James Harrison Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 The rules look quite simple; - 8" x 8" x 6" -At least two railway elements. Correspondingly my idea is quite simple; a siding and loading bay. It will feature: - The end of a railway siding set in brick setts/ cobbles; - Either a small loading platform with a crane, or a low ramp for loading/ off loading traction engines on low wagons- both, if I can fit them; - A railway owned road vehicle of some description. As I'm intending this to be a simple/ quick/ cheap project (delete as applicable) and as I'm viewing this as a sort of practice project before I get stuck in with my full layout, and (if that weren't enough) I would rather like to re-use parts of the diorama or even eventually build it into the full layout, I'm giving it the same parameters as my other modelling, that is; 1) Great Central Railway circa 1920; 2) 4mm scale, OO gauge. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted October 9, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 9, 2017 Sounds like a nice little scene - I like the traction engines idea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 The first little bits start to come together, of sorts. A quick look through some of my GCR books has drawn a blank for loading docks (on the London Extension at least)- but that is not to say they don't feature on other parts of the GC system. More research required. I mentioned a small crane and there are two possibilities that come to mind. One is the Peco yard crane kit- but this has a jib of nearly 6" and could, I feel, easily overpower the scene. So I have plumped for the other possibility- the Ratio yard crane- and ordered one. Readers of my "Rufford Red Lion Square" thread will notice that I have this evening started work on a WD Models 1914 3.5-ton lorry. It is my intention to hackbash it into a typical GCR pick-up flatbed truck, of the sort to be found in George Dow's "Great Central Album". I also mentioned a traction engine; I have one of the old Matchbox ones sitting around idle and this challenge provides the perfect excuse opportunity to get on and repaint/ titivate it. For the specifically railway element, my plan is to use some Code 100 set track I have lying around. The fact that it will either be in brick setts or buried up to the rail heads in general grot and grime means that the rail profile and the matchstick sleepers at matchstick centres will be completely hidden. I will be either sourcing a rail-built bufferstop kit, or else the loading bank will come around the end of the siding and a sleeper stop end fitted. The wagon I have in mind to sit on this diorama is my Mac B implement wagon, which I converted earlier this year from a Dapol Lowmac kit. Hence the idea of sitting a traction engine on it, or alongside it. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted October 10, 2017 Author Share Posted October 10, 2017 Starting to plan it all out. For some reason I took it as read that the track would be on angle to the baseboard edges. 8" sounds small but it's surprising just how much can be fitted in the space- not only could Ifit in the end dock, but there was room for another siding in front of it again coming off at an angle. I laid it out around a slip offstage. I don't think there will be room for a ramp, but easily space between the tracks for a small platform and loading crane, and even for the lorry I'm building. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted October 13, 2017 Author Share Posted October 13, 2017 I ordered the Ratio yard crane kit, and that arrived on Wednesday. Looking at the track I have to hand; - I have quite a lot of Code 100 set track, not planning to use it on a layout but it's quite useful to have around for stock testing purposes. - I have a length of Peco Bullhead, which I bought to inspect last year and have now decided that is what I am going to standardise on for my eventual layout (Peco having now to all intents and purpsoes won the race to produce RTR bullhead pointwork). -I have a length of DCC Concepts Bullhead, ditto as per the Peco type except I'm not planning to buy any more of it. Rather than waste what is still a rather nice piece of trackwork, I'm now thinking of using the DCCC bullhead track on this diorama. Now for a base to build it on; I do have, somewhere, some planks of balsawood. Does the 6" height limit include the base the scene is set upon? I think I'll take it as read that it does. So realistically I'm looking at losing 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch just on the base. Then add the platform, then add the crane... I might be a little over 6" there.... that's assuming a double layer of balse planks for a base. If however I go for a sandwich baseboard, say a sheet of card, one layer of balsa planking and another sheet of card, I might get away with it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 The GCR-owned delivery lorry slowly begins to take shape. (There might be a degree of repetition between here and my main Rufford thread whilst the smaller bits are built up- eg this lorry and the traction engine, once the bits I intend to re-use on the big layout are done however there'll be something of a parting of the ways). 