Brafferton Update 25: Coaching Stock

The improvements in ready to run  N Gauge stock has been phenomenal in recent years. First Farish moved their production to China following the buyout by Bachmann and then Dapol came onto the scene. The overall bar continues to rise. Those modelling post-grouping era will more than likely find some RTR stock to satisfy their requirements and on the whole the work required on it tends to be minimal.

Of course, wheels must be changed to conform to 2FS standards. Mick has covered the reprofiling of the Farish and Dapol wheels, but as I mentioned before, I had lost the wheels from some of my Farish coaches. They have been running on 6mm disc wheels with 15mm axles, though today I received from Shop 2 a nice parcel. The 7mm disc wheels on 15.2mm axles are designed to fit the new Farish bogies and I must say they run rather well. Additionally, for me, they are visually far superior to the original wheels (even though they are a giant leap over what was available a few years ago). You decide for yourselves:

Apologies for the clunking great N couplings still in evidence! They will go. And soon!

Brafferton Update 24a: Still Baseboards!

After I'd posted my last missive, I realised I'd not photographed the interesting bit! So here it is:

Now; back to the modelling desk!

Brafferton Update 24: Baseboards

When I started "Brafferton" I thought of it as a "small" layout. It soon became apparent, having built the baseboards, that it wasn't. When scenery and backscenes were added, I quickly realised that moving the layout around safely would need some careful thinking about.

With three scenic boards and two non-scenic, I decided that two scenic boards could be moved together and the remaining three boards would group together.

End frames were cut and drilled to coincide with the baseboard joining fitting. Where each board end meets the frame, the male part of a dowel locates into the frame and a wheel-headed bolt secures through onto a lock-nut.

The frames extend wider than the boards and above and below to afford some protection to edges of scenery etc. Finally, I have left a long extension on the top and incorporated hand-holes for carrying. Using this system, I can now fairly easily manhandle these two scenic boards alone, even to the extent of taking them down the stairs.

Haromthwaite 1: Getting On The Case (or In It)

Welcome to a new Blog thread from me!

Since taking over as the Association's Publicity Officer in October 2007 I have gradually been refining the 2mm Publicity Stand with new display materials and features. I've had a lot of help from other members on the way of course and the '2mil Roadshow' is starting to get noticed and invited to more shows. I think Society stands are so much better if they have some sort of movement on them, whether it be a live modelling demo or trains running and being shunted etc. With this in mind I have determined to build a compact demonstration layout as an adjunct to the Publicity Stand. I have also decided to enter it into the GJLC to give me the incentive to hack it within 12 months or so.

What am I aiming to achieve with this new micro-layout?

a) It should be a long and thin layout that can sit on the front edge of a standard 6 foot trestle table and still allow plenty of room for the stand staff to model, hold court etc.

b) For ease of transport to and from exhibitions itt should pack away as small as possible in one hand-held carry case.

c) The track plan should be simple and yet prototypical.

d) It should showcase the latest Association products and techniques.

e) Simple shunting operations should be possible using electro-magnets and various delayed coupling systems. Reliable delayed action auto coupling systems always impress the punters!

f) Designed for both DCC and DC operation, according to the preferences and stock available of those manning the stand.

g) It should be modelled to a high standard in all respects but at the sime time appear as something achievable by a potential member viewing it.

At about this time I was having a clear-out at work and came across an old lock sample case that was fitted out with a custom cut foam interior. The foam was soon discarded leaving a sturdy case ideal for housing a small layout:



The interior dimensions are approx 20" x 15" x 4". I have been much impressed by Anthony Yeates' micro layout that folds in the middle and lives a box-file. It didn't take me long to work out that if I made a layout that folds in two places I could have three boards each 20"x5", giving a total size of 60" x 5", ideal for the front of a trestle table and have it fit snugly in a fairly decent case that had cost nowt (as we say in Yorkshire).

