Clogher Valley Project

[Dunluce Castle]

Wow David, I don't know why I haven't seen this earlier but that work is brilliant.

[Mike 84C]

Brilliant David, please keep posting.

[Paul 34F]

David,

 

Apologies for not writing sooner. I've been laid low with a bad head cold.

Thank you for your explanation on using the DAS clay. The PVA is probably the key to the cracking problem.

The layout is starting to look like a classic already. The scenery is very impressive.

 

Paul 34F

[David Holman]

Finally got round to completing my first CVR brake - though in truth it still lacks lettering. See my workshop pages for more details.

[jhb171achill]

Wow!

 

A thing of beauty - but what else would we expect!!

[Kirley]

Delightful model David

[Mike 84C]

Looks very good David

[bantree]

absolutely brilliant buildings and scenery.All blended together perfectly.Keep up the great work!

[Paul 34F]

Spot on David. I enjoyed your article on building wagons. Going to give it a go myself

 

Paul 4475

[Colin R]

I can think of one show that has to go to. Great model by the way.

 

Colin R

[David Holman]

Not even making haste slowly at the moment, but bits and pieces are getting done. The station building is one of those projects that absorbs time for little apparent effect, though as you can see, it does now have a roof and some decorative bargeboards, plus a chimney stack. Doors and windows have been made too [plastic sheet and strip], with a basic interior on the upper floor.

The other work has been on the road and pavement around the station & shops. These have been done as per Arigna - so a card base [on formers to create a bit of camber], then painted with gloss grey and talc sifted on. Vacuum off & repeat as necessary to get a smooth tarmac surface. Curbstones are plastic strip, while paving slabs are self adhesive address labels, pre-painted, laid and then treated with weathering powders.

The end terrace has become a bicycle repair shop, as suggested by others, while you may also be able to spot drain and manhole covers in the road surface. These are on an etch sold by Langley Models and have been treated with 'Birchwood Casey Gun Blue', which blackens them without needing to use paint.

Will put something in the workbench thread shortly about using DAS clay.

 

[bantree]

Looks like being another winner David

[jhb171achill]

Mr Holman, your scenic and atmospheric genius never ceases to amaze. May you win multitudinous awards with your latest project!

 

I know you like unusual projects - we need more like this!

[David Holman]

 

What will be the right hand end of the layout [baseboard 1 to me] is nearing some sort of completion. Shop, pub, [see workshop pages] and now the station & trainshed are almost finished, so here are three pictures which hopefully illustrate the composition of this end of the layout. Nothing is fixed down yet, because I have a fear of finding I've missed something obvious that I won't be able to get to later. Inside the trainshed is pretty gloomy, so have fitted a small LED strip, while there is also a light in the station office - the latter adorned with some 'Wargame' furniture [resin castings], which includes a gun rack[!].

More details in a few days, once I've finished the ladies waiting room & toilets, though passengers will be absent for a while until I'm at a show where they are on sale. What I am quite pleased with is the weathered wood. Straight out of Martin Welch's 'Art of Weathering', it is a simple, if somewhat extended task of painting from the inside out. You start with weathered wood [grey, natural wood & a touch of black], put on the top coat [white, let down with some brown] and then once hardened, paint on some liquid poly. This causes the paint to craze and once this has hardened, you can attack the surface with a wire brush, scraper, sandpaper etc to heighten the flaking and expose the weathered wood underneath.

Note: the colours are not quite as they appear, as I used flash to fill in some of the shadows. A longer exposure will give a more realistic impression of the colours used.

[popeye]

Looks great David.

[murrayec]

Hi David

 

It's really coming together now, you have increased the depth of field of the board twofold with the buildings- excellent modelling

 

Eoin

[David Holman]

While there is still some final detailing required [in particular figures, clutter, etc], Baseboard 1 of my Clogher Valley project, ‘Fintonagh’ is now complete.

Recent work has centred around the train shed, ladies’ waiting room/toilet block and platform details, in particular trying to present them in a well weathered appearance with peeling paint, rust & so on. When the figures eventually appear, it is planned to include a couple of workmen engaged in repainting – the locoshed is fairly pristine, but the other buildings are awaiting their attention.

