Andover Modelex 24

Yearning to see some model railways in the flesh, so to speak, I visited this 1 day exhibition on 31st August 24.

30 exhibits of layouts and traders spread over 2 halls. Arriving half an hour after opening and during the morning the footfall was IMHO lower than previously experienced at such shows. Therefore, no jostling needed to get good views of the exhibits. Maybe the low turnout was due to the time of year as later or earlier in the year is the main exhibition season.

My top three layouts were:

Maritime Lane VMF (00 gauge)

The layout draws its name and inspiration from Southampton Maritime and Basford Hall VMF. The scenic section is 4ft by 2ft and features a wagon repair shed, fuel point and loco stabling. Adding the fiddle yard doubles the length.

Now this is small. However with seven sidings it has plenty of operating potential, which is why it appealed to me.

Old Parrock (00 gauge)

A small Southern Railway Sussex halt set in picturesque countryside. My photo does not give justice to this pretty scene and in particular the cottage and watermill that have been scratch built from card to a very high standard, influenced by Pendon construction methods.

Penworth (N gauge)

The modelling of this GWR branch line is a feast for the eyes and I make no excuse for showing three scenes from the model. This type of layout that captures real life in finely detailed miniature is right up my street and I was excited to see it.

The detail of the scratch built buildings is beyond belief for N gauge (1:148 scale). The construction method follows the principles employed at Pendon and if you know anything about that you'll know that bricks and slates are individually laid on card (guess the same method used here). But Pendon is 1:76 scale, twice as big. Doing the same in 1:148 takes great skill and patience.

Talking about detail and authenticity, look closely at the second photo (click for larger image) and spot the picnic setting and the man laying a roof.

Needless to say this was my best in show.

Trade Purchase

Green Scene Mod Roc 2 pack (plaster of Paris bandage) from Squires Tools.

Coverage: 0.825 sq m (£5.99).

Nearly bought static grass but not sure how much to buy as I have a large area to cover using multiple layers so, I left it for another day.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #15 (Embankment Sub-Structure)

Using spare wood to hand the track bed is supported on 5 mm ply and 3" x 1" blocks (or thereabouts).

The method I used to set the gradient was to first cut two supporting blocks of the required height for each end of the embankment. Lay across them a length of straight wood and measure  the heights for intermediate supports.

The embankment itself is made from shaped polystyrene packaging blocks covered in two layers of plaster of Paris bandage. Stores where I found the bandage were 'The Range' (£1.50 for two rolls. Not clear whether the size stated is for one roll or two (coverage is either 0.4 sq. m or, 0.2 sq. m?). But, beware that whilst their website may show 'in stock' at your local store in my case there were none! Second stop was Hobbycraft who had a large stock of single rolls at £2.00 each (coverage: 0.3 sq. m). They call it Plaster Moulding Roll.

BTW, I determined the slope of the embankment from measuring the angle of the wing wall on a photograph of the prototype.

I decided to fit the grey girder bridge loose so it can be removed for maintenance or reuse and the brick pillars are also loose being held in place by the landscape. 

The layout comprises three independent baseboards, meaning track and landscape do not span the baseboard joins, thus making it easier to separate them in the event of removal. 

Drop wires are soldered to the track at each end of a baseboard and pass through the baseboard to  'chocolate' terminal blocks. Wires from these connect to bolts that hold the baseboards together and these also convey power between baseboards. At the two ends of the layout are 'D' type connectors that complete the power circuit of the oval. 'D' connectors are also hidden in the bridge pillars allowing the bridge to be disconnected easily and removed if necessary. 'D' connectors are an overkill as only two terminals are required. 'D's are what I had in stock.

To Part 16.

To Part 1.
 

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #14 (Fun with Trigonometry)

To recap, this is roughly the layout plan for Battledown Flyover (top half of photo). Note that the flyover west and east tracks in red, are dead ends. Therefore the bridge scene is almost a static diorama. Almost because a train can run across the flyover from west to east (up line) but, it would need to be a short train.

Since the track does not need to be the steep gradient (1:30) of a model railway in order to join other tracks at ground level I can make the gradient prototypical. But, what is the gradient of the prototype?

Foolishly I did not initially search the web for the answer. Probably because as the bridge is within walking distance of my home I can go and look where the gradient starts, relate this to google maps to measure the horizontal distance and from this calculate the gradient.

Problem is I have not used trigonometry since school days! 

Using Goggle maps I measured the horizontal distance of the gradient to the bridge to be  approximately 7376 mm (4 mm scale).  I new the height of the model to be 80 mm. Now I needed the angle. I remembered from school the acronym SOHCAHTOA to help remember when to use sine, cos or tan but, I choose the easy path of using the web to do the calculations for me!

An angle of 0.621 degrees was calculated here.

and the gradient of 1:92 here. 

Only then did I search the web and found in this forum posting stating the gradient to be 1:90.

I was impressed that my calculation was pretty close to that!

Now I had to work out the rail height at the extremities of the gradients on the model. I measured the track lengths to be 1300 mm on the west end and 1400 mm on the east end. 

Recalculating using the same angle and subtracting 1300 from 7376 etc. gave heights of 65.8 mm and 68.5 mm respectively.

Now I can proceed to build the bridge embankments.

To Part 15.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #13 (A Close Call)

Track and cork underlay are reused from the previous layout. Both are glued down using 'Copydex' since they will peel off easily for reuse if required.

About halfway through laying I realised that I did not have enough track because two turnouts from the previous layout are omitted from the new plan.

From the previous post in this series you will see that I put myself under some pressure to complete track laying for the west of England mainline before a visitor arrived to play trains next day. This would not be possible without obtaining track from somewhere. Buying online was not an option due to the shipping timescale.

Fortunately, the town in which I live has two model railway shops (a rare occurrence). A quick dash to one of them to buy a length of Peco SL100F and some rail joiners enabled me to complete the track work in time. The pressure is now off and I can continue modelling at a leisurely pace.

The turnout in the photo on the far left will connect to a small, three road storage/fiddle yard that will be hidden by a bridge embankment in due course.

I am so grateful that my town still boasts model shops. I wonder how long they will last since many modellers buy online these days to get the best deal.

To Part 14.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #12 (Onwards at Pace)

Three baseboards now in place. The one far left looks smaller than the others but it is in fact similar in length. It needs an infill at the front but, its build can wait until I am ready to lay the bridge track work that will need to run onto it.

What is important just now is to lay the double tracks to complete the circuit so that trains can run all round the oval. In fact I only have a day and a half to do this before another visitor comes to play trains.

The tracks on the right hand board were already in place, being from the previous layout. Just had to swing the straights slightly towards the front to line up with the track plan on the middle board.

BTW the boards are bolted together and fixed to the wall with metal right angle brackets. The back scene is loosely fitted, slotting between wall and baseboard.

To Part 13.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #11 (Rusty Screws & Wood Offcuts)

Railway Modelling need not be as expensive as some may complain, especially if you keep spare fittings and wood from past projects for potential use in future baseboard construction.

This is baseboard #2 that cost nothing to build. It looks a right bodge and it is but, once the bridge and scenery is added no one will know.

One of the boards was my son's school artwork project that he did not claim when he left home (he is a dad now). Don't tell him I sanded away his picture.

The other odd shaped board is from another abandoned project. Two corners needed filling with triangular offcuts. One was cut too narrow so the gap was filled with another offcut that awaits sanding down.

The boards are 3/8 inch ply and frame 2 x1 timber to match the adjoining boards.

What is important in this bodged approach is to ensure the top is flat throughout and the assembly not twisted.

For the back story of this baseboard see post #10.

To Part 12.

To Part 1.