Why in the heck am I not in 00 gauge!?

[railsquid]

At the risk of being lynched, I suspect if big kettles were my thing, I'd go with OO, all those long metal poles what turn the wheels seem terribly fragile in N, though if I really wanted to dabble in one these humungous scales I'd go straight to O.  For my preferred period/region (BR blue, Midlands-ish) I'm pretty well served in N, and occasional glimpses over the Orribly Oversized fence indicate the grass isn't much bluer on the other side.

[njee20]

I'm Not in OO.... I'm Modelling in EM , However If I had realised the size of shed I'd need to get my chosen Station in, It would have been 2mm. The Shed size...      63ft by up to 16ft, still building the layout supports....

Is that a typo, 63'x16' shed?! That's not a shed that's a barn, and a big one at that! 

I love the idea of O, but it doesn't get away from the fact I like decent length trains etc, so I'd need that 63x16' space, and some millions, to build it all. Then I lack the skill to do any of the kits justice too. So I'd spend loads of money and it would be terrible. Better I do that in N where mistakes are small!

[Newportnobby]

Then I lack the skill to do any of the kits justice too. So I'd spend loads of money and it would be terrible. Better I do that in N where mistakes are small!

And the mistakes don't come in kits!

[Bob Tidbury]

They do  come in kits from B H E  especially if I have packed them.
Bob Tidbury

[Steamie+]

Maybe because you can do more with N Gauge in a given area than OO.

This is one example.

I would have to agree with Graham. I stuck with N because of the space advantage over 00. The visible viewing section of my layout is barely 30 inches across, which would need about double that for double O. Not to mention the length of trains! It would have reduced my ambition considerably in the larger scale. I would definitely say hang on in N 

Andy

Great layout Andy.     

[Rabs]

Sorry, off topic but I just saw this picture and was struck by how good the river/canal is in your model.  I'd be really interested to see more pictures and see the method that you used.  Do you have a layout thread?

[njee20]

It's in Andy's signature:

Layout :- West Coast (Southern Section)
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;cat=2531;u=5731

Full story and pics at:-
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8888017@N08/albums/72157673002148172

It is a stunning bit of modelling!

[AndyRA]

Thank you for the kind comments. The Canal ended up the way it did by accident rather than design. The one thing that I did get right was to make sure the canal was level from end to end to avoid 'pooling'. The canal was started by cutting out a section of 5mm plywood, and recessing the canal bed below the baseboard level. The canal sides were made up from Balsa wood planks cut and shaped. The canal bed was made up of coarse granite ballast glued in place. This was then painted in various mixtures of blue to represent varying depths. (As my sky was clear blue this would be okay, I would've 'greened' it down a bit otherwise)

The bank sides were eventually given several coats of various green paint (leftover DMU and Loco colours!) before being covered in scatter and static grasses. I decided to try Woodlands Realistic Water, which was poured gently into the canal to a recommended depth of about 2mm, which covered the ballast. However, I hadn't reckoned with how the water was absorbed into the stones and sides. The water level went down overnight to leave an uneven ripple where the chippings were. I then used a second and third fill of about 1mm and found the ripple effect showed through. I went from being concerned to reasonably happy with the end result. Finally added a few Noch scenic 'clumps' at the sides of the towpath, and a few 'Blu-tack' swans.
Once again thank you for the comments

Andy.

[The Q]

I'm Not in OO.... I'm Modelling in EM , However If I had realised the size of shed I'd need to get my chosen Station in, It would have been 2mm. The Shed size...      63ft by up to 16ft, still building the layout supports....

Is that a typo, 63'x16' shed?! That's not a shed that's a barn, and a big one at that! 

I love the idea of O, but it doesn't get away from the fact I like decent length trains etc, so I'd need that 63x16' space, and some millions, to build it all. Then I lack the skill to do any of the kits justice too. So I'd spend loads of money and it would be terrible. Better I do that in N where mistakes are small!

Unfortunately it's not a Typo,  many years ago I started collecting stock and making the odd building for the station, my family has the most connections with. Then just over 10 years ago I got Planning Permission from SWMBO to build a shed for a model railway as the house didn't have anywhere suitable, providing one end became her art studio....
I had a couple of times built the civilian station and had great difficulty scaling it down ( in memory) to a reasonable appearance.

With the Advent of the internet and several books becoming available on the MSWJR Then I scaled the plans properly.....

The Station works out to be roughly 34ft long at 4mm to the ft
Civilian side of the station long siding, + 800ft platforms to the bridge,
Military side / goods yard of the station, from the bridge, railway junction, nearly 900ft platforms, goods yard mostly between the two arms of the junction.
I then need to get the track back to the other end (I like watching trains go by) So add a 12ft radius one end  and some thing similar the other you get 34+12 + 10ft becomes a 54ft railway shed, this had been progressing for 10 years.
As I earn well below the national average pay, waiting for money has been one of the biggest delays, Unfortunately / fortunately, we never had any children or I would never have afforded it.

