A little slice of Rufford

[James Harrison]

The plaster is a lot, lot rougher than it looks.  It's the fact that it's white and very reflective that makes it look quite that smooth.  (I need to refine my technique; a friend has suggested vibrating it next time).  Luckily there will be coping stones and flags over the plaster, eventually. 

 

I'm also wondering what to do with that final corner.  I'm erring toward suggesting a cinder path down the side of the track with a fence. 

 

Order of construction now? 

 

1. Corbelling. 

2. Cinder path. 

3. Cinder path fence. 

4. Coping stones/ flags.

5. Carriage loading bay buffers and timber ramp. 

6. Carriage loading bay fence (and gate?).

7. Traction engine. 

[James Harrison]

This morning I painted the corbelling and turned my attention to the last corner yet to be attended to.  I decided I would like to model a cinder path running along here so I tore up some sandpaper and glued it down, trying to achieve an effect suggestive of cinders that have caked together in wet weather and then baked into a crust in sunshine.  I then painted it in a muddy sludgy mix of black, burnt umber, sienna and vermillion to get that sort of greyish-brownish sludge colour.  It's still wet at the moment and I'll take a view on it later, but I'm anticipating having to give it another going over with neat sand and more of a dark greyish colour. 

 

Having quite a bit of this sludgy colour still to hand, I diluted it right down and filled an eyedrop with it, then dosed my ballast with it.  This quite nicely resembles old or dirty ballast such as you might find in a goods yard. 

 

 

 

It also appears that I have created the Incredible Growing Model.  I started out with it measuring quite neatly 8" square; measuring it this morning I find it's now something like 8 1/4" by 8 1/16".  I'm hopeful it will still fit in a cakebox (assuming the 8" quoted to be nominal or a 'comfortable fit'), but we shall see.  I'm not enthusiastic about putting it through a bandsaw to take a few mm off, so if it won't fit then I simply won't enter it in the final competition. 

[James Harrison]

The postman came today and amongst some other things he brought me an 8" cakebox...

 

 

"If I fits, I sits...."  Yes, even if it is an awkward skewiff angle, it will fit in an 8" box. 

 

And just to prove it is an 8" box...

 

 

Now the other thing the mailman brought today was a kit for a buffer stop.  I had a go at scratch-building a buffer stop from some rail but I'd sooner not talk at length about the attempt if it's all the same to you so.... moving on!

 

Plan tonight then is to build the buffer stop and then construct the timber ramp that will fit over it.

[Guest ShildonShunter]

James nice job on colouring the ballast your CB is definitely starting to shape. Looking forward to seeing and your kit buffer stop.

[Marly51]

It also appears that I have created the Incredible Growing Model. I started out with it measuring quite neatly 8" square; measuring it this morning I find it's now something like 8 1/4" by 8 1/16". I'm hopeful it will still fit in a cakebox (assuming the 8" quoted to be nominal or a 'comfortable fit'), but we shall see. I'm not enthusiastic about putting it through a bandsaw to take a few mm off, so if it won't fit then I simply won't enter it in the final competition.

 

Hi James, I held off cutting my ‘CakeBox’ base until I had it to hand - learnt from my own past mistakes that there is always a bit of tweaking required because of thickness of materials, etc. I have two models which need Perspex covers and only finishing off the framing of the layouts now that the covers have been made. Ahh, the joys of construction...

 

Model is looking good!

 

Marlyn

Edited April 6, 2018 by Marly51

[James Harrison]

Thanks!

 

Right, buffers stop.  It arrived yesterday, I built it (I gut the lamp off it first).... it wouldn't fit!... the ballast was in the way.  So I cut down the fixings and glued it direct to the rails. 

 

 

I then started work on the ram; balsa wood and old rail. 

 

 

And then temporarily laid in place....

 

 

I'm hoping to pretty much finish the ramp this evening.  Then the weekend I can turn my attention to the platform coping stones and the paving. 

[James Harrison]

In the cold light of day... hey, that cinder path looks quite good!  I was concerned that the torn edges of the sandpaper would be too obvious but it looks as though having saturated it with diluted PVA glue it's sort of melded into a semi-homogenous mass, which is the look I was going for.  It's kept the sandy texture too, which is pleasing.  

And from the other side...



The timber boarding has been permanently fixed down now, after building the last plank (which is actuslly three short planks because they have to joggle around the uprights for the buffer stop).  The buffer stop too has had to have a plank fitted.  It still looks a little rough but the ramp isn't finished yet.  There are some steel plates that I've still got to fabricate which will go over the gaps in that last board.  

