Shadowlands and Tellynott

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great structure...Love the verticality of it - it will certainly serve the look you're after for the scene.

Love everything you're doing

John

Thanks, John.

You are right - it really suits what I am trying to create.  Thanks for following along and all your comments.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

While I'm uploading progress from module 3B and 2B I though I would pop in a few shots from my track changes underneath here that I have been working on over the last couple of evenings. 

Photo 1 - My new track arrangement for the loop (also on page 39, but rotated 180 degrees to help orient you).  This plan shows the staging, fiddle yard and return cutoff at Neil's Crossing/ Jamestown.  The black line running across the bottom of the picture is the backdrop which splits modules 3A and 3B, and 2A and 2B (and also divides the room into Tellynott and Shadowlands).  The area we have just been looking at (with the two mines) is the area below this black line on the plan (but physically above the track work on the layout shown in the photos in this post).  Module 2B is to the left, module 3B to the right.


Photo 2 - shows the view underneath the two mines where the tracks turn to head into Neil's Crossing and Jamestown.  To the right you can see where I have lifted the track that used to run straight through.


Photo 3 - Here is the track to the right running into module 11.


Photo 4 - Shows a view from down past Freda mine looking back towards module 11.  Hopefully this will give you your bearings.


Photo 5 - And here is a shot looking straight down the line as it heads into the hidden staging and fiddle yard.  Track laying under here is rather challenging!  Especially getting that eyeometre1969 into position!  Fortunately, my camera is a much smaller tool!


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Dave Buchholz]

What sensors do you intent to use to show the position of rolling stock in the hidden underneath sidings. I'm assuming it will not be directly visible.

 Fifth Dave on the right, (about 12000 miles to the right, and north several thousand more)

[Mark Dalrymple]

What sensors do you intent to use to show the position of rolling stock in the sidings. I'm assuming it will not be directly visible.

 Fifth Dave on the right, (about 12000 miles to the right, and north several thousand more)

Hi Dave.

I did a fair bit of the 1:1 scale planning, benchwork and cork road bed, while sitting on a computer chair.  At this height everything is pretty visible.  I might have a chair each side of the peninsula - one for the fiddle yard, one for the staging, and see how this goes first.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Right - some benchwork.

Photo 1 - So using 3 small brads I nailed my 2.5mm MDF to the edge of a 16mm board and cut to shape with my jigsaw. The square is lining the end up with the previous module. I put this in position and then redid my trackwork carefully and marked it all with a pencil. I marked where I wanted pieces of the board low to have scenery below the track height and also marked where I needed the trackbed cut for where the gradients changed.


Photo 2 - after cutting out the various sections I spliced the back piece of roadbed to the front piece. I added another piece of 16mm MDF underneath and everything was screwed and glued. Here we have everything in position and the spacers have been replaced with risers. I also used the layout baseboard frontage to cut a duplicate piece which you can see in position with jack studs attached between this and the baseboard. I will add droppers to the existing layout and then joists between for the lower trackbed.


Photo 3 - This one shows where the gradient changes and where I spliced the two baseboards together. The back section is not yet glued and screwed (nor the rises) as I am waiting for my cork roadbed to arrive to check my heights between Shadowlands and Tellynott. I like the drama set up by having the track curve in the opposite direction to the layout frontage.


Photo 4 - This shows the two modules side by side. Where there is a step in the bottom of the layout is where these two sections meet.  The section to the left is module 2(B) and to the right is 3(B).  You can see I am a lot further on here.  The lower layer of supporting benchwork and track bed has been completed.


Photo 5 - here we are to the left of the mine, almost at the join of module 2 and module 5. The mainline will go into a tunnel about midway between the two studs nearest the mine. The turnout to Tellynott will be just to the left of the tunnel entrance (the hole in the backdrop goes through to Tellynott).

 
More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

So moving back to the future...

