7mm Corwen Road

[Richard]

But Corwen is on a bi-directional single track?

It has an up and down loop as evidenced by the platforms, and Larry has his box with the stairs facing the direction of travel, judging by the latest pictures.

I did state I'd read it was the preferred placement, a quick flick through Google images will show examples where steps at the 'correct end', may have been impossible or very inconvenient.

(Edit to remove awful spelling error.)

 

[LarryG]

Corwen Junction is taking shape with the painting of the signalbox and the down platform building....



Link to lasercut painting and pointing:- LASER CUT GWR buildings ...

 

[Jinty]

Fantastic Larry, utterly fantastic.
I just love how the track sweeps around on a slight cant.
I'll have to bring some bits for a run...................

David

 

[Focalplane]

I agree with David, the platform level view is so realistic. Now I really can’t wait for Telford and then the return journey to Moor Street after visiting the real thing.

Paul

 

[Ressaldar]

Very convincing. How will you tackle the 'bedding' in of the station building?

regards

Mike

 

[LarryG]

Fantastic Larry, utterly fantastic.
I just love how the track sweeps around on a slight cant.
I'll have to bring some bits for a run...................
David

It'll be good that when the bottom-end loop has been put back. I smiled when I looked at the railheads. The picture has all the hallmarks of a line after closure.

 

[LarryG]

Very convincing. How will you tackle the 'bedding' in of the station building?

regards

Mike

Aye up, I've never reached that stage afore! PVA around the base I expect. Some of the stuff that oozes out will be scraped away while wet, but some places will have muck and static grass sprinkled on, but not before a study of colour albums.

 

[LarryG]

Corwen Exchange has a new signalbox. It's the old one but I rebuilt the gable roof with a hipped version more appropriate for a box built around the turn of the Century...



Predictable shadow on backscene unfortunately, although no one notices when stood in the shed.

 

[paulc]

Just a thought Larry but could you put a bulb behind the shed and adjust its intensity to match the surrounding light so getting rid of the shadow .
Whats been happening outside with the loop ?
Have watched you with the building of this layout and wonder if i should have gone with a small station instead of my behemoth that is taking years to build , too late now as i have invested too much time in to it .
Great modelling .
Cheers Paul

 

[dibateg]

Very effective - it immediately makes me think of the line from Llangollen to the coast without looking at the captions...

Tony

 

[LarryG]

Very effective - it immediately makes me think of the line from Llangollen to the coast without looking at the captions...

Tony

Very gratifying to read this Tony. Even though the station is fictional, I think that using elements solely from the Dee Valley line and bringing them together is probably the key.

Regarding the outside loop, there would be little gain from pressing on with this at the present time. The station to the existing loop is operational, but I cannot extend beyond this while I'm using the fiddle yard baseboard as a work bench during construction of the scenic section.

 

[LarryG]

I always wanted to make use of Slaters embossed stone and you may recall I built this bridge recently....



While it is great stuff, the bridge reminded me too much of the stonework on the Lancs~Yorks. I had thought of re-cladding it with Wills Random Stone, but I may as well have started from scratch. So it seemed to me the answer was to reduce the long retaining wall and replace it with a more 'countryside-looking' grassy embankment....


I did this by heating the wall over a gas flame and bending the wall around a jam jar. This done, it was a simple matter of cutting it to embankment profile and using the off-cuts to finish the job off. No repainting was necessary apart from a touch of weathering to capture water run-off....


The bridge has to leave clearance for buffer stops at the end of a siding. The bridge was quickly stuffed into the hole for this photo so its a bit cock-eyed...

 

[LarryG]

The buffers are now done waiting to be installed, so I'll probably finish the scenic's at this end now...

 

[LarryG]

Converting a GWR pre-war 64XX to BR left it without bunker steps. Measurements were taken from a Dapol 57XX and marked on 12thou brass....


Tiny crosses pinpointed the step centres on the 64XX bunker ....


Then they were drilled out using a pin chuck ...


Cemented in place with Loctite ...


A brushed-on coat of Halfords Acid 8 etching primer ...


Job done ready for action. The 6412's proportions are a lot more balanced than the larger 57XX and I shouldn't be surprised if it is joined by a 74XX one day. I am very at much at ease with small locos on this 0 gauge layout.....

 

[LarryG]

I found time to make a start on the scenery behind the goods shed. It didn't take long to install an embankment courtesy a piece of 10mm shaped plywood screwed to the backscene, crumpled newspaper and vinyl ReadyGrass. The vinyl was glued down with Evostick and the heatgun did the contour forming and sealed the glue. PVA glued down the new bufferstops, real ash and static grass. The ground cover was still wet when the photo was taken....

 

[LarryG]

Getting there.... The usual GWR boundary fencing posts (made from long matchsticks) were glued to the backscene after drawing the wires with a black biro. The whole embankment was covered in neat PVA and the excess wiped off the stonework before long static grass was stuffed in clumps along the top of the road around the fencing posts. Then shorter static grass followed elsewhere. The vacuum cleaner pipe sucked it until it stood upright....


My good friend PhilH took one look at the blobs of sponge in previous photos and drove over here with some Heki (1646 ) natural fibre bushes. Yup, well pleased with the results Philip so thanks for the kind thought. The stems were glued into pre-drilled holes. The wet PVA will hold them in place....


This view hopefully shows the scouring effect of rain water running off the bridge and down the embankment. The bushes and minor trees atop the other retaining wall help disguise the fact that it was impossible to show the embankment on the other side of the bridge....


Lots to do but I must wait until our local shop in Rhuddlan reopens next Tuesday for burnt grass and other bits.

 

[LarryG]

Photography playing a vital role again. It was obvious from the first photo that the bushes needed extending to the fourth post in order to hide the fact that the road off the bridge did not continue onto the backscene...



All the boundary fencing is now up as well....

 

[BrushType4]

The fence looks great. I'll need to remember the black biro tip.

 

[LarryG]

Modellers have to be a bit barmy. I mean we model things that can't be seen afterwards....Inside motion, inside buildings and hidden scenery. They say it takes patience, but my patience is most often worn down waiting weeks for materials that once upon a time would have arrived next day.

It's uncanny that even though the shed hasn't seen a lick of paint, it looks like it is in GWR colours!

 

[David B]

Cracking job Larry - loving the way that you are blending the best bits of all your previous layouts into something that looks so very right. Real modelling artistry.

David