When thinking of a new layout i often sit and look through various sources of information for a long while before even beginning to produce a trackplan. This is one aspect of the hobby which really appeals to me, and one that can take up a lot of time.
In a way this has been going on for Port na Cailliche for around 7 years. That may seem like a long time, but i've been modelling the same line with layouts based on the stations at Invercloy and Dunbracken as well as this one when it's built. Consequently i had to do some research for the two previous layouts and there were plenty of ideas which couldn't be incoroporated into these for various reasons. These ideas which couldn't be used have been floating in my head, and remain in the scrapbook i draw all my ideas in - incidentally this is a VERY good idea, whenever i have a thought for a layout i jot it down no matter how small it is. You'll never remember everything and this is an easy way to look back through your ideas.
The main source of information for research is books, for this layout i've been using various sorts of books from landscape photography of the Highlands and Islands to a historic photo book of the Isle of Arran.
Books on Scottish railways have obviously been very useful, particularly those on the Campbletown & Macrihanish Railway, and the Lochaber Railway being the main narrow gauge systems in Scotland. However books on the West Highland line (and indeed riding on it) have been useful, as well as Highland Railway books, and even books on class 37s- often used in the Highlands!
Because this line is more similar to the Irish 3' gauge lines than the Welsh narrow gauge i've got several books on Irish lines, one particularly useful one is 'Irish Narrow Gauge in Colour' by Norman Johnson. Also books on specific subjects like the Clyde Puffer are particularly useful.
Mention of the Clyde Puffer brings me onto another source of information; Videos of the BBC tv series 'Para Handy', this is a comedy series based on the wiriting of Neil Munro about a rather mischevious puffer crew. These videos contain some brilliant detail shots of puffers, quays, bits of coastline and scenery. All very useful for a layout where 95% of the front of the layout is water!!
Photos and memories from family holidays are of course also incoroporated into the layout plan, both places or buildings that mean something to me, and places that simply struck me as a particularly nice scene to replicate. Of course seeing things first hand is the best way to look into an area for a layout, and part of the reason i've chosen Scotland is because of many fond memories of family holidays when i was younger.
Finally there are a few websites i'll mention which have been useful. I linked to some specific photos on various websites which will be incorportated into the layout in one of my first posts, but there are some websites which cover large areas that are a very useful resource.
Firstly geograph - this is a site which allows you to select a specific geographical area on a map of the UK and then view pictures which have been uploaded to the site of that area.
Another site in the same manner as this is flickr, though photos on here tend to be more artistic it is worth having a look at the map section and doing as you would with geograph, or searching for more specific subjects.
Ports and harbours of the UK has been a good source of information on all sorts of small jetties and fishing ports in the Highlands of Scotland. Again based around a map of the UK it makes it very easy to find pictures of the area you're looking for.
Finally, if there's still areas of the trackplan that i've not managed to fill after all that then i just try and make up plausible scenery and scenes from what i've seen in all the other material - after all it is a freelance layout!
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Further scale thoughts
I've pretty much made up my mind as to which scale to use. It's been decided by one fact - N gauge chassis when scaled up to 1:64 are nearly all too short to be of use. I don't feel i'm in a position at the moment to scratchbuild chassis so i'm going to stick to 009.
In addition to this i've already got 3 Backwoods Miniatures kits in 009 which will be a loss if i swithed to S. Another issue is that i've also already got several buildings from the old layout so these would be useless on a S scale layout (unless having some forced perspective), as would the etches for the trestle bridge that i've bought.
I do have an idea for another layout i'd like to do long in the future, i have a feeling i know what scale that one could be...
One aspect that appealed of S scale was the increased level of detail, but i'm going to work as hard as i can to try and fit as much fine detail onto PnC. I'm not intending this to be a 2/3 year project - it's a long term one, the layout i've always wanted to build so why rush? So i'll have plenty of time to fit the detail in.
So there you have it... 009 it is for now.
In addition to this i've already got 3 Backwoods Miniatures kits in 009 which will be a loss if i swithed to S. Another issue is that i've also already got several buildings from the old layout so these would be useless on a S scale layout (unless having some forced perspective), as would the etches for the trestle bridge that i've bought.
I do have an idea for another layout i'd like to do long in the future, i have a feeling i know what scale that one could be...
One aspect that appealed of S scale was the increased level of detail, but i'm going to work as hard as i can to try and fit as much fine detail onto PnC. I'm not intending this to be a 2/3 year project - it's a long term one, the layout i've always wanted to build so why rush? So i'll have plenty of time to fit the detail in.
