Oh dear,Kirks started building a railway....again!

[jerseydevil]

  Very true!  This morning was rather pathetic.  The train was 15 minutes late.  The station I was at was actually the origin station for that train.  They took forever just getting it out of the yard, sitting by a switch with the lights flashing and bell going. 

[Syph007]

I dont know anything about trains or scale, but when I was a kid I was amazed by a train set my Dads friend had.  It was in his rec room bar area, and the tracks went from the bar to all the seating areas, and the cars had drink holders.  So you'd make the drinks at the bar and serve them with the train.  It was cool.

[PTRSAK]

... "I'm just going to play with the trainset for a couple of hours dear...hic." 

 

[PTRSAK]

I think you will need these for added realism... N guage graffiti   

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Colorado-Decals-N-Guage-RAILWAY-GRAFFITI-2-/130688846980?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item1e6da98c84

[kirk13]

Thank you everyone for your comments and interest

I'll get to the 'kirkie' replies shortly,but first the more factual update

If you don't like pointless rants,skip this paragraph. As much as I like modelling in N,it can be very frustrating. There is no shortage of motive power,rolling stock or track...people are are in no short supply,end nowadays we're even swimming in good car and truck models,but what the hell happened to the supply of ready build buildings? And when did it get so smurfing expensive? And mostly...Games Workshop,you bunch of smurfing pirates,when did you stop doing packets of trees? Really,gamers like having copses(and corpses) and wooded areas on their battlefields!

Now that I've got that out of my system....

As this thread goes on,please do remember that this is a Miniature layout,as opposed to what Chako created( and,man its gorgeous  ),and will run inside a cardboard box!

In terms of what buildings are going to feature,I've settled on leftovers from my B+DCR( Broke and Done Cheaply Railway ). I'm glad I'd bought the extra stuff back in the day when either I had more disposable income,or prices were cheaper! I've decided to dispense with a station/ halt all together,will have a traditional British Pub,and a Folly( hence Gordon's Folly,which incidentally us a family joke about my aunts place in Downpatrick).

The Folly will sit on a mound,the summit of which will stand slightly higher the height of the locos.

After getting back from the pub last night, I started playing around with building placement,and which of the ruins I wanted to use for the Folly,and made an interesting and important discovery...

I chose Kato track for two reasons: firstly,the ballast is pre-moulded into the track( because ,oh my gods,I hate ballasting!); and secondly,they offered very very tight radius curves! The ones I'm use ing have a sub six inch radius(145mm in fact,or two Wenger Rangers toe to toe )

I thought the tight radius might cause a couple of problems to the locos,but all my little shunting engines run around without problems. However,there was slight hesitation and juddering when they were pulling wagons,which I couldn't figure out. But last night,in my slightly altered state,I seen the problem when one of my super short German passenger coaches kept trying to climb over the loco...the buffers on the rolling stock and locos keep touching because of the tight radii! I Havnt had the problem with the American sourced models,as they simply don't have buffers(!) ,but I'll have to 'adjust' the British stuff I'll want to use!

That's the situation for now,more later,along with a couple of requests for help,and some pictures

[Chako]

The good thing is it won't take you half a year to build. 

I have also built a miniature rail in a suitcase...smaller then N scale though. I can't wait to see how yours develops. 

I agree on the building front. When I built that table top railway, I found that TomyTec from Japan made these cute already built N scale buildings...but they aren't cheap.

[kirk13]

I'm blaming Detron for this...I have a plan to use an only 58mm Vic Escort as a load for a flat bed.

And Tom,I'm trying to figure out a way to do the bog roll,just don't try using it to...well use it


Bigger upside is that I've found a stash of trees! And all being well a cheap way to make the mound

[kirk13]

I think you will need these for added realism... N guage graffiti   

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Colorado-Decals-N-Guage-RAILWAY-GRAFFITI-2-/130688846980?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item1e6da98c84

(Image removed from quote.)

Believe me,if I was doing an urban/industrial layout,I'd be all over those

[kirk13]

Well,we've made progress today!

From here on Thursday night


To here last night


The base is installed in its box...

