My attempts to make progress on my Budget Model Railways Challenge floating shelf layout have been thwarted by a recurring problem ... nothing seemed to stick to my shelf!
I had painted the top surface of the shelf with two coats of yellow ochre acrylic craft paint before fixing the track in place and had also painted the edges with three coats of black acrylic craft paint and three coats of gloss polyurethane varnish. I then tried to use some masking tape on the top of the shelf so that I could paint a road on the shelf ... but when I removed the tape, it took off the paint underneath it!
For some reason the paint had not adhered to the surface of the shelf. I therefore put a length of masking tape on one edge of the shelf and removed it ... and the paint came off there as well!
I took a look at one of the other floating shelves I had bought, and realised that the surface was actually a thin layer of Fablon-like material and that was why the paint was not adhering to the surface of the shelf. I therefore used the tip of a sharp craft knife to lift the edge of the surface covering which – with a bit of effort on my part – peeled off, leaving me with an MDF surface that the paint will adhere to.
I am therefore going to restart my layout from the beginning ... and I am going to take my inspiration from P D Hancock's CRAIG & MERTONFORD RAILWAY. This layout featured Craig Harbour, and I may well include a small harbour on my layout.
A map of the final version of P D Hancock's Craig & Mertonford layout. The harbour is located on the left-hand side of the layout. (© P D Hancock)
Bob, a quick tip that may help. I used a layer of 5mm foamboard covering my baseboard which is a great surface and has some noise reducing impact too. I glued it down with good quality PVA and a few spots of superglue here and there to hold it as it dried. Perfect for track bed, ballast and terrain forming etc also if you wish to plant fence posts etc they just push in! I'd give the shelf a good rub down to rough it up a bit then lay down 5mm foamboard. When you get to landscaping Bob consider florists oasis? Great stuff and easy to shape etc without mess, theres a video on my channel about this. Good luck,
ReplyDeleteLee.
‘Lee,
DeleteFunnily enough, that’s exactly what I did when I built my ‘Mucking Flats & Fobbing Marsh’ railway! The foamcore made it much easier to do the simple landscaping I wanted to include on my layout, and the track was so easy to fix using track pins that only needed to be pushed in.
I’ve not used Oasis as a modelling medium for many years, but you’re right about it having lots of potential for making hills etc. Thanks for reminding me about its diverse uses.
All the best,
Bob
A version of the traditionally 'foamboard' which are gaining popularity here in Norway regarding model railway construction is sheets of Depron (to isolate floors). It's light, cheap, sturdy and very easy to cut. The color i black, so I guess it can be used for fascias as well.
ReplyDeleteI really like the trackplan of that "around the wall" NG layout.
Roger,
DeleteThanks for the suggestion. I’ve discovered that I can buy Depron online and that it is available in white as well as black and in three thicknesses (3mm, 6mm, and 9mm).
The Craig & Mertonford railway went through three variants, including at least one that combined 00 and 009 railways. The plan shown in my blog post was the last version.
All the best,
Bob