Queensbridge Road Wharf

[garethashenden]

Well it's been a while...

I have finally finished the wiring. Well, except for the fiddleyard. The points have been finished, the point motors installed, a control box assembled, wires strung around. Lots of work with not that much to show. I have tested most of the layout and things are working well. I can't check the first point yet, it's too close to the fiddleyard. I hope to have the fiddleyard track and wiring done soon, but I'll probably get distracted by something else first.

In the meantime, I have a video showing a bit of testing. Everything's gotten a bit modern for my Edwardian layout, Something else to sort out...

[garethashenden]

Today I decided to shorten the main siding at the front of the layout. With the bufferstop in place there was very little room between it and the adjacent building. I didn't think it looked like a reasonable way for any sort of vehicle to access the wharf. I looked at a couple of options and ended up shortening the track by about the length of the bufferstop. I think it looks much more natural and less cramped.

Before:


During:


And After:

[garethashenden]

Progress has continued with track being laid in the fiddleyard. I made it over to Scalefour North a week ago and picked up the last package of Exactoscale P4 trackbase that C&L had in stock. This turned out to be the perfect amount to build a three road sector plate. I had considered four roads, but there wasn't enough space between the tracks to handle the stock. I also had almost the prefect amount of rail left over from the scenic section. I still have to wire it up, but trains roll smoothly over the track joints, so things are looking good. Having track on the fiddleyard has allowed me to finish testing the first point and I am pleased to report that it is functioning properly. It's so close to the baseboard edge that I had only been able to test it in one direction previously.
I have found a coupe of wagons, some unfinished, that need a bit more weight as well as a short section of track where the gauge is 19.45mm. Not sure how that happened, but it will be rectified.
Here is the fiddleyard part way through tracklaying:

[garethashenden]

I made a bunch of temporary buildings today. I thought that having something would be better than nothing and I could work out the basic designs now. Most of the buildings are based on real ones I've found in London. Most have been rearranged a bit, but they should give the character I'm after. Everything is built out of foam board and tape because I had it to hand and it's easy to work with. Tomorrow I'll spay them all a light brown colour to help with the appearance. There will be a retaining wall sloping downwards to the right. It is partially marked out in pencil.

First up is a group of four buildings based on the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. I've mirrored them horizontally but they're otherwise modelled on the prototype. The biggest change is that the first structure is now trapezoidal to fit against the road where the prototype is rectangular.







The next two buildings come from a street just south of Tower Bridge. They're both small warehouses with the charming small cranes mounted on the walls. Unfortunately I think I will have to leave these off the models. I think it would be more realistic for the cranes to be on the street side, which is where the backscene is. But there will be more cranes later...




The next building features the road access to the goods yard. Unfortunately I seem not to have photographed it, so I have included an image from google maps. The building may change, it's one of two that still need to be finalised, but the length is fixed, the height's about right, and the arch for vehicular access needs to be there. It will probably get a hip roof as most of the other buildings have.




The building at the end of the layout is the only one I've actually started work on, and I've barely started. It's based on the Metropolitan Wharf in Wapping. I have been planning on having some latice walkways between this building and the one with the arch to help hide the hole in the backscene. However, now that I'm actually putting them in place there is a choice between hiding the hole or having them line up with the floors of the warehouse. This will need to be rethought.






Next we have a view of the bridge over the tracks. The building on the left will be a small factory manufacturing wooden packing cases. It was inspired by one of the buildings that now make up Camden Market, although there is no architectural similarities. In front of it, at the edge of the layout, is a staircase going from the street down to the canal. I have some 3D printed stairs to go here, but I can't find them anywhere.




Finally there are the two other buildings on the road. The one in the corner hasn't been developed at all. The general size is right but I need to choose a prototype for it. The other one at the front corner is a rather interesting small warehouse in Limehouse. I'm not sure if it's been painted, the top and bottom look to be London yellow brick, but the middle seems to be red... But it has a crane, so all is good.

[Jbub]

I'm loving this! I visited London about 10 years ago and it still ist one of my most favorite places I've ever been too. I'm excited to see the progress you make with this.

[garethashenden]

As so often happens with my modelling, I was going along on a project and suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to do something different. I realised that Queensbridge was never going to be finished if I didn't actually work on it. So I went and had a look to see if I could find a suitable project. I decided to start on the fiddleyard end with one of the two buildings. In the back corner will be a pub. I have some ideas, but this is the only structure I don't yet have a prototype for. So the obvious solution was to start work on the other building at that end. This is a small brick warehouse based on a building in Limehouse. Last summer I started work on one of the other buildings using a plywood core with Slaters brick sheet attached to it. This may work for some people, but I didn't find it successful. Windows are always where I seem to have trouble. So for this new building I decided on an all-styrene approach. Previously I have had difficulties fitting etched windows to brick sheet. The problem is always the arch. I love the look of arched brick windows, but they're problematic to make. I've finally settled on a solution that will work, make the windows to fit out of styrene strip. It's not done, but so far it's working.


So to actually build the structure, I started with a rectangle of brick sheet cut to the correct size. When I photographed the building I used the measure app on my iPhone to estimate the height of the building. From that I made the width to fit the space and the proportions looked good. I marked out the approximate locations of the openings on the sheet, then set about making arches. I figured it would be easier to make the openings fit the arches than the other way around. I took a strip of brick sheet, two full bricks wide, and cut two thirds of the way through between each brick. This made the strip curve and allowed me to further curve it to fit the desired shape. I looked around for a small round object to use as a guide, so they would all be consistent, and settled on the cap for my bottle of flux. I cut the arches to 16 bricks long, curved them, and glued them to 0.010" sheet. Once cured I cut out the arches and trimmed the backing sheet. I left extra material above the arch for attachment, but the other three sides match the arch.

