Bowen Creek

New Blog…

2012-01-18T14:06:00.001+11:00

Hi All,

I am taking on a new project while I am waiting between jobs for the new house. So why not start a new layout, crazy hey!

So if you would like to follow along please join HERE.

Enjoy…

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T15:30:00.001+11:00

Is it really that time of year already? Where did it go?

Modelling this year has all but come to a stand still, except for the odd purchase here and there. I basically have spent the year designing the new house and trying to keep it to a budget, which alas I continually fail at. But footings have gone in and hopefully be in by mid next year. The best part will be a train room equating to 78 sq metres, which will allow me to maybe build that dream railway. Several proposals have been put forward but I would really like to cover the Blayney-Demondrille line specifically Stanfield, Carcoar and Mandurama 1968-74 but we will see what happens. Any pictures people have in that time will be excepted gratefully.

Bowen Creek is tidily packed away in it boxes and if you look at some of the pictures on Ian's Blog you will see it. Specifically here, yep that's it in the boxes next to the door, well part of it. Don’t have any plans for it at the moment and it may never see an exhibition again but we will see.

Anyway the festivities of Christmas are here and that will be great for me as I can use the break and forget about all the stresses of work and building houses. So Merry Christmas to you all and hopefully will see you all next year at various shows and conventions and continue enjoying this great hobby.

HooRoo.

Andrew

P.S. Just one purchase that turned up recently, my CPH. Totally unmodified here but still a nice model, however I have scored a Stephen Johnson CPH kit so I think I will work on that before anything gets touched on this one.

This is me!!!!!

2011-11-23T19:43:00.001+11:00

Turn the volume up, get up from the modelling bench and click on the link.

WOOHOO…hilarious!!!!

AMRM…

2011-11-16T19:16:00.001+11:00

Hi Guys,

Enjoy the next issue of AMRM.

Nice little blurb in there for a Christmas read.

Andrew

From The Cab of 4908…

2011-10-13T20:30:00.001+11:00

Hi Everyone,

Been a while and nothing really to report, but I did finally get to upload some video taken from Epping 2011 by a kindly gent who I can’t remember…Oops.

The first scene the camera is on RP25/110 wheels and you will see it bounce thru the points but the rest is on real wheels :).

I wonder how many of you knew the station building was on a curve?

Cheers

Missing In Action…

2011-08-06T12:58:00.001+10:00

Hi All,

I cant say I have done anything in the hobby since Epping, apart from the littlest bit of help on Ian’s layout. But what I would like to let you all know about is Justin Moy’s new blog. Good guy, good photographer and a great modeller. Click HERE.

See ya.

Epping 2011…

2011-06-16T20:43:00.001+10:00

Well, we got away with another show. Bowen ran well at times, and pissed me completely off at other times. Who invited the Gremlins to a show! 4908 hasn’t moaned or groaned before, why did it choose to be a right royal pain in the arse this weekend? We had a few derails but it seems to get less and less each time, but I did get some comic relief when Oddwalls (Stand 23) had wagons splayed all over the yard. Couldn’t help but stick one into em about keepin’ those big wheels on the I-beam track. It was all in fun.

Fantastic to meet lots of guys from the blog scene and I hope I didn’t look too much like a deer in the headlights when you introduced yourself, a lot of that went on! Also I apologise if I missed you, eg Ray Pilgram, Gary Laker filled me in on that one :).

The activity after the show was entertaining, Friday night we spent freezing our backsides off in the stadium as James McInerney changed every train we had marshalled earlier into something different leaving a mess and a half for us to clean up :). Saturday saw a group of us off to Chinese and then back to Aaron Dennings to check out his casting set up. Sunday was more relaxing, dinner at the hotel and a few beers with Chris who was on the Jembaicumbene layout. Great guy and if you are reading this Chris, email your details to me and we will do that cab ride at some stage.

Thanks to all the guys that helped out over the weekend, whether you drove trains or not it was good to have you there. Thanks to Damian Chrystie for the extra hand in packing up, much apprieciated. Rob would have had a hell of a time carrying that stuff out on his own :).

I have a video to upload once I have time to do it which was done with a lipstick camera. I will work on that for next time.

HooRoo.

Off to Epping..

2011-06-09T17:46:00.001+10:00

Hi Everyone,

The trailer is packed and we are ready for the EMRC show. Please stop by for a chat and make yourself known if you are attending.

We did have a tidy up off the layout and fixed some minor issues, we also did some extra weathering. They are things that just make the lead up to a show hectic and you wonder where the time went.

Have fun, hope to see you there.

Exhibition equals BEER……”MMMMMMM BEEEEER”

Suspension….

2011-05-22T21:02:00.001+10:00

Simple suspension was my aim for the TOR models and I think I have achieved that. My 49 and 47 class locos have run successfully with the springy suspension I came up with a few years ago but I think my latest idea is much more successful, as the old idea did add some resistance, but I didn’t want to go to the expense of building complete new bogies so I accepted it. This new method adds springing to each individual wheel and provides improved electrical pick up without the resistance.

So I will try and explain what I have done as photos are a bit tricky.

Step 1.

Hopefully you can see here, the idea is to take a length of 8 thou phosphor bronze wire and eventually make a “Z” shape.

Solder the wire to the inside edge of the bearing and fold as above. This is where it gets tricky because normally, you would put the axle together and drop in the bogie, but here I am going to fix the bearing in the pick up frame, without any wheels or gearing attached, which gets a little fiddly later.

I use some packing and a peg to hold things in place but I removed the peg in the pic so you can see. But from here I will bend the wire back along the top of the pick up frame and solder in place which creates that Z shape I was referring to earlier. Repeat for all 6 axles.

Now the failing with this is that not all wheels are equally sprung,creating issues, but it works and will make the loco run reliably. This will get us thru full exhibition weekends with reliable running.

However, discussions on rebuilding the side frame completely has commenced. So I would say things in the future will have a more accurate resolution. Stay tuned.

Andrew

4908 waits for 4716 from Canowindra to arrive so it can continue with its loaded wheat train to Cowra.

