It looks so much better!

Following my cardboard butchery on this sub-base, it is now time to start making it look like a real piece of railway infrastructure - well at least less like a white odd shaped box! The walls are being clad in Metcalfe brick paper which whilst being relatively cheap, does look good. First off to be covered were the two tunnel mouths. Not having glued them in place yet meant that they were easy to work on.

The brick paper was glued on with PVA glue.

There are some curved or arched brick sections included on the sheets of brick paper and luckily theses were just the right radius for the arches to the tunnel mouths! Just a little careful cutting and a dab of PVA glue and that job was done.

Having covered the rest of the walls and temporarily placed them against the sub-base as well as having painted the top in grey primer the effect is a tones down structure that is beginning to look more part of the overall scene rather than the white, oversized and odd shaped shoe box of a few days ago!

Unfortunately I still need to create some internal tunnel structure to get rid of all that whiteness that shows when looking at this angle.

Taking a look from a distance makes me pleased that I did take the time out to deal with something that I wasn't happy with. It looks so much better! Just need to start detailing it up which will take a few days especially as Mrs. Woody long awaited bathroom and cloakroom rebuilds have started! More of that another day!

Cardboard butchery!

In my last post about my Last Great Project layout, I was pondering over this oversized and odd shaped shoebox construction that I had spent several days building. My initial conclusion was that it was not right and needed alteration and even after a day or two to further consider I still came to the same thought.

Having built this as a sub-structure that can be moved off the layout meant that any alteration could be done at the comfort of my workbench and the mess kept away from the layout. Mr. Saw came into play as there was some serious cardboard butchery to be undertaken!

The initial butchery produced this.

Much better but still a bit more cutting to do with the angle of that entrance to the left-hand tunnel as it will be!

 Looking from a distance it looks better as well.

Cutting the blank pieces to infill the tunnel portal and side wall area.

Then it was time to be creative and form the tunnel portals themselves. I did check the clearances with some large rolling stock and whilst it is tight they do fit through!

Looking from a distance it all looks so much better than originally and no one can tell the cardboard butchery that has gone on!

Amazing things snowdrops!

Here in the UK as we approach Spring, the emergence of snowdrop flowers is seen as a positive step forward towards Summer. I took Mrs. Woody to Belton House in Lincolnshire to see the how their snow drops were getting on and to take the opportunity to think over the way I was going to rectify the issues with the structural scenic sub-base for my layout that I posted about yesterday. 

Despite it being a grey and cold day the snow drops still looked nice.

There was also a lot of information on boards around the grounds giving facts that I never knew about snowdrops!

Having refreshed my mind and increased my rather limited knowledge on snowdrops as well as having the company of Mrs. Woody I think I am clear about how to do the rectification process for the sub-base! Amazing things snowdrops!

Just not right!

You can do all the planning you like for a project and be convinced it will be just right, but, sometimes it just does not look right! That is the case with the scenic structure I am building at the moment which has been finished from the point of view that the basic structure is done and now needs detailing. Before getting to that stage I just wanted to check that it would look as wonderous on the layout as I had planned it would. It didn't and I knew that straight away!

So what is wrong with it? The structure fits within the space which is a positive. However, despite the fact that it will receive tunnel mouths where the tracks go through and will be clad with some form of brick covering it just looks too tall. There are reasons why I wanted it high but I have probably gone higher than I need to. So visually at the moment it doesn't work for me. There is another visual matter which is the angle of where the tunnel mouths will be. At the moment I cannot see them and the angle compared to the cutting side is just not right! The angle should, in my view, now be in line with the metal ruler on top of the structure. It might need staggering but it needs amendments. 

Even looking from the other side of the baseboard did not make it look any better!

So those are the visual matters but there is more! Despite checking clearances to allow the largest rolling stock to pass through without collision with he structure I made the error of altering an internal frames location without rechecking. The result was that the first time the Virgin Trains rake of coaches went through they derailed!

The next issue is also technical in that I forgot to take account that part of the structure would rest on the track underlay which is 5 mm above the rest of the baseboard on to which the rest of the structure sits. Obviously, that leads to level issues which I don't want to have to deal with!

So do I scrap it and start again? No, I think that I know what needs doing but not quite how yet but when I do it should then visually and technically be just right instead of just not right! We will see in a few days time if that is the case! 