With my surname, it seemed appropriate to add a touch of ‘Colonel Stephens’ [Holman Fred] to the scene, so this is the inspiration behind the ladies waiting room/gents toilet. Corrugated iron was a favourite with the Colonel and popular in Ireland too, of course. My fiction for the station is that, apart from the overall roof, no facilities were available when it first opened, but the locals soon petitioned for something better. The ladies’ waiting room has a toilet reached by an inside door, while the gents’ is accessed from outside, hence the full length awning. Under the train shed itself is a bench seat and also a chocolate machine, otherwise, passengers are perhaps better off waiting in Forbes Bar across the road!

Construction was fairly conventional, using a mixture of Slaters [walls] and Wills [roof] corrugated sheet on a thick card frame. Like the train shed, painting and weathering was ‘inside out’, in this case starting with a coat of gunmetal, then two coats of white, let down with a hint of brown. Once this had dried hard, Liquid Poly was brushed on, causing the paint to blister. After letting this harden, the surface was attacked with various abrasives [wire brush, scrapers etc] to expose the gun metal beneath. Dry brushing with gunmetal, white and rust then help to highlight the raised & peeling paint surface.

Before I go on to Baseboard 2, I’m thinking it will be good to ring the changes and do some rolling stock. At the moment, I have one loco, plus the ‘Unit’, as motive power, but only one coach, two wagons and a guard’s van. I really ought to do some test running before any more scenic work, so a bit more stock will not go amiss.

In preparation for this, I’ve starting installing uncoupling magnets. I’m using Kadees, but don’t much like their ‘plank’ magnets which unless posing as a barrow crossing are a bit obtrusive. On RMWeb there are several entries on using ‘rare earth/neodynimium’ magnets, which are both smaller and stronger.

Despite the exotic name, they are available quite cheaply and in a wide variety of sizes. I ordered some 3mm diameter, 3mm thick, rod type, on line & was pleasantly surprised to have them arrive in the post the next day. To uncouple Kaydees, their magnet polarity is perpendicular to the track. Using rare earth magnets, all I had to do was place one each side of the track centre in 3mm holes drilled in the ballast. I fixed them in place with Lazer glue, though on reflection, I would have been better off buying longer magnets [say up to 15mm], so they could have been let into the baseboard surface, but so far, my 3mm ones work fine and are almost invisible from normal viewing distances you should just be able to see them in the last photo. As far as I can tell, I will need six pairs of magnets to cover all the shunting moves, so I may well use some of the other magnets to do things like hold loco cab roofs in place.

Having half the scenic boards completed is certainly nowhere near half the project as a whole, for as well as needing to build the Railcar, another steam loco & the Atkinson Walker tractor, I also need two more coaches and a dozen or more wagons. Then there is the fiddle yard to build, plus fascia, pelmets, lighting & so on – so plenty to keep me occupied…

[Mike 84C]

Hello David, Arigna Town is excellent but your Clogher project is a quantum leap forward. I look forward to its launch onto the exhibition circuit. Maybe both layouts at the same show? would that be a first?

[Noel]

That could be a film set - Simply Stunning - no other words for it.

[bantree]

That trainshed is a superb piece of building David.The painting and weathering is in a different class.

[irishrail201]

Fabulous! Don't suppose you could help me build some 7mm kits!

[David Holman]

Thanks for the comments everyone. The paint job on the train shed is not difficult and could be replicated on any building, though smaller scales would require finer abrasives of course.

For peeling paint on wood, first out on a coat of worn wood colour. I use a blend of humbrol 110 (natural wood), 64 (grey), plus a touch of Matt black. Allow to dry then add a couple of topcoats. Once this has dried, brush on humbrol liquid poly or similar, which will make the paint craze. Let this dry, then attack with abrasives, scrapers etc and the topcoats will come away leaving the worn wood colour underneath. Finally, dry brush the flaking paint with top coat to highlight. Slow, but simple.

[David Holman]

The passenger train is now is a bit more substantial now with the addition of a first class coach. Shorter than the 3rd/composites, I'd originally hoped that one would either make a short mixed train of at least two wagons & a van, or indeed the combo in the photo below. However, seems I did not get my measurements right & though the above will fit in the loop, they will foul the road to the turntable. So, either some additional shunting will be needed, or I have an excuse for an extra loco, so one will always be on shed and engines are swapped each time a train arrives. Anybody know where I can find drawings of the ex Castlederg loco which was bought by the CVR?

The coach is of course the Branchlines kit, still going strong at around 30 years of age now.

[David Holman]

Thanks to someone on RMWeb, have found I already have a drawing of the Castlederg loco, 'twas in the first David Lloyd compilation for the 7mmNG association.