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted October 22, 2017 Author Share Posted October 22, 2017 (edited) The 3.5-ton GCR delivery lorry (ex-War Department), finished. Well, that's the first little bit done. The traction engine will follow I think. Edited October 22, 2017 by James Harrison 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 Work has finally started in a meaningful way! One plank of balsa wood, 3" x 36", cut 3 8" lengths off and a 1" slice off of one of those. Glue together, corrugated card above and below (the corrugations running perpendicular to the woodgrain), smooth down the edges and seal in with more glue. My original plan such as it was, was then glued on top of that and the remainder of the balsa wood plank was then used to form the basis of the platform and loading dock. I then tried to cut up my length of DCCC bullhead.... man that stuff is hard to cut with snips. Shall be having another shot at it next time with dremel cutting discs. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 I have some track down!- this is about as far as any of my model railways have ever gotten. This is DCC Concepts bullhead track, which proved most difficult to cut with my usual set of tools, so I had to go out and buy a 'proper' track cutter. Which did the job perfectly. Now then; fix some more sleepers, then I've got a bag of loose ballast.... somewhere.... which I can use, and in the meantime I need to check the levels as I suspect the platform is a little low. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted March 12, 2018 Author Share Posted March 12, 2018 Well, for my next big project I'll be making a concerted effort to get my cakebox challenge entry sorted out. As it's such a simple scene I've decided that I'm going to go for getting it right.... no generic details for me. I'm intending it to be a testbed of sorts for when I can make a decent start on Red Lion Square. Happily there's a website full of drawings of GCR lineside ephemera, which should be very useful. http://www.swithland-signal-works.co.uk/plans/plans.htm 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Well, tonight I made a concerted start on my carriage loading dock diorama. The website I linked to above (I'm not going to put up the images direct because I'm not sure if that contravenes copyright) has provided me with some large scale legible construction details for the loading dock arrangement, fences, platform copings and I've spent the evening building a platform edge to them. I'm treating my cakebox challenge entry as a proving piece before setting out to build a complete layout; I want to get absolutely as closely as I can to GCR practice. I've acquired several sheets of 1mm balsa, which is fine for the basic platform edge but when it comes to the coping detailing it's a little difficult! The bottom layer is stepped 1mm out, then 2mm out, then 4mm out and then the coping stone on top. Doing an approx. 200mm length is fine but I think when it comes to full-length platforms for Red Lion Square I'm going to use plastic strip. I'm now considering how to do the brickwork; whether to use brickpapers, individual paper bricks, plastic brickwork or.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 A quick bit of maths suggested I would need around 1000 bricks to build the platform. Then another xxx number of bricks for the carriage loading dock. I thought I would at least give my idea of individual paper bricks a go; having cut 80 of them though I was compelled to stop in the interests of my sanity and health (it was sending me cross-eyed). Suddenly £4 + postage per sheet of embossed plastic sheet sounds a real bargain. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
outcastjack Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 I like scribing brickwork and then painting. A quick wash in your mortar colour and then dry brush in a basic brick colour before picking out about 1/5th of the bricks in slightly different shades. It is labour intensive but gives excellent results (embossed sheets done with the same technique work just as well. Being lazy I mostly use printed downloadable brick paper now though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 Now that I have decided to give embossed plastic a try, I'm thinking of doing something along those lines for finishing. There was something I read in a Railway Modelle partwork years ago about putting on the mortar colour and then rubbing it off with emery cloth before working over the sheet with pencil colour. I'm eager to give that a go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
