The first thing that I did was to paint the top of the floating shelf with three coats of Ochre Yellow acrylic paint.
I then placed my railway track onto the floating shelf to ensure that it fitted.
I then marked the places on the floating shelf where I would need to drill holes for the power supply and points wires …
… and then fixed the track to the floating shelf using a combination of white glue and track pins, ensuring that the wires passed through the holes I had drilled.
I then tested that the layout … and discovered that the points wouldn’t work! Despite checking everything I could, it proved impossible to track down the fault and I had to carefully remove the track.
I soon discovered the problem; the spring inside the points had come loose, and despite taking the points apart, it proved impossible for me to repair. As I didn’t have a like-for-like replacement, I had to re-think my layout plan.
In the end, I used a set of smaller radius manual points and adjusted the track accordingly. Once this was pinned and glued to the floating shelf, I tested it …
… and although it worked, I discovered that my 0-6-0 locomotives coped with the points and tighter curve better that my small 0-4-0 and large 0-6-2 locomotives.
I then painted the front edge and both ends of the floating shelf with matt black acrylic paint as I think that this frames the layout.
The next stage in this project is to decide on the theme for the layout.
BOB, Coming along nicely. What size is the base board in inches? I'm thinking of doing something similar in OO9. Cheers. KEV.
ReplyDeleteKev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteThe board is 60cm x 23.5cm, which converts to 23.6 inches x 9.25 inches.
Good luck with your layout.
All the best,
Bob
BOB,
DeleteThat is a lot smaller than I thought- I was thinking of around 2ft x 4ft. What prevents me from starting is that I balk at paying over $400 for a single OO9 Engine- I will still need to look for something less expensive. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteIf you opt for N-gauge, you can pick up Kato Pocket Line locomotives and rolling stock for far less than that (£70 approximately for an electric locomotive and two wagons).
All the best,
Bob
A great little challenge set by BMR, I have been following a couple of other participants on YouTube. I'd have had a go myself were I not engaged on my N Gauge project! Look forward to seeing yours develop.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Lee.
'Lee,
DeleteIts a very interesting little project, and I hope that it will be a starting point for a larger layout that is made up of several such small layouts that can be joined together.
Good luck with your project!
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteThat is a really good idea to make these small layouts in a way that they can be joined together. Then, over time, something very interesting may almost organically grow!
Steve
Steve,
DeleteThat’s my thinking … and I can store the floating shelves on an empty piece of wall using the brackets that come with each shelf! It’s a win-win!
All the best,
Bob
Coming along nicely Bob, though it's a shame the electric points didn't function.
ReplyDeleteThere's a surprising amount of room for scenery on this little shelf.
Maudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteCheers! I bought the points second-hand and suspect that might be why they were so cheap! I think that I might be able to repair them so that they will work manually, otherwise I’ll have to throw them away.
Using N-gauge track helps to reduce the amount of space given over to trackwork … and as it’s going to be an 009/H0e layout, and I’m not too obsessed with exact scale compatibility, that will work for me! (I prefer to take an ‘if it looks alright to me, it’ll do for what I want’ attitude to my modelling.)
More to follow soon!
All the best,
Bob
Bob if you cant get the turnout to work electrically then you could try wire in tube maybe? Mike at Budget Model Railways has a good little tutorial video on how to use it on a shelf style board by cutting a channel. I'm using it on my layout and it works really well except mine are beneath the board, barbeque skewers running through aquatic plastic tubing with a florist wire 'hook' going up and into the hole on the turnout. I have 4 medium radius Peco points (Electrofrog) and all runs fine without point wiring :) Hope this helps.
DeleteLee.
'Lee,
DeleteThat is certainly an option that I am going to look at. It comes with a manual slip switch, which means that when I need to change the direction the 'hand of God' will appear when I do ... but I can live with that.
My track is all Kato as I rather stupidly gave my Peco track away some years ago. I know that their track works very well, and - if the 009 bug continues to bite - perhaps I might try buying some in the future.
All the best,
Bob
I like the way your layout are coming together. By choosing a smaller radius turnout, your sidings and mainline becomes longer. I think you can use this photos for reference and ask ChatGPT for 'senery suggestions'.
ReplyDeleteRoger,
DeleteCheers! The smaller radius point certainly made the layout feel bigger … so the ‘failure’ of the original set of points turned out to be a bonus!
All the best,
Bob