The three baseboards are to be made from 10mm birch ply and were very kindly donated to the project as a kit of ready-cut parts by friend and member Alan Smith. Through his business Alan has access to some high-tech CNC woodworking machinery and can knock out baseboard components very quickly - see the curved boards for Tony's 'Braffertion' project which are from the same source. I collected them from Alan at Ally Pally last weekend where he was demo-ing Easitrac turnouts to great acclaim.



The shot above shows the three track deck boards laid into the case and the shot below shows how the boards will fold sideways.



The shot below shows the kit of plywood parts for one board, which will be glued and screwed together. However before doing this the end pieces and intermediate cross members need hole-sawing to provide wiring ports. The intermediate cross members will only be added once turnout postions have been finalised. With each board only being 500 x 120mm I'm looking forward to being able to work on them at my normal workstation - they are really tiny compared to the one-piece 1500 x 500mm of Niddbeck Bridge and the 1200 x 600mm boards of Pool-In-Wharfedale.



In the next instalment I'll reveal the general layout design, it's track plan and the prototypes that inspired it .

Brafferton Update 21: Scenery

Earlier today I did a bit of work on the scenic side of the layout. First up was to attach the backscene to board No2. I did this with board No1 attached to try and get as neat a join as possible between the two bits of backscene:

The uprights are glued to the backscene board and then gradually screwed to the baseboard:

For the final upright I had to remove the protection board from the end of the layout. There is a slight overhang at this end which will be planed and sanded off (the upright is already flush with the board end):

With this backscene in place, I can now commence putting the landscape on board No2. Same process as before, but more fiddly between trackbases. A sheet of 10thou styrene sheet was slid in after a while to stop the plaster setting as one whole:

All told a good days progress!

Brafferton Update 19: Point Control Pt II

Onward, onward!

Having prepared the Tortoise machines and the baseboards as mentioned last time, I proceed to fit the two together. This proves fairly straightforward although the template provided with the motors was of no use; I found I had to position an actual motor and hold it whilst making sure the throw either way was sufficient. I then marked its position before drilling and screwing. 

Four in on board No2, two more on this board and a further two on board No3 (which still awaits track):

The motor control will not, I have decided, be DCC. Instead a small panel will be mounted on the baseboard to control the points mimicking the lever-frame on the prototype.

Although curved boards are excellent for forming a circular layout (how else would you do it?!), the boards individually can be a bit awkward. Edward Sissling kindly manufactured two "ends" to be affixed to a single board whilst work is underway. This makes them more stable and also protects trackwork and board edges from "knocks":

I also today chipped my Cl108 DMU. All fairly easy apart from the initial removal of the power unit body; it seemed to be tack-glued to the motor unit.

Anyway, more progress tomorrow. I hope!

Brafferton Update Pt. MCXXII - Pointwork & Drives

It goes like that doesn't it? You do very little for a goodly while and then, all of a sudden, you do lots of things often in a very short timeframe. In these instances I reach for my Latin Dictionary and exclaim "Carp Dime!"; or something like that...

Anyway board No.1 is sort of moving along under its own momentum, so back to board No.2 and get the trackwork sorted. I've been cleaning the soldered elements of trackwork using a copper brush mounted in a mini-drill. This was suggested to me by Bob Jones at a recent NEAG meeting, and it has really helped clean the track and reduce the excess solder thereon.

At the same time I've been preparing the Tortoise Point Motors for fitting. Suitable holes were drilled in the baseboard so that the actuating wire could reach the switch. Several unsuitable holes were also drilled, but I'll refrain from telling you too much about those!

The motors have eight PCB type contacts on the bottom; two for the power to drive the motor and six contacts for a DPDT switch. As I'm using DCC, I reckon I'll only need one double throw switch to alternate the polarity on the crossover of each point. To avoid having to solder the motors into the baseboard, I've fitted each with some screw terminals wired onto the PCB. Each unit can then be screwed physically into position and wired using the screw terminals:

By having a couple of spares available, any failure can quickly be remedied without a soldering iron. That's the plan anyway!

