O Gauge layout scenery Kimington Quay Phase 2

The detailing of the some of the basic scenic elements for the layout have continued over the last week, focusing on the diary and platform end boards. The scenic detailing tasks were to add some static grass to the areas surrounding the track bed, platform, dairy platform and sidings, blending this into the modelling already undertaken on the curved board. A very enjoyable Saturday and Sunday were spent applying  these scenic details, dabbing down glue and layering in some basic grass and bushes.

View looking down the layout, past the platform and towards the diary siding.

I am no expert in undertaking layout scenery but one of the things I wanted to avoid was large blocks of homogenous grass colour, especially as the detailing approached the the quay masters cottage and runs along the edge of the platform. The area between the platform and the quay wall was an attempt to model some ground that has been reclaimed by nature, as part of the run down of the railway network in the 1970s. There are some more brambles and shrubs to add, but these extra bits can wait until the water at the front of the layout is finished and the backscene has been fixed in place.

The area in the front of the platform is an attempt to model some ground reclaimed by nature.

The variation in the ground cover after the quay wall is just about visible in this photo.

In the fictional world of my model railway the diary is still in business throughout the 1970s, although the siding for the short diary platform is somewhat rundown and overgrown. I used a different colour grass for the siding, trying to replicate newer growth.

The diary platform and area surrounding the quay masters cottage.

I really like this view of the layout - looking back towards the platform from the quay masters cottage. It has the feel of the openness of the railway, whilst looking very down at the heel, befitting the 1970s.

The transition from the quay wall to the platform is staring to get there. I now need to add in a fence or two....

Overall I am really pleased with the scenery so far. The really big messy jobs are now finished. So this weekend, I am going to try to put down the water in the quay and once that is done, I am going to attempt to add the backscene in a couple of weekends time. I have also started to play with the arrangement of a few scenic elements in the area of the quay masters cottage. There will be an information board (not yet built) alongside a telephone booth, post box and street lamp. These elements will need to wait until the backscenes are in, when I can move onto the next stage of detailing.

Some of the details plonked down at the quay masters cottage. These items need to be toned a little and then glued in place.

O gauge platform painting and the start of the scenery - the next jobs!

I have managed to keep the layout set up in the lounge for a few weeks and have very slowly progressed some of the detailing. The next job on the list was to create a bit of tonal variation on the platform. The platform look too dark and too monochrome; repainting it was just one of those moments when I had to  draw a deep breath and just start. I had various colours to hand and started dry brushing using a light grey, rust colour and a very pale yellow.

Once I started I thought what have I done!

The dry brushing provided some variation in the colour of the platform.

After the first couple of dry brushed coats I had one of those  'what have I done moments'! However, I persevered and ending up air brushing over a light final coat to blend it all together.

The finished platform with more colour variation now evident.

The top of the platform, which has some much better contrast now. The platform furniture will help break up the appearance of the surface even further.

So with the platform improved - I have made a start on adding the basic elements of the vegetation. I started from the curved board, which had already received the basic scenic elements. I had stopped short of the board join on the curved board and this allowed me to blend the scenery from the curved board through the platform board.  Various static grass coats were laid down and  I am now in the process of adding bushes and brambles, alongside layering in more grass. In some areas the first grass layers were too thick and did no convey the idea of old made ground that has been reclaimed by nature - so there is some thinning out to do today and a lot of brambles/bushes to add. There is also a fence to add alongside the tack edge, which is currently not finished in the paint boxes.

There is some grass thinning to do today alongside adding in more weeds / brambles. That elderflower tree also looks far too shiny!

It is all definitiely heading in the right direction, although there is plenty more detailing to go on these boards. However, once I complete the basic vegetation on the boards, I can move onto finishing the water in the quay and adding the backscenes - these are the big modelling tasks I am aiming to complete over the next couple of months. Once these jobs are done I will have a largely operational model railway and I can then add lots of the smaller details in over the coming months (or at least that is plan).

