The North Circular - Austerity & Nostalgia.

[Richard08]

Gives a very good impression of a Cornish branch line, they seemed to involve a lot of viaducts just before a stations (or maybe it's that photographers like that kind of shot ).

[Dad-1]

Hi Richard08,

Photographers like a pretty picture, They do miss out gunge, rubbish, scrap, tin buildings
with rust holes in them.

For me scenery, regardless of the work. Yesterday I got the jig-saw going and cut my pond
out of the base.



The removed part then has to have an over-size edging where it will be reattached to the base.
This gives me some 6 mm plus the measly 4 mm of the ply, so a 10 mm deep hole before I add
any extra land form as banks. Part was stuck in yesterday, the rest done today. When this is
reattached it has to be waterproof. Thin resin mixes will creep through any & every small
leakage place it can !!



The first of my styrene topography going in, the local white goods trader happy to help out.



I may have to spend some money - my good quality (Evo stick) woodworking PVA is running low
and will not complete this exercise.

Geoff T.

[Phred]

Dad-1wrote:
I may have to spend some money

[Dad-1]

Hi Phred,

Sad, but I can't do this without spending something.

This shot doesn't really show the ponds potential depth.



The styrene behind my young ladies will be laid all around the ponds edge to represent
the banks.



I've not checked my water mixes to see if they are still usable, not touched from before Covid.
I have yet to do a pond I'm happy with.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Progress not so fast now.
I have started ballasting the rails within the cutting.
The styrene isn't a tight fit to the ply track bed in all places and is not that strong.
I've caulked gaps with wet kitchen towel to prevent ballast falling through.
Now it's stuck in place the whole structure is becoming more secure.
It would be impossible to ballast well when all the cutting sides are added, even
worse when the plaster rockfaces are added - This is a tight rock cutting !!



The overall build up of styrene is taking time. This is a cheap job, never intended
to be rapid !! Currently looking like this.



As previously mentioned this is slightly tighter than 1st radius. I've tested an old Lima
Prairie and it copes easily. Remember older stock is the Austerity factor !

Geoff T.

[End2end]

The speed and veracity of your modelling puts us all to shame Geoff.
That's a clever way to make a pond too.
I don't think I've seen that technique before.
Just out of interest, what are you using to cut the styrene?

Looking forward to more as the build progresses.
Thanks
End2end

[Phred]

Your young ladies look quite fascinated with the pond works. Looking really interesting now (the build, I mean, not the young ladies).

[Dad-1]

Phred,

That group of young ladies have been causing trouble for years, here
back in 2009 !!



E2E,

Just experience, tried lots of ideas, some worked, others well we forget them !!
The several layers to develop a stream/river bed was tried on one of my Dioramas.
Because it was done in a rush I never added in the waterside greenery I should have
done - this is a chance to correct that.



That's why I used to love making small Dioramas. This one is a larger diorama that I've
decided to call a layout.
Cutting messy Styrene !!, scalpel for thin stuff, old bread knife for thicker, then a
12" hack-saw blade to saw through big lumps !!
What a mess though, always need the vacuum cleaner art hand.

Geoff T

[End2end]

That looks like some divine intervention on the ladies in the top picture.

As cutting styrene is so messy do you not use any hot wire tools?
Although I haven't tried it yet I do have a small one squirreled away somewhere.
Thanks
End2end

[Phred]

Dad-1 wrote:
That group of young ladies have been causing trouble for years

Ah - it's not just Doc Martin who has those sorts hanging around then!

End2end wrote:
That looks like some divine intervention on the ladies in the top picture

Didn't notice that until you mentioned it. When I was a school photographer (one of my many incarnations) that 'God Light' was much prized when it was accidentally captured, especially in First Communion photos. The parents at Catholic schools loved it.

[Dad-1]

Hi E2E,

No, I have thought about 'Hot Wire', but always tended to use thinner styrene in
the form of ceiling tiles. This was tougher than packaging, but as it was in thin
sheets a scalpel was ideal to cut out the required shapes to make up box structures.
My source was in Northampton, with nothing available locally in Dorset, that is IF
they are still made !! My old stock now exhausted.

This wee play thing is probably my last so I shall work my way through the free
styrene packaging, chopping up into random pieces as I feel may work. This is
going to take quite a while, but I'm happy enough due to running while working.
Today my little Roxey Mouldings 'Howard' is the work horse. When I built my Roxey
kits there were few good 0-4-0's on the market - just the Hornby generic chassis with
different bodies. Now Sentinels, Pecketts, Rustons, Y7's ??, Andrew Barclay. The Rapido
Y7 would have been interesting but the price !!!

Geoff T.

[Bufferstop]

For "freehand" poly cutting a Weller or cheapo substitute soldering gun works well, remove the tip and replace it with a loop of thin copper wire, I used to use a bit of bell wire. Just hold the trigger until the styrene starts to flow, then it's a quick blast every time it starts to cool. Always remembering to lift the tip from the work whilst it was still flowing otherwise you end up with the working end solidly stuck in a poly block. I've got a shop bought cutter (I think it came from Proops, but I gave up on the wires they supply, they cost. I substituted a roll of tungsten wire that I discovered in a work suit pocket after I left Rank Xerox, it'll see me out! It was the corona wire of choice when I started, banned by the time I left, it just never left the pocket. I've managed to cut everything needed including trimming some 50mm slabs, I had the design for a thing like a bench fret saw with an 18" throat but never needed to build it.
Now when it comes to water ponds and canals have a built in advantage, still water" two or three layers of transparent film "OHPs" each with a different water colored pattern on it become quite convincing, they don't have to be truly flat, your brain tells your eyes that any distortion is an optical illusion because it knows water is flat. My canal has a 4mm deep camber with a narrowboat sitting on it causing a slight depression. Several visitors have asked be how I got the ripples in the refection, easy just make the boat heavy enough to press down on the film.

[Dad-1]

After my holiday away I'm back on this project.
Before I can finish all the styrene embankments, even the rocky hill, I need to
sort out the small stream that exits under the embankment.
I happened to have a spare poorly constructed Dapol oil tank that will be the pipe.
I cut away enough for it to pass easily under the trackbed. Then I needed to decide
what sort of masonry. I have some embossed stone plasticard and here is an initial
hole for the pipe.



Obviously still a lot to do on this before it'll look anywhere near 'right'.
While this embossed plastic was out I tried an off-cut along the track embankment
where it exits from the narrow rocky cutting. I still can't decide if I have a length
so supported, or just keep to a rocky cliff like section alongside the steep fall into
the lake.



Of course it'll be boring to drive, but scenically it's pushing limits and to some degree that's
what this is about - turning nothing into a something that will I hope, be good to look at.

Ahh the runner bean seeds - starting to set some aside for next year.

Geoff T.

[Phred]

Runner bean seeds! I thought they were jelly beans.
The pond looks very promising.

[Dad-1]

Slow freight - To go to sleep to. Better than counting sheep ?

https://youtu.be/DuUDJQhiul0

Geoff T.