irishthump

That is certainly an option - I havent decided if I'm going to try and built the baseboard myself or not so I was trying to keep it relatively simple but I guess having a lift out corner piece is no more difficult than a straight piece...

Personally I would build a lift-out curved section for that corner so as to squeeze every last inch out of it!

At 9'x8' you will have a fair sized running loop.

Black & Tan lasted into the late 1970s (around '78 or so). The first Supertrain Mk3s appeared in 1984.

Well I guess that changes my layout to a "what if"!

Sorry to hijack...

For how long after the introduction of the supertrain livery did you still have the black and tan livery on locos?

And when did the first Supertrain MK3's appear?

The thing is don't try and cram everything into it. Your room is 9'x8.5' what you could do is run a 2' wide base board around the room with a lift up trap door like I have in Ballykay http://www.irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/1003-Another-little-corner-of-Ballykay

I knew I had seen a trap door section somewhere on this forum!

I would have to agree with Anto about keeping to a simple 2 track mainline.

That sounds great, Glenderg. That's basically the essence of what I was trying describe but you fleshed it out a lot better!

The room will be dedicated to the layout so that least that is one good point!

 

Dont think it will be possible to change to the door to open out just based on the current layout of the landing, I did think about having a removable section of track but again not sure how easy that will be be and it complicated by the fact that the door is pretty much in the corner of the room so it would have to be a removable corner of track for it to work....nothing is ever simple :-)

Ah, sorry! I assumed the door would be in the middle of the wall, my mistake! It's still not as hard as you might think to build a removable section in the corner.

Have agree with Robert on this one, that second plan looks very "train-set!"

My priority would be to make the double loop as long as possible. So providing the room is just for your layout, I would build the loop around the outside of walls. If you did this you could make each basboard up to 2 feet wide if you wanted to and still have a large operating well in the middle. You can build in a lift-up or removable section for the door to open, or alter the door to open outwards.If you can get away with it you could even remove the door altogether! (don't laugh)

Looks super effective!

 

Any particular card type?

Just normal mounting card from my local Art and Hobby shop, the kind with the smooth, hot pressed finish. Not sure which thickness. I just got as near as I could to the thickness of the sleepers, layed one layer level with the sleepers between the track then layed the second layer right up against the track edge.

Looking amazing!

 

Did you use card for the hard standing ?

Yeah its card, and to give it some texture I mixed plaster with grey emulsion from a woodies tester pot.

A few shots of some motive power loitering around the engine shed...

Well that loco is frigged and no mistake!

Looking at the slow-mo, it seems that the cable just gave way...

Here's mine but its very early days and looks rubbish compared to what yee guys have. If only the budget would grow!!!

Rubbish?!! Have you looked at your own photos?!!

Seriously, it looks great. It's complete and sets a wonderful little scene, more pics I say!

Stunning work, Anto.

Did you perform the same surgery as on the 141's for fitting the Kadees?

Ha! I wish!

My problem is when I finally do get to go near my layout I end up "watching trains go by"!

Scalescenes?

 

The rate at which you are working is impressing as much as the quality thereof!!

No not Scalescenes, that pattern is a free download from here http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Scenery/Buildings.htm.

It looks quite good when weathered.

As for my "speed", this is stuff I've been doing over the last few weeks that I just have'nt had the time to post. So don't expect another update for another month!

I also built a retaining wall for the depot section of the layout.

A close up view...

Some had the doors the same orange as the body and some had day-glow orange. I got a spray can of day-glow orange from halfords and it did the job.

Ah, so I was'nt going colour blind! Thanks for the info, David.

On the subject of painting the gangways, looking at photos of the prototype the colour seems to vary. I don't kniow whether to use the same orange as on the body or

to use a luminous orange.

Anybody know what colour was actually used?

Genius idea! What sort of ballast did you use for the sidings?

Woodland Scenics Medium Grey. It's a little light in colour but it was the only one I could get enough of! The wash tones it down nicely though.

When you say plaster, you mean regular normal plaster?

 

Might be worth a go for some hard standing

Yes normal plaster, the horrible pink coloured kind!

I'm think of using myself for a hard standing, a great tip I learned was to add in some PVA when mixing the plaster which gives it flexability and stops

it cracking.

Added some more detailing and toned down the ballast with a dark wash applied with an airbrush.

A little more scenic work; a couple of sidings in the corner of the layout!

A layer of ordinary plaster which I covered with a coat of cheap brown poster paint.

Stuck down some basket liner and added some extra flock for variety, then ballasted the track.

Those cheeap Hornby buffer stops look a bit plain so I added a couple of offcuts of rail to try to improve them.

It still needed some more detailing but I could'nt resist parking some stock on the sidings!

Well the MK3's are almost finished. Applied the transfers (from Railtec) all that's left is to paint the gangways, which to be honest I had forgotten!

Oh yes, and fit replacement buffers!!!

The body can be a bugger to remove as you have to be able to exert enough pressure on the sides of the body. The best way to do this is to remove the handrails which I found to be a nightmare!

An easier method for me was to turn the loco over and if you turn the bogies out of the way you can pop the tabs on the body with a small screwdriver.

I re-sprayed this British Rail baggage car to be used as a steam generating van to run with my Cravens coaches[ATTACH=CONFIG]3303[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]3304[/ATTACH]

Nice neat painting job there. Conor.

You could add some detailing to make it even closer to real thing. It looks pretty much identical except for the roof vents and side grills. Can I ask what make is the baggage car?