Shadowlands and Tellynott

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Back to the past...

Photo 1 - In the meantime a carried on with the decluttering of the room. I sold a couple of my diorama boxes for $1 a box (somebody got a bargain, but they went) and moved a whole heap of stuff - a lot to the trash. My Fault lines layout will just roll out of the area, which makes things easy. I took the rest of the temporary wall down, although I still need to cut back the plywood. Here is the back corner of the room cleared out.


Photo 2 - I drew up a framing plan for this module and then went about constructing it. I had my Triton rip saw bench set up and so ripped the legs to the exact dimensions I wanted, which made fitting the shoes for the wheels easy. To save a trip to the timber merchant (where they probably wouldn't have what I wanted anyway) I ripped down some 4x2" from the temporary wall. The module is quite squat, and I rechecked my measurements several times. The lower track keeps descending from right to left and then there is a river behind this. I allowed another 50mm (2") for this, and then when you add on the 16mm for the track/ river bed and the 45x19mm on their edge... I'm thinking this whole module will have to be built in situ because of its shape and the way it fixes to the existing Tellynott module. I think it will be one of the last modules to roll out of the room when the time comes.


Photo 3 - And here is a view from above (standing on a saw horse). Next its out with the jigsaw and cutting a whole heap of curves!


Photo 4 - I have outlined the modules shape. You can see the front of the layout curve in place, glued and screwed, and the back piece temporarily screwed in position. This piece will actually be used as the top of the backdrop but I have it in position to mark both the joists and the position of the studs on the wall top plate as well as to define the modules shape. I have the lower trackbed screwed in position - still descending from right to left, while the high track is shown by the three very tall raisers. This is the point at which it reaches its maximum height of 1550mm (61"). I also have the front jack stud attached to the previous module (right bottom of photo).


Photo 5 - Shows the ceiling of the end module. You can see the bracing elements marked on it. This will be a tricky piece to get into position. My plan is to assemble the left side and back before moving into position and then assemble the right side in situ. I intend to make up a bit of a scaffold to hold it in position while I glue and screw. I'm thinking I will need a hand at this stage.


Photo 6 - Here it is with a number of the bracing elements added (rotated 180 degrees). Once I have got the rest of the bracing elements made up and attached, including the inner half circle, I will lift this piece and position it in the right orientation through in the other room on top of my Fault lines layout top. I will then attach the studs (from where my impact driver is around to the start of the second curve at bottom left). I will then hopefully be able to attach a sheet of 3mm MDF around this curve. If all this goes ok, once the glue has set then the section will be lifted into position and the last studs added. I have blocks screwed to the underside of all my joists for the studs to sit on. There are four different length studs - so there is a lot that can go wrong. I have spent a lot of time trying to think through this procedure, so fingers crossed I have everything right. Its still a few days away from the lifting in stage.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Wow, great wood working Mark. Is that module low to the ground or does it look that way because of camera angle?

[Mark Dalrymple]

Wow, great wood working Mark. Is that module low to the ground or does it look that way because of camera angle?

Thanks, Curt.

Here is my explanation from photo caption 2.
\
"The module is quite squat, and I rechecked my measurements several times. The lower track keeps descending from right to left and then there is a river behind this. I allowed another 50mm (2") for this, and then when you add on the 16mm for the track/ river bed and the 45x19mm on their edge..."

Just for you, I went out to the layout room and had a measure.  This module (module 5) is 620mm (24 1/2") from the concrete floor to the bottom of the bearers.  Module 8 - which is the lowest module - is 570mm (22 3/4").  Remember, I need to allow for track bed for the lowest trackage on the module, scenery below that (i.e. riverbed) and then a little wiggle room for risers, joists and bearers.  When I was also having to allow 125mm (5") for wheels and 'feet' the legs seemed VERY short - hence why I remeasured everything to check.

Cheers, Mark. 

[PRR Modeler]

Thanks Mark, sorry to cause you extra work.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Thanks Mark, sorry to cause you extra work.

No problems, Curt.

Happy to help/ explain further.  Thanks for following along and all your comments and interest.  It is very much appreciated.

Cheers, Mark.

[Dave Buchholz]

Preserve the mold and make scenery out of it!   

[Mark Dalrymple]

Preserve the mold and make scenery out of it!   

Mmmmm.  Oddly enough, I didn't think of this...

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Well today (being modelling Sunday - or at least modelling Sunday afternoon...), I started work on the diorama base for my background half relief diorama which splices together ideas from FOS Rust rock falls, and a Bar Mills shipyard Brewery kit.

Photo 1 - So here is my sandwich weighted down and gluing.


Photo 2 - Here it is the next day viewed from the front.  I used my paper template to mark out the base, including marking out the S-curve for the track.  The track goes in front of this diorama and will be on 16mm MDF.


Photo 3 - Here we have the buildings set up on the diorama base.  You can see I have cut out the canal.


Photo 4 - A view from above.  I marked and cut out the top two layers - 6mm cork and 30mm extruded polystyrene.  The glue between the two layers of polystyrene was still soft enough to make lifting off the canal area easy.


Photo 5 - The remaining building base and the canal.  I marked the building bases 1.5mm smaller to allow for styrene canal walls.  These will later be plastered.  I also marked and cut out a piece of 3mm MDF to act as the upper canal base.  This was glued into position.


Photo 6 - The 1.5mm styrene canal walls were cut to the correct height then filed, cut and glued together using CA. Finally, they were glued to the sandwich sides using Selleys quick grab.  This glue is safe to use on extruded polystyrene.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.  Part 2.

Photo 7 - Here is a view from the front. 


Photo 8 - I cut down a Wills bridge kit and added some strip styrene to the ends.  Here it is sitting in position.  It still needs internal beams and timber decking added.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Dave Buchholz]

Always a pleasure to see your progress, and how scenes are developed.

Thank you for sharing!

Fifth Dave to the right

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking progress Mark. One of the things that I really enjoy about your layout is all the different elevation features.

[Dave Buchholz]

Agreed. I enjoy how Mark thinks in all three directions. Elevation changes make scenes more interesting.

[Rick]

Mark, it's exciting to see how the layout is all coming together.

[deemery]

That Willis iron bridge is nice!  I had one over a canal on my previous layout.  

dave

[GPdemayo]

I keeps on getting better and better Mark.....