Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

Discussion in 'Members Personal Layouts' started by gormo, Dec 5, 2015.

  1. Vinylelpea

    Vinylelpea Full Member

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    Well I did get something out of this........ A fried brain.:facepalm::avatar:
     
  2. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Sorry Vinylelpea,
    Have I bored you senseless.....or is the complexity of the build that has fried your brain.....:scratchchin:
    :avatar::avatar::avatar::avatar::tophat:Gormo
     
  3. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    G`day Folks,
    GCJ is ready to roll again with the block instrument build being now finished and installed and fully operational.


    DSC00703.JPG



    DSC00709.JPG

    This last location at Bamford is a temporary fit pending scenic work in this area, however it will not move very far from where it is ........a couple of inches at the most.


    DSC00750.JPG

    And a video showing the system working.



    So now it`s back to scenic work on Little Bardfield which will be a welcome holiday after weeks of block instrument building and wiring.

    :tophat:Gormo
     
  4. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Well folks here we go again,
    Back into scenery building on GCJ and creating my own little World / Empire / Kingdom.........Kingdom.????......:scratchchin: Yes I like the sound of that.....and there was once a King Gorm.........He was known as Gorm the Old .....or Gorm the Languid and was ruler of Denmark from 936 to 958.....look it up....:thumbs:

    Meantime in the real world we are doing the scenery that sits behind Little Bardfield station.
    The scenery comprises of two lift off sections which are picked up and held by the T piece on the threaded rod that protrudes from the panel. The threaded rod on the T piece has been cut down to a suitable size that will allow it to be covered by a removable building.
    A mixture of plaster of Paris and a good slug of burnt umber acrylic artists paint was made up and applied to the sections.


    DSC00815.JPG


    Here is the other part.....the white patch will be covered by a building.

    DSC00816.JPG


    I am doing my road surface this time with plaster rather than the wet and dry paper method.....just to see how it goes. All the plaster has been applied with a 2 inch brush and the road surface is quite thin and applied with long gentle strokes to give a good surface. When it is dry I intend to give it a light sand with 1200 grit paper to smooth it out even more and then paint it.


    DSC00817.JPG


    I`ve also resurrected a post mill kit that I never completed last century, and it has had a circular section of ground leveled out to accommodate it at almost the highest point on the hill. It`s the same story with the house........it`s a very old kit that fell apart at some stage......so that will be fully restored and sighted near the mill.
    The area behind Little Bardfield station will be a semi remote rural area with a small population and an airfield nearby.
    It`s tempting to fill the area with a village, but sometimes.....less is more....as they say.


    DSC00818.JPG

    The plaster will be left to dry over night and I will come back tomorrow and dribble diluted / very watered down artists acrylics, in various dark tones over the ground to add contrast and variation to it prior to adding static grass and flocking etc. etc.etc.
    I am considering motorizing the mill as well as lighting it and the other buildings, so I have drilled access holes for wiring prior to the plaster going on.
    The jury is still out on that idea.......but I`m warming to it.......:scratchchin:

    More as it happens
    :tophat:Gormo
     
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  5. Chris M

    Chris M If 2 wrongs don't make it right ... try 3 Full Member

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    Great work, should be fun to operate. I have to ask the dumb computer programmer question. What happens if Great Chesterford and Bamford both call Little Bardfield at the same time (same bells and 2 lights) :scratchchin: ... does the Little Bardfield operator run screaming from the room? :headbanger:

    Chris
     
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  6. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Ahah!!!!....someone is awake.....:avatar::avatar::avatar::avatar:
    Well Chris, I have thought of this scenario myself during the build and pondered it momentarily....:scratchchin:....and realized it`s not a problem.
    Basically, it comes down to the operator to make a decision, as is the case in real life on the railways.
    Once a call is made to an instrument, the timing of replies is entirely up to the receiving operator.
    Therefore, the sending operator who does not receive an immediate reply, will understand that the operator at the other end, must be either occupied, or deaf, or dead :faint:.......in which case he/she will not allow his train to move into the section until he /she has confirmation from the receiving end.
    The receiver will base their decision, on who moves first, on the status of their own section of track,, and will respond with the safest option.
    Of course if we run to a schedule or timetable, the operator will know what type of trains are expected beforehand, and will mentally prepare to deal with them in the most efficient way.
    Little Bardfield has a small passing loop which will allow two trains to pass each other providing that one of those trains is no longer than two coaches. Two coaches can sit in the platform line isolated whilst,say a pick up goods from Bamford passes in the passing loop en-route to Great Chesterford. Three coaches ( DMU ) is possible but squeezy.!
    We won`t be stacking trains up on the branch line to reach an impossible situation and I think a realistic schedule will go some way to achieving a trouble free operating session, hopefully without anybody having to run screaming from the room.......:avatar::avatar:
    :tophat:Gormo
     
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  7. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    The base scenery has now been coloured with what we might call under tones.
    The road was painted with Blackboard paint which dries very flat.


    DSC00819.JPG

    Once the Blackboard paint had dried on the road, I sprinkled grey powder scraped off chalk pastel onto the road surface and brushed it in well.
    The colour is very similar to the Wet & Dry paper method I have used previously.


    DSC00820.JPG

    The road bed on the bridge was coloured using exactly the same process.


    DSC00821.JPG


    A close up of the road surface.


    DSC00822.JPG


    And heading back in the other direction towards GCJ.


