tank (on brick piers). However, my mind must be in 009 mode still, when I attempted a 3D mock-up it wouldn't quite fit as sketched and I had to adapt the idea a little.

This was certainly a starting point, I had a few concerns about being able to see both lines curving away and how that might look, especially as I envisaged backscene boards both sides of the scene. Also the two trees I had in mind to use in the scene have turned out to be better background trees than foreground examples.

More soon...

Colin

Getting Something Moving 1 - Background and Baseboard

Towards the end of December I posted a photo showing I had a baseboard ready to take forward as the next project, having rejected the idea of extending the Beck Bridge diorama into an active layout in the "picture frame" style. I haven't entirely abandoned the idea of something in this style, but I think it may be in 009 and might be a potential outcome of Humberston on my Mind as mentioned last week. The new board for 'Plan B' was examined in the second week of lockdown and it still couldn't grab me as the basis for anything, especially when I spotted that the backscene board was warping and splitting, despite bracing. Cutting it down to a previous shorter length did nothing to help my feelings about it and I resigned it to the corner of the workshop.

For some time I had been considering an O9 version of Julian Andrews 'United Brick and Clay', which I've been fascinated about since seeing it in the 'Modeller and Scale Model Trains years ago, and having now seen it many times in Howard Martin's ownership as 'Avalon Brickworks'

 

All the versions I've seen have always followed both the gauge and the 'handing' of the original, so in order to subvert the genre my version will be O9, and the opposite way around (partially a practical decision based on the availability of pointwork), I have had the basic plan drawn out (full size) to fit a 23.5" x 15.5" cork notice board for some time and having put 'Plan B' to rest the Thursday before Good Friday, and with a good part of a "stay at home" Easter weekend available to work in, I thought it a good opportunity to get the baseboard work started and hopefully the track laid and wired. Did I manage it? we shall see.....

I've had this cork notice board stashed away for over a decade, with the inkling that another corkboard layout might follow 'Shifting Sands' at some point. This board is of the older style, made from some kind of softboard rather than two layers of corrugated cardboard, I've found this is a mixed blessing... The top surface was missing the cork layer in a few spots, these were carefully filled and sanded.

When I built the board for 'Shifting Sands' I was without a workshop and only had hand tools, so used 21mm x 21mm pine right-angle as the supporting cross-members under the board. In hindsight this was too lightweight so this time I have used 12mm x 21mm pine section. In order to avoid having to notch the end of each cross-member I opted to pack under each timber. Needing material 4mm thick and having no strip in stock, I cut fine strips of some very nice plywood I had awaiting reuse. Underneath the board I marked where the strips would go and opted to seal the board surface with primer/undercoat to seal the surface. I left the areas for the strips paint-free to aid adhesion.

I then tested the cut strips of ply and pine for size, this was the result of working late afternoon/early evening on Good Friday and I felt I had made good progress.

Saturday morning saw the glue and clamps deployed to fix everything in place. The gaps in the ply strips are a rare bit of forward thinking on my part to allow wires to pass over the main support pieces. The extra piece of timber over the centre cross-member is there to make sure everything stayed nice and flat! Whilst the cross-member timbers were from a new piece of timber I had in stock, the shorter pieces either side were recovered from the 'Plan B' board.

With the sun shining the glue was soon drying nicely and after a cuppa the board was inverted and I gave the top surface a coat of "Chocolate Dream" emulsion to seal the cork and hide the filler. This is an odd colour, on our chimney breast it looks a lot browner than it does here, and I'm fairly sure the outer woodwork on 'Shifting Sands' is this colour too...

After lunch I spent some time at the workbench working out the wiring diagram, finding switches, pointwork and rail joiners, and pre-wiring components ready for track laying the next day. 

Colin