WEST ORTON

[Steve M]

They look alright Sandy. I used a small pillar drill and some very fine drills to create the holes in the matchsticks - takes out the shaky hands factor. I would say it’s unlikely that a handheld process would work. You can buy plastic posts with premade holes - I think it’s a Ratio or Wills product. I have used that in a few places on the layout.
For me, the trick is to use the right material to string the fence. I have a roll of very thin lacquered copper wire - works well as a single strand but can also be twisted into double or even triple thickness to create a better texture to the fencing.

[sandy]

Yes Steve I have done the twisting before for other things. I double over a length of wire and put one end in vice and the other end in my drill on slow speed and wind it up that way. Makes good twisted wire. I don't have a pillar drill so will make do with the plastic fence. But yours is much better looking.

[bulleidboy]

Was there a reason Steve for doubling up on the fence wiring? I would have assumed most post and wire fence would be single strand? I agree with Sandy, yours does look very good.

[Steve M]

Was there a reason Steve for doubling up on the fence wiring? I would have assumed most post and wire fence would be single strand? I agree with Sandy, yours does look very good.

I had in mind recreating the look of barbed wire but without the barbs.

[Hound Dog]

If I can throw my two cents in……. I have several acoustic guitars which I now very rarely play and I noticed some months back that one of the strings had snapped on a guitar in a storage case.
This is a coiled string around a fine twine and being the hoarder that I am, I kept it.

I have subsequently found that if you unwind the coil it retains a wavy shape and is a fair representation of barb wire without the barbs.

Additionally I have previously used the match stick approach and drilled holes etc, but out of laziness I have recently built a couple of fences where I have lassoed the end post and then wrapped the wire around each subsequent post in alternative directions….. yes this leaves wire visible, but it is pretty fine and a blob of brown fence post paint covers it up - simple, quick and equally as effective.

Hope this is of use - cheers Richard

[Steve M]

Track cleaning gets progressively more challenging as more scenic items are added and my my signals and lamps do not need a swipe from a passing track rubber in the hands of a hamfisted operator and getting the Hoover in there to clean dust is a no-no.
I do have a Sharge cleaner which is pretty good unless I’ve left the layout I run for a few weeks, which happens quite often. And that still doesn’t address the loose debris that tends to accumulate.

The Dapol motorised track cleaner gets variable reviews but, as I know from my dabble with N gauge, it does include a good vacuum function. So with this in mind I set out to get hold of one.......until I saw the price! Bearing in mind it’s a DCC layout, I would need to add a decoder pushing the overall price north of £100.

And then an email alert from Rails of Sheffield popped up with a secondhand cleaner and an extra 15% off on their eBay site. Snapped it up while I could.

Finally got round to checking it out today and found that it has been supplied with additional cleaning pads and has a decoder already fitted. Meaning I have got the whole lot for well under half price.

Three quick vacuuming circuits of the layout and I emptied a thimbleful of crap from the hopper. Quite happy with the result.

[brian1951]

And remember Steve, i have loads of spare parts left over from my repair days, most are unobtainable now.

[Steve M]

And remember Steve, i have loads of spare parts left over from my repair days, most are unobtainable now.

[brian1951]

When im back to getting around Steve, would you like the bulk of spare parts i have here for all the Dapol locos, wagons, etc all gauges F.O.C. as your the repair guy on here.

[Steve M]

When im back to getting around Steve, would you like the bulk of spare parts i have here for all the Dapol locos, wagons, etc all gauges F.O.C. as your the repair guy on here.

Won’t say no Brian. We can do a swap with the helix.