outcastjack Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 That would give a good engineering brick colour, I would be intrigued to see it tried Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 I've got the railway station building from the "Your Model Railway Village" partwork a few years ago which I'm planning to turn into goods offices for my (still in abeyance) big layout. As I'm now waiting on embossed plastic sheet to be delivered I think I might have a go at that method with it and report back. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 Humbrol #96 RAF blue applied directly over Humbrol #83 (which I'm using as a mortar colour). Hmm, it doesn't look quite right, almost too glossy. Same colours on another wall, except this time I sanded the #83 off of the bricks before applying the #96. It proves that with a little care it is possible to paint the brickwork without flooding the mortar out. There are a few places where that hasn't been achieved, mostly where the newly-refilled brush was first applied to the model, but to be honest it's not like those areas really stand out. And then carrying on with Humbrol #RC402 Crimson Lake (?) Well, plainly there's much to be done yet with my goods offices but as an experiment to see whether I can achieve a more realistic brickwork... the next question of course is, the embossed brickwork sheet is going to be white. So should I put down a sacrificial red coat before the mortar coats when using brick sheet? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 The embossed sheet arrived earlier this week and having to paint it took a little while to achieve. Particularly when you make a boneheaded error such as I did, painting it for red brick before discovering it should in fact be blue brick. Anyway; I put that right without too much of a struggle so the way was clear to spend this long weekend actually building something. I decided to extend the platform around the loading dock to the first order of business was to cut some more balsa sheet to size to achieve this, then I was able to fit the last few missing sleepers to both lines and after that I turned my attention to the loading dock walls. At present these are still separate pieces of thin balsa sheet; it strikes me as easier to measure, cut and fit the embossed plastic to them 'in the flat' as it were rather than trying to weave them in and place them on erected walls. Wouldn't you know it but I hadn't painted enough embossed sheet to do all four walls in one go, so for the moment I have built and fitted only the one platform wall; the others to follow once I have painted more sheet.... I do have to say though I think it creates a wonderfully realistic effect. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ShildonShunter Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Looks really good looking forward to seeing more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 Thanks! Well, I've finished the brickwork, except for the corbelling. I'm wondering with the brickwork sheet how to easily/ reliably form the corners. With the inside corners I can just butt the sheets up to each other, and taking a little care to ensure the cuts are straight and the courses match up should suffice in most cases. On outside corners though I think a bit more thought is required. You'll also see that I've added a bit of a fascia around the outside. A few reasons for this. One; I'll be forming the top surface of the platforms with plaster, so needed to build a shutter to contain it, unless it is my earnest desire to see the plaster pour everywhere and make an unholy mess. Two; I'm hoping it will help protect the edges and corners from damage. Now the fascia is formed of 1mm balsa sheet, so the overall dimensions of the piece are around 204/205mm square (in other words, a smidge over 8" true). Are we taking 8" as being rounded to the nearest 1/16"? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ShildonShunter Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 James the brick work is looking great and I like the idea of fitting balsa around the edge as its alot neater and looks better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 Thanks! I'm rather pleased with the brickwork myself; cutting the sheet is a little bit fraught but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually.... though that said I don't anticipate having to do any more brickwork for this. Once the platform top is poured (which will be after I've looked at the corbelling), I'll be looking at ballasting and then I'll have a bufferstop and the loading dock timbers to build. Then there's a length of fence to model, and a traction engine to repaint and possibly detail, and.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted April 1, 2018 Author Share Posted April 1, 2018 Last night I poured the plaster to bring the platform level up to the top of the walls. It went very well and I gained a little experience using the material. 5 eggcups of plaster to 2 eggcups of water created a decent paste and was just about enough to do the job; good news but I was expecting to have to throw away more of it than I did. I've also found it is more difficult than I anticipated to get a level even finish, so I can't use it as the finish surface (not that I was planning to anyway). So the plan for today is firstly to smooth down the plaster top, secondly to clean up the brickwork in the few areas where the plaster has got at it and thirdly, time permitting, to look at some ballasting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harrison Posted April 1, 2018 Author Share Posted April 1, 2018 Ballast happened! Ballast being a bag of the stuff I bought probably the thick end of 20 years ago... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ShildonShunter Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 James I like the plaster you have laid on the platforms looks really great looking forward to seeing more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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