Wheel Exchange Part 2…

2011-05-01T11:43:00.001+10:00

Co-Co bogies with P87 are tricky as the wheels can lock in curves which derails the leading or trailing axle. The solution to this is to allow extra lateral movement in the centre axle. We have to pack the back of the wheel to stop the Phosphor Bronze bearing from falling out of the pick up housing anyway so the solution is to pack the end axles with 20 thou Phosphor Bronze and the centre with 10 thou. Unfortunately each loco seems to be different as the centre axle isn’t always dead centre such as the 49 Class so some experimentation is required.

Clearly this pic shows the comparison in the wheels, and reminds me why I went down this path.So here you can see the packing, what you may have noticed is that the gearing is not in the centre of the axle, this makes the packing interesting as the axle will slide a little further one way then the other but isn’t a major issue.

I have had a change of plan on the suspension, so this has made things a little slower then I thought it would be but there are some benefits to the new idea. I will do some testing this week and report back next week.

Bye for now..

P87 Upgrade…

2011-04-23T13:45:00.001+10:00

In the upcoming weeks to Epping Show, I will be doing a wheel exchange to Tom Rogers, Train-O-Rama, 49 class Locomotive.

This give me a chance to document it here and add the springy suspension to the loco.

I will start this week and keep the short updates coming.

Cheers

maintenance is in town...

2011-04-14T09:11:00.001+10:00

The maintenance train has arrived late on the Canowindra - Gregra line, hauled by a 44 class, the first the line has seen but will not be the last.

This shot was taken by Ian after set up of BC in his new layout room. Now neither of us are big on the night scenes but they can be quite captivating.

The Epping show is now fast approaching and some maintenance needs to be attended to as well as some new trains to be added such as the 44 and maybe a DEB set as passenger traffic seems to be on the increase.

Hooroo for now…

Hi-Tech Details

2011-04-05T20:25:00.001+10:00

Hi Everyone,

Received some stuff in the post today. I found this stuff when I went looking for some diaphragms for my 620/720 as I don’t like the gap between cars.

I also picked up some brake hoses and MU brake hoses for diesels. The thing about these is they are made of rubber instead of the hard plastic we have come to expect.

Check it out at www.hitechdetails.com

I will see how they go.

Cheers

Andrew

GUILTY, of over weathering...

2011-03-13T15:13:00.000+11:00

With some time on my hands and a swag of new books, it has become obvious to me that I am guilty of getting carried away with weathering. I seem to have been caught in the situation of looking at and photographing stock that is derelict and thinking that this is how they always looked. So with time period modelling in mind it was time to adjust some wagons back to dirty and grimy instead of rusted and abused.

The top picture is more how the van may have appeared in the 1990's (different code of coarse), so now is more late 60's to early 80's.
I am quite pleased I went to the effort because the vans aren't all the same. I painted some lighter and darker then each other which gives a more natural effect then when the were all plastic grey from On Track Models. I have also added the improvements like Sergent couplers, chains and scale wheels. Also changed the spider brake wheel and thinned the mounting bracket. I would like to change the shunters steps but ahhh, maybe some other time.

So I guess the object of the post is to think about your period of modelling and weather accordingly, no matter how tempting it is to do the big rust patterns and dents that we can find today.

Some Explaining...

2011-03-05T14:18:00.000+11:00

Hi All,

Yes I went missing for a while and likely to do it again. Her indoors has taken on a more responsible roll at work and has created the unfortunate event of shifting house, BUGGER! When I bought my current home I never envisaged moving again before the inevitable dirt nap but here I go again shifting house. To add to the stress I may as well build. Well very few houses on the market cater for a train room (every home should have one), so to get what I want, I need to build.

I have purchased a block at a really good price and is only a couple of doors from Ian. Poor bugger between us isn't going to know whats goin on. Still it will make layout tours by fellow bloggers easy.

I have been doing some work, I have rewheeled a traino 44 ( yet to be tested), put the IDR MLV together and have done various other little jobs.
The RU project is back in the drawers, however some thought is going into new W irons and more will be revealed at a later time.

Displaying BC this year is on the back burner, however we have accepted an offer from the Epping club to again feature at their show on the June long weekend. This show gets better every year and to me is fast becoming the best show in Sydney if not already.

Tom Rogers and Craig Warton recently had a trip to Valley Heights and checked out the hole in the wheel situation. Seems a 1.5 mm hole is the go but I have yet to mill one out to see if it looks right, I am sure it will.

Anyhow, I will try to post some pics again soon and hopefully keep the little jobs going.

Ciao

What do ya know...

2011-01-28T09:54:00.000+11:00

Feb issue of AMRM is out and look at that, a couple of pics of Bowen Creek from the Armidale Convention. See, we did have a good time!

Maybe I should talk to James about a lineside offer?

2011...

2011-01-05T13:19:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year All,

The festive season was good to me, significant additions have been made to the library with Ron Prestons Day of the Passenger Train 1,2,and 3. This is a complete history of passenger train operations in NSW. Also Rons 44 class to go with my 48 class book, as well as Train Hobby publication of the 44 Class. A must for those TrainORama 44's I bought for $150 late last year, Bargain! And Lawrance Ryan's second book on Cowra, so lots of reading for me to get through.
A few kits have been given to me by the little brother, Ian Lindsays G2 goods shed which will be addapted for Merriwa and Stephen Johnson's Creamy Kate, very handy. So they will find their way to the "to be built" kit draw.

Bowen Creek has been set up in the shed for repairs and testing of the few RU's I have together. When a new wagon receives P87 wheels, there is always adjustments needed and these are no different, but more on those another time.

I have also been doing some titivating to Bowen Creek with a nice set of Platform scales that arrived from a well known modeller who shall remain nameless. I don't know if the colours are right but this is how I remember them so will do for now, I think they were all different anyway as the SM usually touched em up. Placed some milk cans on too but not sure about the baggage trolley, may delete that. I will add some things to the Fettler shed, but maybe later.

I went a little nuts and decided to add some detail to some wheels, I drilled some holes. Now they are not right but wanted to see if it could be done and if it was worth it. In conclusion yes it can, and yes it is. When the wagon rolls past it really sticks out so I will do more. Does anyone know the actual hole size and position?

Last thing I will add is the Infront Models DOT tanker I completed last year, I forgot to post the result so now is as good a time as any. The first pic is a dusty copy of the photo that comes with the kit.

