Almost ready to re-fit

The new layout extension is finished, and almost ready to re-fit to the leg panels. The top has been fully replaced with much lighter 3 mm MDF board decorated in vinyl steel checker-plate wrap, and reinforced with gold painted picture frame edging to stop it from warping. Getting it to sit flush atop the removable backdrop and front perspex panel however, required me to trim 5 mm from the height of the painted sky backdrop and clear acrylic perspex. Something which was much harder than it sounds. An afternoon of cutting, sanding, checking and sanding again, finally achieved the above neat fit.

After trying to remove the vintage aluminium station destination names from the now scrapped staging shelf, and discovering they either bent out of shape or gouged holes in the timber, I had to make a decision on what to do next. Going nil from four was hardly the vote of confidence I was looking for before trying to remove the 4 station names on my main layout ahead of re-painting the timber fascia. So I thought I would hold the freshly painted Indian Red extension roughly in place alongside the original layout to see how closely the paint matched. As you can see in the two shots below, I decided it just wasn't worth the risk of stripping back the layout to re-paint it.

A close-enough match. My original timber-stained layout on the left, and the freshly painted layout extension on the right.

The new section doesn't really have a front timber fascia, as the scenery will fall down to the waterline.

From the front of the layout, the new extension only has a short strip of timber along the front where the scenery will drop down from rail height to the waterline. The visible timber fascia is a whole lot less noticeable than the mismatch of colour I had on the old staging shelf, and I think that the Dulux Gloss Indian Red spray paint is a great match for the darker areas that timber stain seems to take to in different ways, depending on the grain of the timber.

And even though the rear is rarely going to be on display, it looks like a uniform match.

The three leg panels that are going to hold this layout up are now painted in the same Gloss Indian Red as the layout extension in the left of the above picture, and waiting downstairs in my garage to come back up into our apartment and be reassembled. All that remains is for the gold trim at the base of the layout to be removed on the side where the two sections will join flush and share the same leg panel. I can then get to work laying track and having this running in time for May's Brisbane Model Train Show.

A flashback to when I first drew up plans for an extension to replace the staging shelf. I re-used the leg panels, salvaged the signs and dumped the rest straight in the rubbish bin. The main layout scored a new top, but remains untouched.

Best of all, as I no longer have to strip, sand and spray paint the timber fascia and frame of my layout, I can now just concentrate on replacing the desk that stands beneath the layout. Starting tomorrow with a trip to IKEA to buy the first piece that will stand beneath the new extension and finally get all my train crap up off the floor that can be seen in the right of picture. I can then reassemble the layout above it, and look at replacing my current desk with something more practical.

Of course, the advantage to building a small layout, is that an even smaller extension is not going to take me that long to complete. For the few model train shows that I will take Philden to in 2018, I'll be reversing the backdrop and displaying my layout from the other side, with the new extension operating as hidden staging. Come 2019, and I'm sure that Philden and the Phills Harbour extension will be 100% complete, by which time I'll already be stuck into building that new desktop N scale layout I've been hinting at. But as usual, I'll let that be a story for another day.

See also; When paint doesn't match...

When paint doesn't match...

I hate trying to match paint colours. I don't think it is at all possible. Not if you want to get a 100% match anyway. I tried it a year ago when building my staging shelf for Philden, and the colour matching service offered by a leading hardware store was a poor match at best. Ignoring the fact that the rich railway red timber look I was going for didn't at all match my desk (above), the store matched Australian Jarrah all-in-one stain-and-varnish (below right) had left me pretty disappointed since day one. It looked nothing like the original, (below left). The end result looked more like watered-down paint than a timber stain-and-varnish.

The original and now no-longer produced Cabot's stain-and-varnish Gloss Australian Jarrah on the left, and the hardware store's poor attempt to match it on the right.

Believe it or not, the above example actually took 3 attempts to get it not even close. So 18 months after the above debacle, I sought out some advice on how to get the new section of layout to match with the original layout section I had stained-and-varnished back in 2015 before Cabot's decided to discontinue making a Gloss Australian Jarrah. The team member suggested using another brand who were now producing a Rich Jarrah, that strictly judging by the colour sample patches in store looked a very, very close match to my original layout section.

