N / OO9 Two scales one gauge

Nicely done, Rick. Did you have any trouble speed matching?

peterm said

Nicely done, Rick. Did you have any trouble speed matching?

From “Post #290,460”, 21st August 2024, 11:55 pm

None at all.  Which ever loco led / trailed and whether running forwards or backwards they matched speed really well top-and-tailing the train.  As I mentioned when placed alone at opposite sides of the test track with no trailing load the diesel slowly - over around ten laps of a ten-metre circuit - caught up with the steam loco.  

I have yet to test either the Hunslet or the diesel against the Baldwin locos which will also appear on the OO9 version of the layout.  Diesel and Baldwin have both run on the OO9 circuit of Porthgarrow but not together.  My impression is that the diesel is again slightly faster than steam.  

Those little Baguley-Drewry diesels are also extraordinarily powerful for their diminutive size.  I had wondered, when I first purchased them, whether they would cope with a full trains and offer smooth running through point frogs.  They are great.  They don't even bay an eyelid running across an insulfrog point which is better than many much larger OO locos can manage.  And they cheerfully lift and haul 20 V-skips (of which half are loaded with ballast) plus all the passenger coaches and goods wagons I have which is another 20 assorted items some of them bogie stock.  

£ for £ they are not cheap but I can't make anything that good in that size for that money and I am very pleased with them.  

Good to hear, and that bottom line really is the bottom line here.

Weathering of the stock progresses steadily.  The bogie vans are already factory-weathered but I don't want the pair looking identical.  I also wanted to remove the running numbers which are the same.  My usual method of using a cotton-wool bud dipped in rubbing alcohol didn't remove the number as it would a tampo-oprinted nameplate; it started to take the livery with it too.  But no matter as I want these looking well-used.

I added powders and over-sprayed with hair-spray to fix them.  With that still tacky for a few seconds I then lightly brushed on more powder at one end.  This stuck to the hair-spray droplets but brushed off anywhere else and gave me a "spattered" appearance which I like.  I have done this before but not on anything this small.

The usual rusty grime has been added to bogies and a mix of soot black, dark rust and mid-brown to the sides.  The roof is mostly soot black with some dark rust brushed in.

The tape is included for scale.

I really cannot get the image uploader to work as it should.  Images just go randomly into the post and despite using the editor I cannot move them.  They simply delete themselves.  I find this very frustrating.  The post above is my fourth attempt and has taken over a half-hour to get things that far.  

It seems to be a quirk of the site. I can't get photo's to stay in the order that I load them. Maybe someone knows something that we don't and will pass it on.

The first cork underlay is down.  The two tracks are placed not pinned but are in more or less the positions where they will fixed.  There will be two lifted track-beds in front of the nearest "remaining" track with a disused platform between them.  And probably a derelict wagon or two when I am running the N-gauge theme.

Two scales side by side again.

Weathering of the four "bug-box" coaches has been completed.  These have been rubbed over with IPA to take down the green to a worn appearance, some of the livery has been randomly removed exposing brown bodywork beneath and some of the printed details have been removed.

The track is laid out ready for cutting and pinning.  The backscenes have arrived ready for pasting to the card (which I have yet to obtain) and which will have to be carefully done to ensure they are reversible or - at least - easily swapped out.  I would like them to be reversible but the curves in some areas will make that tricky so two sets of scenery may well be the answer.  

More OO-9 buildings have arrived as these are more easily dealt with using resin than downloads for my purposes.  The N-gauge scenes are already on file as Scalescenes downloads so await printing, mounting, cutting and assembly.  

I plan to be a bit crafty with the canal scene.  The original Boghouses had a canal with lock and narrowboat.  All of them Scalescenes items.  In order to replicate that in the dual-scale environment I can build one canal but two narrowboats.  Canals are typically either 7-feet or 14-feet wide so the single-width canal will be a 7-foot wide one in OO-9 and a 14-foot one on N with different boats to suit.  As I cannot build a dual-scale lock that will have to be dispensed with.  Other items such as the bridge over the canal can be swap-out items.  The same footprint can be used for an N-gauge road bridge and a OO-9 footpath bridge.  Using correct scale bricks / stonework for each of course.  

