4mm Polsarrett: BR(S) N Cornwall Clay, The Final Countdown
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
Attention turning today to the LSWR cottage that goes opposite the signal box and forms a bit of a view blocker to the left hand fiddle exit.
Two decisions probably made in haste but I'm going with them regardless...
1. To raise the base height of the cottage as it seemed to be dwarfed by the signal box and provender store. 20ish mm seemed to be about right.
2. To build the surrounding garden and path off-layout as an integral part of the cottage. I decided that trying to make it insitu was going to be difficult.
So, cottage base increased and, whilst the black paint around the lower section dried, the 'garden' marked up.
Also, whilst chatting to SheepBloke yesterday on the phone, I found the windows previously made...
Not sure why I didn't make the 5th one for the side though.
Two decisions probably made in haste but I'm going with them regardless...
1. To raise the base height of the cottage as it seemed to be dwarfed by the signal box and provender store. 20ish mm seemed to be about right.
2. To build the surrounding garden and path off-layout as an integral part of the cottage. I decided that trying to make it insitu was going to be difficult.
So, cottage base increased and, whilst the black paint around the lower section dried, the 'garden' marked up.
Also, whilst chatting to SheepBloke yesterday on the phone, I found the windows previously made...
Not sure why I didn't make the 5th one for the side though.
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
Nice colour photo of the cottage in the background.
https://flic.kr/p/QKtVeo
I'm thinking that the guttering and gable end timber was probably green. I'm also going to introduce a bit more creamy colour to the render and knock the black back in the final weathering. One of the doors on the left gable can be seen open - looks a very pale green.
https://flic.kr/p/QKtVeo
I'm thinking that the guttering and gable end timber was probably green. I'm also going to introduce a bit more creamy colour to the render and knock the black back in the final weathering. One of the doors on the left gable can be seen open - looks a very pale green.
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
Making doors innit...
Oversized plasticard scrap placed behind the opening and the opening size marked on it. Holes drilled where the upper glazed area will be. 2x 20x30 and 2x 20x60 thou strips cut.
Opening cut out slightly larger than the glazed area.
20x30 thou placed on edge as the door frame. 20x60 thou placed flat up against it. The 20x60 strip covers part of the window opening.
Repeat on the other side. At this stage whilst the solvent is still setting I offer the door into the opening and adjust the frame to fit snugly.
The top of the frame is fitted using some 20x60 thou on edge. Next is a short piece of 20x60 across the top of the window opening, followed by a 20x80 across the base of the door. In the left hand door you can see that another horizontal of 20x80 has been fitted under the window opening and a vertical piece of 20x60 below it to divide the lower panel into two.
Turning one door over you can see a rebate is formed for the glazing. Now by accident I discovered that the clear plastic used by PECO in their packing only mildly reacts to MEK. So anything you think is fixed to it actually isn't.
I'm using this to my advantage and temporary fixing some to the rear of the door to fit inside the rebate. I then fit the glazing bars on the other side using 15x20 thou. I'll leave these to harden off over night and then pop the glazing to paint the door. After this new glazing will be fitted.
Oversized plasticard scrap placed behind the opening and the opening size marked on it. Holes drilled where the upper glazed area will be. 2x 20x30 and 2x 20x60 thou strips cut.
Opening cut out slightly larger than the glazed area.
20x30 thou placed on edge as the door frame. 20x60 thou placed flat up against it. The 20x60 strip covers part of the window opening.
Repeat on the other side. At this stage whilst the solvent is still setting I offer the door into the opening and adjust the frame to fit snugly.
The top of the frame is fitted using some 20x60 thou on edge. Next is a short piece of 20x60 across the top of the window opening, followed by a 20x80 across the base of the door. In the left hand door you can see that another horizontal of 20x80 has been fitted under the window opening and a vertical piece of 20x60 below it to divide the lower panel into two.
Turning one door over you can see a rebate is formed for the glazing. Now by accident I discovered that the clear plastic used by PECO in their packing only mildly reacts to MEK. So anything you think is fixed to it actually isn't.
I'm using this to my advantage and temporary fixing some to the rear of the door to fit inside the rebate. I then fit the glazing bars on the other side using 15x20 thou. I'll leave these to harden off over night and then pop the glazing to paint the door. After this new glazing will be fitted.
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Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
I forgot something off the to do list. Followers of Southern concrete will know that the provender store should have wooden battens on the inside walls. The kit does provide card bits for them and I had thrown them on the bin. So, I went bin diving, rescued them, painted the card woodish colour and spent ages fixing them to the walls. Obviously I made the job far harder by gluing stuff on the interior first. Doh.
Some of it may even be seen...
Some of it may even be seen...
