A small portable train-set based around an 'Inglenook' layout

Well, I have suffered the penalties of self deceit, I thought that if I could handle 2 square ft of watercolours I could handle 24 square ft of gouache/emulsion. I could not, and still can not, so after 4 attempts I reprimed the whole thing flat white and set out on the biggest watercolour I have ever done after buying a new daylight flourescent tube to work by. I am aiming for a nonedescript sky, perhaps late Summer/early Autumn when it might rain during the night.

I built up cobalt blue washes with a 2" hake brush, lightly tinted with alizarin crimson and the occasional addition of Payne's Grey. The latter is tricky to use as it contains Pthalo Blue, a heavily staining colour which, once it's on, stays.

Hazy upper patches and cloud shapes were lifted out back to white with a dry brush and kitchen paper and allowed to dry a little when I sprayed the area above them with water, added a little more cobalt wash wet into damp then blended the upper part upwards and then kept dabbing the lower edge with a dry cloth and kitchen paper as it tried to run back down to keep the white.

Then I sprayed small areas and touched them wet in wet with a very pale mix of cobalt and Payne's Grey with a No. 12 brush. I imagined the clouds to be moving from left to right from the right hand corner and the sun to be on my right.








A small close up of the centre right.


I'm reasonably pleased with it, put it this way, I am not going to have another try just to improve some of the muddy areas!

Poop-poop! Hope you like it,


Doug

[No, I didn't get paint on my new [Christmas] shirt, but no brownie points, as I both  walked a blob of emulsion up the cellar stairs and in a careless moment used my handkerchief to wipe out the No.12 brush. Yes, it was the Paynes Grey, yes, it did stain, yes, SWMBO did find it in the washing basket tucked under a Tee-shirt.]

Great result. Very life like. I'd be delighted with that.

Toto

Nice one Doug.SWMBO probably has plans for you in the paint department seeing you seem to be a dab hand with the brush.
Regards,
Derek.

As Toto said Do8ug, I'd be delighted with that. :thumbs

I like the way you've created what I'd call a "confused" sky - it doesn't really know what to be so it's a bit of everything and there's certainly an impression of movement.

Yep - it's realistic, especially for UK when you seldom get bright solid colours. :thumbs:thumbs

Looks great to me Doug… and Bravo on the water colours…. water colours and I do not get on.

Marty

Nice work Doug. :thumbs 

Terry

Very nice.

Maybe you need one of those full plastic suits that the police use for forensic purposes to keep you clothes free of paint.

I do get on with watercolours but its been a while since my A level art that I have attemtped any thing of that scale.

A fortnight since I posted, I can't believe the year is going so quickly. Since last time, everything has dried out, and despite my best efforts priming etc the backscene has gone a bit 'wiggly' along the top edge. Might make the stacking mode a little difficult.

I have been playing with XtrkCAD, and before I knew it I had a full BLT, engine shed, coal merchant, cattle, water etc etc on what was supposed to be a simple shunting puzzle layout I could take to shows and have people play with. Whe amount of clutter I had drawn they'd be lucky to see the Inglenook track, let alone shunt on it, so I have turned it around and stripped it out tothe plan below.It will still give me plenty of room to asdd some scenics etc. I shall include loco coaling and water, but no shed.

I'd like a raised scenic area at the back, but no fiddle yard planned. I've planned it to keep just two straight tracks across the baseboards, and now I have sorted out the point operation [ http://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=13071&forum_id=11 I'm ready to make a start!  :Happy







Try as I might I can't get the XtrkCAD drawing to post with better contrast..

A
Passenger service with a railcar or push-pull. I believe you can buy [oh I hate that word…] an auto shuttle electric device to run a train in and out of a station with reliablility and realistic speed without going as far as DCC? [Swooning at the thought of spending SLW tokens]

B,C,D & E
Standard 5-3-3 Inglenook puzzle

F,G
Limits of shunts

H
The old Bear's End station [good job I didn't glue the name-board on!]

The tunnel to conceal the disappearing shuttle will have to be lift off or similar, or I could cut a trap-door in the end or back in case of derailments/problems. I'd rather not, though.

