"Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Thu Apr 21, 2022 5:02 am

Tim Shanteler wrote:
Thu Apr 21, 2022 4:33 am
.....a "Kelley's Heroes" tribute?
Yes, that's exactly what it was! They're exiting a railway tunnel.
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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sun Apr 24, 2022 11:51 pm

January 18th 2016

While the build had effectively ended, I didn't want to leave the layout in a position where it couldn't be used. So at my own time and expense, I used some left over of track and MDF and I knocked up this board that the customer could complete to get both the main lines running as a full loop.

I laid four short lengths of track that matched up with the station section. The customer could purchase two or three more lengths of flex track and finish the loop, allowing both main lines to run. It would need some legs/supports making, but at least the track lines up and they were wired with fly leads to connect to the station section.

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With the layout on its side, linking wiring was made to join the station to the quayside yard.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sun Apr 24, 2022 11:55 pm

The layout legs were removed and six inch long legs fitted instead. These allowed the layout to rest on the floor without the transformers touching the floor. They also allowed me to get my hands under the section to lift and carry it and also provide a fixing to attach the section to my trailer floor with angle brackets for transport.

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The station section complete and ready to go back in the garage, which it did a couple of days later.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sun Apr 24, 2022 11:57 pm

For a future section extending from the airfield, I painted up a new backscene to match up with the two feet long piece that fits across the end of the airfield. It is seen here with the hills partly painted, but is yet to have the hedge lines added.

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The airfield section returned to the workshop so that I could build and fit the section legs and also a 4 inch section that will match up with the part where the tracks run off under the crashed Lancaster. This piece would also be kept by me for possible future extension of the layout.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sun Apr 24, 2022 11:59 pm

After a hardware store trip for some timber, the legs were made. While they were drying, the beginnings of the short extension was started.

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I also started making the sockets where the legs will bolt onto the layout. These allowed the legs to slot into place, while two bolts then held them securely.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue May 03, 2022 12:20 pm

January 26th 2016

After the section's legs were made and fitted, I continued with the extension, by adding two pieces to support the track.

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Once dry, copper clad board was glued to the board edge where the rails would end. It took a bit of fiddling around to get them and then the rail ends to the correct height and alignment with the existing rails.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue May 03, 2022 12:21 pm

Once the tracks were done, I cut some MDF to form the airfield surface and glued in in place, along with some supports underneath.

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The new parts of the airfield's perimeter track were cut from plasticard, and glued in place. Once dry and lightly rubbed down, sand was glued down for the grass surface with dilute PVA glue.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue May 03, 2022 12:22 pm

It took about three applications of sand and glue to build up the sand level to match the existing, and to have enough dilute glue applied to glue it firmly.

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Once everything was properly dry, the concrete areas were sprayed in grey primer.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue May 03, 2022 12:23 pm

It took a little white of masking and spraying to blend the concrete slabs between the two sections. There will always be the diagonal join visible, but overall, the joint between the sections is pretty good.

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With the concrete painted, the grass came next. After mixing up something that looked close, the sand was brush painted. When that was done, the same mix was added to my airbrush and the colour carried across onto the original airfield section. As it dried, the colour match was virtually identical and it blended well between the two sections. The last picture shows the grass as it was still drying.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue Jul 05, 2022 2:51 am

January 30th 2016 - It was all change again in the workshop, as the Airfield joined the Station in the garage, and the Quayside and Yard returned to the workshop.

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The quayside back in the workshop, five years after it was started!

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue Jul 05, 2022 2:53 am

Both sections would be cleaned and checked over again. The quayside needed the legs fitting properly. Originally when built, they were glued on, and later trimmed leaving a few inches sticking out of the bottom of the section. This gave clearance for power packs and other equipment that hung below the frame while the section sat in storage. The main length of the legs now need attaching so they can be removed and refitted.

I also needed to do some reprogramming of a couple of 'Routes', as two points on the airfield section ended up being different decoder addresses to that which was originally planned.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue Jul 05, 2022 2:54 am

February 14th 2016 - In addition to making the fittings for the quayside legs, I'd been finishing off odds and ends and testing. One of the quayside accessories that never got attached is the barrage balloon and crew.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue Jul 05, 2022 2:56 am

The "Hurricat" fighter was test fitted, but due to being so close to the edge of the board, I left that off. I've also spent some time boxing up the smaller accessories for transport.

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The control panel on the yard had a small hinging support added to the quayside section, to hold the panel horizontal when the layout is assembled. This folded flat under the section for transport.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue Jul 05, 2022 2:57 am

I did some reprogramming of the pre-set routes, to sort the changed decoder addresses. Since I hadn't used the PR3 programmer for possibly two years, it took some time to remember how to get the laptop to talk to talk to the DTM30 control panel circuit!

Once done, points were tested and programmed routes checked, and then I started labelling up the panel.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Mon Sep 12, 2022 11:40 am

Across the Summer, I've been so busy with the show season, that I completely forgot about updates to this thread.

February 22nd 2016

All the sections were laid out and connected electrically, to test the two control panels operating all the turnouts. I had to swap a few wires around, so that both panels trigger the points the same direction, and the LED indicators all agree with the point directions.

From the start, I didn't want to use DCC everything and if it had been my layout, I would have gone for a simple probe and contact 16vac circuit to operate the points.

So anyway, here's some pictures of the sections laid out.

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