Going Green Pt II (?)

Help! My layout is too big!

Well I've known from very early doors that it technically didn't meet the criteria for the Golden Jubilee Challenge. Did that bother me? No; the Challenge provided suitable impetus to start the layout and from there it just sort of took charge itself!

Seriously though, the layout is of such a size that I cannot assemble two of the five boards in the study; to do this I have to comandeer my son's bedroom and even this will struggle with three sections. I can fit one board on the study desk to work on it, but the size has limited what I might do over the winter months. Now spring is in the air (hopefully), I can decamp to the garage and work with more available space:

What I have been doing is making a scenic start on board No. 1. This operates well (as it should being just a single stretch of track) and having finished the bridge, I have now started bedding it in and commenced grassing:

On Sunday, James and I visited Keighley Model Show. This is a fine show of modest proportions and featured some extremely nice layouts. Andrew Cox was present with Cotstart East and deservedly won one of the show prizes. 

At SiSt Trees we purchased some more flocks and scenic scatter and some very nice ready-made trees; bargains at 70p - 90p apiece! Visit www.themodeltreeshop.co.uk for more info.

Brafferton Update - 18: Scenic Update

Titivation and touches to the overbridge continue. The road edges have been grassed up using the Gaugemaster grass mat. This has been cut into very thin strips and affixed with PVA. Grass immediately after fixing:

Grass after trimming and roughing:

Further colouring to the stonework, mainly drybrushing stone shades and then weathering with darker browns and greys to represent exhaust soot:

Also, I have been working on the concrete roadway down to the station yard. 1.5mm styrene has been scored, sanded and general degraded to represent the concrete surface. Painted a base colour, thin dark washes were applied to bring out the detail and then light powders toned the whole down: 

Same item different light:

Country Roads

In between painting our bedroom, I've been painting the bridge for "Brafferton". Well, you can't get too much of a good thing!

Following much deliberation, reviewing photos and revisiting drawings, I reduced the height of the parapet wall slightly. On my site visit it was, I recall, almost too easy too fall over it and onto the trackbed:

The initial colouring was a mix of stone and white laid on quite thinly. Once this had dried overnight, a darker stone wash was applied. Further work will be required to achieve the desired result:

I had also been pondering how I might represent the roadways on the layout. A while ago I read (was it on the VAG or in the Magazine?) how one chap was using styrene carved to the desired profile and then stuck tissue with styrene solvent glue to obtain a suitable texture. Why not give it a try, I thought? Why not indeed:

The completed roadbed was painted, a few repair patches were added and the whole was duly weathered; I'm quite pleased with the results:

Must keep the momentum going!

Underneath the Arches (Reprise)

A very satisfying modelling day, manning the Association stand at Festival of BRM Harrogate with further work taking place later at home. 

I'd been dreading having to insert the brick linings on the arches, the job being made harder by the bridge being on a skew. Substantial inserts and supports were needed to avoid the brickwork bowing in the wrong direction. My understanding of the geometry of such shape is fuzzy at best and as usual a suck-it-and-see approach was the order of the day. A bit of tweeking was needed to get the to sit home properly and the end result isn't perfect; fortunately 95% of it isn't visible unless you poke your head into the cutting on the layout!

The coping stones on the tops of the piers were also commenced at Harrogate and finished at home:

The final job of the day was to "grout" the arches which are individually placed pieces. I used milliput and squeezed it in with a damp finger; memories of nursery school and plasticene and clay come flooding back:

Just the coping on the parapet walls to do now, and then I can start blending the roadway in with the rest of the layout.

Dark & Grey...

... an English Film, a Wednesday Play. 

How do you plan your layout? Track plans? Prototype research? Maps? Photographs?

