Water Whoopsies!

So earlier this week my plan was to apply water to the Creek in Kyogle.  I was under the impression everything was ready to go.  The scenery was completed.  It was painted and ground cover added.  Next step Water.  I went to the tin of my normal water and it had set hard in the tin.  That was no good.  I think I still have a few more tin in the garage, but I had another idea.  I used some water product that was provided to me by Barnacle Bob.  I understand that he uses it on his layout and we all know how good that layout looks.  It was poured into the creek in a couple of places and it slowly (very slowly) made its way down the creek, finding its level and giving a water look along the way.  I then decided to add some water to the storm water drain in the front of the Fawcetts Creek scene on the right.  However, after I applied some of that water product, I soon realised that my application of plaster to the front wall of the storm water drain structure was not optimum.  I had missed a couple of small spots and the polystyrene was exposed.  That didn’t go to well for water product being added.  It soon ate out the polystyrene, left a chasm under the drain.  So I whipped up a couple of batches of plaster and started pouring that into the chasm eventually filling it back up.  The baseboard in this area is a think sheet of polystyrene on a sheet of solid plywood.  So the water product was just sitting in a sub-terrarium cavern under the creek.  The repaired areas were re-painted and allowed to dry.  I have not yet gone back to re-added water to the drain.  maybe I won't.

I then set about adding a bit of detail to the drain and Fawcetts Creek.  There is an abandoned car on the banks of the creek, along with lots of rubbish.  The rubbish included sleepers, pallets, tyres, a shopping cart and a few other items.  You need to look quite intently to see what is there and when you do, you can see these detail items.

I then decided to complete the signalman’s house at Border Loop.  I first needed to add a roof.  This item was sitting around roofless for quite some time.  That seems to be a consistent story on my layout - lots of half finished projects.  I created the roof frame out of balsa and then added corrugated iron sheets.  Next the ridge capping was added.  Next step was barge boards and then guttering.  The model was then masked off and the roof was painted silver.  I was quite happy with that model.  It just needed a place for it to be positioned on the layout.  I had to cut some of the existing foam scenery away, to make a big enough flat area to allow the house to fit between the track and the rear backscene.  This was plastered over and then painted dirt colour as a starting point.  I was installing the fencing around the house.  I needed to add some water tanks to the rear, as these were visible in a number of photos of this house that I found on the Internet.  I also needed to add a down pipe from the guttering into the water tanks.  I also added a downpipe on the side of the house but this just runs out onto the ground.

After talking online to some of the guys on Friday evening, I was talked into adding some details to the back veranda.  I added a couple of comfy chairs to the veranda.  Last night and today I got motivated and constructed from styrene some kitchen and outdoor tables, side tables, stools and wooden chairs for the tables, and these were painted today.  I think I will make a few more sets of these for other houses on the layout.  These look good as detail items.

I also added a few more downpipes to other buildings on the layouts as well.  I also added a number of kilometre signs on the layout, on various bridges, tunnel mouths and sidings locations to add more detail.  I also added a couple of signs to some other buildings. 

I’m back to work on Tuesday, but I think I did complete quite a lot during my holidays, even if we were in lockdown for half of them.  Tomorrow I will be visiting my local hobby shop to stock back up on styrene shapes that I depleted during my holiday.  I will be trying to make some progress on some AP certificates over the next few weeks.  The aim is to complete a few of these, and submit for assessment by the end of the year.

Fawcetts Creek Update

Well I seemed to have got stuck into the scenicing today in the shed.  So I applied some dirt over my coloured base scenery and then added some grasses.  Next job was to then arrange the various trees that I had been stock piling, to be placed along the banks of the creek. Once I had completed my work, I was standing back doing a bit of a clean up and then realised that I had a photo of the walkway under the railway line next to the Summerland Way.  Once I checked out my scene and compared it to the photo, I realised that I was missing the fencing beside the concrete path.  So that was quickly added as well.  I still have some work to do, like adding water to the creek tomorrow.  But here is a progress post.

The Summerland Way disappearing under the north coast railway towards Brisbane.  The walking path to the right and the fence next to it.

Looking further to the right we start to see some of the trees along the creek.

The creek front on, with water to be added tomorrow.

From the south bank, looking towards the creek.

