scoopey Posted December 15, 2020 Author Share Posted December 15, 2020 Interesting ideas. I decided to go with Metcalfe due to their die stamping - makes the window edges cleaner. Also having done card craft before there is often a compromise. Ink jet print outs are preferred as they soak into the top layer but then the inks tend to fade worse than a laser jet. Still an interesting place to visit. I also noted if you use the glazing packs the kits get expensive. I had looked at the super quick low relief range but they have no glazing in either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthemodeller Posted December 16, 2020 Share Posted December 16, 2020 Just had a pleasant half an hour working through this thread whilst listening in to a particularly boring management meeting on Skype. The concept is brilliant and I can't wait to see how it turns out. I live in Costa del Blackpool so if I can help with any reference pictures during the 'lock down' please give me a shout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted December 16, 2020 Author Share Posted December 16, 2020 Thanks, Its more of a "captured feeling" than exact replica. That much is obvious as I'm not making exact reproductions of buildings. Today I had another idea to throw into the mi - sound. At some point I intend to have some "illuminations" although not sure how the hell I'm gonna do it. A lot seem to have sequenced or chasing which are out. Not that I could not do it but the extra wires running down the lamp posts would be a mess. I though a bit about lighting in the low relief buildings to go along with the street lights and illuminations. Already figured out how to make custom lit shop signage. Anyway I digressed - one of the shop will be an amusement arcade and whilst they are usually dark from the outside I thought some random flashing lights would do nicely. There is already an Arc welder lighting FX on eBay. This is when I thought wouldn't it be good to have arcade sounds emanating from the building. This is what I remembered as a child walking along the prom. How to reproduce it though seemed tricky but then I figured by RC tanks have sound units in them that use a micro-usb memory card - okay they are more tricky since they play specific files but surely there has to be a simpler unit that will play a sound file. Sure enough those wiley Chinese are selling all sorts of stuff on eBay that will play an MP3 sound file...so looks like I will have my Arcade sounds...and perhaps a bingo caller!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 Time to start painting the concrete around the tramlines...oh boy that means masking them first! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 And now I decided to add the primer. Years ago I used Airfix/Humbrol enamels but then switched to Acrylic by the same company and then switched to Vallejo. However I have noted that Acrylics tend to "rub off" so I needed something tougher for the tramway so switched back to Humbrol Enamel. The primer looks a bit rough for a first coat but I think a lot of primes tend to do this anyway... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 Well its been a while since I've posted but I have been busy with the infill concreting! Some of the plasticard I had to rip out between the rails as the UHU glue warped it and caused it to balloon upwards which was a bit odd. This is the result of 3 x layers of prime coat, 2 layers of top coat enamel paint. It looked a bit uniform so I used a wash of Vallejo Iraqui sand acrylic but then that made areas a bit too yellow, so I added an umber wash and then two pale grey washes from the Vallejo game color range. These latter three washes I stippled on. Lastly I added two layers of matt varnish. Despite the masking the paint leaked underneath and its taken 3 nights to clean the track up to working status again. Overall I am happy with the colour result 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 My first building is nearly done - got to eventually add lights and an internal back scene as well as a custom sign. Since the layout is narrow I had to go low relief. Santa brought be some Metcalfe models. Annoyingly almost all of them will need modifying on some way. This building will be my fish and chip restaurant. Its modded from 2 x Bank and Shop. The shops are being used elsewhere. Whilst most of the Metcalfe buildings have provision to be modified easily the bank was not designed that way which was annoying for my first building. Due to a triple set of tracks I had to make it thinner and remove 1cm from its width. The centre and left building are almost kit standard with little alteration other than making them thinner. The right section involved flipping the door position from left to right and then rebuilding the top coping stones as they are mirror image. The roof also needed modding quite a bit. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 This is a quick test view I took at near scale human eye level. I'm pleased with the overall look as it simply "feels" right for a look on the prom at Blackpool. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 Not posted in a long time since I've been building buildings since Christmas! Here we see the main units complete...the need custom signs and other details but they will be added later. The paving has already been started. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 Paving complete now... I like the Metcalfe individual paving slabs so I used them throughout disposing with the paving runs that came with the kits.... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 Thought I'd do a couple of eye level shots to see how the tramway looks... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted July 26, 2021 Author Share Posted July 26, 2021 Been a while since I've done an update - been busy with a computer project and a few health issues. Anyhow I've now finally added and wired my street lamps and added the road markings. The long tangs sticking up are to be used when I add my "illuminations". When I know the exact height the tangs will be trimmed and folded over to cross over to the opposite side of the road. Since one wire is positive and the other negative they'll need an insulator before the attack to the opposite posts! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted September 4, 2021 Author Share Posted September 4, 2021 Well as with most model railways, you can do the bulk of the work quickly but its the small things that kill time. Before finalising the building lighting I needed to figure out my backscenes because once wiring is added it was going to be a pain to keep moving buildings. I had considered taking a version of street view and using pictures from that. Problem with that is the camera was usually mounted on top of a vehicle and the horizon ends up high. Also trying to patch a photo to fit a specific layout was tricky. Well I tried another approach. My main hobby is 3d art so I decided to create street scenes that can fit the an exact layout. Now herein lay another problem - making the low relief buildings extend into the backscene. Tried to fake it with a substitute "stunt" stand in 3d model. Did not work. I therefore built virtual models of the metcalf buildings and used photos of my buildings to make the textures 1 week and 20 trials I have nearly done the first section. Though any backscene can look right from one angle and wrong from others I am happy with the result of this. The hotel on the left for instance does almost look perfectly aligned It still needs a tweak on the shop side and I used photoshop to fake the double yellow lines on the backscene to match the exact spacing of the actual model! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted April 12, 2022 Author Share Posted April 12, 2022 The BOS is back...after my winter hiatus where I do other things (since I prefer working in daylight), I finally finished the backscene - actually most of it was finished last year apart from one. If you look closely between the "towers" on the two trams you can see Blackpool Tower in the distance (I photoshopped it onto the backscene!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted April 12, 2022 Author Share Posted April 12, 2022 And now for some custom illuminated shop signs. This is my homage to "Tron" lol. After taking this picture I was impressed at how the sign lines up with the backscene - I created the "virtual" shop sign well before I actually made it. I already had the graphics and photoshopped it onto the backscene which featured a virtual copy of the shop used as the arcade. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted April 12, 2022 Author Share Posted April 12, 2022 Testing out the sign lights on the Sandpiper hotel. Out of all the building signage this was the most extensive with 5 lit signs. On the tramway there are only 14 altogether so this building alone has over 1/3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted April 13, 2022 Author Share Posted April 13, 2022 This is how I made my shop signs - vinyl laser sticker paper. Most of the signs are fixed to plasticard light boxes to illuminate from behind. The Manchester hotel is lit from the front. The pub will receive similar treatment as soon as the lights arrive from China (they are external swan neck LED lights and I could not make them for half the price!). Sticker sheet! You've already seen this lit! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted May 19, 2022 Author Share Posted May 19, 2022 Another update - inevitably the further along you go with a model railway/tramway the less noticeable the changes. I've now wired all the internal lights in the buildings and the signs. Still need interior detailing but I could not help but test out the night scene! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted June 19, 2023 Author Share Posted June 19, 2023 Well its been a while since I last posted. However when there is only the smaller details to go there is not a lot to post. However I decided to totally upgrade and overhaul my Traversers which entailed ripping out the old ones.... Bye Bye old traverser - and thats not all as the sensor mount is going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted June 19, 2023 Author Share Posted June 19, 2023 New traversers are being based on linear bearing rails - I've used two short ones to create a parallel spacing New traverser platforms ready - I retained the original screw drive mount... Spacers made for linear bearing positions And two aluminium profiles to keep them in line - (spacers not yet fixed hence they look a bit drunk!) Two of the bearings in place Spacers in place for second set of bearings Platform complete - Note you will never mount these perfectly parallel so one side has the bearings able to float and move from side to side. This can only be done when gluing the second set of aluminium profiles and running the platform up and down the rails Plastic angle pieces hold the bearings to the the platform 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted June 19, 2023 Author Share Posted June 19, 2023 Completed traverser fitted The new "detection" sensors are added-I modified Arduino reflection sensors. Thought they are not connected to arduino;s they make make handy modules. Unfortunately the reflection did not work quite well so I separetad the IR LED and put in on the opposite side of the "track" and turned them into break beam detectors which work very well. Circuits are held in 3D printed uprights... You have not got a 3d printer.....well neither have I. I designed them in the free online Tinkercad and uploaded the file to Lancashire3D The old position detectors have been mounted in a 3d printed tray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted June 19, 2023 Author Share Posted June 19, 2023 And now to the underside...the original microswitch and Cam system has been replaced with a relay board and arduino IR reflector modules. It was a tight squeeze but with the other bank of microswitches gone I was able to use a cable drag conduit to supply power to the detection circuits and power feed to the tracks. This avoids the need for the umbilical. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted June 19, 2023 Author Share Posted June 19, 2023 Now just test fitting with my custom designed and 3d printed trolley pole reverser! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopey Posted June 19, 2023 Author Share Posted June 19, 2023 Finally I redid my display unit which shows the traverser position compared to the track layout and the occupied status. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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