Taking the hardware team member's advice to use the Feast Watson's Gloss Rich Jarrah stain-and-varnish instead? Well, it's brown mate, and looks nothing like the display board sample.

I think you can tell by the above first coat that it looked nothing like it. It looked as brown as a dog poo on a hot day. Going back to the store with the above photo, I was explained that to undo the staining of the timber would require sanding the timber back to its bare state. But there was still no guarantee that anything was ever going to match the original and now discontinued Australian Jarrah stain. This was the fourth time I had tried and failed. It was time to think outside of the box. What if I just painted it instead?

The Dulux duramax spray paint range requires no priming on wood or metal (it does on plastic), and is touch dry and able to be re-coated in just 20 minutes. I used just 1 can of the Gloss Indian Red to apply 4 coats on my extension.

Ignoring the sales team leader, (or whatever they call themselves), whose answer after my purchasing a $40 can of stain-and-varnish had just failed, was to lightly sand the surface before applying a $63 can of enamel primer, followed by a $47 can of tinted gloss enamel, (we're up to $150 here, or half the price of a new model locomotive), I took a Dulux duramax spray effects brochure home to run by my wife while deciding just what to do over a cup of coffee. Amongst their colour choices was a Gloss Indian Red, in a spray can that required no priming on wood or metal, and could be re-coated after just 20 minutes drying time. Best of all, it cost just $12 per can.

Sure, masking the area to be spray painted took some time and care, but spray painting the new layout section was a good test run to see if any paint would bleed or make its way onto the area I didn't want painted if I were to re-spray my existing layout. It took me just one afternoon to mask the extension and apply 4 coats of paint. The finished result looks better than my original section of layout, and used less than 1 can. The photos below of the new extension are now ready to start building some new layout on.

Taking my wife's advice? Perfect. The Dulux duramax Gloss Indian Red spray paint turned up brilliant. The colour looks like it was the leftover paint from a NSWGR 421 Class restoration.

The 80 cm long extension will attach to the end of my current 188 cm long layout, giving me 2.68 metres of HO scale bookshelf layout spread over two distinct scenes with two tracks connecting via the 'mouse-hole'.

And to future-proof any further expansion plans, the corner will include a sneak-off track for the day when I finally extend this to become an L-shaped layout. For now, a perspex strip will sit in place on the corner.

The new lift-off lid design weighs much less and adds another strip of gold painted trim to the layout's appearance. I'm also replacing the lift-off lid on the current layout to match and spray-painting it in the same Gloss Indian Red with gold trim.

The 80 cm extension will effectively replace my current 70 cm staging shelf which is nothing but two tracks on a stub-ended painted black shelf. Ignoring the wrinkles in my track plan above, the current layout's two tracks will continue through the mouse-hole to a second railway station and platform, with two sidings. One siding will end hard in the front right corner, where I have already factored in a provision for one day extending this into a half-room sized L-shape layout. Careful use of this end of backdrop could make this look like the entrance to a port. While the foreground has a split-level to allow me to model a rock wall falling away into the water, with a short bridge, (something I regretted not having on my current layout) crossing the cut-out section.

And finally the name reveal... Phills (coughs) Harbour. Naming my fictional NSW extension loosely after one of my favourite holiday destinations is a big stretch of the imagination, but enables me to model some completely different scenery.

This layout was always intended to stand above my desk and provide some inspiration for my writing. After a five year break from finishing my last novel, writing is something I am again wanting to return to in 2019. Only now my desk has become impractical to share space with my writing and my HO scale modelling. The problems I've experienced with trying to match the original stain I used on Philden with the extension, have also seen me ditch any plans to build a matching desk complete with built-in N scale layout beneath it. Time-wise, the time is no longer there as I try to complete some more railway books in 2018 before that window also closes on me. Next month the desk goes up on Gumtree, and I'll replace it with a mix-and-match desk and storage/work area from IKEA. I need something that I can put a model I'm working on aside, and not get lost in the clutter as I start laying out my next projects.