I changed a few things in the kit, I replaced the ladder and the turnbuckles and should have made my own grab irons but maybe next time. I also added extra support angle next to the ladder as they were left out of the kit but overall it is an excellent kit and recommend it highly. I think the wheels should be 33" wheels too, but I need to get more so will correct later, I think they were 33" wheels? Will have to double check later.

HooRoo

Merry Christmas

2010-12-14T21:03:00.000+11:00

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post to wish you all the best for the festive season. Hope Santa brings lots of Model Railroad goodies!!!

Be safe and hope to see you all in 2011.

Merry Christmas

From the Bowen Creek Family

Decoder Programmer

2010-12-02T19:22:00.000+11:00

See I told you other projects would pop up. Ian and I purchased a Sprog II each from the UK and it arrived earlier this week. We saw these at the New England convention with Gerry Hopkins and this will allow me to use Decoder Pro in my study without having to set up Bowen Creek. I am still learning Decoder Pro but why would you program your decoders without it, it just makes it so easy.

Decoder Pro is a FREE download and a must for all Decoder programming. Check it HERE. The other thing you will need is a power supply, I picked up one from Jaycar, part no. MP-3011 for $19.95. You just cut the plug off and place the wire with the white stripe to the +V and the wire with the writing to the 0V on the sprogII. The rest is straight forward.

Now just to clarify, you can use decoder pro linked from your computer to your command station but the SprogII just allows you to do it without it. You don't need the sprog unless you want to program decoders away from the layout.

Happy Modelling

Andrew

NSWGR RU....

2010-11-26T08:26:00.000+11:00

I have been waiting to start this project for some time now and I have delayed for a number of reasons, the biggest being having the patience to do 20 detailed wagons but I have bitten the bullet and started. I expect this will take a long time as other projects will come and go, as well as my interest but I think if I post my efforts it may help to keep things moving.

A few things are required.

Greg Edwards Data sheet.
Detail photos, personal and from ARDP from Keiren Ryan models.
ILM detail kits (which, unfortunately are currently unavailable but I have them).
Trainorama RTR RU's which are also currently unavailable but also, I have them.
Sergent Couplers
Keiran Ryan's Brake rigging etch part no. KRM HO 006.
P87 36" axles 0.944" length from NWSL part no. 37668-1
Click HERE for prototype description.

I guess points 3 and 4 make you realise to get things while they are available, I think we have all been burnt here before.

I may use the chain I am not sure

15 of the kits have been washed and drilled and the W irons have been folded and soldered. I am still waiting the correct wheels to arrive.

The W iron etches aren't perfect as there is a bit of filing and drilling to do to get them right, but this is outlined in the instructions. I have also cleaned off the undesirable bits from the Traino bodies as per the ILM instructions. I have a plan of attack in my head for this but will see how things pan out, things always change and mistakes are always made but hopefully good karma will prevail.

I will keep things as up to date as I can, cya.

Bogie updated....

2010-11-22T11:11:00.000+11:00

Tom Rogers kindly pointed out a few missed details, might make him an editor I think! I failed to mention I was using 24.5 mm axle lengths. NWSL part no. 37668-4 for 36" wheels and part no. 37667-4 for 33" wheels. AR axles are 25 mm in length so you will have to close the gap by 0.5 mm and you will get this with the bearings. I can't remember the actual length of the other manufacturers axles as I have discarded them, stupidly. If anyone still has these axle lengths can you please let me know?
I believe you need some sideways movement just not to much, and to accurately do this is almost impossible but the bearing tool does help as you can set the depth. Perhaps I should have recorded the depth data, I will endeavor to do this. I guess this means there will be another follow up to this but worth the effort I think.

Cheers

Bogies.....

2010-11-18T17:08:00.000+11:00

Hi Peoples,

I had been asked about fitting wheels into Trainorama, OTM and AR bogies. Well the fact was that these bogie's have been running pretty well with the patch job I did to have the ready for Epping 2009. Well they have survived quite a bit of running since then but I am now doing them properly and thought I 7should post the method up before I forget.

I have bought some bearings and bearing tool from AR kits which do the job just nicely.

File the back of the bearing as there is a fine wire that protrudes and I find this to be unhelpful,

so get ride of it.

Use the Square cutting edge of the bearing tool and set it to cut slightly deeper then the bearing depth.

Fit the bearing and repeat in each axle box.

Check gauge

Once you have installed the axle, use finger pressure and squeeze to set the bearings all the way home. Once this is done the axles roll very nicely without excessive play side to side.

Cheers

Conventions and Exhibitions

2010-11-13T10:39:00.000+11:00

Evening Followers,

After attending the New England Convention last week, my opinion of exhibitions has deteriorated. This to me was the pinnacle of what I what from this hobby. Like minded people getting the chance to socialise and share ideas and techniques on modelling. If you missed it, get down and pray the next one isn't too far away.

Exhibitions are a rush, they're noisy and you really don't get the chance to sit down and mingle with fellow modellers. Some have dinners on the Saturday night but most are too buggered to really make a night of it and that's even if they attend. The New England club need to write a paper on how this was done so other clubs can learn from their achievement.

How great it was to catch up and meet fellow bloggers. If these guys had stopped to chat at an exhibition it would be hard to really have got to know them as you are usually too busy to really spend much time chatting. Bowen Creek stood still for most of the weekend and people still stood there enjoying the model without trains running. You don't get that at exhibitions much, generally the crowd moves on once the train has left the scene.

Some of the other bloggers have written about the weekend but I will add some pics of what caught my attention.

I thought Dean Bradley's weathering work was exquisite. There is no doubt I will try to follow some of his techniques.

Ian Phemister's 1942 EZ kits looks just the part crossing the Timber Trestle apart from those OVER scaled wheels and couplers hey Ian. Loved the ride in the Mini Cooper S, "NOICE" .

Peter Street's Oil Depot. I never really considered one of these for the home layout, but after Peter's talk I think I will add one. He pointed out how this can add some operation to the layout with little space used, I never considered this, but he is right.

Exeter..self explanatory really

Thanks to everyone who attended, you guys really made the best Model Railway weekend and it's funny how the young fellows and the old buggers got along. Apparently, according to the forums, this doesn't happen. Maybe this says something about the forums. Some of the talks were done by older gents, I wouldn't have had such a good time without them.

CYA at the next one

Andrew

Decision made, I think....

2010-10-29T19:40:00.000+11:00

Hi everyone,

As a follow up to the last post, let me inform you of some conclusions. Firstly thanks to those for their input, it is much appreciated.

