20.1.09
Progress on T-Trak...
Hi everyone,
Well with our big move to Lithgow set for 9 March, I'm suspending work on the Jamberoo layout. But operations are continuing. In fact, I've been enjoying shunting so much that work has been suspended for ages!
But Michelle (while I was out!) decided to recycle some old 'grass paper' I had from an old HO layout and glued it to one of my corner T-Trak modules.
I wasn't happy about her flat-earth approach to scenery, and all our modules for the time being will represent an urban scene. So I opened some magazines (like Railway Digest) to show her that grass doesn't grow right up to the tracks and there were oodles of photos in the December 2008 issue showing grass... right up to the tracks. Grrrr.
So the story of the module is that the 'inside' of the curve is a railway-owned 'waste land' -- I'll add some high-tension electric poles -- and the 'outside' will be a scrapyard complete with a 53-class boiler (courtesy of an off-cast casting from Phil Badger) and other bits of 'scrap steel'. A corrugated iron fence separates the scrapyard from the (railways-owned) dirt road behind it.
Here's the making of the basic scenery for the corner module in question:
Glenn sieves the dirt (taken from Jamberoo--from the site of a shed being "constructed" next to the Rectory--"constructed" means less progress than my main layout).
More sieving
Tipping the soil into place.
Spreading the soil
Final sprinkles of fine soil
Spraying with a water bottle with some detergent mixed in to act as a wetting agent.
Using an eye-dropper to put a 50/50 water/PVA mix to glue it all down.
The "finished" module... well, once it dries the power lines go up, the stanchions for the railway (it's to be an electric railway) go up, and the corrugated fence goes around the scrapyard--and scrap moves in!
I mentioned Phil Badger before in the context of a boiler I have of his.
He dropped in last Sunday... here he is researching a project by photographing the old school house next door:
Finally, a non-train person Brett stayed with us on Monday night (he is a ministry trainee down the coast at Huski) and he saw how much fun tail-chasing layouts are... NOT!!! He enjoyed shunting on the Jamberoo layout but like me bored easily of the tail-chasing T-Trak modules. But my daughter Zoe loves the T-Trak and can drive them very well (for a 3 year old!).
Well, after Zoe went to bed Brett and I worked out how to get my Tomix Thomas the Tank Engine to jump using the Kato re-railer in reverse as a launch pad... and to get Thomas to return to the tracks and keep running.
I showed it to Zoe this arvo and she was squealing with delight. I'll video it and stick it up on youtube sometime soon.
Well with our big move to Lithgow set for 9 March, I'm suspending work on the Jamberoo layout. But operations are continuing. In fact, I've been enjoying shunting so much that work has been suspended for ages!
But Michelle (while I was out!) decided to recycle some old 'grass paper' I had from an old HO layout and glued it to one of my corner T-Trak modules.
I wasn't happy about her flat-earth approach to scenery, and all our modules for the time being will represent an urban scene. So I opened some magazines (like Railway Digest) to show her that grass doesn't grow right up to the tracks and there were oodles of photos in the December 2008 issue showing grass... right up to the tracks. Grrrr.
So the story of the module is that the 'inside' of the curve is a railway-owned 'waste land' -- I'll add some high-tension electric poles -- and the 'outside' will be a scrapyard complete with a 53-class boiler (courtesy of an off-cast casting from Phil Badger) and other bits of 'scrap steel'. A corrugated iron fence separates the scrapyard from the (railways-owned) dirt road behind it.
Here's the making of the basic scenery for the corner module in question:
Glenn sieves the dirt (taken from Jamberoo--from the site of a shed being "constructed" next to the Rectory--"constructed" means less progress than my main layout).
More sieving
Tipping the soil into place.
Spreading the soil
Final sprinkles of fine soil
Spraying with a water bottle with some detergent mixed in to act as a wetting agent.
Using an eye-dropper to put a 50/50 water/PVA mix to glue it all down.
The "finished" module... well, once it dries the power lines go up, the stanchions for the railway (it's to be an electric railway) go up, and the corrugated fence goes around the scrapyard--and scrap moves in!
I mentioned Phil Badger before in the context of a boiler I have of his.
He dropped in last Sunday... here he is researching a project by photographing the old school house next door:
Finally, a non-train person Brett stayed with us on Monday night (he is a ministry trainee down the coast at Huski) and he saw how much fun tail-chasing layouts are... NOT!!! He enjoyed shunting on the Jamberoo layout but like me bored easily of the tail-chasing T-Trak modules. But my daughter Zoe loves the T-Trak and can drive them very well (for a 3 year old!).
Well, after Zoe went to bed Brett and I worked out how to get my Tomix Thomas the Tank Engine to jump using the Kato re-railer in reverse as a launch pad... and to get Thomas to return to the tracks and keep running.
I showed it to Zoe this arvo and she was squealing with delight. I'll video it and stick it up on youtube sometime soon.
Labels: scenery, stunts, t-trak, tail-chasing, thomas-the-tank-engine
8.1.09
T-Trak for Christmas
While not strictly a Jamberoo railway item of news, Santa brought me some T-Trak module kids from John Rumming's stable and the track kits from Aust-N-Rail. (The track kits were a bit mixed up in the Christmas rush so I'm waiting for the bits to complete the inner curve).
This shows the assembled and partly painted Rumming module kits.
A test run supervised by the nearly-three-years-old Zoe
Labels: t-trak
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