Paint shop update

Just a quick update from the paint shop. The bridge parts got their first layers. The stone work was primed with Tamiya grey primer. The steel girder bridge received so far two coats of various Revell and Humbrol colours (dark green, white, bronze green, ...). To be continued.

Overview of the bridge location. Looking at the Ikea Billy holes, I realise that I really need to do something about the fascia and background soon.

Really happy with the bridge colour so far. More layers and weathering to come.

One of the prototype images that I use as example for my own bridge colour scheme.

Bridge construction

The siding of the Kiesgrube Klieben line is spanned by a standard gauge railway bridge. I have started construction by adapting an Auhagen kit (No. 11441). I lowered it substantially and adapted it to fit into the dedicated space on the micro-layout. In a next step, the bridge will get a new colour scheme. The plate girder parts will get a green coat and the stone buttresses will get a more realistic stone finish. And of course an embankment needs to be built. The open front part will ultimately be covered by the fascia.

A new Gmeinder for the Kiesgrube Klieben

 A delivery from Minitrains brought a new, red Gmeinder (Art. No. 5012) and a variety of cars to support the operations to my Kiesgrube Klieben.

Narrow gauge ballasting

 I continued with working on the tracks of the narrow gauge micro layout. With the sleepers and rails painted, ballasting was the next job on the list. I opted for a light coloured mix of different Woodland Scenics ballast, namely 873 Fine Buff (biggest content), 874 Fine Light Grey and 875 Fine Grey. For the first time I used Woodland Scenics "Scenic Cement" to glue the ballast down. I must say it worked really well. It is of course more expensive than the traditional method using wood glue, water and a drop of washing up liquid, but it is very efficient.

I left some ballast on the sleepers in some spots that I normally would have carefully brushed away. This to reflect a  little less maintained track bed. Finally, I greened the roadbed up with materials from various suppliers. Once everything was dry I removed any ballast on spots where it should not sit. In this process often the rust paint also comes off, leaving annoying, shiny silvery spots. I touched up these spots with Humbrol 113. On a next layout I might do the painting of the rails with Humbrol 113 only after everything is ballasted. With the current method I seem to have to do the painting twice.. I am curious if that would be a more time saving approach.

I will still go over everything with another round of weathering, but so far I am really pleased with the effect.

"Catching-up" on the newly ballasted narrow gauge line.

The ballast is mixed. Let's start the fun..

First stage completed. Now the detail work starts with removing ballast in the wrong spots, filling up "holes", adding plants, re-painting spots, ...

Letting it dry. The shiny appearance will disappear once the Scenic Cement is dry.

Some more images of the finished job:

Feldbahn track works

Track works continued on the narrow gauge Feldbahn micro-layout following a 3-step process:

1) Painting the sleepers in a mixture of Humbrol 98 Chocolate Brown and 33 Black to get rid of the shiny, plastic appearance;

2) Dry-brushing Humbrol  34 White over the sleepers to create more depth and a weathered appearance;

3) Painting the rails in Humbrol 113 rust brown.

Next stop: ballasting.

The Peco tracks after step 1.

After step 2 with the tracks dry-brushed

Drybrushed Peco tracks.

The first test run after step 3, the painting of the rails with Humbrol 113.

Industrial narrow gauge micro layout: Kiesgrube Klieben

 After weeks filled with work and other hobbies and model railroading on the back-burner, except for reading and planning, I finally picked up the shovel again and started with a new build. The Elmslohe H0 layout is still in its infancy with tracks laid and wiring done, but without any scenery. And I somehow cannot get myself to start with ballasting and similar tasks. Instead, re-fitting my decades-old, little H0e diesel with a new motor and decoder, re-painting and weathering her, provided lots of fun. So the decision was taken to build her a home; in the form of a micro-layout that is extendable with fiddle yards.

I laid Peco industrial narrow gauge flex track (SL-400) and two turnouts (SL-E492) on a 75 x 30  x 0.8 cm board and 44 x 18 mm frame. This size fits perfectly into the Ikea Billy shelf beside my work-desk. As written before, I like small layouts that are operational at the flick of of a switch, providing fun for a short break. Once finished, the little layout will provide a nice opportunity to shunt some skips with narrow gauge diesel engines. With fiddle yards added I could also exhibit the layout at club events (once exhibitions will be allowed again...).

The concept of the small layout is to show a section of a 760 mm industrial narrow gauge line for sand, gravel, stones, etc. I drew inspiration from images like the ones from Messers. Dachkeramik Meyer-Holsen in Ostwestfalen, However, I will go for a time period of probably the 1960s.

Here some images from Meyer-Holsen:

I like the heaps of sand and the way the excavator sits between them.

I might hide one entrance to a fiddle yard with a comparable bridge.

And some more images for the atmosphere to be re-created. I definitely want to have lots of "green" on the layout and not so much an actual quarry or loading/unloading area:

Source: Bloustod Teglvaerk

Source: Bloustod Teglvaerk

Source: drehscheibe-online

Segrahner Kieswerke. Source: Der Eisenbahnfotograf

Source: Buntbahn

And finally some images of the current state of affairs (tracks laid, wiring done, first trials of positioning buildings and objects):

Bridge view.

Trying different shots. The magazine stores also important liquids for the workers..

View down the line.

Total overview.

Industrial narrow gauge diesel update

The industrial 760mm narrow gauge Diesel, my old H0e model from a Roco starter kit, is nearing completion. After the fitting of the new motor and decoder the locomotive entered the paint and weathering shop. The undercarriage and buffer beams were painted in mat red (Humbrol 60). The interior of the cab in light grey (Revell 371). Door handles and similar in aluminium (Tamiya XF-16). Finally the model got a good weathering in washes of different thickness of mat black (Humbrol 33). I then dry brushed some metal (Vallejo 70.873 gun metal) and dirt-brown (Vallejo 70.941 burnt umber) on different places. Finally I placed an engine driver from Faller. Now I am looking for some final details like factory plates.

This is a hard-working small engine, so I weathered her heavily. Inspiration came from the previously mentioned factory line of the "Papierfabrik Steyrermühl" in Austria. Prototype images can be found on Drehscheibe Online.

Lokführer Peter Panner proudly presents his „Tinker Bell”, a nickname he has given this honest, hard-working little engine because of her green paint scheme and the special character she sometimes shows when working the Feldbahn. We cannot find back in the archives if this was linked to Peter Panner’s viewing of “Peter Pans heitere Abenteuer”, the original Disney movie which was released in Germany in December 1953.

Interior of the small Diesel with the new motor and decoder fitted.

My weathering inspiration.

Visiting the "Stoomtrein Katwijk Leiden" narrow gauge museum in Valkenburg

Following my increasing interest in narrow gauge industrial railways I recently visited the "Stoomtrein Katwijk Leiden" museum in Valkenburg (Zuid Holland). The collection of steam and, mainly, diesel engines (locomotors) was a great inspiration, most of them are in excellent and running condition. It's a vibrant museum and I admired the dedication of the many volunteers that keep the museum going in these Covid-19 influenced times. The steam engine on the train that travels up and down the short line was replaced by a diesel, as the footplate on the steamers is too small for two people needing to keep distance.

Here a few impressions, more pictures can be found on flickr. The museum has a website with detailed descriptions of all engines of the collection.