The Strogaloft - Construction Begins... Again!

[Infrontcat]

Splendid set of pics old bean! Really like the snaps of the workmen: gives it a 'real' feel every time (Gosh, that sounds a bit pervy... )

Is there areason the station ballasting hasn't been done yet mate, like deciding what sort to get or somat?

Cheers mate

Tim

[DrStroganoff]

Cheers for the comments lads.

Is there areason the station ballasting hasn't been done yet mate, like deciding what sort to get or somat?

Basically the first bit of ballasting I did was that bit between the tracks at the station.... I had bought a load of ballast when it was on sale in hobbycraft... and it turned out it was too fine, and light in colour.. so for the rest of the layout I've been using a medium grade... So I need to go back and reballast that area.

[DrStroganoff]

The ViTrains 37 arrived this morning... Very nice looking, my only gripe with it is that the yellow on the nose-ends is too lemony... But luckily the noses are seperate mouldings, and will be very easy to repaint. It will certainly need a good weathering !



While the 37 has been having a good run, I decided to do some more with the derelict factories/siding... glueing plenty of bushes around to make it look more overgrown...
The glue is still drying!

[DrStroganoff]

Evening chaps.

Today I finally got my hands on a Heljan Class 58 ! Really pleased with it, it looks the part and runs faultlessly. Heljan definately continue to be my favourite manufacturer !

I think the ViTrains 37 will be moving on this week... It just doesnt stand up to the Heljan efforts, its a bit noisy, and it doesnt like my 'concrete' area in the depot. Neither does the 08 that I picked up recently, stalls on every point (even after a good wheel & track cleaning)... I just havent got time for locos that dont run perfectly, they just frustrate me terribly... I strive for perfection !

I'm now very much looking forward to Heljans releases over the next few months, Lion, CoBo and Baby Deltic... (especially the co-bo !)





The 58 has been crawling around the layout at a snails pace (purposely) with the PDA tankers...


Still trying to decide what to do with this big area...


After seeing Retromans awesome steelworks, I'm thinking I might go for some massive Walthers structure for this area.... it will have to be a cement works of some sort, been as I have the PDA rake !

[DrStroganoff]

Couple more pictures....

Have been playing around with scenics surrounding the TMD.... Bought a pack of Noch 'Grass Tufts', which seem quite effective.







And did a bit of painting on the level crossing

[siquelme]

Great layout ... This layout has the best use of model people i have seen on this fourm. Espically the perm way crews.

Keep up the great work

[DrStroganoff]

Have been rather productive the last few days... did a big session of rail-painting, done about half the layout in one session.... was a bit sloppy with the painting actually, but have cleaned up the rail surfaces and the locos are running fine... I am planning to airbrush the lot eventually, so that will tone down the rail colour and make everything nice and grimy...
Then after the rails had dried I decided to get ballasting, did a good lot of that, but then ran out of ballast halfway through doing the station...



Ballasting is not really my strong point, I can never seem to get it to look 'neat'

Just took the photos this afternoon, but the ballast isnt completely dry yet, will leave any running until tomorrow!

Next mission is fitting some more dropper wires to the bus.... ordered a new tip for my soldering iron and am going to have a crack... (theres only droppers on half the layout at the moment! )

[DrStroganoff]

Hello chaps.

Yesterday I had a random desire to have a crack at scratch building... I decided to finally crack on and build the Motorail Terminal for the station, which I've been meaning to do for ages...

So if you've ever wondered why I've got a random ramp letting cars drive onto the platform... heres why !





Shame the following one came out blurry... you can see right over to the other side of the layout...


Night time:


Obligatory Kestrel Shot:


The building was made out of bits of Metcalfe card, and I printed out the signs and mounted them on card. I think it would look better with some airbrush weathering and a varnish...

[Kentman98]

Hi,

Just been looking back through some of the recent pictures and can see you have put a lot of effort into this. Some really nice attention to detail. I also particulary like the warehouse scene

I know how you feel about the ballasting...can be a tiresome job and you can spend hours making it look right and still not be satisifed I think yours is fine though, judging by the majority of the photos.

The car terminal looks good too, only thing I am not sure about is the decision to blind the drivers with that spotlight

[DrStroganoff]

Cheers matey.

You wouldnt believe it, but the 'spotlight' is actually a Viessmann Illuminated Clock ! But its way too bright !!! It looks better when its off actually, I should disconnect it maybe.

[DrStroganoff]

Hey guys.

Well you might have noticed from my Classified ad, that I am selling up most of my locos and stock for the time being... Its a bit of a sucker, but I'm rather skint atm, and havent had much luck in finding a job. So the plan is, sell up for now (I dont tend to go up the loft much in the summer anyway), and then buy up some new stock in the winter when I will hopefully be working again!

I have got plenty of scenic work to keep me occupied during any rainy days, such as this weekend! I had a mate over yesterday who kindly did a bit of soldering for me, so have got a few new dropper wires installed on the main lines... I'm about to try to do some more this afternoon...

But, my biggest layout problem at the moment is that I all locos are shorting out over one particular set of points... At first I thought it was the adjacent crossover causing the short, but on close inspection it is actually the point to the right causing the problem...


I have attempted to illustrate where the short occurs:




If the point is set to straight ahead (into the long siding/station), the loco will happily crawl through the point... but if it is set to left (continue on the main line), it will short after it crosses the frog, and before it reaches the crossover...

Another problem in this area, is that my coaches tend to cause a short on the actual crossover... but I think this is more than likely to do with back-to-back measurements, and a different problem entirely to the shorting out....

Anyone had this rproblem before? any ideas?

Aside from that, I finally fitted level crossing barriers !

[DrStroganoff]

re: the shorting... I should mention that they are Peco Insulfrog points... and have been testing using Heljan and Bachmann locos... Kestrel, Falcon, Hymek and Warship.... all with the same result.. And all wheels and track have been thoroughly cleaned.

[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