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
Thanks Mark, spookily enough I've ended up going with c1200mm to the underside of the layout. Seems to be about the right height for me operating. That means track level will be about 1300mm.
Got the fag packet out...
...found some reasonably straight timber in Wickes... and did some chopping.
I now have a kit of parts to assemble...
Sod's Law came into effect when I changed my original design after buying the timber and I was as a result a 6' piece short. A Rummage in the shed later and I found another length which I must have had for 10+ years. Certainly well seasoned!
Came up with a very efficient cutting list and the only scrap bits are the two short lengths standing vertically on the pile. They were only scrap to avoid knots. Onwards...
Got the fag packet out...
...found some reasonably straight timber in Wickes... and did some chopping.
I now have a kit of parts to assemble...
Sod's Law came into effect when I changed my original design after buying the timber and I was as a result a 6' piece short. A Rummage in the shed later and I found another length which I must have had for 10+ years. Certainly well seasoned!
Came up with a very efficient cutting list and the only scrap bits are the two short lengths standing vertically on the pile. They were only scrap to avoid knots. Onwards...
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
So out in the garage again this afternoon. Rain way at various points somewhat sideways and coming under the garage door. Nice.
If you go back about 14 months in the thread you'll note that in the original cutting list, and actually cut, were parts for the fiddle yards. These were planned to be quite petite. 900x300 t the left and something like 600x150 at the right.
Now, a year later I decided to learn from just about every layout I've been involved in. The initial fiddle yards have nearly always been found to be too small when used at shows. So this time I've just gone rogue and made both at 900x500.
That obviously meant that the ply I'd originally cut was a bit small. Nevermind, I had some other larger offcuts. But as usual all the bits were not quite right. So some bodgery was called for.
1020mm long lengths of square timber laid out and the various bits of ply glued and screwed to these. The rail saw was then used to chop them down to the size I wanted.
And now we're at this point...
It's all a bit chicken and egg. I need to sort out the cassettes so I can set the boards to the right height. But I need the boards in so I can sort the board joints out. To do that I need the cassettes.
Looks like I'm making cassettes next then...
If you go back about 14 months in the thread you'll note that in the original cutting list, and actually cut, were parts for the fiddle yards. These were planned to be quite petite. 900x300 t the left and something like 600x150 at the right.
Now, a year later I decided to learn from just about every layout I've been involved in. The initial fiddle yards have nearly always been found to be too small when used at shows. So this time I've just gone rogue and made both at 900x500.
That obviously meant that the ply I'd originally cut was a bit small. Nevermind, I had some other larger offcuts. But as usual all the bits were not quite right. So some bodgery was called for.
1020mm long lengths of square timber laid out and the various bits of ply glued and screwed to these. The rail saw was then used to chop them down to the size I wanted.
And now we're at this point...
It's all a bit chicken and egg. I need to sort out the cassettes so I can set the boards to the right height. But I need the boards in so I can sort the board joints out. To do that I need the cassettes.
Looks like I'm making cassettes next then...
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
A work in progress...
Spacing jig bodged for the track saw.
Something like this perhaps?
These will get used at the ends, probably, maybe.
The ends of the cassettes are angled and this should help vertical alignment. Horizontal alignment and power transfer will be via the same means, probably...
Spacing jig bodged for the track saw.
Something like this perhaps?
These will get used at the ends, probably, maybe.
The ends of the cassettes are angled and this should help vertical alignment. Horizontal alignment and power transfer will be via the same means, probably...
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Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
I had a day off work yesterday so spent it in the train room working on Polsarrett. The aim for the day was to end up with the layout being functional again.
First on the hit list was getting power back to the track. First off was removing the red wire link to the switch panel, it should be a black feed. The short that would have originally occurred didn't as the red wire wasn't actually attached! Then adding in the missing black wire from the controller output to the switch panel. Sounds easy but I was working under the board and really needed 3 hands.
Power was restored and all the section switches worked ok. An early success!
But... Powering up the layout revealed another issue. Somehow over the last 12 months the servos had all unadjusted themselves. It was almost like a gremlin had been along and moved all the mounts so they were in the wrong place. Blades were not closing and the actuator wires in some cases we're sticking quite proud of the tiebar. Weird.
Rather than address that straight away I decided to add the power feed to the fiddle yard. Took a while to work out where I had intended this to come from but got there in the end. Once done I decided to do some testing (why wouldn't you?)
Various items of motive power were tried up and down the line, some having not run for a while. Amazingly most ran well straight from the display cabinet. The worst was a new Adams Radial which seems to bounce and clunk over everything. I don't think I've time to sort it out for the first show.