O Gauge Buildings Continued

Over the weekend, I managed to get the two end boards for the layout set up in the lounge. These are the two boards that have had minimal scenery applied so far and it is time to make a start on these. The first task was to place the buildings that I have made onto the layout and see how they fit within the overall space. First up I popped the little  shelter onto the platform. It fits really well, although it is potentially a little to wide - some modellers licence will have to be applied. However, the little shelter looks quite empty on the platform - just what I wanted to achieve - it does feel quite big and empty which I was really pleased with. However, the platform does look somewhat monochrome at the moment, despite layering in a lot of colour when I painted it. So a job for the next two weeks will be to attack the platform with some dry brushing - to add a little tonal variation.

The platform shelter - this works quite nicely I think, 

but the platform needs some tonal variation added.

The quay masters cottage was also placed at the edge of the layout to act as a scenic break for for the fiddle stick exit. The positioning of the cottage right against the edge of the baseboard does not look quite right - and it is a tight squeeze to fit the cottage onto the space provided. However, it does create a good scenic break and there is definitely a feeling of the railway running through a small built up area.

The quay masters cottage acting as a scenic break at the edge of the layout.

On the other side of the tracks will be three buildings, which are all part of the dairy platform and offices. I rearranged these severeal times to try to achieve the best fit. The main dairy building has been painted in some somewhat garish colours - but I thought maybe in keeping with some of the hideous 1960's colour schemes that were around! There is still plenty of detailing to go in order to finish this building. The other larger warehouse on the left will be modelled as an abandoned structure from the pre-railway use of the quay side; however it is currently too wide for the layout. This is a consequence of having to place the backscene away from the baseboard edge. So the saw is going to come out again for this building!

Main office diary building painted in a somewhat garish colour scheme. There is a lot of detailing still to go for this building.

The small diary siding - other smaller buildings / structures will be squeezed around these buildings once they are finally finished.

The smaller building on the platform is the delivery office for the dairy and this will be positioned between the two larger buildings. Having now placed this building on the layout, part of the roof I painted in a light grey colour now sticks out like a sore thumb. So one future task will be toning this part of the roof down with some dry brushing.

For the next month or so, I have a clear programme of modelling tasks to progress the detailing of the layout. The list is:

a) Dry brush the platform to add a little tonal variation.
b) Dry brush the roof of the small diary office building to add some tonal variation.
c) Finish off the larger dairy building.
d) Narrow the larger diary warehouse so it fits onto the layout.
e) Finish the water at the quay side.
f) Add some basic vegetation to these two baseboards, weeds, grass etc.
g) Add the backscene.

h) Glue these buildings into place and wire the electrics for lighting into some battery boxes with swtiches under the layout.

I aim to work through these tasks over the next few weeks, however as always in life there are plenty of other non-modelling tasks that require my time. If I can finish off adding the backscene and doing the quay water, these are major milestones for completion of the layout and are tasks that I have been been putting off somewhat. It is now time to crack on with them, during the weeks leading up to xmas.

Heljan O Gauge Class 33 DCC fitting and reassembly - part I

I am finally in a position where I can start to put up the layout in the lounge later today. The last of the numerous guests we have had this summer have returned home. It has been brilliant to have had some many visitors this year but it is has also meant that I have not had the time or the space to put up the layout. Anyhow, one task I wanted to complete before a serious bout of layout scenery detailing, was the re-assembling of the Heljan class 33. I purchased this locomotive at a bargain price in BR green and proceeded to completely strip it down. The locomotive had the bogies / fuel tank removed and weathered separately, whilst the body shell had the glazing, handrails and cabs removed before a bath of superstrip. The repaint of the body went a little wrong, courtesy of using the wrong air pressure on a new compressor by mistake; however the final finish is acceptable (for now), although I might revisit it in the future. 

Repainted body shell - it has turned out OK but is by no means perfect.