Blog-wise, there are still a few more HO scale reviews for me to post in the coming weeks as I near completing my roster overhaul. I've found that some models have worked, and others haven't, solely because of the size restrictions I'm forced to work with on a small bookshelf layout. I don't know if everyone really appreciates my reviews or not. I guess I just do it to share my thoughts about what I like and what I don't, in much the same way as readers leave reviews on my books. Anyway, I'm nearly done for now. Auscision's NQTY's have been a very pleasant surprise, as have their 40' foot and 20' foot containers in general. I do need to add a couple of coil steel butter-boxes to complete my small steel train. But a little birdie tells me that SDS Models 81 Class isn't that far away either. If anyone can tell me whether 8125, 8144, 8155 or 8176 were repainted into Pacific National colours between 2002-2005, it would save me the anxiety of buying the wrong livery for my era. Otherwise, I'll play it safe with either 8101 or 8168 in Freight Rail blue with the PN patches to join NR29 on my roster.

Sure there will always be something on the horizon that may tempt me to add just that one more model to my collection in the future, but for now those few above items will have to do. One day I'm sure I'll have that L-shaped room layout complete with the city scene I was wanting to build on an upper level, but for now I'll be happy with what I've got. And just be thankful that I found a way around the problem of what to do when the paint doesn't match...

See also: Painted stained and varnished

2017: An on track ending

It's hard to believe that 2017 is drawing to a close. It only feels like yesterday that I was putting the finishing touches to my layout ahead of the start of another year. Fast forward 12 months, and the activity centred around my desk and the bookshelf layout that stands above it has now yielded 3 model train exhibitions and 6 published railway books. In terms of having something to show for my time... 2017 was a huge year for getting things back on track.

My desk is now in a new position, featuring my 6 new books for 2017, and awaiting the next chapter!

Of course, nothing ever happens smoothly for me. It never has and probably never will. Following the Gold Coast Miniature Train Show in late October, a crack developed in the ceiling above my desk at the worst possible time. Right when I was busy finalising the release of my latest book Last Train to Grafton, and preparing to see my set of 4 Train Tripping books published in printed form for the first time, all our furniture had to be double-stack at one end of our apartment so that the ceiling could be patched, sanded and painted. Philden went from having just been re-assembled following the Gold Coast Train Show, to dismantled and stacked atop of chairs that were stacked atop of tables. Half of our furniture was in our kitchen, while the other half was in our bedroom.

To say that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction is an understatement, when the day after getting back from the Gold Coast Model Train Show I also underwent root canal surgery to save a front tooth from an abscess in my jaw that had gone undetected for months. There is usually a 1% chance of these things becoming infected, which you guessed, it happened to me. After a week of treatment with some pretty heavy antibiotics that prevented me from doing anything for days, I was able to return to work running our business with my wife. A week later, my shoulder went. Scans showed some long-term calcification of the tendon in my shoulder, which in turn had caused a case of bursitis and fluid build-up around the shoulder joint. The fluid affected area then burst, causing a couple of days of severe pain until I was able to be booked in for the good-ol' cortisone injection. Doctors assure me that my shoulder should feel 100% by this Friday. Coupled with our tax bill which arrived in the middle of all of this, my wife Denise and I dubbed it Black October, and it has taken us until the end of November to get over it all.

I'm glad it is all over. I'm also very glad that 2017 is almost done with. Hiccups aside, launching Philden onto the exhibition circuit and releasing 6 books between June and November has been a huge undertaking. Planning for both of these projects began back in 2015, around the same time that I launched this blog. With our apartment, and life, seemingly back in order, I can now begin planning for 2018. There's a lot I want to launch into here but I will save that for another time. So in the spirit of on-wards and up-wards, here are some highlights from 2017...

Philden's 1st public outing at the 2017 Brisbane Model Train Show in May.

Last Train to Brisbane followed in June 2017.

The Pine Rivers Hobby & Model Train Show followed in August 2017 at Strathpine in Brisbane.

It was all smiles at the 2017 Gold Coast Model Train Show in October... but root canal surgery the next day!

Last Train to Grafton paid homage to The Glenapp Boys for its November 2017 release.