The plan is also for the resin OO-9 structures to occupy the same footprint as will be used for N-gauge buildings with the latter representing structures twice the size.  

I have a controller in the loft which can be used for this layout.  What I don't have is overhead lighting so that will be another cost as things move along.  

A cunning plan? :-)

peterm said

A cunning plan? :-)

From “Post #290,498”, 9th September 2024, 12:04 am

I still have hair.  Therefore I am not a Bald Rick  :lol:


But the plan is cunning, yes.  

After a longer interval than I had planned I finally have the first of the reversible back-scene boards in place.  Not without some issues as the paper bubbled on both sides and required a lot of smoothing.  It's about 98% smooth now - that'll do for me.  I have seen show layouts rather worse.

N-scale Boghouses with the passenger train, a class 66 and the same redundant wagons as appeared on the original "Boghouses" layout which will reappear here.  I don't yet have any N-gaige structures ready to place as most will, I expect, be built up from Scalescenes downlaods over the winter.

And second the OO-9 scale mountain backdrop to Tŷ Bach with some stock in the station area and the resin buildings in more or less their final positions - except that they will be mounted on platforms.

The 009 backscene is particularly good Rick, (not to say the N gauge one isn't) 



Ed

Ed said

The 009 backscene is particularly good Rick, (not to say the N gauge one isn't) 



Ed

From “Post #290,621”, 11th November 2024, 9:04 am

Thank you. Both are Gaugemaster products. The industrial scene is three fairly short panels which I can repeat with care. The mountains are three long panels which is more than enough. Those are also higher than I need so I can trim off some unwanted foreground and a little sky. 

Small, ultimately not normally visible, but important bits going in. 


Thin strips of foamboard are cut and glued along the back edges of the baseboard. They are not glued to the wall. 


Their function is to prevent the backscene panels from accidentally dropping through the gap and into places they would be very difficult to recover from. The lower edges of the scene rest against these strips with the upper edges against the wall. The panels will therefore lean very slightly back but only by a tiny and probably indiscernible amount. 


I did consider a second row of strips to create a groove into which the panels would slot. The tendency of the materials to flex slightly ruled this out

The foamboard backscene has not been a success. The board curls in both planes when adhesive is applied. The fact that I am fixing scenes and therefore applying adhesive to both sides has not cancelled out the effect. 


I shall be re-making those panels with 9-ply shortly. 


Likewise the idea of gluing rather than pinning the track was not successful as the curves created in the flexible lengths would not hold. 


Track will therefore be pinned in the usual way. 


The first two of three lower sidings are now pinned and connected to the three-way point which will feed them. The nearer holds a rake of 009 skips; the farther (middle) road holds the N-gauge class 66 and megabox wagons. Four will fit as planned. 

Sorry to hear about your foamboard warping problem Rick, but I've done something similar and not had any warping.

I got the foamboard from Amazon and used Pritt Stick to attach the backscene

ASelected 10 Pack A3 (420 x 297mm) Foam Board, 5mm Thick Polystyrene Foam Sheet for Model Making, Mounting Photos, Presentations, Arts and Crafts Projects (White) : Amazon.co.uk: Stationery & Office Supplies




The black tape is just to hold the sheets together and straight.



Ed

I got the foamboard from Amazon and used Pritt Stick to attach the backscene

Mine is from Rymans and I used Deluxe Materials "Backscene Adhesive".  That has caused a few bubbles before in photo-printed scenes but when I tried with PVA it was worse.  Hopefully applying the adhesive to wood and then rolling the paper onto that will be satisfactory.  At least I can brush out bubbles if they form while the adhesive is still wet.  

I did consider ply, but the foamboard was a lot cheaper and lighter.

Maybe you were just unlucky, or I'm just very lucky.


Ed
 

I used hardboard as a backing here in spain but it is both heavy and expensive. It also hasn't been possible to save any in the dismanteling process for taking back to the UK for the new layout. I think a test with foamboard may be a good idea for me,