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House of Blues

Tony Simms

Entry posted by Tony Simms

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There really is only so much ballasting one can take! It's still not finished, but I persevere.

 

Meantime, I thought I'd take a break and make a start on the station buildings. These have been started several times before, always with unsatisfactory results which end up being scrapped. The main problem is that the window surrounds are recessed slightly and there are stone corners to contend with too:

 

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I'd tried plasticard with varying backing pieces and inlaid stonework. This was way too clunky. I reverted to brick papers, initially on a card carcass, first with Builder Plus paper and then with FMA paper. Whilst the paper was okay, the card was losing structural stability in the very thin areas.

 

Having welded brick paper to plasticard for the coal drops, I thought something similar might work for the building; two layers of plasticard, each with paper welded onto them. At first I cut the paper intending to let plain paper in to represent the stonework; again too clunky. I also made the mistake of folding the paper back round the window apertures; whilst colouring the edge, it was much too rounded in appearance.

 

Now that the various theories were ironed out (I hoped!), I made a start on the final attempt. Outer layer is 10 thou plasticard with the paper welded on using Liquid Poly. When dry, the window openings were cut into the paper using the plastic as a guide:

 

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The inner layer is 30 thou treated in the same way. The two layers are then joined and hopefully all the various apertures line up:

 

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The walls were all made in a similar way and then joined to each other. The outer layer was slightly larger than the inner such that there was a overlap on each joint. The paper was left oversize and trimmed once the join had set:

 

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The final two walls were inserted at the BRM show at Doncaster last Sunday, whilst manning the Association stand. At the show Edward Sissling pointed out some Noch textured tilework. Initially sceptically, especially at over £11 per sheet (!) close examination showed it to be a self adhesive sheet, cast in a grey rubber, such that any cuts in it revealed no other colour. I decided to chance it:

 

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Back home, I applied the tiles to the roof carcass and they are very convincing; to scratchbuild this quality is probably 5 or more hours just on tiling! The window apertures were coloured with a thinned enamel and stonework on the corners was represented in a similar way; built up with several very thin coats:

 

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So far, so good. There is still much to do; ridge tiles, finish the chimney, windows and doors, curtains, weathering. But I'm happy with progress to date. Then I can commence on the rest of the range and start to bring the platform area together.

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-missy-

It looks like you have cracked it this time Tony. It does look good so far especially the recesses for the windows. Everything looks nice and square which for a building like this is so important.

 

Those tiles look interesting too, I will have to take a close look at them when I get the chance.

 

Missy :)

 

P.S. There is nothing wrong with ballasting, I have had plenty of practice and still havent got bored yet!

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2mm Andy

Hi Tony,

 

Nice to see you on Sunday.

 

I'm interested in those tiles - I saw them on the Gaugemaster stand at Donny and then recoiled when I saw the price. I will watch and see how well you get on with them. I note that they do sheets of pantiles as well - useful for other areas of the country.

 

I have used the Scalescenes brickwork paper before, printed onto an A4 sticky label (like those used on big parcels) to make ready-made self-adhesive sheets. The only problem is that you only get one chance to lay the sheet in position. I don't know how permanent the bond is though. I guess I could wash the sheets with solvent as you have to strengthen things.

 

Andy

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Tony Simms

I'm interested in those tiles - I saw them on the Gaugemaster stand at Donny and then recoiled when I saw the price. I will watch and see how well you get on with them. I note that they do sheets of pantiles as well - useful for other areas of the country.

 

Andy, the pantiles are beautifully done, moreso than the slates. I'm sure you saw the brick and stone versions too; these seemed quite poorly executed to me. The rubber medium makes them very easy to work and being self-adhesive is also nice; I hope that the glue is fairly permanent!

 

 

It looks like you have cracked it this time Tony. It does look good so far especially the recesses for the windows. Everything looks nice and square which for a building like this is so important.

 

P.S. There is nothing wrong with ballasting, I have had plenty of practice and still havent got bored yet!

 

Thanks for the kind comment Julia. It does feel like I'm starting to get somewhere.

 

PS If you want to come round and finish my ballasting off, please feel free! biggrin.gif

 

 

 

 

 

 

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bcnPete
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Lookin' good Tony...it's always nice to find a project to divert oneself from ballasting ;)

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SteveBedding

..It does feel like I'm starting to get somewhere.

 

I'd agree with this - I'd say you've cracked it, the practice versions have certainly paid off!

 

I'm in a quandary over whether to use brick paper or look for an alternative textured/embossed covering, and having looked at what your achieving, this is not helping my thought process at all :( - it would be so much easier if you'd made a pigs ear of it. Damn!:P

 

 

Super work - keep it up and please keep the pictures coming.

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2mm Andy

 

Andy, the pantiles are beautifully done, moreso than the slates. I'm sure you saw the brick and stone versions too; these seemed quite poorly executed to me. The rubber medium makes them very easy to work and being self-adhesive is also nice; I hope that the glue is fairly permanent!

 

 

I probably did see the brick/stone sheets - I can't honestly remember now. I did think that the pantiles were very nice, and I do have a very long-term project which might have a need for some of these, but having pretty much spent-up by that point I decided not to buy any.

 

Andy

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Tony Simms

Out of interest, how big are those sheets of rubber tiles?

 

Bryn

 

About 5" deep by 12" wide; should cover most jobs in 2mm!

 

I reckon I should only need one sheet for all of my station buildings which spreads the cost to a reasonable level.

 

 

 

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