'O' Gauge Model of Heaton Lodge Junction

[simonspider]

Thanks for all the positive comments on here.
Today I was up in Bedale at the cassette/frame manufacturers to fine tune the fitting of the first 5 almost completed boards. The white patches are obviously not quite done..
First time I've seen the first 5 together plus 2 new ones I've picked up. To give you an idea of the size what you can see overall is 30ft which is just one fifth of the total length..
The four tracks diverge at board 12 for the junction itself and gets most interesting after that..

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Bit of a detail shot..I haven't OCD but if we're going to do it this big its gotta be right! The grates in the road are where the real things were on Woodend Rd in the 1980's

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A long view of the 5 almost completed boards (each 4ft) and the two about to undergo the scenic treatment. Woodend Bridge here is the beginning of the East end of the model

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This is a view obviously of the real location taken from Woodend Bridge in the mid 1960's. The fence on the right and road behind it out of view is the road you can see in the previous pics of the model.
Also in the background is the now demolished bridge of the Leeds New line - an alternative route to Leeds. In 1965 this route was closed, the bridge removed and in 1970 the track re-aligned to form a new junction which forms part of the model

[simonspider]

Finally for this week.
This is a pic further up Heaton Lodge which shows one of the junctions and a double crossover. On the model this is on boards 12-16 so looking at a 3 months or so to get up here.
Photo shows class 56 'Kellingley Colliery' with an MGR. This loco is one of the examples that will be modelled complete with lights, sound and a fan assisted smoke unit to mimic the exhaust plumes

[simonspider]

Jimmyshuffle85 said:

Hope you don't mind the gate crash, I've just recently acquired 2 of the original 4 cottages at Heaton lodge and stumbled upon this post researching the house.

Needless to say I'll be watching with interest and it looks brilliant.

Thanks for that would you mind if I came across at a time to suit you to take some close up snaps of your cottages?
I've been over a couple of times but feel a bit uncomfortable measuring someone's house when they aren't in!
I've a model maker constructing your cottages as we speak. Small world..
Thanks

Simon

[simonspider]

Couple more pictures here of Woodend Bridge (as I've said before) on the far East of the model, now almost finished.
Since I've been away some scallywag has been tipping rubbish down the embankments. Very poor show..

[simonspider]

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A reminder of the real Woodend Bridge taken recently. 3 tracks now - 4 up to the late 1980's. Next update after Easter

[simonspider]

RacingPete said:

Not sure if you mentioned earlier but couldn't see it - but what product are you using for the static grass as like the different blends of colours in the banking? - something I need to redo on my layout...

Good question. I spent a year perfecting the tones of the static grass. The one thing I've learnt is to appear real the real tones have to be 'dumbed down' on a model. While grass may look green on the real thing lifting exactly that colour will look toylike on a model.
But to answer your question the static grass on Heaton Lodge is 60% Mini-Natur late fall (6.5mm) mixed with 40% Noch Beige 'Wildegrass' in 10/12mm.
However the most important thing is sprinkling on sieved very fine real soil/earth or better still some 'earth powder' sold by Treemendus (google it). It beds in the grass and gives that authentic matt look.
Cheers

[simonspider]

Short update. Last week or so I've been finishing the 8ft long Woodend Road which obviously leads up to the bridge of the same name. Spent a while getting the detail more or less spot on - roads often escape much attention in railway models I reckon..

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Corner of the bridge now finished..

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The concrete fence here still stands in 2016, the old British Rail Bedford HA Van is long gone sadly

[simonspider]

RacingPete said:

Would love to know some of the techniques you use to recreate this scene, such as the road, puddles etc.

There's a superb book by a chap called Gordon Gravett called 'Modelling Grassland and Landscape detailing'. Most of what I use is from that.

The roads & potholes are pretty easy.
Cut the road shape from 5mm ply you want and use that as a template to cut a piece of thin card (1/2mm)to the same shape.

The camber is quite noticeable and that is created by gluing a strip of foamboard of thicker card onto the ply down the middle, running the length of the road.
Next step is to cut holes where you want the potholes or puddles.
Puddles are from a sheet of perspex painted on one side greeny brown then bits broken off with a pair of pliers. Grates/manhole covers can be bought - painted a metal colour too.

Glue the grates & puddles direct to the ply (puddles with the unpainted side up) underneath the holes you have made in the card. Then glue the card to the ply at the edges only, creating the camber.

Using a paintbrush paint the card with Shellac (get it on amazon) this seals the surface and drys in minutes.

Use Das clay to fill in the gaps between the height of the road surface and the puddle/pothole level.
Once dry use Humbrol Dark Admiralty grey No 5 in Gloss (not matt) and paint on neat using a paintbrush.
Before its dry sprinkle talc thickly over the surface so you cant see the paint, leave to dry.

Hoover off with a vac when dry and use weathering powders to weather the surface with a dry brush - I like the Vallejo range especially Dark Slate Grey.

That's really it apart from sprinkling fine chinchilla grit (pets at home) to mimic broken gravel. I paint this a darker colour first.
Also sieve real earth from the garden - drying it in the oven first (don't tell the wife) until its very fine and glue this down at the edges..

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At least with talc you have a nice smelling road. the talc gives the right texture of tarmac in O gauge but is just as effective in 'OO'..

[simonspider]

Oh and many thanks everyone again for the kind comments. There's always frustrating periods when things go wrong so much appreciated.
There will be a book on the making of Heaton Lodge once its completed.

Pic here of the grates etc. Spray them with Halfords grey primer then paint brush on Humbrol metallic steel or iron colour..