Wednesday 1st May 2024

Worklist:

Fit new rainwater pipe.

Complete foliage around pipework (track leading to the fiddleyard).

Fit magnets to engine shed.

Add foliage to the long fence.

Add weeds to base of all buildings.

Assess the pallets and crates printed to date.

The third downpipe needed a double swan-neck, which Stephen fabricated from 4mm plastic tube. It took a fair bit of trial and error to get the joints correct, then a lot of filing to achieve the final shape. This was spliced onto 3+ lengths of 3D printed downpipe, and suitably weathered.

Main building cladding, windows and rainwater goods are all 3D printed.

Geoff continued to build-up the foliage on the pipework frame looping over the track going into the fiddleyard.

The engine shed is located over 4 vertical cocktail sticks, but is not fixed down, meaning it could fall off in transit. Rather than bolts, Stephen chose magnets - round magnets in a bucket (below) and rectangular magnets in a plasticard toolbox. Both were glued to the brick plinth with epoxy glue, 'diagonally opposed'. Countersunk holes were made in the plaster floor and 4mm screws inserted through to the plywood below. Both ends of the building were now perfectly held in place, but it can be removed for access to the lighting and the interior generally.

Geoff moved on to applying foliage to the long, bare Peco fence running up to the bridge. A variety of materials were used, starting with PVA, then a light spray of isopropyl alcohol diluted with water, which allowed to glue to spread more easily.

Both then moved on to applying small amounts of foliage along the bottom of the factory buildings and the cottages. Mostly subtle hints of weeds with occasional long grass clumps made from cut-down self-adhesive 'dots' of grass and a few electrostatic grass clumps.

Finally, an array of old 3D printed pallets was amassed, with many stacked and glued together to see how it might look. These were printed from drawings created 'in-house', but Geoff had also been experimenting with newly downloaded files, with varying success. Some of these included timbers which were far too thick to be used, often due to poor draughtsmanship. A selection of solid cases were also discovered which should make for an interesting yard. Geoff jokingly suggested that the front building could become a pallet/crate manufacturer. That's not a bad idea!

Stephen had made up one of the new flat wagons, but didn't have suitable wood for the decking and ends. Geoff had printed a few more wagons 'for homework' and supplied some of the basswood sheeting used on the prototype and the original stone wagons.

That water tower still needs a feed pipe!

The end of the layout
(so far....)

Wednesday 24th April 2024

Worklist:

'Show and tell'.

Fiddleyard storage shelf brackets.

Extra foliage.

Pipework.

Pigeons.

Yard clutter.

Both of us had 'homework' to display. Geoff had developed and made a new wagon for transporting large blocks of stone - a 3D printed, two-part chassis with additional timber detail. The Kadee couplings push neatly into the sockets. 

Stephen had added coloured track section markers to the control panel. Although newly purchased vinyl was used, the adhesive was not very strong, but it will be ok for the time being.

The main job of the day was to take a shelf support arm from a trestle and re-fix it to the new 4-leg framework. The shelf provides additional storage for cassettes adjacent to the fiddleyard. It normally comprises two hinged shelves, but only one could be fitted to the new frame, so a stop-end panel has been added.

More gutters and downpipes were added to the factory building.

Geoff had printed some pigeons - primarily to indicate the position of the magnet below the loading dock roof. The remaining pigeons were added to the parapet above. Barely discernible, they are a  nice addition, so a few more will no doubt appear in due course.

Geoff was finally able to strike the pipework foliage from the to-do list.

And another to-do was completed - a bare patch of ground behind the engine shed received some foliage as well.

The yard clutter has been a thorny issue for some time, but agreement was reached at last. 3D printed pallets, stoneware items and an early forklift truck would be used to populate the area.  Crates and loads will also be printed to carry the main products of paving slabs and architectural stone components.

Current stone wagon list and uses:

4/5 plank wagons will convey crushed stone direct from the quarry to the mainline interchange. The same wagons will convey waste stone from Edwards yard to the mainline.

2 plank versions of the 4/5 plank wagons (photo above) together with the new wagons will bring large slabs to Edwards yard.

4/5 plank wagons and vans will convey crated slabs and architectural stoneware from Edwards to the mainline.

