Boxes for N gauge stock

I spent this morning creating a couple of boxes to put N-gauge stock in.

The boxes themselves were from Amazon, £15 for five.

The foam was from a company called Poly-Props, and in fact the two boxes I made were from a 100x50 cm free sample they kindly gave at Comic Con Manchester (my daughter wanted to go). You might just get five boxes done from a square meter. It is nominally 10 mm thick, but looks more like 9 mm to me. I used the lowest density foam they offered.

 

I found it worked out neatly have the compartments run longways, giving seven slots.

The bottom is a single sheet, 305 mm by 214 mm. The walls are 27 mm high, so the long ones are 305 mm by 27 mm. The end bits are 20 mm by 27 mm, which gives a nice tight fit, and means everything stays in place, though where the dividers are not in line they can distort the next slot.

I then covered the lot with two layers 6 mm thick soft foam left over from another project.

If you do this yourself, check my measurements!

Class 501 for N gauge

Obviously not 009... but the track is the same gauge.

I have a plan to do a shelf, about 10 foot long, by 1 foot, with Croxley Green Station and and approximation of Watford High Street, as a terminus. Not that far yet, but I do have a class 501 to run on it, nearly.

It uses a 3D printed shell, that started like this:



It was disappointing to find none of the jump cables on the front were includes, so they had to be added from random bits of plastic and wire.




The logos are from Fox Transfers and look a little large to me but were the smallest I could find. Still need to fit picks for the third rail, bars for the windows (possibly using bristles from a brush), and a chassis to motorise it, but I think it looks okay.

Small 009 layout

I have been very slowly building a layout for a few years, but recently my daughter said she wanted on of her own. We built a small diaorama together (a single bit of track and a wooden platform), but she wanted more!. As I
wanted to encourage her interest, I agreed. The idea is we build together where possible, however, as she is nine, most of the woodworking and soldering falls to me.

As we have just spent an afternoon papier macheing, I thought I would made a new post. The layout measures 4' by 2'6", and is split in two by a backboard. The first two photos show the rural, featuring a bridge over a lake/river.

The third photo shows the urban side, which is still being designed, but will feature Toys-R-Us! You can see the two locos, Tebee 3D prints on Kato chassis, "Armadillo" and "Turtle".

Mark 2

the success of the set piece has made me re-consider my layout, and I have started again from scratch. The new layout will be modular, so it can be taken apart and potentially a section can be worked on in the house, and the wiring accessed relatively easily. It will be narrower too, with sections typically 18" by 4'.

Work started a couple of months ago. This image shows an early view:

Phase 1 involves the "lower" station (to the left in the image) and "middle" station (to the right), with the line between running over an embankment and bridge over a river.

Phase 2 will be further to the left, a single baseboard featuring a dock. Phase 3 will be to the right, coming back down the third wall, three baseboards including a viaduct, quarry and the top station. Phase four will be to complete the fourth side of the loop.

Last weekend I finally finished wiring. It was not a huge job as far as these things go, with only 9 points and a single isolated section, but not my favourite job!

So this is the current state of the lower station. The buildings at the back are all SuperQuick, and date from my childhood. Eventually they will be replaced by scratchbuilt models. the station building is the one from the Mark 1 layout, so does not fit. Replacing that will be a priority. The old one might be suitable for the middle station if the bottom story is removed.

Clearly a lot of work still to be done, but it does feel like I am gettng somewhere at last!

Set piece, part five

I am pretty much done now. The local club has a competition on Monday, so just in time! 

Set piece, part four

This is my second try at trees.I decided the wire armatures did not work - there was just not enough branching. So these are sea foam, sprayed brown, with static grass stuck on with hairspray. Very easy to do (my eight year old daughter did two of them, and I cannot tell which two), and they look good too.

Then I added grass. I hopede to borrow a static grass applicator from the club, but it has not been seen for weeks, so I had a go at making my own. Not a complete success, but looks okay from a distance, though in the bottom shot you can see a join that needs covering. The stone wall at the back needs work to bed it in better.

I am particular pleased with the rockface, though.

 

Set piece, part three

By Sunday it was looking like this. The rock face of the cutting has been painted, and a "Whistle" sign installed.

 The bridge has been painted and the river has it first layer of varnish.

 I repainted the sky too, to make it more blue and cover a few blemishes. I used a small roller to avoid getting brush strokes in the sky!

That is the end of the holiday and most of my free time, so work is going to go a lot slower from now on! The stream needs more varish, but the next big job is the grass, for which I hope to borrow a static grass application from the local club. After that, it is trees, bushes and weeds.