I have decided to still do Merriwa, although renamed to Gundabri. George Hall was a town founder and lived on (or tenanted) what I think was a local station called Gundabri, I believe near Gungal. Will have to research this more however this will do for now.

The advantage is I can now apply some modellers licence to the line and keep this yard reasonably as is. So, leaving Gundabri yard the line will turn right, instead of left, and meander up a gentle grade of open line for about 43 feet (13mtrs). We now enter Halls Creek (Sandy Hollow). This yard will be reworked and possibly look a bit like Canowindra, without the silo, but with the grain shed. Also added is the co-op siding and possibly a flour mill. Still a bit vague on this but you get the idea.

From Halls Creek we start on a long steep climb to the upper deck, we possibly could use bank engines here. Wow, bankers on a branch, well it will add interest. The grade is expected to be a 1:50 and another 45 foot run. This will be very slow, I really want to use the load function on the DCC here. This function allows you make your locos crawl at say 8 miles an hour but ramp up the sound to really let you know the engines are working hard.

The grade now eases and we can see down over the valley from the upper plateau as we meander our way for a further 28 foot run and enter Wybong. This is a passing loop and a signal box here, similar to Pangela. It will be fairly short in length as to make any long train passes interesting however most trains will be of the shorter version. Will also have water facilities for steam engines.

We are now left with a 69 foot run (21mtrs) to Muswellbrook which will be hidden staging. I plan too run more trains then the line ever would have seen in its usual form so this should make interesting operation nights with lots of movements. I do plan on having way-bill cards but timetables will be lax. Also all yards will be staffed with miniature staffs but more homework will need to be done on this. I also wanted the long runs to give the feel of distance between yards and have those nice bridges, cuttings, level crossings and all the things that you would expect to see on a NSWGR line.

I do have an option, Halls Creek could be built as a junction, which would see the line as more of a secondary line and Gundabri becomes a branch. This would see a second hidden staging yard but I am not so keen on this idea as it may be to crammed. I will draw it up properly one day and post it but not soon.

Writing this out has gotten me fired up a bit so, I made a start on my RU project which I will share soon. One thing the last post did, was make me realise that I had lost my way a little and forgot that I really want to capture railway scenes and model that detail that sets some models apart. So I will leave with a pic that Thumpa posted on railpage, it gives the feel of what I want out of modelling a NSW branchline. Thanks again.

Cheers

Andrew

What to do now....

2010-10-14T17:47:00.000+11:00

Well I know my posting has somewhat slowed in the past few months and there are other things on the layout that I would like to share. My attention really has been on future projects, namely my home layout.

I have built the layout shed and had it lined, so now I am trying to really work out what it is that I want in there. The layout room is basically 23 feet by 18 feet and it was always intended to build the Merriwa branch. My issue is although I really like Merriwa yard, the rest of the line I am not so sure about. There are some structures I want and they are not on the line. EG . I want the Half Howe Truss Bridge. How much modellers license can someone have before you loose the atmosphere of the line that you are modelling?

My latest thought is to build hidden staging and come into Merriwa, then build what I perceive to be the Merriwa Extension, but does that change the way that Merriwa would be, most of the facilities would have been removed I would think and then it no longer could be considered Merriwa.

Does anyone have any opinion that would maybe get me out of this developing rut.

Andrew

Pretty in steam...

2010-10-01T18:33:00.000+10:00

Light has not hit Bowen Creek since Newcastle and to be honest I am rather glad. Now that the warmer weather is here, the house and gardens have been getting a spruce up and besides I am lacking some motivation at the moment. The New England convention is only 5 or 6 weeks away and I am really looking forward to that. We had a few breakages in Newy but we have a days work set aside and all should be good.

In the mean time lets look at steam in P87. It is still a long way off but there are some motivated people tossing around ideas on how things can be done. Oscar Deluca turned up at Epping last year with his Brass 30T and it was the first time steam had been tested. Mike McCormac had turned the wheels as he did on his dogbox and the result was inspiring. Now these took Mike hours to do so I don't believe he will ever do these for anyone but himself ( which is fair enough) it proves the possibilities, which inspired Bowen Creek in the first place.

I nicked this off Railpage, Thanks to Craig Mackey

I need to do this for myself and a few others who want steam, it will happen just takes time. Meanwhile other things need to be done..such as that RU project. Anyway this was just a quick update so everyone knows I am still alive and we may see you in Armidale. Hooroo

Newcastle Exhibition...

2010-09-12T19:09:00.000+10:00

Well its' been a week since the Newcastle show and to be honest, I need a week to recuperate. We left Port Macquarie about 1300hrs on Friday and after a wet rainy trip, arrived at the race coarse about 1700hrs to find Tom Rogers waiting at the gate. Tom is a regular staff member at Bowen showings and is now a dedicated P87 modeller. Set up takes about an hour and after some line repairs and testing, we were ready for Saturday. So it was down with a bodgy dinner and check in the motel. A beer or two were downed at the RSL and giggle at the local teenagers in their wacko gear before calling it a night.

Saturday morning brought a traumatic start. The electronics went nuts, it wasn't until the boys on Mile638 came asking for help on their layout, that it twigged that the we were getting some electronic feedback from another stand. A new power supply was sought and Mile 638 and Bowen Creek both operated faultlessly for the rest of the weekend, PHEW!

Sunday (fathers day) brought the annual gift giving and for me this meant a Canon 500D DSLR, Yippee!!. So my eldest son Matthew, took it for the day and took some pics of the show. Don't quite know how that happened but what do you do....

A-Tractiv Effort

Mile 638

Not a bad effort from the young bloke. Very enjoyable week end and look forward to the next one.

Andrew

Backdrop...

2010-08-11T20:04:00.000+10:00

Hi All,
Things have been progressing slowly towards the Newcastle show which has kept us busy. We are trialling the cobalt motors for the points and I must say with mixed results. They claim to be quieter than the tortoise, which they are, but some are still as noisy. One is a struggle to hear any sound at all while another is as noisy as anything else on the market. They are smaller which is welcomed.