This scene shows Anzac Drive heading under the railway line and the creek to the left with a storm water drain along the front.

The whole view of the creek opening.  I still need to add some fascia to this locations.  Again, maybe a job for tomorrow.

Bridge Works

I have been doing quite a few things this week, spending some time every day in the shed in between watching the Olympics.  Luckily I have a TV in the shed so I can do some work and still listen and then watch from time to time.  I started off doing some work on the Baker’s Road overbridge.  I used Panel Line Accent Colors on the individual planks on the bridge.  I have also added a second km mark on the bridge abutment.  I also add the numbers 1 and 2 to the two bridge piers.  I also added a last painted date to one of the bridge trestles.  The same was added to my second wooden road over rail bridge, this one on the Murwillumbah Line just between Lismore and Murwillumbah.

Baker's Road overbridge.  The bridge planks have been picked out in various Accent Colors.

The bridge between Lismore and Murwillumbah.

I also did some work on the rail over road bridge at Lismore.  I added a kilometre mark (distance from Sydney Central) to the top of the bridge.  I also added some road marking to the road below.  Next was the clearance marks on the top of the bridge.

The bridge at Lismore

I also did some work on the rail over road bridge (Anzac Drive) just north of Kyogle station.  I added road zebra stripe markings to the bridge piers, some markings to the bridge above the road, and the clearance height numbers.  Next to the bitumen road is a slightly higher opening in the dirt.  Some traffic can take this route to fir under the normal road opening.  This road opening, also had the height printed above the opening and other markings on the bridge.  So road guide posts were also added as was a wooden fence protecting the road way from the opening which is the flood plane across the Upper Richmond River or as the locals call it Fawcett’s Creek.  I also added a clearance sign to the Summerland Way bridge as well.

Anzac Drive at Kyogle.  The dirt road with an extra 1m clearance is to the left.

Summerland Way at Kyogle going under the Railway.

Working on this section in Kyogle, inspired me to bite the bullet and work on the creek underneath the railway line.  So I trimmed some Styrofoam from the opening and then gave it a covering of plaster.  I thought that I might also need a storm water drain entry into the creek, so that was entry stage right.  I created the road that runs around from the Summerland Way and also goes to Anzac Drive on the other side of the creek.  So this has been completed and also an initial covering of paint was added.  I think I will need to add some dirt and grass to this scene and some rocks water to the creek.  That will probably take quite a few days.  I have already got all my trees out to populate this opening and just laying them on the baseboard makes then look pretty good.  So I will try and publish a photo of the completed scene next week.

The Upper Richmond River opening (Fawcett's Creek) at Kyogle.  It has been all plastered over.  Since this time, it has been painted and trees temporarily placed all around the area to see what it will look like when complete.

This photo shows the storm water opening which will feed into the main creek.

Completing Some Models for Judging

Well, I’m now on holidays.  This is customary whenever the Olympics are on, I’m off.  On Friday morning I went to the shed and was applying Panel Line Accent Colors to the Bakers Road, road over rail bridge.  During the week when online talking to some mates, it became very obvious that a photo of a similar bridge to that which I am modelling, showed that the bridge timbers were very, very faded and not the same as my bridge was currently displaying.  So out came the light grey panel line accent color.  It was applied to the various posts and rails on the bridge.  Later that morning I headed into town for a lunch date with my work colleagues as a mate was leaving work on that day.  So on Saturday I applied quite a few more washes of light grey.  In the afternoon, I brought another road over rail bridge up from the shed, and sat at the kitchen table watching the Olympics and applied Light Grey Panel Line Accent Color to that bridge as well.  This bridge also also to receive some corrugated iron sheets applied along the bridge rails.  These strips of corrugated iron had been sitting on the bridge for the last 12 months.  I have no idea where I got them from.  So these metal sheets were also hit with various panel line accent colors.  Later that evening I white glued the metal sheets to the bridge.  That bridge has now been returned to its position on the layout.

Sunday’s job was to permanently attach the corrugated iron sheets to my Park Road Trans-shipment Shed.  Again, this model has been sitting on the layout for quite some time.  The corrugated iron is a single sleeve that fit over the entire building.  So around lunchtime I got out the panel line accent colors and applied them to the shed frame and roof structure.  It looks pretty good.  I then applied some of those same colours to the outside sheath that forms the corrugated iron cover.  The corrugated iron has now been glued onto the shed frame.  That is ready to be placed back on the layout.

