Set the layout up for a running session to check that everything is ok for the Eastleigh show in April.
Investigate the 'massing' of the buildings on the masons yard board.
Review Stephen's homework - pallets, stones and jib crane.
We were pleased to welcome Chris Holmes again for the session. Just like the Littlehampton show, Chris will be a guest operator at Eastleigh. We still had Chris's stock that he lent to us for the Burton show, so, after a good clean-up of the layout and track, it got a good workout. The usual point failed to work first time and needed the usual tweak to get it going. The LED track indicator on the mainline was, as expected, very visible through the bridges, from down the layout, but a piece of black card seemed to solve the problem. Maybe a touch of black paint will be needed. The best one was when the two main sections on the fiddleyard were eventually found to have been cross-wired when Stephen installed the new switching unit!!! All-in-all, it was a very satisfactory session.
In parallel, Stephen set-up the masons yard on a side bench and used some corrugated cardboard to mock-up the quarry line tunnel. Together with a few stone blocks, a part-built 7mm Mikes Models jib crane was introduced to the scene. As the jib height is fixed, its position relative to track and storage areas was very important. The swing and range of the jib was experimented with, in different locations.
The yard and road layout changed as we tried to squeeze things in, but when Geoff suggested reducing the floor size of the main building, moving it back towards the fiddleyard, it seemed to fall into place.
We had originally determined the main building size based on the need to hide hands exchanging wagon loads, but having subsequently built an extra siding on the fiddleyard, the front of the building could be moved back. From a book on quarries, we'd seen a detail where a small track or path emanating from a tall building went over the railway via an arch. This was also mocked-up to form a visual end to the layout, just before the fiddleyard. The buildings along the back wall were also discussed and again, the idea of different levels and possibly building on top of the tunnel were considered. The overall design is far from complete and will need to be developed fully, in due course, but it was an excellent start.
The stones had first been attempted using plaster of Paris in moulds made of crinkled tin foil, but they simply weren't realistic. A search online produced several photographs of mainly south coast quarry railways that offered a different stone finish all together. One photo in particular had a mainline yard at Corsham, between Bath and Chippenham, that was very inspiring.
The shapes and sizes of stone suggested a different, much smoother mould - clingfilm. Lengths of wood in pairs of different thicknesses were laid on the bench and clingfilm laid across them. A wet mix of one-coat plaster was made-up and poured into the spaces. Once this had started to firm-up, the wood was removed and a wet knife used to cut the stones to size. Occasionally, the plaster would lift and crack revealing a wonderful texture. The pieces were left to start drying, but the temptation to roughen up smooth clingfilm surfaces with coarse sandpaper was impossible to deny. Surfaces were also smoothed with fingers or the back of a knife.
Stephen had also cleaned-up and painted the slightly 'beefed-up' pallets that Geoff had printed the previous week. Pallets with different slat spacing were tried out and the variety worked well.
Stephen had produced a 3D file of a wagon underframe side to make some more wagons - particularly 2-plank, as inspired by the Corsham photo. These had been printed during the day and Stephen will see what can be made from them.
