4mm Morfa - The race is run.

Simon Glidewell

Western Thunderer
I really like the developing water inlet on the right side of the estuary and bridge, Neil. I plan to do something similar on SMH in due course so I shall be watching how you progress with this! Lovely work all round.
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
Whilst some layouts just seem to fall together with ease, others can be uphill all the way. Guess which sort Morfa is? Before heading off on holiday I'd made a start at cleaning the layout, all the stock coming off, being inspected and dusted, and then either place back in its box or filed in my 'work to do drawer'. On our return it was time for the layout to be brushed and hoovered. All went well until I picked up the bungalow at the Barmouth end of the bridge when this happened.

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It took a few minutes of shaking and manipulation to get this and another loose window out from the shell. I'd constructed the Dapol/ex Airfix kit onto a slab of 80 thou plasticard as the mouldings all had a Dali-esque fluidity of line to them. A cutting disk sorted out access for refitting.

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A couple of minutes further fiddling and all was back together again. Not a big job but it has set me thinking how an earth large layouts can be easily protected from dust. Shell Island has its own wooden box and Little Point packs away into a suitcase. I could cover Morfa in light plastic dust sheets, but I fear that when I lifted them off the dust would rise and settle on the layout anyway.
 

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Neil

Western Thunderer
After the spring clean and in true scattergun fashion my attention has turned to the platforms. For the past couple of years they have been represented by flat grey shapes cut from mount board.

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Time, I thought, to turn them into 3-d objects. I started by cutting more mountboard into half inch strips, lots of them.

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Also some half inch square balsa strip was cut into small blocks.

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I decided to work from the platform surface down, so the main pice of board was inverted and laid down on the largest flat surface I have. I realised that I needed to work out how far in the half inch strips needed to go (3.5mm) and make a tool to mark out that distance from the edge.

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The balsa blocks were glued in line with my pencil marks.

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I wanted to incorporate the slopes for the platform ramps into the side strips, so marked out the length of the ramp at the end of the strip.

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With the ramp section of side wall overhanging the platform surface, glue is applied to the balsa blocks, the wall clamped in place with clothes pegs, more glue brushed along the inside of the join and the whole lot left to dry.

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Once set I could complete the other end of the platform side walls.

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There's obviously a lot of cross bracing to go in. I'll also be doubling up on the side walls for extra resistance to twist and warp, and to bring the facing sheet out to give a prototypical near flush finish with the platform edge.

Earlier today I found this rather useful image of the road approach to the station; it's very rare to see the place from this angle. Whilst my model will be devoid of the station building, it will let me get a good representation of the varied fencing that bounds the platforms.
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
Great to see more progress, Neil, but unfortunately I was told that I didn't have permission to view the image via the link you provided...:(

I'm not sure why that should be so Tim, but there's another possible way of getting there:

Start at the Cambrian Models site either via this link or google if the link somehow gets rejected by your computer.

Click on '4mm wagon kits', the left hand side of the page.
Index should now run down the left hand side of the page.
Click on 'archive SG photos'
Click on 'Wales' 2nd row, 2nd column
The image linked to is the second one directly underneath the signal box and is titled 'Morfa Mawddach - the south end of the triangular building.

If you're not actively interested in Morfa Mawddach then it's a bit of a dull shot, but if you are it's gold dust.
 

Simon

Flying Squad
Brilliant to see work commencing on the platform, very much looking forward to seeing how it develops the scene.

Simon
 

Scale7JB

Western Thunderer
Hi Neil, with regard to keeping a room dust free, I've had to visit the McLaren Technology Centre on a few occasions with work, and their anti-dust idea is very clever.

To keep their dust down, they ensure that the inside of the building is always at an ambient pressure higher than the ambient outside pressure. This allows the dust to be blown out when doors or windows are opened, and through ventilation ducts...

I wonder if clever use of a small fan might help, not to pull the dust out of the room, but to push it out..

JB.
 

MartinWales

Western Thunderer
Some other really nice shots there too Neil!

Cannot understand why more people don't want to model the last vestiges of rail transportation in certain areas such as Lampeter pre 1973, Aberlour pre 1971, Llanidloes pre 1967 or Fakenham pre 1980, or is it just me? Nice grotty looking locos and weathered wagons!

A reasonably priced way into finescale modelling perhaps ?
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
Brilliant to see work commencing on the platform, very much looking forward to seeing how it develops the scene.

Simon

Yes so do I; my hope is that it doesn't go the way of the bridge with four versions before I'm happy with it.

Hi Neil, with regard to keeping a room dust free, I've had to visit the McLaren Technology Centre on a few occasions with work, and their anti-dust idea is very clever.

To keep their dust down, they ensure that the inside of the building is always at an ambient pressure higher than the ambient outside pressure. This allows the dust to be blown out when doors or windows are opened, and through ventilation ducts...

I wonder if clever use of a small fan might help, not to pull the dust out of the room, but to push it out..

JB.