With the repaint complete I was waiting for a clear day to reassemble the chassis. In common with the overall project, this initially proved to be a real headache, although I did manage to finish it in the end! The first issue was reattaching the sideframes to the bogies. I tried to force these on and ended up damaging one of them. I subsequently realised that the bogie had to be unscrewed from underneath the chassis block, to enable the bogies to be replaced. Typically I knocked some detailing off one of the bogies and whilst this is now glued back on, it will need touching up with some paint later today. I also managed to fit the speaker into the fuel tank - but it was a tight squeeze.

The painting on the bogie sideframes had turned out well I think.

Fuel tank back in place - a largish speaker has been squeezed into the tank.

The wiring up of the DCC chip was also a bit of a headache to start with. The Heljan PCB board made little sense on first inspection; this was primarily due to the polarity of the wires not being marked marked on the PCB board - so for example there are two labels for the track feeds on both sides. What is entirely unclear from the PCB board labelling, is that the wire polarity was reversed on either side of the model. So for bogie A the positive track was feed was black, whilst on bogie B it was red! Luckily, I found a brilliant guide for understanding the wiring (https://www.modernimageogauge.co.uk/crompton.html) and after a few false starts, the rewiring was relatively easy. I then set up the DCC test track and had a little play - fortunately everything was OK and the locomotive started chugging around. The only issue I currently have, is that I cannot independently operate the tail lights from the re-wiring I have done. This is a minor annoyance and I am not sure if there is a solution for this - a little bit of internet searching will be undertaken today to see if anyone else has had the same problem.

The Heljan PCB board...the markings left a lot to be desired.

The DCC chip installed.

The chassis being test run on the micro-layout (not the most exciting video in the world!)

So today is a modelling day. The glazing needs to be re-installed into the body shell, alongside applying the transfers for the headcodes on the front glazing and the handrails  need a light wash of grime, before regluing. The cabs, lighting conduits and driver also need fixing into place. Hopefully, by the end of today I will have another fully working locomotive - well at least that is the plan. Then I will start make a start on setting up the layout, ready for a good running session next weekend.

O Gauge Dairy Building and warehouse

In anticipation of getting the layout set up for a bout of detailing, I have been pressing on with getting some of the buildings ready for the layout. Finishing the quay masters cottage was a big step forward and I am now making an attempt to finish off the next of the buildings for the dairy platform. The basis of the model is a low relief warehouse (from Fair Price Models). After assembling the kit using superglue, I painted the exterior of the building with PVA glue before spreading polyfilla over the surface. This was sanded down, the holes filled in with more polyfilla and then had a final finish of wet and dry, alongside using a nail file to sand out the windows and door.

The main dairy building for the layout. 

Originally I was going to scribe this exterior surface but I quite like the smooth finish and I have now decided to leave this as a smooth mortared finish. The basic wall colour is now painted, although I need to seal this in with some varnish, pick out some of the brick work on the window lintels, alongside adding some windows/doors, roof etc. In addition, the central window will have a detailed office with interior lights, etc. I also need to get some custom signs made up for the exterior of the warehouse - I think I am going to have a try at designing these myself, with a factitious company name.

At the same time, I have been constructing a couple more buildings to add onto the layout. This includes a larger warehouse, with a covered gateway. This building needs a bit more sanding before a second coat of polyfilla is added to cover all the blemishes. This building will  have eventually have a scribed finish. This building has a greater depth than the main dairy office, so I am not certain it will fit onto the layout. However, I still have the small DCC test track / microlayout to finish - so I will be able to find a home for it somewhere.

The larger warehouse in the process of construction.

There is also a third warehouse that has been cut up to make two smaller building; when constructed the original warehouse was three stories high and it poked above the backscene - so out came the saw! These two building are now also in the same process of sanding and adding polyfilla.