To just now


Admittedly,everything is still loose and open to change, this sets out how the basic features are going to look

[Philby]

Good idea with the cardboard mound

[kirk13]

Good idea with the cardboard mound

Cheap n quick

Wait til you see the next bit

[MadPlumbarian]

Cool, kinda small though, no ? JR

[Philby]

It's not small at all, that sak you see on the table for scale, is actually one of those giant plastic ones you see in the window of hardware/camping/army and navy stores

[jerseydevil]

British tank engines with a Southern Pacific boxcar and an SW1200/1500 switcher?    It's like an N scale rail museum..... 

[kirk13]

British tank engines with a Southern Pacific boxcar and an SW1200/1500 switcher?    It's like an N scale rail museum..... 

You think that's bad? On the B+DCR I run a USRA Consolidation,a Kreigslokamotive, and a B+CDR Jeep

Cool, kinda small though, no ? JR

Yeah JR,that's exactly the idea. Its so its easy to pack up,or I can play trains in front of the TV

[kirk13]

And the next bit....





I'm still waiting to see if the ground work will dry

[Chako]

Looking good.

[David]

Good start on your layout Kirk!     

[MadPlumbarian]

Interesting, my grandfather used to do all the trains, before he packed up and moved some 28yrs ago he had a table in the basement maybe a 4'x8', not only did it have a lot of tracks, but it also had race cars that went all around, over and under bridges of the train tracks! Every time I used to go over he'd race me while the trains were going around! JR

[kirk13]

The photo doesn't suggest a lot of progress, but quite a lot has happened! For one,we've officially planted the first tree,albeit by accident

The initial groundwork was laid on Saturday night,and I was waiting to see if the ground would dry properly! It did...and it didn't. For better or worse,I tend to use the same techniques for railways as I used to for model soldier dioramas and vignettes. To do groundwork on them I used to use polystyrene,usually leftovers from packaging,and then cover it either with plaster of Paris for larger works,or Das Pronto clay for smaller ones.

As you've already seen,the layers of the mound were formed with corrigated cardboard,as I'd thrown out all the bits of polystyrene I'd been keeping for  'just in case'. Plaster wouldn't work,as the cardboard would soak up the water and turn to mush,and the local art shop didn't have any Das . I'd used a generic 'no more nails' adhesive to lay the track,but the brand I'd used had a plaster-like consistency,but felt very dry,so I thought I'd try layer that in around the cardboard,and see what happened.

Well it dried to a lovely hard finish,but there was some cracking,which I'd kind of expected. Unfortunately my attempts to fill the cracks with a fillet of white glue didn't quite work, and this morning,I soaked some kitchen roll in white glue to plaster over,rather than fill the cracks,and this seems to have worked!

[kirk13]

The other big step is starting to paint the folly itself. This is made up of two items from the now defunct Hornby Liddle End range,which are pre-coloured resin. I tend to feel that the colours arn't deep enough,so I've applied a ink wash,and an enamel highlight coat.

I've ordered people off eBay... N scale people that is ,as well as an American Gondola wagon,which will be loaded with a 58mm SAK,and a mini zippo

[kirk13]

Bit more progress First colour coat onto the ground,with Citadel Vermin Brown


This will be painted over again in Humbrol enamels in the next couple of days.

Trees have been fixed into place as well

[Sweety-Sama]

This already looks quite cool to me!


-----------------------------

First and only

[kirk13]

This already looks quite cool to me!


-----------------------------

First and only

Thank you I'm trying to upload some videos

[Sweety-Sama]

You should put a cow or a moose near the railway! The station master should have something to do while waiting for the train!


-----------------------------

First and only

[Higgins617]

What a sweet looking little project! I've always thought model trains were really cool, what did you use to form the hill? I think its cool that you added another dimension to it rather than leaving it flat. Looks great

[kirk13]

Not great...but at least they uploaded

[Philby]

What's the name of the pub?

[kirk13]

You should put a cow or a moose near the railway! The station master should have something to do while waiting for the train!


-----------------------------

First and only

I have a dog already,but I'll be on the look out for a dinosaur

What a sweet looking little project! I've always thought model trains were really cool, what did you use to form the hill? I think its cool that you added another dimension to it rather than leaving it flat. Looks great

Cheers mate,it's made up of cardboard,filler,kitchen roll and curse words. Chako put in a link to his layout,check it out,you'll find it interesting

[kirk13]

What's the name of the pub?

I think it's the 'Pass me the SwissChamp,I need the magnifier' 

It's the 'Boar's Head'