A neat idea but I'm afraid the chapel, the layouts home, is far from air tight (imagine it as a randomly flatulent old lady) so I fear all that would happen is a continual leakage of warm-ish air.
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
Not as much progress as I'd hoped today. Tuesday is my day for 'helping' on the Corris Railway but before I set off I noticed a nasty niff in the hall traced eventually to the under stairs storage area. I have experience with that sort of smell and it heralds a search for rotting rodents. The floorboards have been up and three pongy mice in various stages of decomposition exhumed and disposed of outdoors. No work therefore on Morfa on my return from Corris, but I have nipped upstairs to take a quick snap of the triangulation going on underneath the platform; note the deployment of high tech fixtures and jigs to ease the process.

morfa 51.jpg

.... my hope is that it, the platform, doesn't go the way of the bridge with four versions before I'm happy with it. ....

There is hope that I may get it right this time. I'd quite forgotten that I'd already had a stab at a platform some time ago, documented at the other place, so there's chance I made all the mistakes last time.

.... Cannot understand why more people don't want to model the last vestiges of rail transportation in certain areas such as Lampeter pre 1973, Aberlour pre 1971, Llanidloes pre 1967 or Fakenham pre 1980, ....

Tea is almost ready so I'll have to be brief. |Can only speak for myself; last vestiges good, Llanidloes bloody dull location. The station doesn't capture any of the loveliness of the town or its setting. It's the look of a location that turns me on or turns me off, not bothered too much about trains, stock, operation or history. If it's visually interesting it'll get my interest, pretty or ugly, but dull won't do.
 
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Captain Kernow

Western Thunderer
I'm not sure why that should be so Tim, but there's another possible way of getting there:

Start at the Cambrian Models site either via this link or google if the link somehow gets rejected by your computer.

Click on '4mm wagon kits', the left hand side of the page.
Index should now run down the left hand side of the page.
Click on 'archive SG photos'
Click on 'Wales' 2nd row, 2nd column
The image linked to is the second one directly underneath the signal box and is titled 'Morfa Mawddach - the south end of the triangular building.

If you're not actively interested in Morfa Mawddach then it's a bit of a dull shot, but if you are it's gold dust.
Thanks Neil, got there via your advice - super photos!
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
More from Morfa. Progress has been made on two fronts; station area and carriage stock.

The platform surface is now painted in the grey/buff colour that I had in my minds eye. It took two goes to get it right, not helped because the colour images I have of the platform were taken in the wrong light at the wrong time of the day so I've had to go with how I want it in my minds eye rather than slavishly match a picture. Perhaps this is a good thing anyway?

morfa 52.jpg
The weight is there to keep all flat and level while the paint (acrylic and emulsion mix) dries. Despite all the bracing the platform took on a humpty backed shape when the paint was applied, the weight ensured it dried flat. I brushed on the paint then stippled it with the sponge, a surprisingly physical process, so that brush marks weren't left on the surface.

I'd been meaning to complete my Hatchette Mk1 for some time, it has been missing transfers, weathering and couplings. It's become the test piece for an idea that's been brewing some time. Though I like three links, I'm not happy with the way passenger stock moves when fitted with them. The train should move as one rather than like a loose coupled freight.

Many years ago a friend back in York fitted Kaydee buckeye couplings to the intermediate vehicles in a rake. Fine but he found they limited stock to 4' radius curves; Morfa's go down to 2' at one spot. I also wanted complete interchangeability with the rest of my stock as I also want to equip my parcels stock with couplings that prevent or minimise surging.

The solution I've come up with is a one link coupling, using a standard hook but a one piece loop like Hornby O gauge tinplate. I think that once I've worked out the optimum length it should be possible to jig up to mass produce rigid loops which look like a screw coupling. For the moment I'm happy with a one piece loop, even in shiny nickel silver the appearance is far outweighed by the improvement in movement of the train. Though it wouldn't be right for a glass case model I'd contend that in the context of a train set it's the only way to go. Here's a close up on the 2'curve .....

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..... and on the straight where the gap between carriages opens up a touch.

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Back at the station area you might have noticed in the first photo that the road approach to the platform has been under construction too. I've had to create a substructure for it to fill in where the baseboard surface was cut away.

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The garage also sports a proper sub base; I took the opportunity to reposition it a little further away from the goods loop too. I have a small garage related project on my workbench (more later) but the next big job
is the permanent screen to mask the hole in the hills seen without the temporary screen above and with it below.

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Looks like the rain is set in for the morning here; looks like I'll be playing trains some more.
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
Neil
Have you looked at http://www.keen-systems.com/Couplings.html for your coaches?

Thanks MTH, I am aware of the keen systems, but as far as I can see they aren't compatible with three links. They also cost a bit more than a bent bit of wire (important to a Yorkshireman) and look to be a bit of a faff to fit.

I'm now in a position to update on the Garage mini project. Some time ago I asked what a second hand Imp would fetch in my chosen era. Thanks to Daifly's inquiring mind I was pointed at a table of prices when new so I could extrapolate a reasonable s/h price. Here's what I've done with the info.

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Printed, sprayed with varnish to seal, cut out and stuck to the inside of the windscreen with pva.

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'Would you buy a used car from this man?'

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Meanwhile out back, prospects for this example of the marque don't look too rosy.

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adrian

Flying Squad
'Would you buy a used car from this man?'
I'd be suspicious to be honest - the positive camber at the rear I'd double check there is a engine in there!! Seriously though very nice - I do like that faded enamel sign and the oil spill is spot on.
 
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