Time for a new hobby...

[toprob]

Cheers, Paul, I wish that was the case -- everything is just sooooo difficult, Youtube makes it look easy, but the reality is very different. Mostly it's the small size, just in the year since I started this, choosing the little N scale, my eyesight has got worse, mainly because of cataracts. Trying to join sections of track with the miniscule joiners is just frustrating, and it's taken a lot of trial and error -- and swearing -- to get here.
Speaking of error, as the resin has cured today it has bleached the glue I used to place some stones/wood etc in the stream, so I'll know next time not to use glue. Luckily this is the 'far' end of the layout, and I can cover the worst bits with vegetation.
I've got into the habit of using some old hi-power reading glasses and a torch to place the loco on the track, otherwise it's impossible to get all the wheels sitting properly. This layout will definitely be the trial run, hopefully followed by a much larger scale at some stage!

[emfrat]

I've got into the habit of using some old hi-power reading glasses...

Me too, Rob. I also have some magnifying glasses strategically placed around the house, mainly in the kitchen because the print on various tins and frozen stuff is very small these days, and I can't remember the cooking instructions for every one of them. Then in my role as great-uncle to the youngest generation in Scotland, I was in the Brisbane GPO posting some books for them and discovered I couldn't read the fine print on the Customs Declaration.
So now I have some credit-card-sized magnifier sheets, in my wallet and the phone case, as well as around the house. Very handy. I'm sure there will be an NZ supplier
https://www.ebay.com/itm/283173833932

ATB, Mike

[ZK-LGD]

... hi-power reading glasses and a torch to place the loco on the track, otherwise it's impossible to get all the wheels sitting properly.

Get yourself a Peco N Gauge rerailing tool (Peco Setrack SL337 Code 80 Rerailer - N) retails for about NZ$10. Pop the rerailer on your track, the loco at the top of the incline and simply guide it down onto the rails ... easy peasey.

[toprob]

Yes, I do have a file for a 3D printed rerailer, but it really requires a straight bit of track, and mine winds along the hill. I may adapt it a bit and give it a go one day.

[ZK-LGD]

Gi'day Robin,

Have you thought about a cassette fiddle yard to plug into the end section of the hillside track? They're easily be built from 5mm artist board; lay your straight 30mm of track on top, solder brass strips to one end of the mainline track and one end of the fiddle yard for electrical connectivity and use the rerailer here. Gives you a backshunt all the way to the engine house/main yard. Remember, a lot happens "off-stage" on a model railroad. Just a thought.

[toprob]

Have you thought about a cassette fiddle yard to plug into the end section of the hillside track?

That's a great idea, there's plenty of scope up the 'far' end of the layout. It was always a possibility that I just keep building out that way, although that's becoming unlikely. Later in the year I'll lose the flat under the house here, which also means having limited access to the workshop. (My ex-mother-in-law is coming back here after living in India for a year, so she'll have the flat. But that's another story....)

Although the main station area will eventually have some straight sections, if/when I ever get around to it.

[toprob]

Finally got back into the vegetation, after a break for the summer:)
This is the 'far' end of the layout, the actual museum bit is still awaiting some sculpting. I thought I'd start on the far end so I can learn from my mistakes. And there were plenty to learn from.
I've been working with a reasonable budget for the railway, even though I'm basically just earning the pension, as long as I don't plan anything else to spend my money on, like the dentist or travel.... I've mentioned the cost of this hobby before, but now I'm come to terms with the fact that everything is just a ridiculous price. The 'native' bush cover shown on the hill-side in these photos was meant to be my own hand-made foam 'flock', but I could never get the colour right, so I ended up buying a packaged foliage from Woodland Scenics, probably one of the best suppliers but also one of the most expensive. I was also amazed at the price range in New Zealand, my local hobby store sold a pack of this foliage for $52 (enough for about 80% of the hill coverage shown here) but I managed to find it at Bay Hobbies (Tauranga) for $16 cheaper. However when I needed to get another pack it wasn't in stock, same with my local store, so I ended up paying a lot more elsewhere.
My cute little loco ($50 on Trademe) actually runs on my track, although not reliably -- I sometimes need to 'jiggle' the points a bit.
There's still some trees to be placed along the stream, but this end is mostly done.

