2-2-Toot Scenic Adventure

[VerdevaleRailway]

There appears to be too much inactivity with the toot toot adventure

A virtual flurry of activity I tell you

I ummed and ahhed about which lot of track to use, the sad lot or the pristine lot, but I weakened and used the sad lot. I'm going to solder up each piece of track anyway, and I I kinda felt sad that as it may all end up in a dumpster one day, that to use the pristine lot would be be a loss. I may do a roundy with it to run the old jinty before use. Especially as it probably needs a good service and maybe a new magnet. But I have digressed.....

Track on the board and a track rubber to gauge a ballast shoulder....



next I used 45mm wide X 50mm high foam board, and cut out little wedges with the drop saw. About 92 degrees worked about right for the curves....



Then used the dremel to bevel the edges. I could have just used a knife but I wanted to see how the thing woked on the foam board....



The final task for the day was putting in the landfill using V,R,'s patented ersatz pavlova fill. Mix 1/2 cup pva, 1/2 cup water and a dash of dishwashing liquid. Mix in 6 litres of bean bag beads, 1 litre at a time. let rest for 30 minutes. Mix it around then dump and push it around with a spatula or your hands. Add another litre of beads as you get to the end of your mix. Clean up then have a lie down for a day or two.....

[nickbrad]

I'm moving along slowly with ground cover on mine, but drying times coupled with poor light means I haven't got around to taking a pic.

[carnehan]

V.R. I like the use of bean bag beads for creating relief on the layout but I don't fancy the clean up. Is it your intention, once the beads have set to carve out the riverbed beneath the bridge?

Paul

[VerdevaleRailway]

Hi Paul, no it is pushed in, hard to pick up in the pic, but may need a bead or two removed. Clean up is easy, just let what ever is in the plastic tub dry then peel it off.

[carnehan]

Ahh yes, on closer viewing I can see that now.

Paul

[VerdevaleRailway]

Today, covered all with a papier mache mix. Used plain old brown paper lunch bags, the pva was a 1 to 2 mix with water. And used paper towel tp soak up the puddles. Doing the vertical surfaces was achievable, but was a tad more time consuming that I would have thought. Nevertheless, progress

Is it Bufferstop I have to credit for using brown paper??

[Bufferstop]

My brown paper comes from 3ply postage sacks. My wife and her associates use them to send bundles of exam scripts and project work between themselves and the exam boards. When the contents are to be returned to the board for archiving, they get a clean sack and I get the one covered in addresses. cut into 1" wide strips each sack provides enough brown paper for around a 2foot square of scenery. Soaked with PVA and allowed to dry it forms a hard brown shell, supported on rough formers of expanded poly sheet, stood on edge so that it is in approximately 6" square cells it forms a strong base for static grass and flocks. It passes the "cat's inspection test" Providing the original contours look right the decision to plant a building of some sort, or widen a cutting results in landforms that look like the real thing.

Here's a photo from the scenery building competition, where I cut into the slope of a field to plant a square "ruined tower"

I went on to cut the polystyrene to provide a level support for the base which was made from that square of greyboard top left.

[carnehan]

The bridge section is nearing completion now with the girder section weathered, brickwork painted and weathered and capping stones applied - these need a drop of paint added and weathered. I need to complete this area prior to fixing down the strip of ply for the trackbed otherwise it'll prove very difficult to do scenics beneath the bridge. I gave the canal bed a lick of olive green acrylic paint to represent the water and began layering up with gloss varnish. However, with each application the colour darkened further to a point I'm not happy with its tone so will have to start this again. Perhaps a drop of white in the mix will soften it enough.

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Another section of the bridge still needing done are the cappings to the brick sections above the trackbed. I designed the bridge with very tight measurements meaning that these capping pieces will have to be added after the final installation is done.

On the note of fitting the girder section, when I designed it I knew there would be a complication in working the plasticard brick round the plate girders. To resolve this I planned in advance a nifty little solution. The plasticard on the abutments had a little extra section extending beyond the card former.

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On the bridge itself I ensured the plate girders had a gap at each end just wide enough to let this slip of plasticard slide in to place.

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This solution has two positive outcomes, the first allows for a tidier looking abutment beneath and secondly, the abutments can be glued in to place with the plasticard slips acting as guides for the correct positioning of the bridge every time. I can now remove the bridge as often as I wish with the knowledge it will sit back in the exact position it's intended to. It's difficult to see in the following photo but hopefully demonstrates enough what I was trying to achieve.

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Paul

[VerdevaleRailway]

That was a clever and simple way to line that up Paul. I'm filing that away in the my cramped vault

I've had a go at the mozzie zapper. And I was fairly dissapointed in it's effectiveness. It's supposed to run on 3 volts, so I hooked it up to a workshop transformer with varying voltages. It's ok with with 4 volts, but 6 volts killed it! Who would have thunk it??? So I'll start again with a higher voltage negative ion generator.

[Bufferstop]

I've had a go at the mozzie zapper. And I was fairly dissapointed in it's effectiveness. It's supposed to run on 3 volts, so I hooked it up to a workshop transformer with varying voltages. It's ok with with 4 volts, but 6 volts killed it! :twisted.

My zapper/tea-strainer works ok off the two AA cells of the original swatter. It performs better if the underlying surface is wet, so if using a strong adhesive mix spray the surface first and keep the grounding pin/clip close to the area being worked on. It's not as fast as the ones sold by Green Scenes and the like, but then it only cost £2 as I bought the bits in Poundland.

[carnehan]

Cracking bridge Paul

Thanks Dave.

The canal watery bits are now complete. As stated previously, I wasn't happy with the colour tones or the varnishing effects so a new layer of card was positioned on the bed and applied, this time, with an acrylic mix of olive green, crimson brown and white. Instead of applying brushed layers of varnish I opted for the more radical approach of pouring it on instead. Prior to doing this, I affixed the brick plasticard to the sides and added a touch of blended turf to represent algae on the walls.

Ensuring the ends were sealed up and the board perfectly level I poured a thin layer direct from the pot on to the surface. I needed a safe warm place away from small hands to leave the diorama to dry out thoroughly so it ended up being done on top of the kitchen cupboards! Sheets of paper were draped over the top to ensure dust didn't settle on the paint during the drying process. I initially thought I would apply a couple of layers in a similar fashion but have decided against that. Im pleased with the effect achieved from the first application so don't want to muck it up by doing more!

Three days drying and here is get state of play.

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Next up is the towpath and undergrowth beneath the bridge so I can fit all in place and start work on the landscaping and trackwork.

Paul

[TimberSurf]

I like the "Salts" bleeding from the brick, its almost as good as mine! viewtopic.php?f=22&t=44849&start=45#p626154

[carnehan]

I like the "Salts" bleeding from the brick, its almost as good as mine! viewtopic.php?f=22&t=44849&start=45#p626154

Almost!

I've been working on the detailing beneath the bridge in order that it can be fixed permanently in place. The path has been produced using coarse grit sandpaper painted and weathered and various flocks, blended turf and static grass applied for the undergrowth.

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Now time to move on to the embankments and rolling fields.

Paul

[nickbrad]

For better or worse, I've just done my first pouring for the river, hopefully I have sealed it enough to prevent leakage, but i'll report back in a day or 2 on how it went.

[Kerluk]

I'll be here to check it !