[Andy Cundick]

Point to bear in mind when building No4 is the lack of space between the 2nd and 3rd driving axles,when i did the Castlederg version i made up the chassis as per the drawing,only to find that the wheel flanges overlapped(Oh dear i said!)So the 2 chassis i eased the rear axle back a bit and all was fine.Andy.

[David Holman]

Thanks Andy (and for the drawings). Had the same problem with Sir Henry on Arigna. I suppose S7 should be the way to go, but a small adjustment to the chassis makes more sense to me!

[jhb171achill]

That little layout is superb.

 

Others have discussed on this forum recently what "how-to" hints, videos or demonstrations they'd like to see. Perhaps one on how you get ground surface scenery so convincingly realistic?

 

Anyone agree?

[David Holman]

Happy to oblige, JB. Will see what I can do over the next few days. However, the process does require a certain amount of investment, not least some form of static grass applicator and a wide range of fibres and scatter materials.

Gordon Gravett's book: Modelling Grassland and Landscape Detailing (Wild Swan, ISBN 978 1 908763 06 8) is very much the 'bible' for such work, covering the key aspects of weeds, wild flowers, hedges, roads and pavements, mud, puddles and rivers.

Very easy to follow too. It must be, because if I can...

[Noel]

. . . not least some form of static grass applicator and a wide range of fibres and scatter materials. . . .

 

Hi David.

 

FYI, I got this GJ05 static grass applicator on eBay from China for only €15 (i.e. one tenth of cost of the Noch). So far it has worked well.

 

The seller was dreamlixy2009 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GJ05-Mini-Flocking-Static-Grass-Applicator-SCENIC-MODELLING-NEW-/372043273554?epid=1187999198&hash=item569f81d552:g:Yo4AAOSwax5Yz1Kg

 

Btw, Clogher Valley is looking superb.

 

Noel

[murrayec]

Hi David & Mike

 

I thought I'd re-post this here for future reference, I hope yous don't minds....

 

 

Eoin

[David Holman]

Not at all,, Eoin. As I said to Mick, it is a real bit of treasure.

[Broadstone]

Hello David, I turn my back for 5 minutes and you have started and made amazing progress with a new layout that is absolutely stunning! Well done and I look forward to seeing it the first time you are up North. It also shows the benefits of retirement - just 15 months to go for me, but the buggers are determined to get their pound of flesh in the meantime................Best wishes, Paul G

[David Holman]

First outing planned to be Uckfield next year, Paul. Need to be careful after that as Arigna is currently averaging 9-10 shows a year so not much space for a second layout in the calendar...

[David Holman]

This year's Uckfield was utterly superb - probably the best ever and must rank as the best 'small' show anywhere in the country. Arun Quay, Denton Brook [remote controlled 7mm scale lorries & working cranes], Bridport and Trever Nunn's latest S gauge project very much the highlights, but there were no average layouts & any one of them could have been a best in show contender anywhere else. For me, it was also a reminder that in a year's time, Fintonagh is booked to make its debut there & I have but one baseboard completed, no fiddle yard, no legs or fascias,  plus just two locos, two coaches and four wagons. Time to get things going!

 As the photos show, have paired the two boards and been working on the area around the join, together with the back scene on the second board, plus the road surface. The latter is card, painted with gloss grey & covered with talc. The fiddle yard is coming along and just needs the turntable top cutting. It is fairly simple being a 6mm birch ply box, with a 9mm MDF top and more on the latter forming the train turntable. With just five tracks, there will be none of the complications of Arigna's sliding/rotating jobbie & is a lot lighter too.

 The sub-structure of the layout is now the Mark 4 version [!]. Mark 1 was using Arigna's original trestles & beams, with higher cross supports, but proved far too unstable, so Mark 2 was 1.2m trestles, but these seemed also less than stable. Mark 3 was simply an idea taken from Iain Rice's Cameo Layouts book & was going to involve short [50cm] internal legs, mounted on standard trestle tables at shows. However, thinking about it, these can be less than ideal in some, so ditched that in favour of another Rice idea. This uses two Screwfix height adjustable steel trestles. At just £25 each, they are a bit of a bargain & can hold up to 250kg, so my layout ought not to tax them. Have made two 3m folding beams from 30mm x 12mm softwood. The picture is from maestro Rice's book, but my set up is a straight copy. Will post some of my own pics later, including the fascia/pelmet arrangement which will make the layout fully enclosed.

[popeye]

That is looking very nice.