Culcairn Pub
Progress begins on the Culcairn Pub
Thin walls (easier to cut doors and windows out) are being braced for support, details from Titchy Train Group are being used (doors, windows) along with Evergreen plastic styrene are being added.
Corner House
The ‘Corner House’ next to the pub, on railway parade.
Made from plastic styrene sheet
Brick sheet purchased through Woodpecker Model Railways
3D Silo
Drawn using TinkerCad
After some searching around and looking at my options re shapeways and other Aussie options based in Melbourne.
I was lucky enough to speak to a mate in town who had a 3D printer and use it.
Saving hundreds of dollars and the uncertainty that it would print correctly.
We did have a small issue with the top section of the larger piece (The silo is printed in two sections) but with Tim’s experience it wasn’t an issue and he just printed a new top. (See below)
Now to mount it onto some timber and work out how to fit it into the layout. Not sure I want it permanently fixed or not.
Details and painting coming soon!
Testing Resin - Creek
I want to have a car in the Culcairn creek, yep I know, dramatic, but it creates interest so stay with me on this!
However there is some testing required before I pour my creek into the actual layout
I need to test how paints, vehicles and other objects cope with the resin temperature while it hardens and if the chemicals do anything to those items,
First thing to test is an N Scale Oxford Mini vehicle, maybe the final vehicle of choice but I worked out today Wiking vehicles have a better and realistic underneath so there is a chance I’ll need to test again, as I can’t guarantee it’s the same materials, paints etc
Watch this space
Track
I'm using Kato Uni Trak, available from Aust-N-Rail or Branchline (Melbourne) both sell it online via there websites.
T Trak uses Kato Uni Trak which comes in all different shapes and sizes.
I like using this T Trak website to help work out module sizes and track requirements
Finding N Scale Vehicles
Where I get some of my vehicles from?
My favourite places are…
Wiking in Germany
Oxford Diecast Miniatures in the UK
Tomytec - Japanese Company
Culcairn Railway Station
Making the Culcairn Railway Station from styrene sheets.
Chimneys were modified from a ‘Ratio N Scale Chimney Kit RT307
Doors were Titchy Train Group single doors glued together (slight sanding)
Fantastic cheap trees
I found these cheap JTT trees to be fantastic as a simple tree, however my local hobby store believes you can’t get anymore from the importer.
So it could be a ebay search to find these wire foliage branches.
I found them in light green and medium green.
Phillip Island Train Show 2018
Some pictures from my first exhibition, showing the public, the layout in its ‘in progress’ form.
Unfortunately the layout got damaged on the way down from Wodonga, but thanks to the help of Martin it ran smoothly the whole weekend.
Roads
Using Woodland Scenics products to work out N Scale road widths, I started to draw the roads, roundabout and slabs (for toilet block, station parking etc)
Next using the Woodland Scenics road tape and ‘smooth it’ I make the roads.
Two parts smooth it to one part water. More smooth it if making rises or level crossings.
I have found it to be alright to use, but I got lots of air bubble resulting in little holes everywhere in my road, not 100% smooth even with sanding.
I have been using 1mm balsa wood on extra sections I have missed with wood filler to fill joins and that seems to work very well.
Probably won't recommend this next time, but worth trying.
Cutting 1mm or finer balsa wood would be perfect for roads without the mess and easy to fix being timber.
Australian Static Grass
This has got to be the best Australian static grass I have found for my N Scale layout
https://www.groundupscenery.com.au
Road marking pen
Officeworks has the perfect paint pen for road marking. A Uni Posca .7mm white paint pen.
Track Diagram - Electronics
Using Adobe Illustrator I drew up a track diagram including key features and sizes.
I will soon add an extra layer to this drawing to include the wiring configuration and turnout numbers (electric points)
This will be used to create a control panel in the future.
I have tried to keep to the Australian T Trak standard when it came to laying out the Kato Unitrack. This allows other modules in the future to connect to Culcairn.
Note Culcairn obviously doesn't have a balloon loop at one end and a fiddle yard at the other. These were added to make the layout ready for exhibitions.
Road and Dirt - Paint
I’ve used two paints (acrylics) from Bunnings to use on my N Scale layout.
Ground Base: Vogel
Country NSW Roads: Grey Moggy
iPhone picture.
Blue modelling foam
Well I want blue modelling foam... but instead I got green!
A place in Melbourne has heaps of it, however they aren't very friendly, there is also a $50 minimum order (which sucks) same day pick up was the bonus for me, but they came in 2.5m long lengths. I only needed one sheet and walked out with 4.
Details of the place can be seen in the below photo.
Kato Track Screws
Finding the correct screws to go into the Kato N Scale track was tricky, local hobby shops don't stock them and Bunnings just laughed at me.
Micro Fasteners in Melbourne have these tiny screws which work perfectly!
See the photo below.
Project Culcairn
I have been wanting to use the T-Trak system to make a layout for a while now. Its very simple when it comes to joining modules and wiring, so it was an easy choice.
I wanted to base the layout on something that was current, not back in the 1950's, just because I wanted to be able to run NR's and the XPT plus other modern Australian locomotives and rolling stock.
Culcairn is not far up the road from me, being based in North East, Victoria. Most Victorian stations don't have a yard left. The main ones like Benalla and Wangaratta have been done in HO scale. Albury is too big and Seymour very complicated.
Culcairn was a good fit, station, silos, some yard and the town centre is very close to the tracks. Making for good modelling potential.
The picture shows three modules, the 4th will have a level crossing and bridge (Albury end/closest to camera).