Baseboards Part 7

 I had a play today whilst I still had the baseboards up on the legs, and by moving the 2 left-hand points onto the left-hand baseboard I can now get longer trains in the station, up to 5 long bogie coaches plus a small baggage, royal mail, parcel, milk, horsebox. I had previously designed to have all 4 points on the central baseboard to avoid cabling across the board joints, but having looked at the kit of parts for motorizing the points the ribbon cables have plugs on each end so easy to undo if I need to and the cables supplied are long enough to do the job. I have produced a new layout plan with this change in mind.

I then cut 4 of the strengthening pieces supplied with the baseboards in half to create 8, and glued 4 to the centre baseboard, and 2 to each to the outer baseboards. As the sides of the baseboards are only 6mm wide I needed to add these strengtheners for the alignment dowels which are quite deep at 15mm, mainly designed to fit into timber usually 50mm wide, and I just feel they would put too much strain on 6mm wide plywood, 12mm will be a lot better.

4 of the 8 strengthening pieces glued in place

One pair of alignment dowels, I am awaiting some more in the post to complete the job

Keith

Checking Reality Against My Plans

 I love it when a plan comes together, working it out on paper, or in my case with a computer program, is all well and good, but until you can actually put it into practice you are never quite sure if it will fit. As in this photo with only 400mm front to back on the central board and with the hidden track at the back, then the half-relief buildings, then pavement, road, another pavement, station building, platform and 2 tracks to fit in, I wasn't sure how much width I would have for the road, but there is plenty of room for a double-decker bus to get through as they say. 😁 

I would put a double-decker bus on just to prove it but they are in the bottom stock box out of 10 and I can't be flagged to get one out 🤣

Keith

Baseboards Part 6

 Quite a lot done this morning. I started by drilling and screwing the baseboard tops to the frames, I was hoping to avoid doing this, but  me being me with belt and braces, I wasn't confident in relying on glue holding the lot together. It isn't easy drilling through the baseboard top and into the edge of 6mm wide plywood and definitely not fun, but all drilled and screwed together.

I then temporarily clamped the central baseboard in between the other two and added some buildings

All 3 boards temporarily in place with some of the buildings roughly in place

I added some track, this is the right-hand end

The central section with half-relief buildings hiding the return line behind

Left-hand end, the castle ruins will be sited on a hill over the track

View of the line behind the half-relief buildings

The final plan I worked out, in comparison, is nearly spot on

Keith

Baseboards Part 5

 Busy morning this morning, I drilled and attached 8 feet to the 8 baseboard legs, these feet are to spread the load on the carpets.

Then I positioned all 8 legs in place and then put the first outer baseboard on its legs.

Then I put the second outer baseboard on its legs, I am awaiting delivery of some alignment dowels, which are on preorder, to be able to join the centre baseboard in between.

Even my cork board at the back of my workbench fits perfectly between the rear legs, almost as if I planned it that way 😁

Keith

Baseboards Part 4

 As it is raining, time to crack on with the 3rd and final baseboard. All glued together

Weighted down as before with the previous 2 baseboards

Unfortunately my 2 straps are not long enough to go round this baseboard, so I have had to join them together to create one longer one, it works! 😁

8 legs for the layout cut to length ably assisted by my wife Jo this afternoon. 🪚

Keith

Baseboards Part 3

 This morning I glued the central support down the middle of the baseboard frame.

T

Then my wife and I went food shopping. Upon return I glued the first part of the baseboard in place

Then I glued the second part of the baseboard in place

I used some handy weights whilst the glue sets. 😊

This afternoon I assembled the 2nd smaller baseboard frame and the central support. 😊

This evening I glued the 2 parts of baseboard on the 2nd frame and again weighted it down. 😁

This now just leaves the 3rd baseboard to be built.

Keith

Baseboards Part 2

 First of the 3 baseboard frames made up. The blue and black straps only just fitted around the whole frame, thankfully. I will leave it overnight for the glue to harden completely. One of the two slots in the central joint was missing so I had to saw it out, and also one of the cross pieces I had to cut at both ends and additional slots in the outer pieces as there was these were mistakes in manufacture, but all sorted with a saw, chisel and a file. 😊

Keith

Half-Relief Buildings Part 26, Painting

 Hopefully the final coat of paint on the doors this morning

And a coat of primer on the Post Office signs and post box

This afternoon I sprayed the terrace with primer, as well as my arm! 😊

Keith

Half-Relief Buildings Part 25, Doors and Signs

 Hopefully the final coat of paint on the doors this morning.

And a coat of primer on the Post Office signs and post box. 😊

Keith

New loco Completed and Door Painting

 With it being damp outside not ideal to do spraying of the terrace or sawing the baseboard legs to length,  so indoor jobs today. I started by marking the legs to the same length ready for sawing.

I reassembled the new loco and added some clear and red jewels to the lights.

Then I added the number 4 transfers to each side, this now completes this loco.

An 'indoor' job of painting 'doors' for the terrace.

Keith

Half-Relief Buildings Part 24, Gutter and Downpipes

 All gutters and downpipes fitted, this now completes the major part of the build, painting next. 🖌️

Closeup view of gutter and downpipe

Keith

New Livery for the New Loco

 Yesterday I gave the bodywork of the new loco a coat of spray primer. I also sprayed a test piece of plastic as the primer I have is acrylic and my top coats are enamel so I wanted to test that the top coat didn't react with the primer before trying it on the loco. I sprayed the test piece with maroon enamel this morning and after a little while there was no reaction so I sprayed the loco. 😊

Keith

New Loco

 This small diesel loco arrived today, I already have one like it, my intention is to repaint this one in a different livery.

Keith

Half-Relief Buildings Part 23, Ridge Tiles

 Ridge tiles added to the roofs this afternoon 😊

Keith

Half-Relief Buildings Part 22, First Floor Floors

This morning I added the first floor wooden floors. This is the last major part of the construction, with just detailing to do, like gutters, down pipes and ridge tiles externally, then some minor detailing the insides. Last time when I constructed the joint cottages and post office for the old Hadarford, I left doing the downpipes until after painting, but I won't this time, I will glue them on before painting. 😊

Keith 

Half-Relief Buildings Part 21, Floors, Roofs and Chimneys

 This is just one of the pieces of the ground floor floors which this afternoon I cut out strips of the floor to accommodate the doors which will fit inside the walls. 

Having done this to all 7 pieces of floor, I then glued all 7 sections to the walls. 😊

This evening I glued the roofs onto the terrace. 😊

Then a bit later I added the chimneys 😊

Keith