Monday this week, I plan to apply some panel line accent colors to my Richmond River rail bridge.  I will see if there are any tweaks I need to do to that model as well.  Maybe I can also paint some stains on the concrete piers or the abutments.  This bridge structure is actually three different types of bridges.  The main span is a Pratt Through Truss Bridge.  On the northern end there is a half through plate girder bridge, and on the southern end there are four spans of plate deck girder bridge.  All these sections will get the weathering touch.

My aim on the holidays is to finish to an acceptable standard a number of structures and have these written up and then present these for assessment by our NMRA Divisional AP officer.  This is Arthur, and he just lives about 6-7 km from my place, so he will be busy scoring my models for my AP certificate for structures.

But first thing is to put all the documentation together for him to assess.  I cannot find my plans for the Park Road Trans-shipment Shed and a few photos that another Arthur sent me a few years ago.  I am pretty sure that is all on my old PC.  I plan to fire that up tomorrow and go looking.  I have plans for the two road overbridges, and some information and lots of photos of the original Richmond River bridge taken from various angles.

After that, I will be left with one more model to get judged to attempt to get a merit award.  That will be the Cassino Overhead booking office and combined road bridge.  I already have one model that was assessed a few years back at a New England Model Railway Convention.  I then need to submit my paperwork along with 6 other models that don't get scored, but need to be viewed and I am on my way to another NMRA AP certificate hopefully sometime in the next few months, if everything comes together.

NMRA Meeting Weekend

This week I was out and about on Wednesday, visiting Aurora Train after work and on Thursday I visited Modeller’s Warehouse during my lunch break.  On Friday I signed off early and went down to the shed to undertake a few last minute jobs before the guys visited my place the next day.  Earlier in the day I had received a package of 3 strings of LED lights.  One string was installed above Park Road Siding and it was cut to length with the rest of the string hung above Fairy Hill Loop and joined to the other string electrically.  I also installed quite a few fence posts along the track reserve at Fairy Hill Loop.  I also did a bit of tidying up inside the shed, putting a few storage trays away inside various storage boxes.  The last thing I did before dinner was to install the traffic controller lights for a road over rail bridge where the painters have taken possession to paint the bridge, and one lane has been shut down to allow the painters to work safely on their task.  A bit later in the evening, I realised that I could accomplish another task.  I created some pieces of styrene to secure the base of my gas discharge assembly at Lismore.  This assembly has just sat in the siding behind the Lismore station for a few years.  But I have now just secured the base so that the assembly’s sides are perpendicular instead of being at a skewed wide angle.  I should paint this structure pretty soon I suppose as well.

Saturday dawned and I did a few more things in preparation for that day’s NMRA meeting at my place.  About 25 or so members rocked up, and with my family included, we were under the 30 people limit currently imposed in south east Queensland for a private residence during our current Covid restriction.  I had mates Greg and PK strategically positioned outside the shed and they were ensuring that anyone entering the shed had to carry a golf ball which they took from a bucket.  When there were no more golf balls in the bucket, people could not enter the shed as the shed was then at capacity until someone left the shed and returned a golf ball to the bucket.

At the meeting we had a zoom presentation from the US arranged by Duncan.  The presentation was of an N scale layout.  I was mesmerised, as I would not have known it was N scale unless some told me.  It was very well detailed, and trains ran very well.  Next up we had Arthur Hayes talking about the current NMRA AP certificates with examples on how the points scoring works for categories like Structures.  I have a plan to try and submit 6 qualifying items for assessment as well as providing another 6 example structures for my AP Certificate - Structures.  Who knows, that might even occur before the end of the year.  We had an update on Division business followed by a BYO lunch.  After lunch we had our usual show and tell and then Duncan started by interviewing me about the layout, and then the audience chimed in with a few questions.

I thought we had a very good gathering yesterday, with everyone having a tour or two of the layout.  We even got three new members turn up.

