4mm Llanfair

[paulc]

There was to have been a gentle 'S' from the station to the hole in the wall, but I'm now going for a dead straight section. The track is sprayed, but it can't be glued until the weather cools down. Thought was given to having a tunnel instead of a bridge, but I was surprised to find no grown-up tunnel portals in the Web...

View attachment 245565

Outside the shed with the lid removed. The holes were cut for 0 gauge so are a tad tall....
View attachment 245566

Hi Larry , I'm not questioning just wondering why you decided to have a straight run in to the station instead of the gentle 'S' ??

 

[LarryG]

Hi Larry , I'm not questioning just wondering why you decided to have a straight run in to the station instead of the gentle 'S' ??

The station and yard was full of curves, so I opted for for a straight run from the bridge to the station. Also saved me messing around with super elevation.

 

[LarryG]

It's taken a good while getting there because of distractions, hot weather and indecision, but the last piece of Peco Code 75 track was glued and ballasted to the scenic board this morning. I must say it has been a pleasure to lay because the old Streamline retains its form and is a doddle to lay perfectly straight.

Its needs wiring up followed by weathering...

 

[paulc]

It's taken a good while getting there because of distractions, hot weather and indecision, but the last piece of Peco Code 75 track was glued and ballasted to the scenic board this morning. I must say it has been a pleasure to lay because the old Streamline retains its form and is a doddle to lay perfectly straight.

Its needs wiring up followed by weathering...
View attachment 245731

Hi Larry , that's looking good .
I would call that photo ' shades of layouts past '.

 

[LarryG]

Hi Larry , that's looking good .
I would call that photo ' shades of layouts past '.

Spot on. The basic 'Llanfair' has been there for some years.

 

[LarryG]

After much deliberation, I rebuilt the old cattle pen using left over posts and wire to block off the non-railway side and make it end-loading....


Sprayed with Howes Sleeper Grime, it's new home is in the good yard with some of the "land" rebuilt to fit around it. As an aside, this photo shows the severe distortion the goods shed loading bay suffered from damp + heat....


This picture gives a better idea of how things are at the mo. The plywood is still waiting for a covering of 1/8" cork. I've also removed the widened part of the baseboard. The ballast has been spray-weathered....

 

[LarryG]

Rails were painted with PPC rusty rails colour and so that bit's finished. I'll remain satisfied with Peco Streamline so long as the Peco uncoupling ramps do their job.

The Peco Streamline Code 75 points look reasonably bullhead because of the prominent mouldings holding the rail, so I feel it is a shame Peco went in for non-matching flexible track.

In the meantime, I have now to completely re-felt the shed roof.

 

[Stephen Freeman]

I believe the coal staithes should be the other way round, however lots of places didn't bother with them at all.

 

[LarryG]

I believe the coal staithes should be the other way round, however lots of places didn't bother with them at all.

Everything is plonked.

 

[paulc]

Everything is plonked.

Hopefully not the new shed roof though ?

 

[Flaxfield]

Everything is plonked.

Plonking is a good thing.

 

[Dog Star]

Plonking is a good thing.

Are we all to be known as "Rodney" for the future?

 

[Flaxfield]

Are we all to be known as "Rodney" for the future?

Dave

 

[LarryG]

Most of the ground has been covered in 1/8" cork sheet. glued down wiht neat PVA and heavily weighted. A couple of ripples by the backscene have since been sorted. Edging slabs made from 80 thou plastikard will be added where appropriate...

 

[LarryG]

The goods yard cork was laid yesterday. It is right up to the rails on the goods shed road...



The ground has been tapered off on the coal road...

 

[Grafarman]

Looking really good Larry; taking shape once again...

David

 

[LarryG]

After spraying the 'tar' parts, the rest was masked off and fine grey ballast glued down using neat PVA applied...



The gray ballast will be dry and hard enough to file down to dust in the morning...

 

[LarryG]

The fine grey ballast (Woodland Scenics) was filed down to dust this morning. It all looked a bit bland for the moment....



Then I rigged up the compressor and spraygun. A Rusty rails colour was sprayed close to the tracks. Aerosol matt black and white primer were decanted into an old aerosol lid to make a dirty black and very much diluted with cellulose thinners. This was then sprayed around the coal bunker and where road vehicles would run...


It's all a bit fresh but the UV will tone things down eventually. Grass has yet to be added, but I tend to do that in one go over the length of the 14' layout so that it kind of matches....

 

[sjp23480]

Hi Larry,

Looks great, but a quick question.

When you say "file down the fine grey ballast to dust" - can you explain why and how you do this?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I was curious.

Thanks
Steve

 

[LarryG]

Hi Larry,

Looks great, but a quick question.

When you say "file down the fine grey ballast to dust" - can you explain why and how you do this?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I was curious.

It's okay Steve. I sometimes presume everyone knows how I do things and so it is far from a stupid question.

I glue the fine grey ballast down after brushing on neat PVA. The ballast is vacuum'd off after a few minutes to that only a fine layer is actually glued down. Next day, I file the ballast down using an old 10" long file so that the ground is less course, then vac off the surplus. The texture is markedly different to the cork I spray grey to represent a tarred surface. I'm working in 4mm scale.