Old Warren TMD - The Final Curtain

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cmeonthemove
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Old Warren TMD - The Final Curtain

Post by cmeonthemove »

Continuing on from my previous thread the Old Warren TMD layout is now under construction.

To recap, this is a 6.5 x 2.5 ft layout in N gauge depicting a fictional TMD based in a hilly rural landscape. The twin loops are to run through tunnels either side and around the back to give the impression of a track going past the TMD rather than looping round it.

At the moment my efforts are concentrated on the left hand end of the layout where the motorway crosses over the railway and the entrance to the depot. There is also a B-road running underneath the motorway to head past and provide access to the TMD before heading up and over the hills on the right hand end.

The road for the motorway is now done, apart from the crash barriers. The road is based on an offcut of MDF. The surface was painted with a mix of greys and thinned 'smoke' paint, then lined with trimline tape for road markings and cats-eyes applied with paint on a cocktail stick. A thin strip of grassmat was used for the central reservation before the whole road was given a thin wash of black to tone down the lane markings a bit.

The bank was made from ceiling coving infilled with polystyrene. A wash of matt earth paint was applied then scatter applied using a spray of diluted PVA. The trees were cut down from 00 gauge wire & flock trees used previously on an 00 gauge diorama. The banks were edged with hardboard painted grey to simulate concrete, and a mirror placed behind the B-road entrance to hide the track behind and give the illusion of the other end of the bridge under the motorway.

The railway tunnel under the motorway was lined with cereal packet card painted grey for a concrete lining. The bridge facing is evergreen I-beam, with a similar facing planned for the road bridge.

Some updated photos:-

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Last edited by cmeonthemove on Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:23 pm, edited 7 times in total.
cmeonthemove
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by cmeonthemove »

My first ever attempt at a full weathering and ballasting session. So far the visible part of the outer loop has been done, although I haven't yet glued the ballast down. Once the inner loop is ballasted I'll then glue it al down & dull it down a bit with a wash of grime.

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Rammy
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by Rammy »

Looks like you've made a cracking start! Nice work on the road and embankments.
Ballasting looking good too.
As a 00 modeller, I still get surprised by how little room an N gauge layout needs.
Keep us posted with more pics as you make progress

Dave
My layouts (in progress):
Image and Image
iankemp
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by iankemp »

makes me wonder how much i'd get in on mine if i went to n guage! not saying i will switch to N from 00! Cost me a fortune to switch!
cmeonthemove
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by cmeonthemove »

I've now got both loops ballasted although the inner loop ballast is yet to be glued down as it may still need a bit of adjustment when the sidings are added. At the moment this loop is tacked down with double sided tape. The outer loop ballast is now glued down and running nicely after a good clean. I've also extended the front of the layout a little with some spare timber which is lined with grass mat. Just need some railings here and a few weeds to finish this bit off.

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The timberwork for the scenery beside the motorway is now done. This is a separate board to the motorway itself and is removable to deal with any derailments, track cleaning etc that need doing under the tunnel. Next task here will be to start building up the hill leading down to the motorway.

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I finished up this month's budget on some spare straights and the first set of points to go into the depot layout so I can now started mapping out the roads leading to the depot and the industrial estate. A quick visit to Hattons website gave me the dimensions of the buildings I intend to feature in the estate so I could print off some scale pictures to map out the layout. The roads and car parks were then painted on using a mix of Humbrol 156 & matt black. The lines were all individually cut from trimline tape including the direction arrows and weathered once laid.

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Rammy wrote:Looks like you've made a cracking start! Nice work on the road and embankments.
Ballasting looking good too.
As a 00 modeller, I still get surprised by how little room an N gauge layout needs.
Keep us posted with more pics as you make progress

Dave
This is exactly what I thought when I saw Total N Gauge's layout at the Norwich model railway exhibition in April. It was this that inspired me to have a go at an N gauge layout.
iankemp wrote:makes me wonder how much i'd get in on mine if i went to n guage! not saying i will switch to N from 00! Cost me a fortune to switch!
How big is your 00 layout?
cmeonthemove
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by cmeonthemove »

Small update:-

Final module of the track cover is now cut to shape (back right corner). This will house the road as it rises over the back hill off the layout. I've just got the front supports to build now.

