One Less Bollard, and Some Other Stuff.

With less than a week to go until the layout's appearance at the Wealden Railway Group Exhibition at Steyning, I've been working on a few more details.

 

One detail was affecting operation so had to go; the bollard that was acting as an uncoupling magnet marker between the two yard sidings fouled footboards etc. on several items of rolling stock and locos. It's now replaced by an etched brass manhole cover. I also finally got round to placing the post I painted a couple of years ago as a marker for the magnet on the platform road. 

I spent a few short sessions today adding paint to several of the figures. Photos once they're completed, meanwhile the small post box on a wooden pole is now finished and in place next to the drystone wall on the right hand side of the layout. This is a Langley casting, like the 7mm scale one on South Bierley Sewage Works...my version of a bus on a bridge, I suppose. 

 I've also added some weed growth to the bottom of the wall and to the blank bit of ply in front of the nearest cottage to the basin.

Most of this should be visible in the photo above. 

ERA Exhibition, Longbridge

Springy Bits of Metal.

I've started doing a little testing. A short passenger* train waits to depart...

The reason for the testing is that after some industrial language I have fitted phosphor bronze strip contacts to the transition piece, so the cassettes are now "live"...the soldering isn't quite as bad as it looks!

As the infrastucture stuff is nearly finished, it's time to fill a few scenic gaps, firstly the gates next to the station. These were made from planked Evergreen Styrene, with posts from square section, overlapping bit in the middle black .010" styrene and the capping strips from ¼ round styrene, painted Humbrol Cockpit Green.

*the train is short, but so are the passengers; being H0 scale, they're ⅞ of the size of the rest of the figures, which are 00.

More Fiddling...

Progress with the cassette tray...here I've added the central spine, which will hopefully prevent bowing, and the cross piece for the layout end.

...and that's the tray pretty much done. I added three gluing blocks (from ply offcuts) to each side piece, also note the slight overlap at the top, to stop cassettes being pushed off the sides of the tray. I've left the rear open so cassettes can be slid, rather than lifted, in and out of use easily.

Still to do are the contacts between the transition and cassettes, plus finishing the remaining two cassettes, and I'll probably add a few corner braces to the tray.

After that, I will need a running session to spot and rectify any problems.

Divers Tasks.

I got quite a few odds and ends done today.

Something that was mildly irritating while trying to figure out the correct height for the fiddle yard deck was that the electrical cable from the controller to the layout kept flopping about and getting in the way, also the holes cut in the hardboard end panel of the APA box were sort of fraying, if that makes sense.

An easy way to sort the latter out was to apply "runny" superglue around the holes; this soaks in and cures, stopping it from all falling apart. I also cut and sanded the frayed bits for a neater appearance.

The cable was cut shorter and screwed to a disconnectable terminal block, which was then screwed to the end panel. While I was at it, I connected the other half of the terminal block to the controller, using the remainder of the cut cable, and checked to see if it (a) worked and (b) ran in the right direction. Ah well, one out of two isn't bad, just as well I hadn't put the screwdriver away.

Note the odd hole that I forgot to glue and tidy, perfection is overrated.

Another outstanding job was to add a basic interior to the Portakabin before gluing it in place. I stumbled across some free card interiors from Model Rail magazine; some tiles were added to the floors, doors to the interior walls, and a bookshelf and filing cabinet (see above) were folded up and added to the larger of the two rooms. That'll pretty much have to do, as the 'kabin is now glued in place on the layout.

A rather manky view below shows that you can only just see the interior in the gloom...better than nothing, though.

And now for the biggest job...as the cable was out of the way, I could finally measure the rail height above bench level at the end of the layout, then work out the heights needed for the end pieces under the fiddle yard deck.

I cut one of these for each end, then cut pieces of 90⁰ moulding to act as corner braces. I decided to fit the brace first, using aliphatic wood glue and tacked in place with a small amount of hot glue to avoid movement while the aliphatic sets, then added the end piece using the same technique. Finally, I used squares to (hopefully) ensure, well, squareness. All a bit Heath Robinson, but that's the way I roll.

Note the artfully* messy bench.

*yeah, right.

Some Scenic Stuff.

With less than two weeks to go until the Wealden Railway Group show at Steyning, I've been adding a few more scenic bits as time and inclination permit. 

The latest thing is a bit of Agrax Earthshade wash on the stark white fencing, and this rather natty level crossing sign, which is actually Canadian and N scale; I thought it would the sort of thing the nascent preserved railway might make up...

Another addition is a tool shed, next to the greenhouse, this was modified slightly from a privy kit that came with the Dornaplas kit that was used for the cottage in whose garden it sits...

Fiddling About.

For the last week or so, I've been working on a cassette fiddle yard for the layout, which will hopefully make operation a lot smoother and avoid unnecessary handling of rolling stock.

The cassettes will be made of 10mm L-section brass, epoxied to 4mm ply.

Each cassette is 13" long, as this comfortably fits a train of 5 vehicles and a loco.

A lot of the work has consisted of figuring out lengths, heights and general design of the connection between the cassettes and the layout.

Progress so far has reached the stage where I've made the transition section from cassettes to rail, this was done by first cutting a piece 15mm x 0.75mm approx from two pieces of brass L-section and soldering on short lengths of rail to match the Peco track. 

A jig from scrap wood and card was made and hair grips used to hold the parts in place dduring soldering:

The two soldered assemblies are shown below:

To keep all the various bits where they should be, I made a sort of apron from play, to which the transition was epoxied:

Next job is to build the tray the cassettes will sit on...