Well yes to all of those, but what about art? What about music? Literature? Nature? I find that all of these feed into the gestation of my modelling, especially layouts. The above line from a song, a piece of music by Sibelius, Dickens, photos and pictures (not necessarily railway related), winter walks. All currently informing and inspiring my modelling.

I am seeing Brafferton (which I have already decided to set in Autumn) being very muted in its colouring; almost monochrome. Not necessarily over-dark, but certainly not bright and colourful. We have a long way before we start worrying too much about colour though. I have been finishing up the plastering on board No. 1:

The left hand of the board has been demarked using card to enable the end of the platform to be let in. Having formed the basic shapes from insulation sheet, a base of pre-mixed filler was followed by a thinner mix which included emulsion paints to give a workable base:

The corner of the backscene will be infilled to provide a smooth curve between the back and the side. For those who are interested in backscene heights, and their relationship with board width etc., the backscene rises 6" above baseboard height and so only about 40-60% is visible on this board due to the hillside. The baseboard is 12" wide so that at its maximum the backscene will never be more than half as high as the board is wide. 

When dry, I will need to finish ballasting the trackwork. I will then probably finish the bridge by which time I ought to be in the mood to lay some more track!

For those who aren't on or don't read the VAG, this rather nice link was posted recently; some very atmospheric photos to inspire you, perhaps?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fray_bentos/

Drastic Plastic: Brafferton Update

Having mocked up the bridge and been satisfied with the result, I thought I'd better get the actual model built. I took the layout up to the Area Meeting on 13 December and it attracted some very encouraging comments; always an incentive to press on!

On Masham I used brickpaper over card for the built structures. With more stonework evident at Brafferton (although the station building is in the majority brick), I decided to take the embossed plasticard route. The main shell was constructed from 40 thou card using the mock-up, drawings and photos as a guide:




The stonework on the arches is very prominent. These were formed from individual pieces of the embossed plasticard which was affixed back-to-front to conceal the embossing. The string course was fabricated from two layers of plain plasticard and will be notched to represent individual stones. Once these two elements were in place, the arched sections were infilled. The results are a bit gappy in places, but a bit of grouting will overcome this before the whole structure is given a light abrading:



The undersides of the arches are not yet in place and there are lintel stones required at the top of each pier and along the parapets. But I'm pleased with progress to date:

Underneath the Arches

A little bit more scenic progress on board No.1. Evidence of more cutting and the unused trackbed base is complete:

The overbridge is mocked up using copies of the drawing that I developed from photos. Proportionally it seems to be coming together and the mock up has served its purpose:

Roll away the Stone(s)

What's going on, you might well ask? Well, having gotten sick of soldering on board No.2, I thought I would progress board No.1 a bit. Which involves... soldering! Actually, I had to fabricate the cross board track from board No.1 to the fiddle yard and then wire in electrical feeds for both ends. 

Having done that, I thought that titivating the trackwork would be a good idea! The odd soldered bits were painted a base brown; the majority having been sprayed the same. I then proceeded to drybrush a lighter cream/brown/grey mix onto the sleepers. Ultimately I will go back and add some brighter rust bits and an overall wash, but for now this will be sufficient painting.

Having let that dry, I have started some ballasting. The results are displayed below:

I used a similar process to Edward; spreading glue in and around the sleepers and then adding the ballast. I am using Woodland Scenics which I think is sufficiently fine and more importantlyto me, is of a consistent grade. 

This is a piece of single track which is actually on a double trackbed; the line was singled very early in its life. I did consider laying a double track bed and ballasting the whole. However, careful inspection of the Marsden Rail DVD "Harrogate & District" clearly shows that the unused portion has been deballasted, lies substantially lower than the remaining track, and is quite overgrown with grass and smaller shrubs. As such, I will make this part of the scenic element and plaster to the track base at a slightly lower height. Having done about 50% of the ballasting on this board, I will continue and then complete the scenic contours in insulation board. Then comes the plaster!

