Newcastle Emlyn in N scale

Thanks for the idea Paul.

Unfortunately the relays don't have any mounting holes, I think they were designed to go into a electronic circuit board.

I might try gluing some card to the underside of the MDF and then seeing if the double sided sticky will stick to the card.

There are still relays hanging by their wiring which still work fine but need securing properly.

Marty

 

With positive progress being made on both the electric and scenery it is time to get on with the Newcastle Emlyn station part of the layout.

Why, you might ask, is the main station of the layout so late in the build? I think I'm in the tenth year of construction!

It was all about uncertainty about my own abilities. If I couldn't get the track plan of Henllan station laid there was no point in moving on to Newcastle Emlyn. Henllan was built on a curve and the layout track plan just wouldn't work without it.

Henllan is more or less sorted. There are a couple of points that need replacing but on the whole it works.

So now, behind the Llandyfriog Junction plank, the Newcastle Emlyn station needs to be built at a higher level.

Here is the original baseboard framework with the early Riverbank sidings road bed.



And here is the plan, put together in the Anyrail software, of the NE station layout.



There has been a significant mount of compression needed to get the layout into the space available but I think it works.

The station prototype was a terminus but my version of history records that the railway was pushed through to the sea at Cardigan, as was the original plan, and future construction may see development in this direction. Probably in another ten years time!!

Cheers

Marty

 

I think that expanding the empire is a must Paul,
But I'd better get the first bit mostly sorted before i dismantle my workstation and extend around the other side of the room I guess.
While the mojo is back things are moving apace...
I've been sick of the brown hillside for some time now... it's been like this for years as I've concentrated on the other side of the hill to have something more or less complete for people to look at when they enter the layout room..


All rail traffic has been halted and the track protected with masking tape... time to make a mess...


The hillside serving as the view block between the mill and Henllan now looks like this with the preliminary ground scatter added and work being nearly complete on the hedgerows...


... and Colonel Frobisher (Ret.) is descending the farm track after climbing the hill to get a better view of the Henllan Station layout. Who put that blasted tractor in the way?


cheers
Marty

 

Cheers Toto.
After many years of wishing for a static grass applicator I've built my own from an electronic insect swatter...

A mate had a spare swatter (why would you have two? Competitions with the missus?) and I was able to negotiate an old tea strainer from the commissariat with the promise of replacing it with a brand new one. Everything else I had.

A plastic vegemite jar supplied the static grass storage chamber and a hole saw attachment for the power drill was used to cut a hole in the lid to mount the mesh in. Epoxy glue seems to have stuck the two together nicely.



Here are the bits prior to final assembly...



It's not pretty but it's solid...



... and blow me down.... it works....



OK... NOW I'm in business.... time to play... er.... experiment

Marty

 

Toto wrote:

It's just the depth that varies! Replaced already... so I'm treading water

Marty

 

I didn't ask where my mate got them from Gary.

Marty

 

Further progress....
Time to work out the layout/backscene transition along the road here....



Out with the paints and brushes.....


Between the back-scene and the modelled road is a gap of some 50mm/2in which allows access to the hidden trackage running at the base of the back-scene from Llandyfriog Junction to Henllan. You can see it in this photo with some yellow sponges stuffed in the gap to keep the paint off the track. (Mess has been known to be made!)



There has also been a long held desire to model a row of terraced houses from the village, the Kestrel kit houses are place holders for a future scratchbuild, and also a desire to try and capture the feel of the village as best as I can. This is not a slavish re-creation of the place, neither the skills nor the time and space are available to me for that but a good suggestion is hoped for.

As such, an image from the web of the particular street and photos taken from the visit in 2010 are being used to create some of the village on the back-scene that can't be modelled due to space restrictions. Somehow there has to be a timewarp effected to transport the modern scenes back between 50 and 70 years! Modellers licence mode engaged.

In an effort to assist the transition from the model to the back-scene I'm hoping to create layers of vegetation which will also hide the access gap. There will be a wood on the hillside.

Hope that helps with keeping track of what I'm trying to do... In the photo below a print out of the street scene is taped up as a guide (one copy at A4 and one at 30% reduction to get the scale correct), and texture paste has been applied to the back-scene prior to painting a continuation of the wood to try and give the painting a 3D effect and bring the wood into the foreground.... pure experimentation, we shall see if it works, but I AM having fun.



More texture paste at the back of the yard and the road and adjacent houses sketched in....



The Kestrel kits and some vehicles placed for a scale check....



... and a first pass at the woods, hedgerows and fields. This is where it was left at the end of play a few nights ago.



Now to tighten it up.

Marty

 

Thanks Guys.
I had always intended to get a printed photo montage done in photoshop and then stick it to the backscene.

After a few experiments with Photoshop and photos that I had taken when visiting in 2010 I've decided that I'm better off just painting it.

I'm a better painter than I'm a paper hanger.

This is where I left it. I'm sure I could have done more (and 6 months down the track I may come back to it once I work out what causing the itch) but since the plan is to build up the woods on the hill and behind the buildings there wasn't much incentive to sweat out the trees anymore.



Next are the woods on the hillside and I've found a new, fast, cheap technique that I like which yields what I think are great results.

cheers

Marty