Industry would be rail-served, may be a humbug mine or a ginger-beer well, looking at John Wiffen's T24a Industrial model, it has an interesting wedge shape footprint, a bit different.

Well, that's it, I would be very pleased to hear any suggestions/critique etc.

Poop-poop!

Doug

Looks good to me Doug. :thumbs

I found when exhibiting Linden Ford that the 'paying' public do like to get their hands on and operate a layout. I notice that there are not a lot of layouts or exhibitors that allow this. To me, it's what brings people to the hobby and shows that they don't need a lot of space to have a fully functional layout.

Cheers, Gary.

No run-around Doug?
Pilot engine or reverse the goods in or simply the goods remains on the layout and it's just a shunting puzzle while the passenger shuttles backwards and forwards on the rear line?
Hmm, yes the latter makes sense in the context of the layout. 
I think that you will have a lot of fun with this at exhibitions, to the point of having to give out numbered tickets (like at the deli counter) and get the exhibition managers to call the numbers over the PA. "New End operator number 63 you will be required at the New End layout in 5 mins" :lol:
Marty

Looks great, Doug! Cool! Brings back great memories from Carn Brea
days when we met here in Cornwall. Look forward to following your thread! :cheers

Hi Doug

Comming to gether nicely.

This may be of use

Simple Shuttle automatic model railway branchline service

I have also seen at an exhibition (Dundee a few years back), a public user hump shunter puzzel, the controller at one end and the points manually thrown, and no hooks on the tension lock couplings, with a league table for the quickest time. The trick was to go slow, too quick and you couldn't stop the wagons going over the hump, and then routing them correctly.

Paul

Thank you for that, Paul…

Is it me, or is that too abrupt a start - stop motion? It puts me in mind of the 'O' gauge clockwork I had as a nipper where one slid a metal catch across the track to jam the clockwork motor train.

I'd have thought the 'Lectronical wizards would have been able to develop a circuit that slowed the locomotive at least a little before 'pulling out the plug' at the end of the travel, wouldn't you? It wouldn't be too awful twhen it stops inside a scenic break, but all the little people will fall off their seats on arrival back at the station…:)


Hhhmm, too much faith in educated electrons has mislead me.


Doug

Hi Doug

Yeah does seem abit abrubpt, and read the blurb, just seems to stop when it detects the loco.

Abetter option may be the MERG kit 45 Automatic Train Controller (DC only), £26.25, plus MERG membership if you are not a member (£15 p.a.).
This divides your section into three sections, 2 x 0.5m lengths at the ends and a min 0.5m in the middle. You set the max speed you want to run at on your controller, and when a loco enters the end sections, it will decelerate to a stop, wait a while, then move in the opposite direction accelearating to the pre-determined max speed (set by your controller). When it enters the other end section it just decelertaes and repeats the function. There is an addon kit 46 (£19.50 each, multiple units can be used) used to expand the functionality of the Automatic Train Controller (Kit 45) for a DC model railway layout, from a simple, single line, auto-reversing, shuttle-type operation to one with multiple terminating tracks and/or intermediate loops/platform roads.  

1 addon unit would allow you to put a point in the fiddle yard and run two trains

Paul

That deffo needs looking into, thank you!

Doug

Finally I have managed to achieve the 'nested' effect I wanted. Sadly, the horrid French plywood I used warped sufficiently to prevent the back scene elements sliding together easily so I had to reduce a 4ft x 1" edge of 9mm ply to 6mm ply to give sufficient clearance to allow then to telescope together. I damped the outsides when I got it together and it has stood for nearly12 weeks, held straight [ish] by the aluminium channel. It seems to be reasonably OK now.

So a piccy of the stacked halves, a close-up of the aluminium channel arrangement, and a view of the folded legs in the top board. The eagle eyed (or terminally bored) will notice there is but one pair of legs on this board, because it piggy-backs on the other two-legged board.








Also, see http://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=12881&forum_id=21&highlight=dooferdog+new+end#p228051

Post 36 - and now look under the Narrow Gauge section……looks like New End may become 'New Little End'….

Best wishes,

Doug