Brafferton Update - 11. Track & Scenery

Progress continues apace. Well fairly briskly anyway! As I mentioned previously, trackwork is the focus and I am quite relieved that the points on the main board are all in place and functioning. You will see that there are a few gaps in the trackwork; these will be infilled with Easitrac over the next week. I also need to fabricate the cross board pieces to take me onto board No.3:

The more observant of you (you are paying attention, aren't you?) will notice the beginnings of scenery on board No.1. This is the cutting with a gap left for the road bridge to span the track. This is the sort of stuff I'm looking forward to!

Also, today, I visited the Darlington model railway shop. What a difference from the old C&G setup. Decluttered and all stock displayed nicely; what a revelation. Made some purchases which will be useful as the layout progresses. Next update soon. Hopefully...

Close to the Edge: Brafferton Update: Track

I've got to say that track construction and laying is far from the top of my preferences. However, without trackwork it wouldn't really be a model railway, would it? So, I persevere! Having almost completed the pointwork on board No.2, I turn my attention to spanning the joins between the two boards. 

You will remember that Edward helped me construct some very accurate boards using what was effectively a kit of pieces from Alan Smith. The quality of these, especially the joins, has proved invaluable. Each time I join up two boards, they come to exactly the same position.

Now, having purchased some milled sleepering for baseboard joins, I proceed. A piece of Easitrac was made up, but with a ten sleeper gap in the middle. The milled sleepers were PVA'd across a board join and allowed to thoroughly dry. I then placed the Easitrac over this join and glued that in alignment with the track on each board. Once the Easitrac PVA had set, I inserted individual chair etches (Fencehouses) between milled sleepers and rail and soldered them solid.

Notice that there are three different track methods in evidence below; Easitrac, milled PCB unit and, at the join between two Easitrac sections, single PCB sleepers with Fencehouses etches:

Happy that all was solidly affixed to each other, I took the piercing saw and carefully slit through the rail and PCB base to re-establish the baseboard split:

I hope to progress and complete board No.2 in the next few days and then carry onto the final scenic board. Then wiring and point operation will be the priority...

1st Movement

And here we have the first loco of, hopefully, many to run along the run-in to "Brafferton".

I Dream of Wires

Another small step forward in the race to have "Brafferton" something like for Expo 50. As I am going down the DCC route, the layout will be wired accordingly. To be honest, I can't see that there will be that much difference from an analogue set-up other than the ommission of isolation switches. And I might still put some of those in yet, for de-bugging purposes.

So, on board 1, we have a very technical arrangement; two rails, two busses and three connections! You will see that I did manage to position some copperclad sleepers over a baseboard truss, hence the wire runs at an angle from the trackbed to the main board:

Here you may marvel at the complexity of it all! On the next board the busses will need to be offset to avoid the various point mechanisms etc. but here they can just follow the approximate line of the track. Short term there are flying crocodile leads to allow power to be connnected:

Brafferton Update - 9. Pointwork Pti

After a brief hiatus (how many more can I get away with before 2010 I wonder) work recommences on Brafferton. The pointwork uses Bob Jones' etches for point chairs. These are sweated to the sleepers using the Blackburn jig:

Once seperated, the sleepers are then overlaid onto the standard Association template to achieve the necessary spacings and the straight stock rail soldered to each sleeper. This template has been superceded by a new one I believe:

As Brafferton is circular, I really need curved points; a straight one in the middle of a curve would stick out somewhat! To this end the partial point is carefully removed from the template and relaid as a curve using just a curve of the correct radius as a guide. The points will be of varying length and curvature as we move from the back of the layout to the front. The point underway at the moment is the tightest being at the back of the goods yard. It is a B7 with the formerly straight section being curved to 29" radius: 

With the Vee and both stock rails in place, the Switch rails are being inserted before finally the Crossing and the Check rails:

 

With I back wind, I hope to have this board complete for Bolton. Wait and see...!