We had always intended building a small other shed for spraying, railways /  SWMBOs art and for her grinding wheel for her stained glass and other "dirty" hobby work. This came to a head this year because she started moving her art Equipment in to the semi circular end of the shed before I had finished the other leaving little room for me to work in construction .
After much thought a 10ft  by 9ft shed was attached this winter at 90degrees to the main shed with a corridor / alternative entrance way between the doors. This gives 63ft long. Currently the additional shed stores all the wood and tools to build the rest of the shed internals. it's future use as the dirty shed will have to wait until the main shed internals are finished.

Her art stuff is stored under the layout framing, her art books above the windows on a shelf. She currently has filled 1/2 the shed and will probably get 2/3rds of the available storage. I had luckily always planned to have all the electrics on the front /back of the layout I've spent to much time lying underneath layouts doing wiring in the past...

Most of the shed is hand built by me using 14 sash windows removed from the house as glazing.

Luckily we have 1.5 Acres of garden Jungle so it doesn't dominate the space. There are plans for the line to go for a wander outside, on top of a wall I'm slowly building to divide the garden up, this coincidentally gives roughly a scale 3 miles between the main station on the layout and the next station up the line which is near where my mother was born. There is a model of that station already under construction on the other side of the shed luckily that station is long and thin. 2ft wide and 18ft long does it quite nicely..

[Steamie+]

Thank you for the kind comments. The Canal ended up the way it did by accident rather than design. The one thing that I did get right was to make sure the canal was level from end to end to avoid 'pooling'. The canal was started by cutting out a section of 5mm plywood, and recessing the canal bed below the baseboard level. The canal sides were made up from Balsa wood planks cut and shaped. The canal bed was made up of coarse granite ballast glued in place. This was then painted in various mixtures of blue to represent varying depths. (As my sky was clear blue this would be okay, I would've 'greened' it down a bit otherwise)

The bank sides were eventually given several coats of various green paint (leftover DMU and Loco colours!) before being covered in scatter and static grasses. I decided to try Woodlands Realistic Water, which was poured gently into the canal to a recommended depth of about 2mm, which covered the ballast. However, I hadn't reckoned with how the water was absorbed into the stones and sides. The water level went down overnight to leave an uneven ripple where the chippings were. I then used a second and third fill of about 1mm and found the ripple effect showed through. I went from being concerned to reasonably happy with the end result. Finally added a few Noch scenic 'clumps' at the sides of the towpath, and a few 'Blu-tack' swans.
Once again thank you for the comments

Andy.

Thank you Andy, that's a great bit of modelling and well thought out.   

[Rabs]

Indeed, thank you.  Two things jump out as particularly good. First, as you noted, the colour of the water is right for the sky colour and second that the reflection of the narrowboat is just right.  It's not a perfect mirror but it's not a muddy blur either, just nicely broken up by the ripples.  It's very convincing.
Has the woodland scenics water been manageable to keep dust free?  That's always been the Achilles' heel of water when I've modelled it before with gloss varnish.

[AndyRA]

Dust hasn't been a problem so far. I did use a one inch soft paintbrush to clear off some of the scatter and grass material when I had finished. The water was hard enough not to have been marked or sticky enough to keep the leftovers from adhering to the surface.

Andy.

[daffy]

Andy, I agree, that is an excellent water effect you have achieved there.

You mention the water level dropped overnight as it was setting. Would you think there would be any merit in coating any substrate I use on a stream I have in mind for my layout with a sealant, such as PVA, to minimise the soaking effect? It seems from your description that the soaking process has enhanced the finished result, but I wonder if the Woodlands product dries in this fashion, i.e. with ripples, anyway. If not, it's an interesting insight.

Any advices welcomed.

[Webbo]

Daffy

I think that Realistic Water shrinks as it sets hence the lowering of level. I have used it to make my lake and wound up with long ripples across the surface that I have assumed to be associated with the grain of the plywood forming the lake bed. I like it as it looks like the ripples you might see on a fairly calm day with a light wind.

The biggest problem I faced in pouring my RW were 4 ants that decided to walk out on the surface as it was setting. Removing them the following morning left holes which I filled with more RW. But, even though I'd filled the holes to above their brims I was always left with a bit of a crater and depression due to the shrinkage. Even this turned out to be OK as the surface imperfections I now imagine to be ripples left by fish rising to the surface. In one case I'll be floating a small group of Canada Geese to hide the problem.

A problem with Realistic Water is that it has a high surface tension which causes it to creep up along the sides including rocks and bridge abutments.

Over all though, I'm very happy with the stuff. Dust just needs to be wiped off every now and again.
Webbo

[AndyRA]

Some of the initial loss was the fact I hadn't sealed the ends as well as I thought. Second attempt was more successful using some electrical tape and Blu-tack. Fortunately I had placed some old tubs at the ends just in case of leaks. Realistic Water is also supposed to be not so good when put over PVA glue. I didn't find this to be so, but it could be because I used several coats of paint to try and seal the canal bed. The water did soak its way into the balsa wood banks, but not too much. It didn't show once the scenery was finished off. The initial 'pour' did a good job of sealing the rest for the next two 'fills' of water. I couldn't comment on how it might match up to things like bridges as my canal stretch only had the balsa wood banks. I did use a small wooden tooth pick to gently push the water into a few small gaps.

Andy.