The Beatty Well Tanks all ran nicely, which is a relief as they are core motive power for the layout. The Heljan 1366 also seemed happy but the droopy coupling snags on turnouts. Bless. one of my Dapol 22s had a run and ran beautifully, could end up being a fallback. Anyway, 2 hours later I had a good idea of the locos that would and wouldn't be going to the first show.
Task avoidance was completed, so attention turned to the servos. First off I released the mounts from the board to free up the blades. This enabled me to see if the problem was glue, ballast lumps or the servo settings. A mixture of all was the answer.
Once freed up the next job was to find better positions for the servo mounts, minor adjustments in most cases. I also remade a couple of the actuator wires as incomprehensibly they were too short. Reassembly is a job that ideally needs 2 sets of eyes and 17 hands, quite frustrating as you need to be above and below board.
Two hours in and two points sorted and reset on the Megapoints controller thingy. Two others quickly followed with minimal work but a fifth, well, suffice to say I have it to do this morning. The air was blue at one point.
The work session did end with me getting some 'help' from No1 daughter. She had a drive of the brake an special but did helpfully point out the carriages were all different colours and had no people in...
First on the hit list was getting power back to the track. First off was removing the red wire link to the switch panel, it should be a black feed. The short that would have originally occurred didn't as the red wire wasn't actually attached! Then adding in the missing black wire from the controller output to the switch panel. Sounds easy but I was working under the board and really needed 3 hands.
Power was restored and all the section switches worked ok. An early success!
But... Powering up the layout revealed another issue. Somehow over the last 12 months the servos had all unadjusted themselves. It was almost like a gremlin had been along and moved all the mounts so they were in the wrong place. Blades were not closing and the actuator wires in some cases we're sticking quite proud of the tiebar. Weird.
Rather than address that straight away I decided to add the power feed to the fiddle yard. Took a while to work out where I had intended this to come from but got there in the end. Once done I decided to do some testing (why wouldn't you?)
Various items of motive power were tried up and down the line, some having not run for a while. Amazingly most ran well straight from the display cabinet. The worst was a new Adams Radial which seems to bounce and clunk over everything. I don't think I've time to sort it out for the first show.
The Beatty Well Tanks all ran nicely, which is a relief as they are core motive power for the layout. The Heljan 1366 also seemed happy but the droopy coupling snags on turnouts. Bless. one of my Dapol 22s had a run and ran beautifully, could end up being a fallback. Anyway, 2 hours later I had a good idea of the locos that would and wouldn't be going to the first show.
Task avoidance was completed, so attention turned to the servos. First off I released the mounts from the board to free up the blades. This enabled me to see if the problem was glue, ballast lumps or the servo settings. A mixture of all was the answer.
Once freed up the next job was to find better positions for the servo mounts, minor adjustments in most cases. I also remade a couple of the actuator wires as incomprehensibly they were too short. Reassembly is a job that ideally needs 2 sets of eyes and 17 hands, quite frustrating as you need to be above and below board.
Two hours in and two points sorted and reset on the Megapoints controller thingy. Two others quickly followed with minimal work but a fifth, well, suffice to say I have it to do this morning. The air was blue at one point.
The work session did end with me getting some 'help' from No1 daughter. She had a drive of the brake an special but did helpfully point out the carriages were all different colours and had no people in...
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Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
All the bits I've built for the layout have been based around putting it up on my own. So the method is:
Here's the layout up with the extra legs knocked up today:
The new legs just sandwich one of the fiddle cross members, friction fit, no bolts. Better still no bounce when heavy pasties are added.
The best bit is that everything fits together with no bolts. Should save time at shows, setting up and braking down.
Oh, and there's drapes in kit form...
I do have a fallback thanks to Mark, some borrowed drapes should I run out of time...
- Set up main trestle legs
- Add the horizontal beams
- Place layout on the beams
- Place fiddle on the new legs, offer up to main board, clamp in place
- Repeat for the other fiddle
- Plug in electrics
- Add drapes (velcro)
- Place stock on cassettes
- Drive
Here's the layout up with the extra legs knocked up today:
The new legs just sandwich one of the fiddle cross members, friction fit, no bolts. Better still no bounce when heavy pasties are added.
The best bit is that everything fits together with no bolts. Should save time at shows, setting up and braking down.
Oh, and there's drapes in kit form...
I do have a fallback thanks to Mark, some borrowed drapes should I run out of time...
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Mark F
Western Thunderer
If I can be of any help with the wagon readying just let me know. Remind me, what's the plan for couplings?
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
As panic sets in I decided that it was time to have a bit of a stock check on where I'm up to with the scenics. I've also added in the 6 trees I got from MBR as recommended by SheepBloke and others. I was worried when they arrived that they would be too tall but I think they are ok.
Will look better once the backscene is fitted.
I think the height of the layout works well.
Will look better once the backscene is fitted.
I think the height of the layout works well.