Empties will return to the quarry and Edwards yard. Some movements will be with dedicated trains, but the addition of wagons to other trains 'en-route' is also anticipated, which should make for some interesting shunting!

Wednesday 17th April 2024

Worklist:

Fit a new controller socket on the main control panel.

Check-out the electrics on/in the main control panels.

Paint the backscenes.

Paul, another of our guest operators, made an interesting suggestion when he visited recently; why not add another socket for the handheld controller to allow a great extent of control along the layout? He was correct - our current socket was plugged into the left-hand end of the panel i.e. close to the end of the layout, whereas a socket at the other end (mid-way down the layout) would allow operators to move further down the layout - a 'no brainer'. A hole was drilled in the other end, another set of wires and socket was made-up and fitted. The new socket will be a great addition.

After making the changes, the main control panel was examined for potential failures. A number of issues were identified and rectified, which although taking longer than expected, left us with a lot more confidence in the system.

Some time ago, Geoff had 3D printed some ogee gutters and downpipes for the factory building, which Stephen had recently painted and weathered. Pre-glued in two sections, they were easily trimmed to length and glued in place. We were very pleased with the effect. Two other sets will be added elsewhere.

The layout was then taken apart and stored away. Some went into the main rack, but the two new boards went into their dedicated rack next door. However, the now completed cottages were too high for the designated space so a shuffle-round was required - but it all fitted - just.

The final job was to hoover everything as much as possible, set out all of the trestles and cover with newspaper. All of the backscene boards were then laid out, ready to be painted. To a half used tin of white undercoat, some grey undercoat (used on the baseboards and panel backs) was mixed in. Several existing boards had a creamy tinge, so some magnolia undercoat was also added. Eventually, all of the panels were painted. It looked good at the time, but we'll reserve judgement for when it has fully dried. 

Wednesday 6th December 2023

Worklist:

Review Stephens homework on the office and house.

Progress pipework structure.

Fit angle brackets to hold the buildings down.

The primary homework was to weather the two buildings replicating Geoff's work on the workshop. With great trepidation, a slurry of plaster filler was applied to the buildings. Under the misapprehension that the wet slurry should be 'worked' into the painted, embossed plastic, this was started, but almost immediately some unexpected patches appeared. After letting the slurry dry a bit, the effect was better, so it was decided to let it dry-out completely. At this point, further rubbing down with paper towel evened the effect out, although the overall appearance had taken a beaten. However, the new 'down-at-heel' buildings might just suit the proposed location better, so the verdict was out for now.

Guttering and downpipes were made from umbrella struts and 2.5mm stripped power cable. All windows were initially painted white and the front doors green and brown, but the office windows and door frame were later painted green.

Dropped onto the layout, the 'shabby' appearance fitted well in their surroundings, and got the thumbs up.

Stephen turned to fixing the buildings over the 'tunnel' down using old aluminium brackets from one of Geoff's old LT projects. As per the cottages, the angles were fitted to the plywood base using 6mm bolts fed up into captive nuts from the tunnel ceiling below. With plastic sheet 'isolation' squares in place, epoxy glue was used to fix the buildings (and nut) to the angles.

Meanwhile, Geoff returned to the pipework structure at the board end. Brass and steel pipes were bent to the required shape. Brass cradles were made and the two pipes soldered to them. The printed flanges

had to be fitted prior to bending and therefore had to be moved around to avoid melting!

A third cradle was also soldered in place where the pipes come down onto what will become a concrete anchor base.

The wooden block was cut down and the void filled. 

A timber casing will be fabricated for where the pipes enter the building. A tree will be made and planted in front of the base, to a method Geoff had recently admired on YouTube. We await the outcome of that with interest.

An unusual view of the buildings from the fiddleyard end.

Extra windows needed to be printed for the house and office for Stephen to finish them off, but the part of the garage where the 3D printer resided was too cold, so the printer had to be brought into the 'warmer' room before it could be used. An interesting comparison of old and new technologies!

Stonemasons signage:  Geoff also ran a trial on applying waterslide transfers onto our corrugated iron sheets. A small proprietary transfer was applied and covered with Microsol. It appears to hug the contours well, but we'll see how it dries out next week.