1/32 French Micro Layout.........un-named As Yet.....

[John D]

Following on from the tram loco posts elsewhere have devised this for the loco to run on, looks tad messy at the moment but some greenery etc will perk it up.........

In all 5ft 5ins long x 181/2 ins. wide , the train enters bottom left between, what will be a cafe and another building of some sort or other. The sector plate is a great space saver and is, like the real thing, hand powered



Am aiming to get it looking something like presentable for our October Shepshed show.....so many projects

 

[SteveO]

Excellent! Is that an all clay base?

 

[John D]

will be writing about the surface treatments

Is that an all clay base?

The trackbed is a bit cheap and cheerful.....inasmuch as the underlay is a sleeping bag mat from when my daughter was in the Guides many moons ago, discovered during an 'archeological dig' in the garage.....on went the track and various infills were made using corrugated cardboard ,ex-boxes. The whole lot was then ballasted using chinchilla dust, available at all good pet shops, stuck down with good old PVA, giving a nice fine surface. It appears that the French don't go in for stone ballasting in a big way, most lines appear to be ballasted with crushed chalk and soil. When dry the surface was airbrushed a light creamy brown in the hope of replicating this chalk/soil mix.

The tiny bits of stone setts are the leftovers from World's End Quay and come from the EXCELLENT range of latex rubber sheets of the same available in all scales from Kancali in the States. I cannot praise this stuff too highly , cut in strips it can be easily laid to follow exactly curves in the track etc .....no more chipping away at PolyFilla, and it's dead light.

the brand of vino-collapso to be bought in the Cafe.

Like the layout very much.....ordinaire

 

[mickoo]

You know, if you hand't had said France and left off the tram I'd have still said France or Belgium, your ground work captures those regions perfectly.

In Denmark/ Scandinavia and northern Germany many secondary lines and sidings are just laid on sand or very fine gravel, to be fair, most of Europe North of Kiel has a sandy soil so the sand overlay is probably erosion from nearby areas that has built up around the track over years, but some areas are still sand packed.

Good ground work is essential to capturing the area and yours is exceptionally good IMHO.



Kindest

 

[BCN-Pete]

Lovely stuff John* - you are very brave to cover all the track up!

Look forward to see the next layer of scenics added...

*Edited to swap Mick for John....

 

[lancer1027]

Very nice Mick. Love the weathering on the ground

 

[mickoo]

I think peeps might be at cross purposes LOL, John did the layout I only posted shots of 1:1 showing sand used as ballast in Denmark , we are not connected in any way LOL.

Kindest

 

[John D]

You know, if you hadn't had said France and left off the tram I'd have still said France or Belgium, your ground work captures those regions perfectly.

Thanks for that Mick, I thought ,after I'd done it, that I'd made a pigs ear of it and put the layout away to work on another project.....anyhow since it's re-appearance it doesn't seem so bad ......

you are very brave to cover all the track up!

Just hope that the wiring holds up Pete otherwise I'm in the .........

 

[Simon Dunkley]

More members not paying attention Mick is right, it's John's layout

Seems there's more here at The Back of the Class than I realised.......

Maybe you aren't paying attention to who is at the back of the class...

 

[mickoo]

Thanks for that Mick, I thought ,after I'd done it, that I'd made a pigs ear of it and put the layout away to work on another project.....anyhow since it's re-appearance it doesn't seem so bad ......
Just hope that the wiring holds up Pete otherwise I'm in the .........

The addage less is more rings true here, a couple of trees, those tall thin ones that seem to populate northern France and Belgium would sit nicely by the sector plate house area, one or two bkies propped up, a scatter of furniture and point levers and a little greenery and I'd call it done LOL, maybe a water stand for the loco but thus far looks excellent.

Kindest

 

[John D]

a couple of trees, those tall thin ones that seem to populate northern France

What!!!!!.........a couple of those populating poplar types?.......at 9.525mm to the foot the trees would be nearly as big as the layout

 

[SteveO]

I like the sector plate too, being open (and prototypical?). How did you build it - the pivot and roller?

 

[John D]

How did you build it - the pivot and roller?

The rollers (both sides) were a pair of HO scale wagon wheels fixed together with the flanges outwards and set in bearings........the pivot was a length of brass tube (down which went the track wiring) running in a turned bearing set into the baseboard at t'other end , as per photos below. It's all hand powered using a M5 (?) bolt and fixed nut.....your hand whizzes round as the sector plate s-l-o-w-l-y moves across.

 

[John D]

With all this warm weather it's just the thing for painting , so have done the tram loco a nice shade of Southern dark olive green, a lovely shade of green it is too, you can't beat a bit of GREEN . Have weathered the roof and will probably do likewise with the main body in due course.......

 

[ceejaydee]

Really like the tram John and the layout oozes Gallic charm even at this relatively early stage in construction..... now if only the Lehmann brothers had been sensible and chosen 1/32 scale on 32mm track for their garden railway range

 

[John D]

and chosen 1/32 scale on 32mm track for their garden railway range

It beats me why this hasn't, to my knowledge, been done by anyone........it's virtually spot on for metre gauge.

 

[Simon Dunkley]

Well, John, there is, of course, Peter Denny, with his garden railway.
And plenty of people overseas, too.

 

[John D]

Well, John, there is, of course, Peter Denny, with his garden railway.
And plenty of people overseas, too.

Ah that's it then...... not knowing PD and that he had a garden railway and lack of knowledge on overseas people explains it...........

 

[John D]

Clochemerle or 'allo-'allo.

Am definitely NOT going there.............

 

[ceejaydee]

Ah that's it then...... not knowing PD and that he had a garden railway and lack of knowledge on overseas people explains it...........

I think that Dave Rowlands had some 10mm scale stock representing Irish 3' prototypes running on his 32mm gauge garden layout many years ago..... however I don't know of any widely available commercial models in that scale/gauge combination.