A bit more about RJR (newbie)

This looking really nice - definitely shows what you do with cheap track and some thought..

Out of interest, what radii are the playmobile curves/points?  They look tighter than R1, and I'm guessing that only shortwheelbase 4 wheel (or bogie) stock can really cope.

Jonathan

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate you taking the time to look.

Jonathan, Ive never actually measured the radius but from a quick google a couple of sites say they are 18" rads, I will check.

Todays Update

Having spent hours sticking the chairs on, it was a bit gutting to blend them all in, but the idea is they are there if you notice them, not in your face?! I have also added in the start of a partial roadway along the front (An old cork notice board) that I hope when painted will look something like tarmac.

John 

With unexpected time in the shed today, due to snow ! Attention has turned to the points.. As originally I hadn't planned to have any electrickary involved, the twin skin baseboard construction seemed a good idea. Now faced with fitting wires I had a decision. Option 1 was to run the wires above ground level in ducting, but this still meant going under tracks a couple of times. Option 2 feed the wires between the plywood faces. I decided in the end on option 2 which turned out pretty easy. 1st job was to drill some 2.5" access holes under where the point motors fit. 
 

Then with some small holes drilled through the top skin wires were "weaved" in 

 

With after thought I may have been able to mount the motors in this cavity but I think they are going to look okay above ground.?!?! The one motor I have in stock has now been wired in the most awkward position of them all and tested with a 12v supply, it works fine. The next step was some disguise, the plan is to disguise as a point motor ! albeit perhaps oversize. The results so far 



A lot of the bottom will be lost under ballast. I need to pick up 3 more motors (hopefully tomorrow) these should go in pretty easy now the wire is in place for them. John

Tonight I have started some scenery, Nothing major, but it is a start. At the bottom end I have cut out the basics of a factory front, which tidies up the two holes through the back scene. It has a faint vertical rib in it but that cant be seen while it is white. I have also made the two doors and covered them with vinyl to get a chevron bumble bee effect. The doors will be fixed in grooves so they can be raised or lowered, mainly to take pictures back into the layout, at the moment they are just propped in. 
 

At the other end a curved kerb has been put around the road at the front, and along the back the floor level has been raised to level it off at the factory end.

   

John

Tonight I came home with a bag of ballast, some balsa wood and a pair of point motors ! So after lots of visualizing what the track would look like ballast I finally got to see it ... First job was to wire in and test the 2 point motors, then add some cable ducting from the motors that will later have covers in most places, a couple broken and a couple missing to reveal some dummy wires

I haven't added any PVA / Water as the forecast for tonight is very cold and I don't want it to freeze before it sets !! John

Someone's got to ask this, so it might as well be me............what ballast are you using? The size looks just right and it seems to be odd-sized rough chunks, too.
 
Like the vans, as well; they're nice space-savers and look Glyn Valley-ish.  Home made, or kits?
 
Look forward to seeing this one develop further.

C&S


Someone's got to ask this, so it might as well be me............what ballast are you using? The size looks just right and it seems to be odd-sized rough chunks, too.
 
Like the vans, as well; they're nice space-savers and look Glyn Valley-ish.  Home made, or kits?
 
Look forward to seeing this one develop further.

Believe it or not the ballast is classed as fine ! Made by Jarvis (product ref JFGST) and designed for OO !!!

The vans are home made plasticard bodies mounted on one double axle LGB bogie so I can make two vans for the price of 2 sheets of plasticard and one pair of bogies.

John 

Before going to work this morning I applied PVA/Water to the ballast, the plan being it would be warmer during the day than night. The plan worked ! Then this evening I built the start of the platform area and added the ballast between it and the rear track. Also some stone on the front curved wall. Finally it has had a light spray with dirt brown.

John

RJR
Believe it or not the ballast is designed for OO !!! Made by Jarvis (product ref JFGST) 
The vans are home made plasticard bodies mounted on one double axle LGB bogie so I can make two vans for the price of 2 sheets of plasticard and one pair of bogies.
John 

OO ballast - oh dear, that would probably mean about two bucketfulls of small bags at a couple of ££ a go!   Thanks for the van building details - I like your style!

What a stunning micro layout John.
 
The playmo track looks fantastic and cheap as chips too. 

Not had much time tonight. So I set myself a small task, lids and cables on the ducting..

John

Your doing a fantastic job there John, that track looks superb with the ballast.
The ducting looks so real too.
Please keep posting you pic's.
 
Regards
 
Bruce.

I can see the price of Playmobile track going up as everyone tries to copy your brilliant ideas! Well done.

u r 1 clever sausage. wowee that's amazing!

That lineside troughing looks too much like the real thing - watch out for those cable thieves.

Thanks for the note on track radius.  As an aside, I wonder if you could combine the playmobile track with the train-li plastic rails that have been mentioned elsewhere to get more choice in layout..  Obviously the train-li stuff wouldn't match the palymobile connectors, but if you're nailing up down, that should be a big issue.

This layout is looking better and better, really shows how some thought can give a real railway like atmosphere - the track section, point motors etc are probably quite a bit overscale, but together with all the other detailing, they LOOK right.

J.

My first rule "If it looks right it is right !"

[font="verdana, arial; line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; "]Home early today for child minding duties and have take delivery of some 3' x 2' flagstones


Now obviously B&Q dont sell scale flagstones, but they do sell sticky back vinyl tiles in stone colour ...

10 minutes of scoring and snapping and .. instant self adhesive flagstones.
I also have a new helper, found in a kit of Tamiya Mechanics I forgot I had...

He is a bit rude he keeps pointing but Im sure he will point out most new additions in future weeks. 
"look new flags"

"look a point motor"


[font="verdana, arial; line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; "]
told you he points a lot !!!

Keep up the good work. A wealth of really useful information great photos and just love the trackside conduit/trunking.
 
Thank you for sharing Clive

Last night I started work on the station building and I got to spend all afternoon in the shed today As a result the station has progressed nicely. The factory at the end of the line has had the door runners fitted, so the big doors can be up or down. It has also had a colour wash and weather. The concrete has had some colour patches to make it look like it has been repaired. The concrete apron has been extended to the front of the baseboard. The doors Open

Closed

How

The Station

John

THE ROOF Having decided what it was to look like the problem was how to achieve it, so some rather extensive plasticard construction was needed. Step 1 was to cut and stick a series of identical "roof trusses" to the top of the existing wall, basically triangles with a 12mm tab hanging down at the back, this tab is stuck to the inside face of the wall so the truss sits in the right position front to back. The trusses were then supported by a vertical plasticard strip running along the ridge of the roof, and spaced at the front by what will be the valance. 


As the ridge is now 12mm back from the front wall the brick work was continued up between the trusses.

   

The ridge doesnt run along the back scene or even square to it for that matter, so the next step was to put a few trusses on the back half of the roof and a flat top on to simulate the rear section of roof. The roof is not a regular apex as the front angle is steeper than the rear (if you could see it all) to accommodate that the building has more depth than the canopy, again if the back scene didn't chop it off  
 

The underside of the trusses also had a strip / flange added under each to add a bit of detail and make them look a bit stronger. 


Finally the trusses that will be hard to get to once the roof material is applied have been given a couple of coats of paint. 

 


The painting also served as brain relaxation after overworking it in the construction phase ! John