The Strogaloft - Construction Begins... Again!

[DrStroganoff]

Hello again!

The last couple of days, I have been having a crack at building a motorway bridge. Built from scraps of cardboard, some card tubes, Superquick 'flintstone' paper, and a pack of Heki roadstrip... Have sprayed the supports with grey primer but I ran out after one spraying, so need some more... Also ran out of the roadstrip! Theres always something you run out of !!





Might lower it by a 1/2cm... Still need to do some kind of railing to stop cars driving off the edge, and a central barrier... But I'll figure that out another day..

Also done a little more ballasting, and started yet another level crossing...



The electrical short that I described in my last post is still doing my head in.... If no-ones got any ideas I might have to just buy a new point and see if that does the trick.

[Bufferstop]

High Dr Strog. Is your shorting problem due to the loco wheels covering both rails where the enter the V of the frog. Peco have modified the insulfrogs over the years and brought the rails closer and closer in until there's a very real chance of a loco bridging the two rails. A quick test would be to cut a sliver of thin tape and stick it over the first 5mm of the "straight ahead" frog rail. I know it's difficult to tell from a photo but the left hand checkrail looks to have a generous gap that could be the source of the problem.
Happy hunting
Bufferstop

[DrStroganoff]

Hi Bufferstop, thanks for the suggestion! Great idea that I'd have never thought of! I have only just closed-up the loft, but will definately give that a crack this week.

Nice one

[DrStroganoff]

Well, thanks to Bufferstops genius little plan, my shorting problem is fixed ! A small strip of brown parcel tape on the rail and the problem is solved! Took a bit of trial and error to find exactly where the short was... Great stuff. Good thing about brown tape is that it blends into the trackwork nicely, you wouldnt know it was there!

Thanks again mate!

[Stewart Gethin]

Great to hear it Dr Stroganoff!

The overbridge is looking fab aswell.


Keep it up, please?

Stew.

[DrStroganoff]

Thanks Stewart ! I've been keeping up with your 5" gauge project... you've certainly got your work cut out! Will be awesome when its done though!

Well, as for my layout... I tell you, now I have only one loco, I'm getting loads of layout stuff done!

I've finally decided what to do with the 'bare' side of the layout... Nothing major, a couple of overgrown sidings, and some landscaping, as the layout is a bit flat...

So yesterdays job was fixing cardboard to form the contours for the landscape.... next job to lay wire mesh, then modroc, and then I'm going to get the static grass out, as I havent used any on this layout yet.


And from the other side of the bridge:


Also managed to lower the bridge a 1/2cm


Apologies for the grainy photos... I really need some better lighting on this side of the layout. Its on the long list of things to do!

[Stewart Gethin]

Thanks. A bit more work has been done on it since my lastest update, just haven't taken any pictures as of yet.. Bogged down with exams... Zzzzz...zzzzz...zzzz.

Can't wait to see how this new bit of scenery/bridge area comes out!

Keep it up.

Stew.

[Infrontcat]

Hi there Doc

Bummer about the work side of things but I share your pain right now

At least the layout's still there and it's good to see that you're still continuing to develop things albeit that you're on a budget now. Then again, that will make it all the better when you do something well: nowt like doing a good job on the cheap

Cheers fella

Tim

[DrStroganoff]

Hey guys, cheers for the comments.

I've been plugging away this week, still gluing down wire mesh to form the hills around the motorway bridge. Should finish that tonight and then I can get mod-rocking ! Last night I did a good bit of rail-painting, so I now have a large amount of ballasting to do! Always fun. Actually, I dont mind ballasting, I find it quite therapeutic.

Had a sort out in the loft earlier, as we are doing a car boot sale this Sunday.. and I found a box of N gauge flexi track! Mr Burns voice "Excellent!"

I've got a massive amount of timber in the loft, so I'm thinking whether I might make a little N gauge project to keep me occupied through the summer, a small TMD maybe? I shall have to have a browse through the N gauge section of the forum for some inspiration !!

[thebritfarmer]

What a fantastic layout you are building. I have read the whole thread and have really enjoyed it and picked up some tip, tricks and ideas to use in my own layout once I get started. Keep up the good work and I look forward to the next update.

Regards
Scott

[DrStroganoff]

Hi Scott, and welcome to the forum. Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you have picked up some ideas from my layout! This is a great forum for finding inspiration as there are some great layouts on here. I will look forward to seeing your layout on here !

Finished the wire mesh last night, so this afternoon it was time to get messy with the mod roc ! But typically, I got about 3/4 of the way through and ran out... I did take some pics but they came out particularly bad and not worth posting ! I'll probably be back up the loft tomorrow, so will try and take another pic.

[DrStroganoff]

Evening chaps.

Just been up the loft to give the modroc a lick of brown poster paint... Took a couple of pics to show how this area is coming along.

Next job will be to cover this area with static-grass.







I'm hoping this area will look nice and colourful once the grass is down and plenty of sheep milling about ! It all looks a bit drab atm I know.

Cheers

[DrStroganoff]

Static grass !



Sorry about the poor quality photo... I'm using the mrs' really nice SLR camera, but I just cant get a nice shot on this side of the loft... One day I'll get more than 2 Ikea lamps up there

[DrStroganoff]

Finally sussed out the flash on the mrs camera! So excuse the flash photography, but my loft is very dark...

I had some visitors the other night, and naturally took them up the loft to show off the layout... and I can guarantee, everytime I show somebody up there, something goes horribly wrong... usually derailing, lots of shorting etc.... but this time, we went up there and noticed that in this blistering heat we've been having, a length of track had expanded, popped all of the pins out and was pointing upwards, in a kind of upside-down 'V' shape. I managed to resist attempting a Dukes Of Hazzard style jump with Kestrel..

All fixed this afternoon though... And had a go at wiring up these dummy signals I've been making. All good I think !











And finally, a 'dummy' class 60, which I purchased from a fellow forum member, just for the purpose of looking good in the depot. Bonus feature, cab lighting !!

[DrStroganoff]

Evening chaps, I've been a bit quiet of late, so thought I would post an update !

I started a new job about 5 weeks ago, hence why there hasnt been much going on with the layout. But I have had the odd couple of hours up the loft on the weekends.

The 2 main areas I have been working on are the new station platforms, and the long retaining wall by the TMD.

So, here is the new length of retaining wall... needs bedding in a bit...


I've been trying to think of something to go on top of this wall... then the other day I found a box of forgotten railway items... mostly from my childhood layouts. Among other things, I found a battered Superquick low-relief building, so I plonked it above the retaining wall to check the size, and I think a nice long low-relief street might be on the cards :


Another find from 'the box'.... a little Matchbox loco. I wonder if I could convert this into 009 ?


Here is a shot of the first completed length of platform. The red brick sides are Superquick papers, then for the top surface, I found a JPEG of a concrete texture, took it into Photoshop and added the edging, mounted it onto a cereal box and voila...


Have spent the afternoon painting all of the rails in the station, a big task.

I'm a bit fed up with only having the one loco I've promised the Mrs I wont buy any until after Xmas, until we're back on our feet financially (and then I can bankrupt us with a new fleet! )

I did remember mind, that about a year ago while working for Modelzone, I pre-ordered their Bachmann 2EPB EMU in BR Blue with small yellow panel... So I'm expecting a phone call in the coming weeks... I'm sure I can wangle it