[emfrat]

That's great work, Rob. Definitely 10 for difficulty, and 10 for execution.

[deeknow]

As an ex model rail-roader Rob I know how much effort/time/money/patience goes into this, that looks AMAZING you've done good!

PS did you 3d print the tank too? trackside hut looks awesome!

[cowpatz]

That looks brilliant. Great detail work, especially being so small.

[toprob]

PS did you 3d print the tank too? trackside hut looks awesome!

Yes, the tank was one of the more successful prints, although it has been repaired a couple of times, my grandson likes to snatch it off the layout...

I am thinking of reprinting/painting all the models I've done so far, just to see if I can get something more consistent, and more accurately coloured. After posting yesterday, I fired up Youtube and watched Luke Towan's latest video, he was printing and painting a locomotive, which is something I'd love to try one day. His buildings and vegetation etc on the layout he used to show his loco really showed me how far I've got to go to get something I can be happy with. His little ticket office is similar to mine, same era/colour etc, but he got the colour right, whereas mine is just off enough to annoy me. Although he is the best there is, and he works in HO scale, but it does give me something to aim for. I hate the way he makes it all look so easy....

Another thing which could have benefited from a bit more care with colouring is the bank above the track. I did look at a way to get this a lot more detailed and accurate, but once again the cost meant that I chose to just slap 'dirt' on the bank and hope I'd be able to live with it.

[toprob]

This morning I was wondering how easy it would be to add some birdsong to my layout... something to think about, anyway. In the meantime, there's Spotify to the rescue!

Watch on youtube.com

[deeknow]

Luke is SO talented, been watching his vids for awhile, I think one of my fave projects of his was this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k056lFDo6Q

[toprob]

Luke is SO talented, been watching his vids for awhile, I think one of my fave projects of his was this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k056lFDo6Q

Yes! It's also a great example of Luke's 'hey, it's easy' when it just ain't.

[cowpatz]

It would be doubly hard to do in N scale too....imagine the windows!

[Charl]

It's also a great example of Luke's 'hey, it's easy' when it just ain't.

It's all about the tools... my word what a collection of things he has put together.
A 6mm grass scatterer, no less.
I watched the whole thing, and got as much of a kick out of it, as building it myself.
Well, almost. It's in the simmers' gestalt

[toprob]

It's all about the tools...

....and everything is so tidy, he must have a huge messy area behind the camera, but in front of it there's only order.
I actually have a static grass applicator, although mine is a budget model, around $80 from memory, and a good one is $400. You'll notice he puts a pin on the scenery, the metal mesh on the hopper gives the 'grass' a charge, and the pin gives the scenery an opposite charge, so the grass will hit the glue and be repelled enough to sit up straight. Mine doesn't actually do anything, so my grass just lies there and look silly.

[emfrat]

I remember in my railway modelling years - about 60 yrs ago - the great debate was 'Make it look real on display, or make it so it looks real in a photo for the Railway Modeller and suchlike.' At that time Pendon were using genuine local stone to build their buildings, drystone walls and so on and it did look great; but the worst thing for modelling coal in a wagon or a tender is real coal. Same for 'scale' ballast supporting 'scale' track. If your granny had some old velvet, that could be made to look like real grass on an exhibition layout, but in a photo it just looked like old velvet.
Fortunately, digital technology has made things a lot easier for sim builders.

[Charl]

Watched the MSFS teaser on the Dune Ornithopter... what a bird, I knew it would come into a sim one day.
But the follow-on clip caught my attention for the whole duration, what a beautiful scale model.
Scale? 3/4 tonne. As a kid I schemed how to get one for the backyard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU53zRWeUHM

[toprob]

Wow, that layout just goes on and on, some painstaking work has gone into that. The loco is bigger than my entire layout.
Here's another view of the same loco -- just a bit smaller.
https://youtu.be/BOsjz5Xquc4

I've just ordered a Pennsylvania passenger car, same era, just to see how it works so I can design a couple for the Silverstream Railway.