Anyway, this is a little bit about the backdrop we installed which I think is unique to the exhibition circuit. I had this idea of a seamless backdrop, I hate obvious joins in layouts and it spoils the effect for me, as it really catches my eye. We had built the layout as a diorama style, so I didn't want to ruin the effect with big joins in the backdrop.
How do we achieve this? I had no idea so it was time to appoint someone. John Barrett was the man for the job.
JB is an exceptional modeler, his achievement in the hobby is renowned with his work on Beyond Bulliac. JB is a sign writer by trade and a pretty good one too. I took the idea to him and he thought it was a good one and so I left it with him. Two months later he had it, canvas! John had done some RTA banners for whatever reason, you know the ones you see on the highway roadside, I thought this would work. A small sample piece was tested using plastic paints so it could be rolled up without it cracking. Everything seamed in order so we went for it. JB had arranged for a local guy to cut the canvas and sew in a small 6mm rope along the top and bottom and two eyelets at each end which attach to pins either end. An aluminium u-tube is installed which the rope slides into to hold the sheet up. Now I have no idea what all these things are called but once again a picture tells a thousand stories.

Above you can see JB happily painting away, if you look at the canvas you can see the eyelet, where the rope is stitched in and where the it slips into the aluminium bracket.

Here is where the canvas attaches to the layout, this keeps it nice and taught along the length of the scene.

I am very pleased with the end result.

Cost wise it was a total cost of about $250, which I think is quite reasonable for a 6 meter long 500mm high piece. I think if we were to do it again I would look at having a scene printed on the canvas but I am still pleased with what we have.

Cheers

Height....

2010-07-10T11:35:00.000+10:00

This is a subject that is wide and varied. Bowen Creek is a tall layout, I am the first admit that, it stands at 1530mm from floor to track level. This was brought about because Ian and I are just over 6' tall and we want the track brought up to eye level. Now for some, this will be too high but it was done for us to test a theory for our home layouts, and I think that people at exhibitions may find it a different view point and think about the height of their own layouts. For too long, in my opinion, layouts have been built far too low. Why?

Because that's the way it has always been done, perhaps.
so the kids can see.

Point one may be the only reason because people have in their head that there is some unwritten rule that says, this is how you do it. Now at exhibition there will be those that whine that it is too high, but hopefully we can make them think outside the square. A lot of us, including manufacturers, are doing underfloor detail, but what's the point if the layout is 3 feet off the floor. Besides, we do it because you see that before you see a roof.

Here is another way to look at it, if I go to a railway yard and stand next to the rail, my eye level is six foot above the rail. Even an S truck is still taller then me. So with Bowens' rail height at 1530mm and my eye level at 1730mm, I am still 57 scale feet above the rail. Which means I can still clearly see across the roof of the goods shed.

As for the kids, I find the ones that are interested are only interested in the train. Their attention span isn't all that long and the detail in buildings and scenery aren't of much interest to them. Even my boys don't stay for more then a lap or two. I don't want to sound like I'm anti kid here, but honestly I find the first question that gets asked is "How fast does it go?" or "Can we crash em!". They will have much more fun on a U-Drive then spending time at Bowen Creek. We did have one little five year old at Epping 2009 that blew our socks off with his knowledge and I will gladly lift him up and spend time with him, but to date he is the only one. I guess this is why I build my layout for me and not the kids. Matt (my eldest) is 12, and he now will stand and be interested for maybe 15 minutes but he has a little step ladder and he is fine.

This bodgey photo of some likely looking lads should give an idea.

In conclusion, my opinion is to build your layout to the height you choose and be happy with it, and don't conform to anyone else's opinion. It's your layout and you will spend more time at it then anyone, so do it for you.

Happy Modeling.

Andrew

News Update

2010-07-01T19:28:00.003+10:00

Hi Everyone

Just a quick post for some upcoming events.

Bowen will make an appearance on the exhibition scene again, This time it will be at the Our Town Hobby Show in Newcastle. This will be held 4th and 5th September at the Newcastle Jockey club. Before the year is out we will also be displaying Bowen at the New England Model Railway Club Convention in Armidale on the 6th and 7th of November. I am particularly looking forward to this one as there will be some fantastic presentations from well renowned modelers. Please read the website for details.

For all of you who are interested in P87 and want to learn more, Ian and I have started a new Yahoo group. This is dedicated to Proto 87 modelers in Australia. Regardless of where you model (NSW, VIC, SA, USA etc) or what era, this is for Aussies to get into the same room to discuss the development of P87 and to problem solve. It doesn't matter if you are new or experienced, none of us know everything so this could be very exciting for this avenue. To join there is no hiding behind fictitious names or credentials. You will be asked to understand the rules of the group and to fill out a CV (curriculum vitae) so everyone on the group knows each other, what they have done and what they are involved with.
I know it seems a bit formal but we believe this will help create an atmosphere of friends discussing our hobby around a dinner table.
Go to the group by clicking on this LINK.

So now I will disappear for a while as there is much to do.
Happy Modelling,

Andrew

Scenery.....

2010-06-27T12:40:00.000+10:00

I know a few have been asking for this so here goes.

As you now know, the layout is built on high density foam, the advantage of this is you can now add foam to build hills and curve the foam away to create valleys, gullys, drains and gutters. At this stage all we have is track laid on a flat surface, now the ground is rarely, if ever flat. The most important thing to think about is the formation of the land, land rises and falls in all directions. When you are doing this, try to ignore the track without forgetting about it completely. What you’re trying to achieve is the line cutting through the landscape. Look at photos and you can see where the railways have made cuttings and land fill to build the line to give it steady grades. This is an important stage, it really forms the basis of your scene. The exciting thing here is, as you’re creating the shape, you will start seeing where to form roads, water courses etc. Which really spurs you on to keep going and your layout will start to look like something from the real world.

A few tips here, everything is easily repairable so don't panic if what you have just done doesn't look right. The railways made banks and cuttings to specific angles so do some research into this and make allowances for adding plaster, dirt and rocks. Print photos out and stick them up to give references as to what you want an area to look like. Too much info is never enough so keep collecting.

Next step is to paint the foam, colour isn't that important here but choose one better then what we did, an earthy tone is the go but keep it on the lighter side. This also helps to seal the foam and stops those white flaky bits turning up.

