Waton - N gauge challenge

[Ben A]

I really like the way you've modelled the end of the platform overgrown - a nicely observed scenic touch.

cheers

Ben A.

[NSE DAZ]

Hi there, i must say your layout is starting to take shape i love the attention to detail

Keep up the good work and updates

Thanks Darren NSE DAZ

[0121modeller]

I've been watching this thread since about the early stages & i have to now say i'm really impressed , & by the looks it'll turn out to be a real stunner just as your 4mm project was.

The Water Orton name caught my attention too, as its only 7 miles from me on the outskirts of birmingham.
A nice location to model I think, some attractive unspoilt buildings boardering lots of greenery & such features as the river, diverging rail lines & of course those all important rail bridges .

During my time as a driver working for the Birmingham Mail, I would have to drive through the Whitacre heath / Coleshill & Water Orton area on a boxing day & new years eve overtime run, as it was'nt really a time dependant run I had the chance to really admire this unspoilt & lovely area & its features.

Inspirational top modelling mate

Dave.

[SR/ScR Fan]

Dave,

I watch your layout constantly and with each update i'm stunned ever more with your skill and attention to detail. Is finescale track hard to build? I'm not amazing with a soldering iron, and i could never get it to look as good as yours, but do you have any tips on getting quality hand made track?

Cheers,

Rob

[ElDavo]

...Is finescale track hard to build? I'm not amazing with a soldering iron, and i could never get it to look as good as yours, but do you have any tips on getting quality hand made track? ...

Hi Rob, It's really not that difficult, fiddly yes, but really just a matter of patience. I learnt quite a lot building the OO pointwork for Cramdin Yard and building the track for Waton has really been just more of the same but smaller. If you can solder a wire to a rail neatly and cleanly then you don't really need any more soldering skills than that. The key as ever is having clean pieces of rail and copperclad sleepers, using a decent flux (I used Carrs red) and having a soldering iron with a nice clean tip. The solder will do the rest.

You can help yourself a lot by using jigs for assembly which you can buy or, if you are a cheapskate like me, building them yourself from card. Assembling the point frog can be fiddly without a jig but having said that I didn't use one for any of the points on Waton. One nice thing about building using copperclad sleepers and soldering is that you can always adjust things. A touch with the iron and a rail or checkrail can be eased a tad to get things running smoothly.

If you take your time and are prepared to rework bits that aren't quite right I believe pretty much anyone can build track and pointwork. There is very little magic involved but having a basic understanding of how turnouts work is a great help as the critical dimensions and setup are not obvious at first glance. There are a number of books around that give more info if you want to get into it in depth but I got my hand in by building an SMP OO point kit. All the bits you need and instructions in one bag. I'm happy to provide more pointers if you are interested.

In the end it is quite surprising how even a piece of track or turnout that looks pretty rough in its raw rail and copper state can be made to look passable by careful ballasting and a few appropriate dabs with a paintbrush!

Cheers
Dave

[SR/ScR Fan]

Dave,

Thanks for the inspiring and useful reply. I'm very tempted to give hand built track a go, and your layout was the inspiration for that. I shall do some more research and see if i can give it a go.

Cheers,

Rob

[ElDavo]

While my nose recovers from too much inhaled static grass fibres, which I seem to be rapidly running out of, I decided to play around some more with Scalescenes textures for the roads. Here boards 2 and 3 have been coupled to check out the alignment of some of the scenic elements. There's a lot of green and still plenty of bare patches!



On board 3 I have mapped out a car park. It's much smaller than the car park at Water Orton due to the lack of baseboard width but hopefully it will eventually have enough features to give a flavour. This is made up of a patchwork quilt of Scalescenes bits which have been glued down with PVA or Pritt stick and then given a squirt of Testors dull coat to seal the printing. I've started to mess around with weathering powders to blend things together. I think it can be made to work.



Cheers
Dave

[ste234]

Looks good Dave, on the platform, what about extending it to the base of the road bridge,might give you that little extra length?
Ste.

[grippets]

Looking really good mate

[ElDavo]

Looks good Dave, on the platform, what about extending it to the base of the road bridge,might give you that little extra length?
Ste.

Unfortunately I can't really do that. I'm basing the station building on the one at Water Orton and it will fit into that spot between the bridges and the platform (hopefully). I'll just have to shorten the trains.

Cheers
Dave

[champion]

Fine work there and" bless you".

richard

[DonB]

Looking superb, Dave!
I have to keep reminding myself that this layout is N gauge!

While my nose recovers from too much inhaled static grass fibres...

Gesundheit.
I have the same problem with scenic scatter, being a Hayfever sufferer...

Cheers,

Don

[ElDavo]

I've spent a bit of time fiddling with the roads and pretty much everything is now laid. It looks like a bit of a switchback at the moment as there is nothing to blend it into the landscape.



The junction of the road running along the boards with the road overbridge by the station was a bit of a nightmare to build and required rather too many cuts and joins. It's going to be tricky to disguise all the joints but there must be a way to do it. So far I've filled some of the pavement gaps with Tetrion filler mixed with black acrylic paint then I've attacked all of it with black weathering powder. It improves the colour of the road and takes away any shine but it hasn't completely hidden the joins.



The car park has had a bit more work and the joins are starting to go but as this close-up shows I still have a fair bit of work to do on the pavements!



Hey ho.

Cheers
Dave

[Eastern]

Quick question Dave - how do you apply your static grass? I have seen that the Noch grassmaster is quite spendy. In between are DIY applicators as well as the Noch 'puff-bottle'-not forgetting the static balloon trick Just really impressed at the results you are getting.

[champion]

Dave
Top marks there mate ,looks so real have myself travelled through there on peterborough-new st whilst heading for the S.V.R.

regards.

richard.