So today I started placing some distance markers on the track at a few key locations and added a few more road signs.  I also touched up a few white pieces of baseboard and scenery areas with some dirt coloured paint.  A couple of the road over rail bridges got their distance markings added and a few other locations like the road crossings and rail bridges are soon to get their distances.  I'm sure very few people will see these additions but I think when they are spotted, it will bring a smile to some modeller's faces.

The road overbridge leading to Baker's Farm.  The bridge painters have taken possession of the bridge and started painting the bridge.  Traffic has been reduced to a single lane and there happens to be a few train enthusiasts on the bridge as well waiting for a train to come past.

The bridge from another angle.  You can see the painting has started on the bridge.  The rail enthusiasts can be seen top right.

While under the bridge, you can see the kilometres from Sydney that this bridge is located.  A new addition.  

On top of the bridge again and also showing the road crossing.  Also in view in this shot is the traffic control box trailer with a set of traffic lights in it, regulating the traffic over the now one lane bridge as the painters are in possession.

More Preparation

My plans for the week took a bit of a detour when I was asked to make some clotheslines.  On Thursday night I knocked out 12 x N scale clotheslines.  I also had a request for some tarps, so these were also cut up to size and rolled and tied up.  I did about 50 of these.  On Friday the clotheslines were painted and on Saturday everything was delivered.  I then received an order for some more clotheslines.  So Saturday evening while watching the Lions get creamed, I knocked out another dozen N scale clotheslines.  These were painted up today and are ready to delivery later this week, if my timetable allows.

On Saturday I went over to the Club for our monthly meeting day.  I picked up PK and Greg at the Clubrooms and we scooted over to the local hobby shop.  I was after some bottles of Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color.  I picked up 4 colours, I had one other colour at home already but I was also after a Black and the Orange/Brown colours as well.  That particular shop did not have them in stock.  So on the way home, I visited two other hobby shops and both those did not stock these great little commodities.  While at the Club I had a bit of a natter with a few people and there were quite a few in attendance even though we had to wear masks.

So back to the shed report.  Apart from these activities, most of the other work was related to the shed and doing some jobs in preparation for the NMRA meeting next weekend.  This included masking up the do not stand areas and painting some yellow danger stripes in four locations in the shed.  I still need to do one in front of the fridge.  We all know how important it is to not block access to the fridge during a running session.  On Saturday afternoon I ran a cleaning train from Grafton Yard to Acacia Ridge Yard.  I did not run it any further north to Fisherman Island Yard or South Brisbane Interstate.  I will do that later during the week.  There was no issues with the track at all.  I had also stained up about 50 balsa wood sleepers on Friday afternoon.  I installed these for a track walkway at the northern end of Kyogle platform.  These went across the main and the loop.  I also added some sleepers to the southern side of the platform as this was where the local trike or quad was kept.  My photo does not reveal what it was, as it was under a tarp.  So how easy if that to make.  Just make a lump and cover it with a tarp.

So on Saturday night I also put my Panel Liner colours to the test.  OMG!  What a result!  I had previously purchased some wooden fencing from Chilli Laser Engraving.  This is great stuff.  I applied the panel liner to various wooden palings on the laser cut strip of fencing.  A bit of dark brown here,  I bit of brown there.  A bit more dark grey over here.  A small amount of light grey and grey and I let these various strips of Victorian wood fencing to dry overnight.  In reality they were dry in minutes.  The end result was perfection.  The visitors to my layout next weekend will be able to make their own mind up about how the fencing turned out.  These sections of fencing were all white glued to the fence frame today.  Now I look back on some of the other areas of the same and similar fencing on the layout that was not panel lined, and the difference if chalk and cheese.  I will be addressing this imbalance at the first opportunity.  Unfortunately there is no time before the NMRA meeting to rectify this.

One night during the week I painted the recently erected LED light frame blue to try and obscure it from view.  It looks so much better blue as compared to unpainted.  I am expecting some more strings of LED lights either Monday or Tuesday, so these might be installed one night this week.

Another job I did this morning was to clean the steps into the shed.  No gurney for this bloke.  It was a long handled scrubbing brush and putting my back into it.  The results were fabulous.  I thought the steps were starting to get a bit mouldy, so if there was any rain around, they were a little bit slippery if not careful.  Other tasks undertaken this afternoon were trimming some trees, moving the wheel barrow (I had to pump up its tyre as it would not move without it being inflated), and putting some junk out on the footpath for council rubbish collection which starts tomorrow in our suburb.