What I'm looking at at the moment though are the coping stones.  As you can see I've built the coping for the loading dock, built up from a lamination of 0.5mm plastic sheet.  I then coated that in model filler to remove the striations and once it had dried I used a saw blade to produce the joints between the individual stones.  It's quite an intensive and long-winded job, building these copings.  I've given them a coat of grey paint but I'm in two minds about this.  I can't decide if they might look better given a sandy sort of a finish... but then that would suggest they're made of sandstone which I would argue is far too fragile a material to use for a coping, which would more likely be limestone or granite or some other exceptionally hard-wearing material.  I'll take a view on it once I've worked some black paint into the joints.  

I've still got a coping to build for the other platform (which will be an interesting job as it needs to have a rounded finish) and then a kerbstone to run down the middle, because.... well I misread the drawings so the loading dock was built too high, which means that the platform surface around it will be too high, which means I either have to introduce a change of level in the platform or have the coping to the other side too high....

As there needs to be fence running around the dock anyway my solution to the problem is to introduce a kerbstone and a step change (not really a good idea to have a sloping surface on a platform, especially if the slope runs toward the track...) and build the fence just inside the kerb.  It's an error of course and a good solution to a problem that should never really have existed, but it introduces a bit more interest in what otherwise would be a bland flat paved area so I'm putting it down as a happy accident.

[James Harrison]

No photos today (yet!) but I managed some good work yesterday this morning. 

 

-Kerbstones (another run of coping stones like around the loading dock);

-Platform coping stones (1.5mm plastic sheet lamination wrapped in paper for the rounded edge);

-Researched platform coverings (which tend to have been a mix of gravel/ chippings and stone flags)

-Made and laid some stone flags. 

-Built up the loading dock platform level to just below the coping. 

 

Next steps:

 

1. Fencing.  Two different types of fence to build, the 1895 MSLR drawings note that they should be creosoted (interesting; I would have thought whitewash would have been used, but maybe that was more of a 1940s blackout thing).  The fences (or at least one of them) need to be built and fitted before I place the final platform surface around the loading dock.  

 

2. Platform loading dock topping.  I've decided this will be gravel or chippings (this neatly uses up some more of my ballast).

 

3. Painting the flagstone platform.

 

4. Steel plates to the timber boardwalk. 

 

5. Cleaning up the traction engine. 

 

6. Finish the fascia edging.

 

So, we're getting there, slowly (but surely).  I'm rather enjoying building this, it makes a nice change from my usual run of locomotives and rolling stock. 

[Guest ShildonShunter]

James go work on the buffer stop and by the sounds of it your CBC is coming along nicely.

[James Harrison]

Thanks;  suddenly....



Still not finished!- not by a long shot!- but you can see where I'm headed with this and I'm rather gratified to find I can do at least a half-decent job at building something model railway-ish.  I was expecting to find a wide gulf between the sort of model I would like to build and the sort of model I'm capable of, but this little 8" square proving piece so far has shown that my ideal is not quite outside of my grasp.  

Right, there's quite a bit to discuss so let's crack on shall we?

Coping stones.  Yesterday I discussed building the taller ones, around the loading dock, and you can see I've also now added kerbstones and a different kind of coping to the lower platform.  The kerbstone length was easy enough; it was more of the same of what I had already manufactured for the loading dock.  The lower platform coping called for a little more thought.  To be to scale meant it had to be under 2mm high and possess a curved front edge.  Three laminations of 0.5mm sheet gave me a thickness of 1.5mm.  The upper and lower laminations were 10mm wide and the middle piece 11mm wide, which gave me the basis of the curved edge, and then I wrapped the whole in paper to provide the curve.  

I have learnt something building and fitting this; I followed the drawing to set the platform back approximately 3 feet (scale) from the centre line of the rail, but then fitting the coping stone (which steps out over the platform edge) I found that my rolling stock fouls it... I had to set the coping stone about 1mm further back than I had intended.  It is precisely this sort of issue that I'm building this proving model to iron out, though.  I'd sooner find out now on a small scale than after building three or four full-length platform faces....

With the copings built I turned my attention to the platform surfaces.  The drawings were silent on the point so I spent a few hours last night looking through some of my books, which provided photographic evidence that the platforms varied.  Around station buildings they tended toward flagstones, on open platforms they were more likely to be gravel or crushed ballast.  So on the basis of that I decided to vary my platform topping; on the lower platform I decided on flagstones and on the upper platform I decided to use some ballast.  

The flagstones I made myself from corrugated card and fitted each one individually.  Whilst I was doing this I also used some more corrugated card to build up the upper platform level to within about 1mm of final finished level.  

And then came the painting!  Firstly the flagstones were painted in a mid-grey mix; a very dark grey went down first and then I worked a light grey over it before it had quite dried.  I then mixed some more of my muddy/ cinder colour (equal parts black, vermillion, sienna and burnt umber) and put a dilute wash of this all over.  A lot of it I wiped off as soon as it had been applied; it had a pleasant tendancy to work down into gaps and joints though, which is what I wanted it to do, and then I used the last of it on the upper level platform so that any gaps in the final ballast layer are suitably disguised.  