Now there is no need to plaster the whole scene, this would add to much weight and is only necessary were you want add fine detail. The cutting is one such area to be plastered as you need to add the wash out of dirt where water would have run. Now you could go nuts here but on this occasion we choose to keep it subtle. Mix up your plaster so its nice and pasty and have a clean bucket of water handy. Add a bit of colour dye to the plaster to get rid of that stark white colour, wet the area and apply. As the plaster is setting grove out the water course, making sure to not get it too uniform. This is also a good time to add very fine dirt so to get some texture. After it has dried I used some acrylic paints to get a good base colour but don't make it uniform. Paint in a mix of browns,reds and orange. Then add dirt to the wet paint in the colours your after. See Chuck or collect your own.

With colour its all about blending many tones, uniformity is a no-no in the natural world. So now you need to think about what came first, eg, dirt then rocks then dry grass then green grass etc etc. Your particular application will most likely be different to mine so use these as a guide.

Once the dirt is glued and dried it is tricky to get the glue down for the grass as it can clump the dirt up, so thin it and don't over do it. When the grass goes down the same rules apply, blend colours and work from the ground up. The dirt is important as the grass should be patchy, look under the trees in the above photos, you don't want a carpet of grass. The electrostatic grass is really the only way to go, there is still a place for the flock but not like it used to be.

At this stage you can start to add the detail, fences, bushes, trees etc etc. The one thing we did try was the grass tufts from silflor. These are fantastic and bring realism to any scene. Once again you can see, build from the ground up.

Other things you can do is to pick a small area and go to town on it. Over time these feature scenes will blend to give a really nice effect. This is another scene where we used plaster to get that washed away look.

I focused on the bridge module for this post and I think you guys can get an appreciation of how we went about things, it was enjoyable to do and to be honest we could continue adding to these scenes but overall, I am very happy with them.

Cheers

A Model Weekend....

2010-06-16T22:44:00.001+10:00

Saturday 6AM, Ian shows up at my door to depart for the Epping Model Railway Club Exhibition at Thornleigh. After a good run and a horrible Maccas breakfast, we arrive at 9.45AM and park the car on some what of a goat track. Phil Collins was supposed to be at the round-a-bout to direct us to the underneath car park but here he is at the top of the hill. So after a bit of stirring, we head down to the show. We caught up with a number of people, first of which was Brad Hinton. Brad always writes a good article on the Epping show so I wont repeat it, click here. It was also good to catch up with Allen Brown, Aaron Denning, Tom Rogers, Justin Moy, Steve Pracy and even Stephen Ottaway. Also met Dale Richards and checked out his Lever Frames. These are unbelievably good. Will be getting these for my Merriwa layout. If your not on the Yahoo Group click here.
So after a good day, left and spent some hard earned at Toms then checked into my folks for dinner. At 7.30 we arrived at Ray Pilgrims to check out his Bylong layout. It was a brilliant night. Ian and I don't get to "play trains" very often, so when it comes around you can only wish to find a pair of gems like Ray and his wife Christine. Lovelier people you couldn't wish to meet. Check Ray's blog for the events of the night here. Thanks Ray, that saved me some writing.
Sunday morning saw us at Hobbyland, stupidly I didn't get any of IDR's kits at the show, so I picked up some things at the shop but missed out on some of SDS's cattle containers. Oh well, maybe next time.
Stopped in to see Rowan Mangions Main South layout (under construction). This is quite an epic task Rowan has set for himself,it will be interesting to see it when complete. Slipped round the corner to his dad's (Sam)to see his layout, I tell you these boys have parted with some coin.
Anyway that saw us arrive home around 5PM pretty exhausted. Can't wait to do it again though.

Cheers

A Little Inspiration.....

2010-06-07T10:07:00.000+10:00

I was cleaning up some files this morning and found some photos that were taken when Aaron Denning paid a visit. He had a new camera and was keen to try some things. John Barrett had a model circus he built stored at Ian's' so the backdrop was placed on Bowen and a new scene was created. John's circus was modelled at dusk, which means it was back lit through the backscene. It is painted perspex. Anyway the photos will explain better.

44 on tour

A small load

It was a bit of fun, after all there wasn't even track laid on module two at this stage. John has 1000's of little lights to wire up on the circus and it's my job to do it, so one day I will get some pics of the circus and post them. It is quite a piece of modelling.

Making a point, part 2

2010-06-03T20:17:00.000+10:00

OK so we have our little frog already to go, but there is one other part to be manufactured and thats the blades. Now I tried using the fast tracks file jig and to be honest, I don't know if it were me or the jig but I just wasn't that happy with the shape I was getting on a filed blade. I don't quite know how to explain it, but if you look at the prototype a blade swings back to the centre of the track after it leaves the heel. Only ever so slightly but it is what it does. After reading The Australian Journal of Railway Modelling, number six, page 28, it clearly shows how a point blade should be filed. I don't know about you, but I was buggered if I could file code 55 rail and still see if I had it right. Andy Reichert from P87 Stores does point blades with a CNC machine and are the correct shape. I can't remember the exact price but it was something like $12 a pair. Well worth it.

Next was to get some rail brace chairs, I managed to wangle some out of stephen Ottaway, no mean feat. Now we have the main components to build a point.

So now its logical but it takes a little time. Lay your paper template, we did them in a group but probably wouldn't do that again. Just to awkward to handle. Lay your copper sleepers remembering to use the thinner sleeper where the chairs are to be placed.

Next start laying your straight stock rails, this is important as the rest of the point guages off this. Once this is done you can locate the frog and continue laying rail.

Once all the rail is down we can locate the chairs to fill the gap between the blade and the sleeper.

I think you get the jist of things and really its just, take your time and watch it come together.

Unfortunately I didn't take enough photos when these were built, something I have to improve on. The next group of photos I think shows why it's all worth the effort.

Anyway last post for a while, need to digress. Cheers

hmmmm....

2010-05-31T14:24:00.002+10:00

Yep, part 2 of making a point can wait, I have been busy and haven't put anymore thought into it. I have been playing around the layout room and because of the resent cool weather and rain decided to do some weathering of my own. So due to my new spray room being so accessible and easy, I attacked an On Track Models LLV.Didn't want to go to hard but what the hell. Apologies in advance I only snapped these photo's with a little instamatic, "must get serious about photography one of these days."

I also had to get in and weather wheels and bogies so I brushed them with some Floquil Rust and roof brown, then followed up with a black wash. Then finished up with some Aim Powders and am quite happy with the results. Did a similar thing with the LLV.