So there you have it... 009 it is for now.
Monday, 1 September 2008
Contemplating a different scale...
As PnC is a way off being constructed at the moment this blog is mainly documenting my thoughts before building the layout during the planning stage, therefore all sorts of things are going round my head at the moment.
One thought which has recently appeared is that of scale. I've always been a 009 man because of space restrictions and the fact that my 009 was part of an already existing 00 layout to begin with. However i've always liked larger scales, and in particular 0-16.5 and the other 7mm scales. Now, PnC would be absolutely huge in 7mm scale, but there is a compromise.
I first saw S scale when watching the Paul Scoles scenery DVDs i mentioned in an earlier blog. S Scale is 1:64 which equates to 4.8 mm to the foot as opposed to the 4mm to the foot 0f 009. Whilst this is not a substantial difference it does seem to improve things visually. 009 stock can often seem small to me (admittedly my stock is generally larger tank engines so this might not apply), and Sn3 stock seems rather nice and chunky looking.
A good compromise would be to use S scale for the layout, and to have 9mm gauge track which would represent a shade under 1' 11" gauge track - almost spot on for most UK based narrow gauge systems. This would still allow me to use 9mm gauge chassis for the locos (albeit adapted with new cylinders etc) to make my life easier. I was planning on scratchbuilding a lot of the layout to make sure that it was easilt recogniseable as a Parkside Dundas suchandsuch so the lack of any kits doesn't particularly bother me.
It's certainly something to consider, the major downside i can see is that the overall size difference between 4mm and S is around 19%, this will have quite an impact on the size of the trackplan i've developed for PnC. If i want to keep this then it will have to grow somewhat - potentially a problem if we move in the future.
S scale does look attractive, and will certainly be considered for future layouts, but i can see it's limitations for this layout. Having said that it would be different, and would certainly prove a challenge!! There seem to be absolutely no S scale narrow gauge layouts set in the UK, so this could be an interesting niche to explore at some point.
I'm planning on knocking up an S scale diorama to test out the theory some time to see how it compares to 009. I expect 009 will remain the scale of choice for PnC because of the size of the layout, and the proportion of the baseboards i can leave purely to scenery without any track, not to mention the availability of lineside details. These would reduce with S scale (something i want to avoid). A nice thought, but perhaps something for the future.
One thought which has recently appeared is that of scale. I've always been a 009 man because of space restrictions and the fact that my 009 was part of an already existing 00 layout to begin with. However i've always liked larger scales, and in particular 0-16.5 and the other 7mm scales. Now, PnC would be absolutely huge in 7mm scale, but there is a compromise.
I first saw S scale when watching the Paul Scoles scenery DVDs i mentioned in an earlier blog. S Scale is 1:64 which equates to 4.8 mm to the foot as opposed to the 4mm to the foot 0f 009. Whilst this is not a substantial difference it does seem to improve things visually. 009 stock can often seem small to me (admittedly my stock is generally larger tank engines so this might not apply), and Sn3 stock seems rather nice and chunky looking.
A good compromise would be to use S scale for the layout, and to have 9mm gauge track which would represent a shade under 1' 11" gauge track - almost spot on for most UK based narrow gauge systems. This would still allow me to use 9mm gauge chassis for the locos (albeit adapted with new cylinders etc) to make my life easier. I was planning on scratchbuilding a lot of the layout to make sure that it was easilt recogniseable as a Parkside Dundas suchandsuch so the lack of any kits doesn't particularly bother me.
It's certainly something to consider, the major downside i can see is that the overall size difference between 4mm and S is around 19%, this will have quite an impact on the size of the trackplan i've developed for PnC. If i want to keep this then it will have to grow somewhat - potentially a problem if we move in the future.
S scale does look attractive, and will certainly be considered for future layouts, but i can see it's limitations for this layout. Having said that it would be different, and would certainly prove a challenge!! There seem to be absolutely no S scale narrow gauge layouts set in the UK, so this could be an interesting niche to explore at some point.
I'm planning on knocking up an S scale diorama to test out the theory some time to see how it compares to 009. I expect 009 will remain the scale of choice for PnC because of the size of the layout, and the proportion of the baseboards i can leave purely to scenery without any track, not to mention the availability of lineside details. These would reduce with S scale (something i want to avoid). A nice thought, but perhaps something for the future.
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