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?
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 .....
..... and on the straight where the gap between carriages opens up a touch.
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.
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.
Looks like the rain is set in for the morning here; looks like I'll be playing trains some more.