Track gone!

Following last weeks day at the Rocks By Rail Museum where track maintenance work was being started, I was expecting some more work but was a little staggered by how far things have moved on with a lot of track gone!

The point has been lifted!

The sleepers are stored on the bank!

And, by the end of the day the rails into the platform had gone to!

There is more to do as a trench needs to be dug by the platform to install a drain and then everything need to go back. Easy to say but not so easy to do especially when the CAT has decided to break!

This is where it inconveniently decided to break down.

The cause is nothing terminal but it appears that the fuel system is slightly clogged as John, one of our mechanical geniuses, demonstrates with this part of a filter housing which ahs a nasty sludge inside.

This is the sludge he dug out - nice!

Not being a mechanical genius, I was back to using the crude tool of a spade - or as you could say, I was putting a spade in the ground, just as the UK Government is presently talking about!

That trench was soon widened with the ultimate aim of clearing a path, level with the existing, to the new viewing platform that has been subject to previous posts, 

In the meantime, David was digging, but in a different way, through the overgrowth, to extract a panel of Heras fencing. Might seem a strange thing to do but there was a logic behind this. 

Once free, we managed to maneuver the panel down the bank and rest it against the gabions. About a metre was above the gabion which is ideal as a barrier to prevent visitors falling off the top of the platform.  

 

Amazingly, using my phone spirit level app, the thing was also spot on level! Amazing! We then wired it to the gabions and in theory, the backfill behind the gabions should firmly secure the panel in place.

Going even further in the pursuit of excellence, Alex is unwrapping a roll of Terram sheeting.

Suitable lengths were cut off and back at the viewing platform we covered the Heras fencing and looped the remaining 7 metres of the stuff over the top. Once the backfilling is done we will roll the Terram back over it and cover it with stone. Hopefully the Terram will stop weed growth!

Looking back from the Heras fencing, David and Alex admire a good days work!

I wonder if we will finish this platform before the track goes back to the other platform?

Boxing clever!

Boxing clever may be a little over the top as a title to this post but I do feel a little clever over the way this sub-base is coming together. Firstly more supporting frames have been constructed and fitted.

Which has allowed the sides to be fitted.

Turning it right ways up begins to show how things will work with the four tracks at the back of the layout going into the gap. That gap will eventually be tunnel mouths but that is something that is still beig planned in my mind!

Whilst the main structure is now quite strong but light I did take the opportunity to brace some of the edges with card bent to a right angle and glued in place at joints of the card.

Hopefully, from here on and if I box clever it should get to be fitted onto the layout but that is a job for another day!

Picture frames?

It may look like I am creating picture frames but theses are in fact structural formers to place inside the scenic base that I am building at the moment and posted about yesterday.

When using large pieces of card to create in effect a large box, they can warp, so there is a need to brace them. I could haver just cut a rectangle of card but that would have been too easy! In addition a rectangle of card would also not be as structural strong as creating a frame made out of three layers of card such as that I have built. I fact I have built three of them so far!

Having built the these frames it was time to fit them to the card sides that I glued the other day, well two of them at least. Glued in place and supported either side by a jar and bottle of Pepsi (usual disclaimer that other makes of drink are available) and weighted on top I have left it all to allow the glue to dry and hopefully that will leave me with a warp free and strong initial structure. If not, then I have some spare picture frames! 

Filling an empty space!

Now, much as Mrs. Woody thinks that there is an empty space in my head where my brain should be, the empty space I am concerned about is on my 00 gauge layout. The space is the last part of getting the baseboard I am working on at the moment fully scenic.

This is going to be filled with a structural sub-base. That is, it will be a brick structure and will also cover the four tracks at the back. First job was to actually create a top shaped to the right contours. I had to ensure that the largest rolling stock could get by and the Central Trains Class 156 at a scale 75 foot long was used to test. After some small amendments the final shape was cut.

This will be supported and will be level with the top edge of the grey board at the back of the baseboard. Making that supporting structure and ensuring that it is light in weight so it can easily be lifted if needed as well as structurally strong, so that it doesn't warp and can take the weight of any additional structures on top, is going to take a fair amount of thought. Hopefully, that empty space that Mrs. W thinks that I have in my head actually does have some brain to be able to think this through! So far this thinking has produced what is in the photo below which will hopefully form a good base to build upon.