Next job?  I'm currently pondering how to build some fences out of balsa strip.  The difficulty is that the sizes I require mean that they will be quite fragile.

[Guest ShildonShunter]

Fantastic work James i love what you have achieved with the coping stones and your washes. Don't underestimate yourself you have proved you can produce a really good model well done James.

[James Harrison]

Thank you! (I think this will be something really rather impressive, when it is finished). 

[James Harrison]

One of the last big jobs to do is to build some fences.  There are two different types I need to build, a platform fence (which is fairly straightforward) and an approach road fence.... which isn't.  

So of course I built the more difficult one first....

The main 'interesting' bits are twofold.  The horizontal strakes sit inside the verticals, which are are themselves only 2mm across.  You can't simply cut a slot to put the horizontals through because the verticals would crumble.  So they have to be cut to fit exactly between the verticals.  The top horizontal strake sits above the verticals, but sits down into them on an angle (so the edge of the timber faces upward).  

It took me quite some time to build 120mm of fence.  I'm not sure I'd build several feet of the stuff in the same fashion.  

I'd like to think it was worth the effort; it still needs to be painted and then some iron strapping fitted.  

[outcastjack]

This is looking fantastic. It is great to see another very different box done really well. Keep it up!

[James Harrison]

Thanks!

 

Last night I managed to build the second fence, paint both fences and add the gravel to the upper platform. 

 

 

By this evening it had dried out enough that I was able to remove the excess ballast.  My intention for this evening is to start looking at the traction engine that will sit on the gravel...

 

 

... by the time that is repainted the diorama will have dried out completely, at which point I'll be able to make a final dash at it to finish it off. 

[Guest ShildonShunter]

James the gravel work and the handbuilt fencing looks great and I do like your traction engine looks just right. A great CBC.

[James Harrison]

Thank you!  Work last night amounted to starting to repaint the traction engine; the body colour is going to be a dull cherry red and then plainly the smokebox/ chimney/ firebox and the like need touching in in black. 

[James Harrison]

 

Turns out that the old Matchbox traction engine (dating back to the mid-1950s) is actually rather a nice, neat, tidy little model.  The all-over green colour really doesn't do much for it; two nights' work with a paintbrush though and... well it scrubs up rather well, don't you think? 

[009 micro modeller]

Very nice

[James Harrison]

Thanks.  Now that the traction engine is done, I can turn my attention back to the CBC proper.  Works still to do run to

 

1. Metalwork for the fences and the timber boarding.

2. Paint the fascia. 

3. Um.... erm....

 

I've just ordered some of AC Stadden's Edwardian workmen figures to finish it off.  They're more than a little early for my period of circa 1920, but then that era falls in the awkward gap between the full-bore pregrouping period and the more popular 1930s setting, so you really have to go with the closest you can find.  No matter!

[James Harrison]

I think we're done here, except for the screaming.  First;

 

 

 

 

Yep, fits in the 8" square x 6" high box.  Actually that's an 8" x 8" x 5" box.  I didn't see anything in the rules that it has to sit square on the floor of it, so....

 

Anyhow, as currently completed this is what it looks like....

 

 

I've got some figures on order from AC Stadden to add a little life to it and I'm quite sure that between now and October I'll come back to it on occasion to add some smaller final details (maybe a sack of coal or two, some packing crates, weeds [would there be weeds?  I understand anything green inside the boundary fence would have been fed ash and clinker until it expired in days of steam] and the like).  If it will fit, I might add a lamp standard or two. 

 

Overall I'm absolutely thrilled with how this has turned out. 

[Guest ShildonShunter]

James you should be really proud with your CBC really nice modelling and the traction engine has turned out nicely. Will be nice to see the figures in place when they arrive. Don't forget these little CBC are addictive will be nice to see what your next venture is James.

[James Harrison]

Well, I think up next will be to build my "Your Model Railway Village" station/ goods office conversion, currently in bits on a shelf and I'm in mortal fear of some parts going walkies if I leave it much longer. I'd like to do another CBC but in all honesty I only have the room for this one!- all of my shelf space being taken up with other models.  Which is a shame as I do have a few ideas for others. 

[James Harrison]

Returning to complete the smaller details prior to submitting for the competition. 

 

#1. Figures.  I've got some from Andrew Stadden that need painting. 

#2. Boxes/ packing cases/ so on and so forth.  Scratchbuild from balsa and card?

#3. Road vehicles.  I have the traction engine, I have a GCR lorry.  I don't intend fixing these in position.

#4. More muck, dirt and grime.  Can never have too much muck, dirt and grime. 

[Andy McV]

There's nothing in the rules to say that a model has to sit square on the floor of the cakebox, just as long as it fits within the 8" x 8" x 6" parameters. A really nice looking model otherwise, and looking forward to seeing it with figures and lots more muck, dirt and grime!