 

 

After first being released solely as eBooks back in 2014-15, all four of my Train Tripping Series were released in print for the first time in November 2017 to cap off a huge year. Train Tripping Coastal Queensland was the book which was nominated for the 2015 Global eBook Awards, only to miss out to the hugely successful Lonely Planet Guidebooks. Still, having this book in print with the official award nomination badge on the cover is a pretty good feeling. All of this costs money of course, and also consumes copious amounts of time, something which becomes harder and harder to come by when things go wrong. That aside, I plan to finish my series of railway books in 2018 with at least 3 more Last Train photographic bush poetry collections, and another 2 Train Tripping adventure books. I head off to Western Australia in just 3 weeks time in search of my next adventure, and in early 2018 I will also take a week off to explore the forgotten railway lines across central and western New South Wales, staying in a different town each night. After that, there won't be another railway book for quite some time, as for the next 2 years I'll be sitting down to have my 5th attempt at writing that elusive New York Times Bestselling novel.

2018 will also bring about some exciting changes on Philden. While I'm yet to lock-in which exhibitions I will take the layout to, I've already tired of the simple 2 track staging shelf. It is going to be replaced with a new, slightly longer staging yard. While I mess-about with plans to add a wheat silo opposite the cement plant, it seems more likely that I will punch a hole for a third track through the mouse-hole end of the layout, and turn the current dead-end siding into a run-around track connecting with the new staging yard. I'd like to be able to park 3 short trains hidden from view with the added option of being able to use one of the staging tracks as a run-around track. Finally, after 3 exhibitions, I also plan to add an auto-reversing switch for the Xplorer to run up-and-back unassisted on the mainline.

The amount of exciting new releases on the Australian model railway scene doesn't seem to be letting up either, and there are a number of upcoming models I am trying to formulate a way that they can make it onto Philden. I've been thinking that the postman will turn up 'any day now' with my pre-ordered Southern Rail Models XGAY hoppers since May. I bought the ATN Access L Class earlier this year simply to have something to pull them. Sometime in 2018 I'll also have the patched-out Southern Rail Models NTAF Freight Australia tank cars to look forward to, (for a new petrol siding project to be added beside my goods shed).

But it is the Auscision 48's, 442's and fishbelly underframe NCNX steel wagons that I seem to be stuck on. All would fit nicely in my 2002-2005 era. The 48 class in the Freightcorp livery with PN decals, the 442 in the unique CFCLA JL406 livery and the NCNX coil steel wagons in SRA red with the tarp supports. I've had the tarpaulin covers and spare packets of coil steel loads put aside for these since purchasing the NCTY steel wagons this time last year. The NCNX's I really need, but the 48 and 442?

I settled on the idea of selling my 82 Class in an attempt to afford both. I have fond memories of watching Freightcorp blue 48's shunt at Grafton whenever I'd stop at McDonald's on the way back from a holiday with my family, and the 442's were one of my favourite locomotives on the Main North Line when growing up back when the electrification ended at Gosford. I love that everything old is new again flavour, and an L class, 421, 48 and 442 (in the guise of a leased JL Class) would make for a motley collection of refurbished locomotives all as old as I am. By comparison, an 82 class on anything other than a coal train between 2002-2005 was a rarity. I've loved running this loco on Philden, and despite the difficulties I had removing the body shell from this model (see finding Gremlins post here) it has since run faultlessly at my last 2 exhibitions. In a year when I've managed to get everything back on track, it seems my On Track 82's time at Philden is coming to an end. I guess that is how you keep a small layout fresh, by keeping the rollingstock fluid.

Selling the 82 class at auction yielded a very pleasing result, and I should now be able to secure a blue 48 class as its replacement and a pack of NCNX's that I will keep 2 of and sell the other 2 still in the box to effectively halve the cost as I did with the NCTY wagons. I'll place my last minute pre-order straight after the Christmas holidays. As for the 442, I plan to let go of a few very rare NSWGR timetables that are surplus to my collection in the new year, including a 1956 and 1960 complete country train timetable. Those two alone should get me halfway there. Beyond that, there is very little that is planned for the era that I model that would actually be of interest to a small layout such as Philden. Aside from the long awaited re-run of the Eureka Models 620/720 railcars in City Rail grey ghost livery, but as that has been promised since 2008, and next year is 2018... I thinks its safe to say there is no need to panic with that one.

Failing that, it you're after some light-hearted railway reading, each of my Train Tripping paperbacks are between 72 and 90 pages long and priced at only $7.99 AUD. For those unfamiliar, they are a stop-by-stop guide to some great D-I-Y railway journeys in Australia. Profits from all sales go directly to the Philden Locomotive Fund, or PLF for short.

Now to get back to all my research. I have another book to write!