Wet Wet Wet

A number of people have asked me what the water on Marks Quay is
made from.

When I was planning the layout I checked out many different ways to
represent water, most of which involved pouring a number of layers
of thick liquid onto a prepared base to achieve the desired affect.

I was getting close to making a decision on which one to use when I
happened across a trader at Scaleforum (Leatherhead) who was
selling a rippled clear plastic sheet. Before you ask I can't remember
the name of the stand but this LINK will take you to an online seller
of the same stuff. Scroll down the page to SEFC Sheet Styrene
item number FBS2003, the sheet size is approx. 360mm x 240mm
(14" x 9")

So I was umming and ahhing in front of the stand, well at at £3 a
sheet I wasn't sure whether it would do the job. The stand holder
offered me a damaged sheet for £1 and that was it, I bought it as
there was enough in the undamaged section to cover the area I
wanted.

The base on which the sheet sits is balsa wood, for lightness and
I painted this with poster paints mixing various quantities of
grey, burnt sienna, and bright green. These are what I had to
hand and a lovely muddy dark brown was the result. By adding
colours at random I achieved a mottled effect.

Once the plastic is laid over this it looks like the real thing.

Crossing the river Thames daily on my way to work, I was struck
by how brown a tidal river is, it hardly ever shows any blue or
green, so I was happy to copy that.

At the London Festival of Railway Modelling a number of people
asked about it and complemented me on the effect, I am please
with it too.

Till the next time ..........

Peter Whitehead

Marks Quay at the London Festival of Railway Modelling

Sunday 29 March saw me taking Marks Quay along to Alexandra
Palace to spend an enjoyable day on the 2mm Scale Association's
stand. We had two tables so Alan Smith and David Short
demonstrated Easitrac and Versaline track making respectively.
As you can imagine this attracted lots of interest and the point
track bases for the Easitrac system generated lots of discussion.

On the other table I set up Marks Quay next to the publications
and display material, and enjoyed a running session.

It was great to chat to so many people and the layout received
a number of complements which is always a spur to get on and
finish things. Also I gained lots of ideas on how to progress things
and these will be documented in future postings.

In the meantime here is a photo of the layout and this link will
take you to some pictures of Wansbeck Road (Mick Simpson)
and Copenhagen Fields (The model Railway Club), also at
Alexandra Palace.


Peter Whitehead

Looks like Snow

Since the last post, I have been busy laying DAS surface to the baseboard.
It goes down quite quickly but leveling it has proved to take more time.
Initially I used a straight edge dragged across the surface to try to
get it level but sometimes the DAS would stick and peel off the baseboard.
I tried wetting the surface and although this helped I felt that I was
risking getting too much moisture into the baseboard. In the end
I relied on finger pressure to do most of the work.

Once the DAS had dried, I filled any obvious dips and let it dry out further.
I then sanded the surface to give a more level and flat finish, even so
it is uneven in places but I think I can use this to my advantage to give
the impression of an old, damaged concrete surface.

A thorough clean of the rails and sleepers followed by some test running
has shown that a little further work was required to remove some solder
from the inside of the rail. I also reduced the diameter of the standard
gauge loco wheel flanges as they were all over size by up to 0.1 mm,
and they were catching in places. This has resulted in vastly improved
running. The narrow gauge loco ran fine.

I am now experimenting with a system which will help me lay DAS
between the rails. It will have to cut a gap for the wheel flanges, and
trim the surface so that it is below the rail top.

I shall be taking Marks Quay to Alexandra Palace on Sunday
29 March, on the 2mm Association stand, so come and take a look.

Peter Whitehead

DEAG Metting February 2009

A busy meeting with two layouts in attendance, David E's Framsden
and Peter Whitehead's Marks Quay.

Having sorted out the short circuit problem, see previous posts,
I cracked on laying DAS on Marks Quay.  I lay this with a metal
Spatula and carefully press it into the gap between the tracks.
To ease things along, a wetted finger or spatula is used to
smooth the surface for later light sanding to achieve a bit of
texture.  I had tried using a paint brush for this, prior to
the clay drying, but it looks a bit rough to my eye.  Once the
clay has dried (24 hrs) I can then scratch the joints and
cracks in using a fine blade.  I find this gives a better
result than trying to press in the joints whilst the clay is
soft.


Phil was busy filling the insulation gaps in some sleepers prior
to track building.  Using double sided sticky tape to hold them
down he placed them side by side as shown below.


Using Knifing Putty and a screwdriver the sleeper gaps are quickly filled.
Once dry, a light sanding smoothes the sleepers and once they are
painted, no one will know the gap is there.


David Short was also track building, soldering etched chairs
to sleepers, whilst David E was working on wagon chassis for
stock for Framsden.

Bill Blackburn showed us a replacement chassis (sorry no photo)
that he is building for one of Tim’s locos, ready for running on
Copenhagen Fields at the Festival of Model Railways at
Alexandra Palace on 28/29 March.