I had stored some of my assemblies for my large scratchbuild inspired by the FOS scale kit 'Rust rock falls' in a plastic snap lock box.  It must have had a perfect combination of moisture, sun and mold spores, and so when I took it out to work on it a few weeks ago, it was growing!  I tried washing it down multiple times with isopropyl alcohol and then a strong bleach solution, but I could still smell the mold.  I talked to my friend, Craig, who works at the university in the microbiology department and it was decided that the plastic parts could be saved, and I could try putting the wooden parts in the oven for an hour at 121 degrees C.  After cutting out the windows and cutting off the plastic parts and removing any trace of wooden bracing, I washed and scrubbed everything in a strong bleach solution.  I decided to bin the rest of the wooden walls and rebuild.  Maybe I was being paranoid, but I just didn't trust that all those spores would be killed in the oven.  The last thing I wanted was them spread to other parts of my layout.  This weekend we had a modelling weekend at a trampers house at Arthurs Pass.  We stacked all the furniture from the lounge in the carport, and brought in the modelling tables.  Modelling started at lunch time on Friday and went through to lunch time on Sunday.  In that time I managed to cut all the walls, cut all the openings, paint all the walls and trim, assemble the two main structures and add the doors and windows.  I also built and added the subassembly to the side of one of the two structures, and built two of the three cupolas that are needed for the complex.


Photo 1 - shows the two main structures rebuilt with the cupolas sitting on top.  These little sub assemblies were very time consuming and fiddly to scratchbuild!  I still have to trim the clapboard on the side of the longer one (after the glue had cured, which it had not when I took this photo).


Photo 2 - the longer cupola.  I made little plastic templates to use as a guide and get the pitch right.  I used 6x6's between the windows.  Corner trim was added to the sides of the gable walls and trimmed to the pitch when dry.  I made two plastic sub floors and glued a gable and side wall to the base one, and the other gable and side wall to the ceiling one.  I painted the interior black and then glued the two sub assemblies together.  I used canopy glue so I had a bit of time to line things up.


Photo 3 - This little square cupola wasn't really any easier.  I used the same process, but without the plastic ceiling piece.


Photo 4 - Here is the paint brush I used for painting the random lines under each clapboard.  The longer bristles hold a lot of paint but the point still allows for fine detail.  Worth the extra $$$.


Photo 5 - While there, I made the trek to the Devil's Punchbowl Falls.  This photo doesn't do them justice.


Photo 6 - And finally, one of the moss covered beech trees.  The amount of different shades of green in the alpine forest is staggering!

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Beautiful work on the structures. The mold must have been very frustrating. The 1:1 scenery is gorgeous.

[Jerry]

Mark great work on those structures.  Sorry to hear about the mold problem.

Great 1:1 pictures.

Jerry

[Rick]

Mark, good job on those structures.
I was in Northern California last week and I'm currently in Oregon and the rain for the last 10 days has been almost non stop.
With all the rain here almost everything is covered in moss.

[tom.boyd.125]

Mark, looks like you have been busy, keep the photos coming...Tommy

[Mark Dalrymple]

Beautiful work on the structures. The mold must have been very frustrating. The 1:1 scenery is gorgeous.

Thanks, Curt.

Yes - it had got me down a bit.  I feel much better now that I'm back where I started + a bit extra.  It was a great weekend away in a beautiful part of the country.  Attached is a link to some local history and a video celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the opening of the Otira tunnel (from two years ago).  We stayed, and modelled, in a railway workers cottage just like the ones they show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovhcucN73Lw&ab_channel=davidlipscombe

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Mark great work on those structures.  Sorry to hear about the mold problem.

Great 1:1 pictures.

Jerry

Thanks, Jerry.

I bought some silica gel packets to go in all my modelling boxes, just in case.  Hopefully that will stop any future mold!  I'm getting near the end of this one, so I think the next step will be to cut out a diorama base.  The structures sit against the backdrop and will be quite hard to reach when in position.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Mark, good job on those structures.
I was in Northern California last week and I'm currently in Oregon and the rain for the last 10 days has been almost non stop.
With all the rain here almost everything is covered in moss.

Thanks, Rick.

Arthurs Pass has an average rainfall of 2783mm (109.5"), while Otira, at the other end of the tunnel on the West Coast, has an average rainfall of 5105mm (201").  That's certainly moss weather!

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Mark, looks like you have been busy, keep the photos coming...Tommy

Thanks, Tommy.

Will do.  I'll get back to in filling the layout progress from when the modelers forum was down, too.  I'm almost up to one of my greatest/ funniest modelling stories...

Cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Great history Mark.