Other then that I put a coat of primer on the Infront Models DOT Tanker. It's ready for the final coat but will have to wait till I go to Epping on the long weekend to pick up the right colour paint. Ian and I will be there on the Saturday so If you run into us stop for a chat.

I also played around with Austrains MLE. I need to do some more to this as I had had enough by now but It still looks ok. I will need to look for some loads although I was thinking of making some rolled up tarps.

Anyway thats what I've been upto and now looking forward to Epping, as a visitor this time.

At the end of the day I stopped at the level crossing on the Canowindra Road, climbed on the bonnet of the Challenger and snapped a photo of 4716 leaving Bowen Creek after its shunting duties.

Making a point...

2010-05-23T21:15:00.002+10:00

Well now that basic trackwork is behind us, I guess we should look at building a turnout. There are numerous articles on the subject and everyone pretty well has their own ideas, so I will just describe the basics of what we did to build ours.

First thing that needed to be achieved was to build a frog. Not to many detailed P87 ones available particularly to NSW standards. First a copy of a number 6 point was used which Keiran Ryan had drawn up with correct sleeper spacing and alignment. Or use Greg Edwards data sheets. This was then white glued to a small sheet of ply and left to dry. Next some copper clad circuit board was fixed down and special shapes brass soldered as cross members. Now using the paper template as a guide the straight stock rail was soldered down. From here on track gauges are used in case there are any irregularities in the paper copy. Plus without correct guages that 0.58mm flangeway is a little hard on the eyes. Rather then me go into all the technical specification a down-loadable pdf is available here. The frog which has been tested and all working nicely, is cut from the jig and nut and bolt detail added.

That was a fairly time consuming job but the best part is that now we have an assembled frog, ready to be sent to the caster so we have lots of little drop in number six frogs. We couldn't seem to locate anyone to cast these in nickel silver so we had them cast in brass and in silver by Apecs Investment Castings. The silver won out and were used. From memory I think it cost about $40 for the molding and then $6 for each casting.
To Be Continued...

Trackwork...

2010-05-08T21:17:00.003+10:00

Trackwork is most likely the main reason why I got into Proto87. I have always believed that we spend too much time on loco's and rollingstock, then neglect the scene. Don't get me wrong, I like loco's and rollingstock but what's the point if the track looks like what I ran my old lima on when I was 7 years young.

I think you will agree that the photo in the last post is a big improvement on any manufactured point but for it to be accurate all the tolerances have to be accurate. To give you an idea, the flangeway scales to 0.58mm. Later I will do a post on making a P87 point but for now lets just do basic trackwork.

We ended up doing two different methods of hand laid track on Bowen Creek, both of which are totally acceptable. As I mentioned in an earlier post we used 3rd planit to do the track plan, the advantage of this is you can print it out to scale and glue the paper down on you road bed so all your sleeper spacing is marked out for you. So the first method is to lay a copper clad sleeper every sixth sleeper and then solder the rail to this. I liked this method, I found it to be forgiving and reasonably quick. The slow part is etching the copper away, pretty mind numbing. Especially seeing we etched all the copper other then where the rail would sit, leaving just a little play. The reason for this is you can gouge some grain into the fibre glass and it looks more like timber after painting. Then airbrush the rails, hand paint the copper sleepers and slip in the timber sleepers to complete. The timber sleepers are the sugerpine sleepers by Kappler (part No.KP00SL8-HO)and are available from Gwyder Valley Models. The Timber is stained with India Ink and is a mix between the white and black to give a nice light grey colour. The tip is to start with white and add a little bit of black, not the other way round. The other option is to use the Aim weathering products which are also very good. The rail is painted with a blend of Floquil paints. the blend was around 50/50 rail brown and rust. I say around because only god knows how accurate it was.

Can't tell you who turned up the roller gauge for us, he will kill me.

The other method is to lay all timber sleepers, already stained, glued with white glue and weighted over night. Paint the rail on the work bench, this was a bit of a pain and is why I preferred the first method. Next is to brush on the glue to the bottom of the rail, an even bigger pain. The glue is called Pliobond and is used in the building industry, pretty hard to locate in Australia but click here for an equivalent. It is heat activated, so after it is applied it sets as to not be very messy. Once you have the rail in place we applied a warm iron (still to hot to the touch) to the rail which causes the compound to run and once the iron is removed it cures. You can reheat it but I don't think it is advisable.

As I said both methods work very well and I grant you the end result is a major improvement on any commercial track.

Next is to apply some ballast, being a branch line it needs to be blended with ballast and dirt as branch lines don't use a lot of ballast anyway. Only thing was we decided that this was now to be a more secondary line so we used more white and black ballast then dirt. This is all from Chucks.

I guess in a nutshell what I am saying is take your time with your trackwork, It will serve you well into the future and if it looks like the real thing you will always be proud of it. Don't cut corners and if it's not right, hang the expense get it right, you won't be sorry for the sake of a few dollars. My home layout will be right and it will bring me years of pleasure without me saying, gee I wish I took more time with that. Bowen Creek was the test and I've learned alot, it's just the beginning and I hope you learn from it too. Woah....got a little bit out there then, but you know what I'm gettin at.

Thought I would leave you with this shot. Did a hell of a lot of work to that Traino 47, I will tell you about it one day. Cheers for now.

Lighting...

2010-04-27T20:12:00.001+10:00

Hi everyone,

Things have been busy around the layout shed and this means the blog has had a bit of neglect. Not only has installation of the spray booth taken some leaps forward but so has the wash bay.

I also decided to start assembling Infront Models DOT tanker so there goes some more time.

So now that you have my excuses lets move on....

All the lighting is 28w, T5 , 4 foot fluorescent tubes. They are Sylvania (part no. 200768) 6500 Kelvin daylight tubes and retail for around $4.50 per tube. The tombstones are fitted to fabricated bracket and mounted to the ceiling directly behind the pelmet which is 100mm deep and protrudes 100 mm out in front of the layout as to avoid any shadows on the front edge. The 4 scenic modules require 6 tubes, 4 of which are in line and 2 offset to make sure there are no dark patches. Now as these 2 tubes cross a module join we needed to find a way to safely transport them, this is where the T5 tube comes in. T5 tubes fit neatly into 20mm electrical conduit, so two 1200 mm lengths of conduit are saddled to the roof of the layout where they are stored until the layout is assembled. The other four tubes are never touched as they remain housed within the module which make set up very easy.