    DSC00823.JPG

    So that`s it for the moment......the next stage, will be some improvement on the road join between the two lift off sections and then we start planting the green stuff.
    More as it happens
    :tophat:Gormo
     
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  8. Chris M

    Chris M If 2 wrongs don't make it right ... try 3 Full Member

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    The road looks great. :thumbup: A lot of layouts have roads that are a much lighter grey. Although that is often correct I have always felt darker looks better.

    Interesting that you use blackboard paint ... all the black on my Big Boy and Rocket 3D models is chalkboard spray paint (from Bunnings). It goes on great, very flat, dries quickly and doesn't plug up minor details. I use it a lot and will probably use it on my Beyer Garratt.

    Chris
     
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  9. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Thanks Chris,
    I have not tried the spray can from Bunnings but will keep that in mind. The paint I have is just in a tin and comes from Aldi, however the fact that it is blackboard paint, gives it those properties that I feel are ideal for a road surface.
    When it first goes on, it`s like pure black tarmac......or a newly surfaced section of road........for me it`s just too good, that`s why I mess it up with chalk pastels to give it that well used look.
    I should mention too, for you folks tuning in on this, that when I was rubbing back the road surface after plastering, on a couple of sections I had gone too far and exposed the polystyrene base underneath. Fortunately when those sections are painted with the blackboard paint, they present as minor faults in the road surface which looks pretty good actually...:thumbup:....so that was a bonus lucky break.
    I think as far as roads go, you are better to try creating your own using any of the various methods on the net and colour to suit your own taste. It`s best to do some test runs on scrap material before committing to your layout, so you can get your head around the process.
    The commercial road products I have come across just don`t look right at all........they probably would be OK for a train set for kids but not for me.
    :tophat:Gormo
     
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  10. Chris M

    Chris M If 2 wrongs don't make it right ... try 3 Full Member

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    Gormo,

    I think all of the above deserves a big thumbs up [​IMG] and round of applause [​IMG]

    Well done ...

    Chris
     
  11. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Your road with the pits and pot holes looks great, and here I am thinking it was deliberate ! Fantastic work. :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

    You do realise that most the 'major arts of work' around the world have come about due to a mistake made by the artist ! ;) Carry on good sir !

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  12. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Thanks Chris....impressive emojis....:thumbs:
    :tophat:Gormo
     
  13. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Thanks Gary,
    Well I guess the essence of any of this modelling stuff, is to be willing to just give it a go and see what happens.
    That`s why I normally advocate testing before going ahead with any new methods, but in this case, I was already committed and luckily it worked out OK.....:thumbup:.
    I have driven usually on very nice road surfaces in the UK, however we were heading for a B&B in West Yorkshire once, the road 99% of the way was fine, very narrow at times, but a good surface nonetheless.
    The last 2 kilometers of the journey required me to turn off the main road and onto and across a weir. Once off the weir , the road that took us up to the semi remote B&B was like a goat track, full of pot holes and broken tarmac. I was thinking the hire car company would be having heart palpitations if they could see where their car was going. Anyway I took it easy and the car survived without a scratch.
    So with that experience in mind, I had no second thoughts about roughing up my model road a little bit.......:avatar::avatar:
    :tophat:Gormo
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2021
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  14. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Well this is how it`s going so far,
    This was done yesterday.
    Only one lift off section at the moment has been completed. The glue is still drying at this stage so that accounts for some white patches within the grass.
    When all is dry, I will be coming back with acrylic paints to do some blending with the background and also creating some variation in tone generally through the area.


    DSC00826.JPG


    There will be all sorts of extra foliage added to these scenes to try and make it look a bit more over grown


    DSC00827.JPG


    The rocks are coming along well enough but they still need some attention


    DSC00830.JPG


    A contrast between grass and no grass


    DSC00831.JPG


    A view back to the airfield and the end of the road here on the left. I have a picture of a road going off into the distance to place on the background, however I will wait a wee while before placing it on as it has to be matched and lined up with the road very carefully.


    DSC00832.JPG

    And a promise of how it may look.


    DSC00839.JPG


    I hope to be able to create some hedge rows along the road which will carry on the theme presented in the background.


    DSC00841.JPG

    Still a good way to go but things are promising
    :tophat:Gormo
     
  15. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    A cracking scene Gormo! Too late now, but could you have used a key like handle for the lifting out sections, a slot in the ground work and an upside down T shape that you insert into the slot and turn 90 degrees, that way there is no need to hide it?
    Still, great work mate :tophat::tophat::tophat:

    Cheers, Pete.
     
  16. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Thanks Pete,
    Yes I suppose a T piece would be the logical answer.........never thought of that one...:scratchchin:.
    It would need something to protect the inside of the hole though, maybe a slot created by a couple of pieces of timber.?.......as any movement would eat into the surrounding polystyrene and plaster.
    Anyway too late now as you say. The method I have used, even though needing to be hidden in buildings, allows one handed lifting and very good support without damaging the polystyrene and plaster, because it`s fixed tight into the ply base of the section.
    :tophat:Gormo.........Edit....I am up at the crack of dawn today......can`t sleep.....so I may ease my way out into the shed and start some more scenery.......Coffee first......can`t start the day without my Coffee to clear the cobwebs
     
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  17. Ruston

    Ruston Guest

    Nice scenery work Gormo.:thumbs:
     
  18. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Thanks Ruston,
    I finished grassing the second section this morning seeing as I was up way too early.
    Once the glue has dried.......probably tomorrow......I`ll colour match the left hand panel to the right and also to it`s back ground.


    DSC00858.JPG


    :tophat:Gormo
     
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  19. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Stunning work Gormo - as usual

    And well deserving of Pick of the Week

    Paul
     
  20. Andrew Laing

    Andrew Laing Full Member

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    Looking good.
     

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