Using the arches to guide the width and a photo to guide the height, I cut out 11 windows and 1 doorway. I also cut out a section in the middle for the three freight doors. There were inevitably gaps around the arches, and these have been filled in with putty. I then used 0.030" strip to block around the window openings, and then attached a sheet of 0.040" styrene to the back of the wall. Once the windows had been opened out again, the wall was mostly done. The two side walls are of similar construction, brick sheet on plain styrene. The windows are the next step, and that will be a separate story.

[garethashenden]

Well it’s been a while hasn’t it. Recently I've been working on a few more Edwardian wagons. I received a couple of decorated PO wagons from POWsides, they're both RCH 1907 designs, which are slightly too modern for my 1903 layout, but they'll be ok. The one I've built so far is lettered for F. Warren. The only pictures I've found of their wagons bear the same number as the kit, but the kit has two more planks. The caption lists similar dimensions to those of the kit, so I'm going to let it go. The prototype had a lifting plank over the door and I'll need to add this. I found the Slaters brake gear somewhat lacking so it's been replaced with Bill Bedford etched brakes, everything else is as the kit was intended. 



I've also been working on another Bill Bedford LNWR D32 van. These kits go together amazingly quickly, I think it was ready for paint in about an hour. I've decided to paint this one in the somewhat rare two tone livery. As with most grey wagons I started with a coat of mid grey primer. The outside frames were then picked out in Precision's GWR grey, which seems to have a greenish tinge that I'm not too fond of, it may get repainted in something else. The exact details of how this livery was applied are a bit fuzzy. I haven't found any pictures that show the bottom of the ends of any vans in this livery, except for a brake van, and who knows if they were painted differently. The solebars are another area of uncertainty, I've gone with dark grey there as well. The axleguards and axleboxes need to be painted black, plus diamond and number transfers.



The third wagon I've been working on is a North London 4 plank open. I'm a little unsure of the authenticity of this wagon, NLR wagons are particularly difficult to find photos of. Part of the problem is that after the LNWR took over the NLR in 1909 a number of LWNR style wagons appeared in NLR livery. The wagons that I know were built by the NLR have rounded ends on the buffer beams, whereas the LNWR standard is to have a notch on the bottom corners. So here's the problem. This wagons was built from a drawing I acquired from HMRS. It seems to be a model drawing, rather than a original company drawing, as 7mm:1ft is given as the scale. There is a date of 1888, but the wagon is shown with notched corners and LNWR style pushrod brakes. I built this, as depicted, from a Ratio LNWR 4 plank wagon kit, although I replaced the axleguards with some of Bill Bedford's etched ones, London Road axleboxes, and MJT? springs. It has been lettered with HMRS transfers. If anyone has any information on NLR wagons I'd love to have it.

[garethashenden]

I have also been working on the layout itself. All the wiring is done, aside from the lighting. I had been waiting on the setts until I was sure the wiring didn't need any changes but I have now begun with this project. It's slow going and I'm not trying to rush, no point in needing to redo it. I've been spreading thin layers of Das clay. The large open areas have thin foam sheet that brings the level up to about that of the sleepers. I've spread clay in between the sleepers, once that's dry I've applied another layer up to just below the rail head into which I press the setts with a modified paintbrush.

[Hawghead]

The warehouse is looking great.  What did you use for putty to fill the gaps in the arches?

Scott

[garethashenden]

The warehouse is looking great.  What did you use for putty to fill the gaps in the arches?

Scott

It's Deluxe Materials' "Perfect Plastic Putty". I personally prefer it to Squadron Green putty, it doesn't shrink as much and doesn't stink!

[Hawghead]

It's Deluxe Materials' "Perfect Plastic Putty". I personally prefer it to Squadron Green putty, it doesn't shrink as much and doesn't stink!

Thanks,

Do you use it straight or do you thin it with something, so as not to loose the brick detail?  I'm looking at doing something similar where I'm going to have to do a brick arch over windows.  Splitting between the bricks to make the curve is a great idea.  I'd thought of that before but I thought it would leave to large a gap between the bricks, guess I was wrong.

Thanks again,
Scott

[nkalanaga]

"If you can't make it perfect, make it adjustable."

That's been my philosophy for decades!

[garethashenden]

Splitting the bricks does leave a gap and it was big enough that I felt it needed filling. I used it straight, it took a little while to make sure the detail wasn't lost. I spread it on and then removed whatever was needed to expose the bricks again.

[garethashenden]

The first warehouse is just about done. Need to finish the roof and a couple of details, that’s it. The windows were all 3D printed.



One of the challenging areas recently was curving the bricks into the doorway openings. I did this by creating a short bit of wall entering the building, rounding over the corner with a file, and then chasing each mortar course with a square needle file. It was rather tedious but the results were worth it.

1) Raw opening:


2) With the new wall:


3) Rounded over:


4) All bricked up:


In position on the layout. The road is next.

[Hawghead]

Gareth,

It looks great.  The rounded corner is a fantastic detail.  I did notice that the panes in both lower windows on either side of the doorway seem to be distorted.

Scott