That leaves the power source, we wanted to keep the weight down but ballasts are heavy and then you have to find room for starters. This was solved by the use of electronic ballasts. They are very light and don't require starters. The only disadvantage is they are quite expensive but at least one ballast will do two tubes. Lucky for us I had acquired some some without cost so we were very fortunate.

OK that was a pretty quick post but really, its lighting, it has to be covered so hopefully I can cross it off the list. I would prefer to be covering track work so lets do that next post.

Happy Modelling...YEAH...

A few Pics....

2010-04-03T08:51:00.006+11:00

I was asked recently for a couple more views of the layout. We have been doing work on the return curves on Bowen which I am glad to say has been successful, it didn't leave me any time to think about an update to the blog. So some pics seems like a good idea.

This is 621-721 crossing Bowen Tresle. It's a popular area for photographers as it gives a nice low angle. The tresle was the first scratch built structure on the layout, and it took me a couple of weekends to build and another couple to fit. All the timber is stained with India Ink and the bolts and rail painted with floquil rust and rail brown then finished with Aim powders. Ian's semaphore and my fettler shed top the scene off.

This one is one of my Fav's. When I made this I thought I was going overboard with detail. I thought the bolt head detail would never be seen but this photo made me think again. Kappler timber was used and brass flat and angle. The nuts and bolts are from Scale Hardware (see links) these are unbelievable.
I will try and follow up with the lighting in the next post but we will see.

Cheers

Alignment Pins

2010-03-16T21:20:00.002+11:00

These were made to make sure the rails aligned every time the modules were put together. Ian had assisted with Rodney James' layout Exeter, and was impressed with the reliability of them. They are simple to make and can be done in a short time.

You will require 10mm brass angle and 6.5mm brass rod. You will also need a 6.5mm hss drill bit, a ream and flat file, masking tape, solder, flux, blow torch and a hacksaw.

Cut matching lengths of the brass angle and clamp together to form a T shape making sure the top is flat and true.
Drill two holes through the facing brass.
Test fit the rod, ream out the hole as necessary making sure not to let the hole get to large. It needs to be a snug fit.

Now of coarse you only want the pins to solder to one piece of brass or else you will never get them apart. Place a piece of masking tape between the facing brass and slide the rod through the holes between 5-10 mm.
Add flux and using the blow torch solder the rod in place keeping the rod as square as possible.
Cut the brass rod flush at the back and file smooth. Tidy up any over run solder between the two faces and your done. Now you just need to drill and fit. I suggest small counter sunk holes and use small brass wood screws.

As you can see in the top photo that this can be used using flex track and reliably realigns the track everytime the modules are reconnected.

Design

2010-03-09T17:48:00.009+11:00

Now there’s not much there, so a simple unattended crossing loop and goods yard with basic facilities was the format. We used 3rd Planit for the design stage and although it requires some time to learn, the program is well worth it.

Four scenic modules were constructed at 1300Lx450Wx500H. Why the odd sizes? Well they fit into a ute I had which I no longer have. TIP, don't design things to specifications which can change! Two end modules where later built at 1000Lx450Wx500H which were to house traverse's as this was to be a point to point layout which was later disbanded and return curves were fitted. Man does this sound like a government operation or what! To save on weight 20mm square steel tube was used to build the frame. This also meant we could use 16mm square tube welded in one end to easily locate the modules together. The legs do the same thing only into 25mm tube welded vertically in the corners of the modules. The whole thing then pins together for a total length of 7.2 meters and can be assembled in around ten minutes.
Each module fully sceniced weighs less then ten kilos. This is due to the high density foam used as road bed and scenic area. I wouldn't use this again for road bed as its not perfectly flat and is a bit on the noisy side.
The foam is actually two sheets laminated together giving an overall thickness of 50mm. Timber was then formed at each end for protection and to fit the track alignment pins. More on these next time.

Cheers.

Location and Time

2010-03-09T17:29:00.000+11:00

With the discussions on what we wanted to achieve well underway it was now time to set the basis of the layout. This means the when and where. The time was easy, mid 70's to early 80's. We conformed to diesel era for the simple reason of wheel exchange as steam wheels are still a problem in P87. Mike McCormac has done wheels for a 30t, he assures me it ain't easy and is commercially unviable, but it can be done if you are more than competent on a lathe. Anyway, we knew we could source stub axles from North West Shortline (NWSL) and we could do it quickly and effectively.

Train-O-Rama had just released the 47 class and I was keen on Branch lines so where do we go. My Grandparents lived their lives in Cowra and I had spent a lot of time walking the yards there, in particular the Eugowra branch. Then I discovered there was to be a line from Canowindra to Gregra, planned and funded but never built. This was perfect, it meant we could do what we liked (within reason) as long as we followed NSWGR practice. Google Earth was employed and we followed directions as to where the line would most likely go, there it was, Bowen Creek. Nothing more than a name but just what we wanted, so it was adopted.

Welcome

2010-03-03T11:20:00.000+11:00

Bowen creek is a concept layout built by Andrew Campbell and Ian Millard to discover the possibilities of Proto 87 modelling.

The layout started in January 2006, and slowly developed over the next three years. As with any new idea things took time. However with the layout nearing to Exhibition stage I now have more time to spend goofing off on things such as this Blog site. I don't promise regular updates but when the mood strikes me I will endeavour to go through the trials and tribulations that we went through building this layout. It certainly isn't for everyone but I hope you will enjoy it and maybe get something from it.

What is Proto 87 (P87)?

P87 is a set of track and wheel standards scaled down exactly from the prototype. It's funny that a lot of people don't consider the layout as an accurate model. I can spend hours looking at a great layout even if there are not any trains running. I like detailed track and surrounds as much as any detailed locomotive. A detailed hand built NSWGR point built to NSWGR standards is a work of art in my view and is something the ready to run manufacturers have yet to get close to being right.

Hence, Bowen Creek was born and some of these ideas were to be attempted.

Lightweight Frame complete with ease of assembly.
High density foam track bed and scenery base.
Hand laid track and full detailed points.
Seamless backdrop.
Lightweight Lighting.

So there's my opening post. I will start with track design and location in the next post.

Happy Modelling.