In other news, the layout still has not been re-erected. We have had lots of people to stay over summer - which is great - but given the size of the layout it is just not practical to have the layout up, when we have people over. So the date has been set for the end of the September now to re-erect the layout and really get to grips with adding the backscene, getting these buildings glued in and adding a lot of the detailing. In anticipation of the layout detailing commencing I have also been buying lots of detailing parts to add to the layout. So fingers crossed, when the end of September arrives I can really make some progress.

O Gauge Herring Wagon finished and in service

Another wagon I have managed to finish recently is the Herring wagon, which will form part of a ballast train on the layout. This wagon was built from a 3D printed kit supplied by Skog and it was my first attempt to build a 3D print; therefore, I approached the build as a learning experience for future  kits. Overall I am pretty happy with the finished wagon - it is not perfect but this is a reflection of my building skills and not the kit design.

Finished Herring wagon ready for the layout. 

During the building process I attempted to file down the 3D printing lines. Once in the painting box some of the 3D print lines were still visible so I hand painted some varnish onto the body sides to act as a filler, before further painting. This largely worked, but with hindsight I should have spent another evening or two with the file out, removing as much of the print lines as possible. The kit was largely built as supplied by Skog, however I swapped out the axles/bearing boxes for some Slaters ones. I also replaced the brake levers with some brass Slaters ones, which I modified to suit the wagon. Wheels and bearings also came from Slaters. The wagon was painted using Railmatch enamels and some AK interactive washes, with transfers a mixture of Fox and Railtec. 

Now that it is finished, I will buy at least one more of these wagons, which will run with a catfish, dogfish and possibly a sealion or two.

In conclusion, I think these Skog kits are brilliant value. Now that it is finished, I can see where I could have applied a bit more time to filing process, but otherwise I have a wagon to run in my ballast trains that is not otherwise available in O gauge. I said it on a previous post, but give it 10 years and we will be able to have much higher quality 3D prints of virtually any rolling stock type. Hopefully, we can all have 3D printers in our homes, happily printing off wagons! So back to other modelling tasks, I still have plenty of other projects on the go, but I am slowly working through these. I have made some more progress with the buildings for the layout and the next job (still) is to reassemble the Class 33 and add the DCC sound chip. So hopefully, more to report soon!

Slaters 12t Planked Van into service - another one finished!

Over the past couple of weeks I managed to finished another 12t planked van for the goods train. This is the fourth 12t van I have finished, with 3 slaters wagons built and painted, including a Vanwide and a weathered Dapol 12t van with plywood sides. The Slaters kit was built as per the instructions and went together pretty easily. The paint was applied using Railmatch enamels via the airbrush, although I did a little hand brushing in an attempt to bring out some rust patches, especially on the wagon ends. The transfers are from Railtec.

Finished 12t planked van.

Two view showing the rust patches on the end of the van.

So another wagon has entered service for the layout. The four 12t vans were the minimum I wanted for a small rake of wagons, which were used for propelling fertiliser traffic along the branch line. So finally I have finished the first rake ready to use on the layout. I am looking forward to giving them all a test run and to do some shunting moves with these in the small sidings. The layout is planned to have a number of fixed rakes, with the 12t wagons for the fertiliser train the first one. The second rake will be somewhere between 4-6 milk tankers for the dairy and a healthy array of parcels stock is being built/detailed, including 2 SPVS and some CCTs, alongside a number of engineers wagons that I am slowly getting around to building. 

So further modelling tasks for the coming weeks are to finish the herring wagon, which is awaiting transfers, alongside progressing with the main dairy buildings for the layout. The class 33 paint job is finished, but the locomotive needs to have the DCC sound decoder/speaker wired in, a driver to be added and then to be reassembled. The layout needs to be put up but I just cannot find the time at the moment to make it worthwhile. Hopefully later in August or September I will be able to get a run of a few days where I can really attack the layout detailing. However, until then, I will push on with finishing off these other projects and getting ready for when the layout is finally put up.