The last task for tonight is to connect up the set of track lights for a traffic control light in the back of a 6' x 4' box trailer, over the 'road over rail' bridge opposite Baker’s Farm on Bakers Road.  This light is powered by an Arduino.  So this will all be assembled at the kitchen table tonight and tested ready for deployment during the week. 

There is still some work to do before next Saturday’s NMRA meeting as I still have lots of items laying on the track around Acacia Ridge Yard.  I will clean these up during the week.  I might also add some more trackside fencing in a couple of areas as well.

More LED Layout Lighting Frames Installed

We were plunged into lockdown on Tuesday afternoon and that forced the abandonment of our Tuesday Nighter’s Meeting at Peter D’s place.  We then had to work from home from Wednesday to Friday and the benefit of that is that there is no travel time home from work on Wednesday  to Friday.  I could head to the shed directly after work finished, and saved at least an hour each day.  On Friday I received my two wanted deliveries.  That was 4 x 6 Amp power supplies for 4 x 5M strings of LED lights that had arrived on Monday this week.  Also on Friday I received a package from Chilli-Laser Engraving of some laser cut wood that I use for various fencing around the various houses on the layout.  On Friday this week I had my usual shortish day.  I went down to the shed and did a bit of work.  I installed some fencing.  I had previously laid out the various lengths of fencing on two blocks of land on the Western side of Cassino on the southern end of the Simpson Parade overbridge.  These will eventually feature some nice houses.  On the other side of the railway line, I was adding fencing around the railway property where the 40’ x 20’ corrugated steel shed is.  I then added fences around the houses either side of Barker Street.

I installed the power supply to illuminate the Fisherman Islands yard.  I then tested the LED strings that arrived earlier in the week.  Next job was to cut up some wood to support the next string of lights over the section of track from Kyogle Butter Factory and heading around the ‘blob’ which is the Running Creek area.  This should take up another string of LEDs.  On Friday evening I also commenced attaching a small fascia just underneath Runnings Creek – well actually it is on the Lismore to Murwillumbah Spiral.  That was painted on Saturday. 

On Saturday afternoon I finally got up the courage to install the road markings around the Bruxner Highway Level Crossing.  These are made from pieces of styrene and welded to the roadway with styrene glue.  They had only been sitting in place unglued for about half a dozen years.  So all the road markings went in very easily and also look good.  The plan was to also install all the road signs and fencing around the crossing.  However, I realised that I was missing some of the required fences.  So that night I made up a few fences, a couple of speed signs and some other road way signs.  They will be installed one night this week hopefully.

On Sunday it was more of the same.  I installed the Pelmet made of Plasterer’s angle around the section of track from The Kyogle Butter Factory all the way around the blob past Runnings Creek and almost to Border Loop.  I then attached the LED string to the frame.  It was turned on and the illumination provided was quite good.  

Next task was looking at how I would mount the frame to support the LED lights above the northern end of Fairy Hill Loop.  The next section of frame to plan for installation was above Park Road Sidings.  This was the easiest frame to install so it got done first with the wood being cut to size.  Two lengths of plasterer’s angle was painted in preparation for installation later in the day, as was a small offcut that I had laying around.  After lunch the frame above Park Road Siding and the plasterer’s angle was installed.  The next task was to attach the frame above the northern end of Fairy Hill Loop to the just installed Frame above Park Road at one end and then work out how to brace it at the other end.  That had me stumped for a while.  I had some assistance from my apprentice in holding the frame at one end, but he would have got bored holding it up after 5 minutes, so I needed to come up with a permanent solution.  So I decided to use a piece of pine rising up from the track baseboard between Dutton Park and Fisherman Islands.  Once that was in, the pelmet was installed on this section of frame as well. 

Next task is to temporarily hang the LED string over these two sections of frame and test the power supply and the lights.  That is another task for during the week or next weekend.  I mowed the grass this arvo in preparation of the NMRA meeting in 2 weeks.  At this stage we are limited to 30 guests at a private residence, so hopefully the current restrictions will be eased before then, as we will most likely have just over that number.