Whilst tinkering around with some ebay-bought track I've now decided on a passing loop off the inner loop which will also cross over to the outer loop. This means once again I have altered the track plan, and will probably need to re-jig the industrial estate again too.

This is the updated track plan:-

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And some update pics:-

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I had a bit of a small disaster this morning whilst testing the cross-over into the new loop. The points on the outer loop for some reason arced and melted the switch, thus rendering the points useless. Fortunately I had a spare set of points of the same size (SL388) which I replaced them with - not an easy job as the original set were already ballasted and stuck down. I can only think some of the weathering paint got into the mechanism and caused some resistance between the point rodding. Another lesson learned - be careful where you paint pointwork!
0121modeller
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by 0121modeller »

Great looking work chris & some great google earth birds eye view & street level images in last few pics... hold on, they are really google earth are'nt they ? :lol: :wink:

Seriously, that's some great modelling pics there Chris, your N project is progressing really well.

Dave.
Scratchbuilding 4mm scale JXA scrapwagons ; - http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Fo ... =6&t=37620
Scratchbuilt & kit built grappler claw cranes ; - http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Fo ... =6&t=36342
cmeonthemove
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by cmeonthemove »

0121modeller wrote:Great looking work chris & some great google earth birds eye view & street level images in last few pics... hold on, they are really google earth are'nt they ? :lol: :wink:

Seriously, that's some great modelling pics there Chris, your N project is progressing really well.

Dave.
Cheers Dave

Yes it didn't take long for Google street map to find it did it? Hang on, that's just given me an idea for a scenic feature... Anyone know what cars Google Streetmap use?
Rammy
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by Rammy »

This pic is fab:

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This industrial estate is looking great now the trees are in. Very impressed by your roads.

Dave
My layouts (in progress):
Image and Image
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Polyrhythms
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by Polyrhythms »

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/mult ... 02790c.jpg

Ford Astra I think?

Also, I agree with the above comments: your roads are brilliant, you should be very proud of them. Far too many layouts are let down by crappy roads!
cmeonthemove
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by cmeonthemove »

Polyrhythms wrote:http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/mult ... 02790c.jpg

Ford Astra I think?

Also, I agree with the above comments: your roads are brilliant, you should be very proud of them. Far too many layouts are let down by crappy roads!
Astras are Vauxhalls, but that's the jobby cheers! :D Not sure if you can get N gauge Astras though so I might have to apply some modellers licence and use one of the Wiking models.
jack richards
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by jack richards »

Totall agree about roads, mine are bad on my layout.

These are great any tips please?

Jack
cmeonthemove
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by cmeonthemove »

The method I used for the roads is quite simple if a little tedious:-

The road is brush painted with a mix of Humbrol 156 grey & matt black (approx 60/40) slightly thinned with each lane being approx 2cm wide. The white lines are made using 1mm wide Trimline tape. The hazard lines are 1.5cm long and the short lane dividers 0.5cm. Yes each line was cut and applied individually! The direction arrows & Give Way chevrons were cut out of a thick piece of trimline, after marking out the shape then cutting with a sharp hobby knife. The pavements were cut out of an old cereal box and painted with the same grey/black mix. The cats eyes are simply blobs of silver paint applied with a cocktail stick.
MrT
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by MrT »

Hi Chris,

This looks like it'll be a corking layout, thanks for posting some pics. Just out of interest, what is the radius of your inner loop?
cmeonthemove
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Re: Old Warren TMD now under construction

Post by cmeonthemove »

MrT wrote:Hi Chris,

This looks like it'll be a corking layout, thanks for posting some pics. Just out of interest, what is the radius of your inner loop?
Hi Mike
The inner loop is 3rd radius, but with the front quarter of each curve replaced by flexitrack to give a more natural curve into the straight.
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