Back to building my control panel for My Last Great Project 00 gauge layout and I have had to put together a track plan so I can position the various switches. This is the first time I have actually drawn out the track plan which shows just how much track and how many points there are.
After a busy Bank Holiday weekend some progress has been made with the control panel for my Last Great Project 00 gauge layout.
I found an off cut of a suitably thin ply wood to allow switches to be fitted through it and that was cut to size before being given a coat of paint to match the rest of the carcase,
I then mounted the connector blocks in place using of all things screws salvaged from VHS video cassettes that I took apart years ago!
Because I had screwed the carcase together, I could take the front off making it simple to drill holes and tighten screws. I also mounted the CDU - Capacitor Discharge Unit - which will provide an electrical kick to the solenoid point motors once the wiring is in place.
Next job is to design the track diagram to go on the top so that the switches will make sense when they are mounted and wired in.
With the new connector blocks for my control panel now in my procession i just needed to fettle them as they were a bit tight to separate. Some careful work with a pair of pliers and some needle files loosened them off nicely. With seven to do that occupied me for a couple of hours!
With other jobs to do there has been no time for model making related matters today. However, I did get a delivery of some connector blocks for the control panel to my Last Great Project layout. Ordered yesterday morning from Electech Components who I have always had good service from, they arrived this morning which is great service.
I do like these connector blocks as they offer a solid solution to joining cables at a good price.
I just need to find the time to fit them now! Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at things, the weather has been good and encouraging growth of a vegetational type which means time is spent dealing with that. It is not only at the Rocks By Rail Museum that I carry out vegetational butchery - the hedges at WMD HQ also get the same treatment!
Out on a bike ride I came across this.
Looking from a distance it fits in well with the structure of the layout. I just need to think about the top and wiring now!
After yesterday's caravan cleaning capers I am fairly worn out so just a small model related job of painting the carcase of the control panel for my Last Great Project layout. So it was out with the grey paint which matches the profile boards already on the layout so I may rename the Slate Grey to WMD Grey!
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One of the long outstanding jobs on the My Last Great Project Layout has been to construct an operating panel. The wiring and point motors are all installed but I need to build the panel in order too control it all. At the moment there is a bit of a spaghetti of temporary wiring to allow trains to run which is not good. However, whilst cleaning up the WMD garage I found some suitable plywood to construct the carcase of the panel. In fact it was some plywood from the baseboard of the first and aborted Last Great Project Layout! Cut to suitable sizes the parts were screwed together to form a rectangular carcase.
As it was pre-used wood there are various nail and screw holes in it that need filling. Now I could go out and buy some proper wood filler or I could just stay in and use the plastic filler that happened to be conveniently located on the workbench.
So the plastic filler won!. I just need to let it dry and find time to sand it all down and paint it next.
Having given the 3D printed plate layers hut some additional detail and primed it, the time had come to paint it.
The bricks on the chimney breast got the three pencil treatment, the windows and door were painted the same blue as the signal box woodwork and the walls were painted in a light brown. It all needs a good doe of weathering but it will be a nice addition in some far flung corner or hidden spot on the layout once finished!
Just a small model making job - glazing the windows of the 3D printed signal box. For this I used my trusted glazing product Glue n Glaze. For small panes it is a great produce. It looks a mess when applied and there is an art to getting it to spread across the aperture of the window pane but once mastered it is a fairly quick process.
Another job done on this structure so hopefully before too long I can get it back on the layout1
As you can see and following on from yesterdays post I have added some window frames from plastic strip to the 34D printed platelayers hut. I have also put some filler around the top of the chimney breast to simulate the cement flaunching that is there in rea life.
With that done it was out with the rattle can of grey primer to give it a base coat.
Having added some brick detail to the chimney breast of the 3D printed platelayers hut it was time to add some texture to the walls. A sheet of embossed corrugated iron plastic sheet provided this. Some careful measurements and cutting produced the necessary parts.
I even added some plastic strip for the door. Just need to do something about that window and then it will be paint time!
Looks a bit more interesting then what it started out as!
I must admit that when I bought it I did not examine it that closely otherwise I would have noted the lack of any detail surfaces. No representation of brick or stone on the chimney breast or wood planks for the hut itself.
A bit disappointing but not a problem especially when the WMD Stores have the necessary items to improve matters in stock! So work has started on the chimney breast with some embossed brick plastic card being cut to size and glued onto the flat surface of the 3D print.
Took a bit of time but worth the effort. Next up are the walls of the hut which should give a bit more interest to the model.
Given the rather garish nature of the blue paint applied to the 3D printed signal box, it needed toning down. That was done after the tiles on the roof were painted and the ridge tiles painted a contrasting clay colour. Several washes of dilute black paint and gravity have tones it all down making it look a bit more life like.
still a few things to do like glaze the windows but it is progressing well!
I removed the masking tape from the signal box with some trepidation having airbrushed the wooden parts. There is always a danger of bleed through or slight misalignment but happily and probably unusually, my efforts were fairly successful with only a slight bit of bleed on the roof which will be painted over.
With the masking off I attended to the brickwork using my favourite method where the brickwork has some relief to the mortar courses which is the three coloured pencil method! By randomly rubbing the pencils over the brick faces a random and varied brick colour appears whilst the mortar remains a grey colour.
With that done I have started picking out the roof tiles in random shades of grey to provide some variety to the overall look of the roof.
More to do on that but the signal box is taking on some character!
Whilst I wait for the paint to harden on the Italeri Mercedes MP4 truck cab parts I made use of the time by digging out the 3D printed signal box from its resting place on the My Last Great Project 00 gauge layout. Apart from playing operating it over the last few months nothing else has been done to it since probably Christmas time so it is time to get something done!
I had already primed the signal box with a coat of rattle can grey so I had a base on which to put some top coat. As with the station building built from a Dapol kit last year, the woodwork is a dark blue. Given the expanse of wood and the intricacies of the window frames my choice of paint application system was the airbrush! First off though I had to mask the parts that were not to be blue as it would be a job to paint over the blue with other colours.
In the meantime I need to let the paint dry and then see how effective my masking was!
Took the day off and just played trains - Wonderful Wordless Wednesday!
Well, it is Christmas Eve and in one more 'sleeps' I will know tomorrow if I have been good and get some presents! In the meantime, the WMD film crew have been out in the Man Cave with another layout update and a bit of train running which if you cannot get to sleep tonight this may be just the thing to bring about the Land of Nod!
I decided to construct the road section over the bridge/tunnel that was in the photo in yesterdays post. I had already cut the main base to size and painted it with some rattle can grey primer which is a bit darker than my usual brand but it was half the price! What I needed to do was to cut the pavements out of mounting card for either side of the carriageway. As usual, the WMD Stores had card in stock so after some measurements, head scratching and more head scratching the pavements were cut to shape. I then scribed the kerb stones at the edges which will be painted later.
The two pieces of card were then painted using the same rattle can as the road. Given that the shade of grey was far too dark for worn and weathered tarmac I used some light grey paint and airbrushed it in random patterns to give the real life effect that you see on real roads.
Once the paint dries it will look less stark. I then need to paint the kerbs and glue the pavements in place. The dark grey areas will be 'grassed' in some form!
There is much more to do but I placed one of the scenic sub-bases in place just to see how things were going towards the final scene and I think it fits in well. I need to finish that bridge/tunnel section and paint the 3D printed signal box so I have plenty of things to keep me occupied as I keep telling Mrs. Woody when she adds more jobs to her list of things for me to do!
In the meantime, I have also treated the second of the three current sub-bases to some additional 'wild' vegetation which makes it look more realistic.
