Down the old shed

[Andrew Cockburn]

So after a short break from “all things cakebox”, in the last couple of days I’ve had my thinking cap on and come up with a plan for cakebox diorama “mark 4”. This will be

another N Gauge offering, entitled “Down the old shed”, a fictitious former steam shed-turned diesel servicing shed, and the attached picture shows the Peco kit which, once assembled, will serve as the diorama’s main focus, also shown is a plan of what the overall model will (hopefully) look like when completed. The completion timescale I estimate at being 2-3 weeks, watch this space then for further developments ….

 

　

Edited February 25, 2018 by Andrew Cockburn

[moonlight]

Looks like it has plenty of scope

 

Will keep watching progress

 

Pete

[Jerry1975]

Looks good, will follow with interest.

 

Jerry.

[Andrew Cockburn]

Snow halts progress

 

Unfortunately due to the current artic-like weather, which as far as I’m aware is set to prevail until at least early next week, my garage/model railway workshop has taken on conditions similar to a refridgerator, thus making work on my latest cakebox project “Down the old shed” just a little on the uncomfortable side, even with wearing suitable clothing/using heating. Therefore I’ve decided to suspend work on the project until conditions are a bit more bearable/favourable, hopefully these will not be too long in coming around.

[009 micro modeller]

A wise decision although I'm looking forward to seeing progress on this. I hope the model itself is not damaged by the cold conditions in the workshop (assuming it is stored there).

[GeoffinOz]

 

Snow halts progress

 

Unfortunately due to the current artic-like weather, which as far as I’m aware is set to prevail until at least early next week, my garage/model railway workshop has taken on conditions similar to a refridgerator, thus making work on my latest cakebox project “Down the old shed” just a little on the uncomfortable side, even with wearing suitable clothing/using heating. Therefore I’ve decided to suspend work on the project until conditions are a bit more bearable/favourable, hopefully these will not be too long in coming around.

 

 

I feel for you, the weather looks bad over there. We have the problem the other way round, during our summer the temp can get up to 40^oC and the shed is to hot to work in. our train modelling season is Autumn, Winter and Spring. (Unless, She who must be obeyed, allow us to use the dinning room table)

[Andrew Cockburn]

^{@ 009 Modeller}

 

^{I've not actually started work on the model yet, so all the components are still in their box/in my modelling drawer, so they should be OK. My other cakebox models are of course stored in the garage along with my actual model railway layouts, but as the latter don't seem to have come to any harm during cold spells in the past, I reckon they should be OK this time round, so hopefully my cakebox models shouldn't also come to any harm.}

 

^{@ GeoffinOz}

 

^{Yes, what we need ideally is for the temperature to be somewhere in between, mind you I find that really hot weather is good when it comes to getting glue dry on ballast, for I recall doing track ballasting on a layout of mine a while back in the wintertime, and it took an eternity to dry! But hopefully milder weather here in the UK is not too far away, for the worst of the snow as far as I'm aware is today possibly tomorrow, and as I've said before I hope to start work on "Down the old shed" next week sometime, progress reports on which will appear in due course. But for now I bid you goodnight ....}

[Andrew Cockburn]

Humble beginnings

 

Well as the weather of late has been slightly milder, and the temperature in my garage/workshop a bit more bearable, I’ve managed to make a start on “Down the old shed”. The picture below shows the base, this is formed formed from plywood, covered with white card in order to cover up one or two holes (due to woodworm?), and I must say it does look like a piece of real cake, i.e. the “sandwich” type with icing on the top! I’ve also roughly placed the plastic base of the engine shed and one or two pieces of track, in order to get an idea of what will go where, as for the next phase, not 100% sure just yet, I might just put in place wooden formers for the embankment at the rear, all will be revealed in due course ….

Edited March 4, 2018 by Andrew Cockburn

[Andrew Cockburn]

I’ve not done as much as I’d hoped to do on “Down the old shed” lately due to one or two other commitments, but here is a brief update on what I have managed to accomplish. The tracks and engine shed base have been glued in place, while I’ve also “erected” the rear stone wall (plenty of scope for the local graffiti artists here me thinks), this was formed from balsa/Metcalfe stone sheet, and fixed in place with the help of those plastic “fixing blocks” (can’t think of the exact technical term for these) used to fix together self-assembly furniture. I’ve also fixed in place some balsa formers for the embankment, next task will be the actual embankment itself, this will be formed using the same method used for those embankments on “Cutting the cake”, ie crumpled-up paper/strips of newspaper painted/sceniced. Another progress report then in due course ….

 

[Andrew Cockburn]

Here we go with another update on progress to date. During the last week I’ve created the basic form/shape of the embankment, this was done using crumpled-up newspaper/strips of newspaper glued into place (using UHU adhesive, as this tends to go off quicker than wallpaper paste, which is what I’ve used for this particular task in the past), this will be painted appropriate colours and sceniced in due course. Also, I’ve fixed in place basic formers for the ground/land using balsa and card, while I also intend to apply some model filler in order to represent texture, “dips”, pools etc., in general to try and create the sort of rough and uneven appearance which was typical of loco depots and the like. In which case, and instead of using the conventional ballasting, I’m going to give the track the “buried look”, which was again typical of loco, goods depots etc., this will also be achieved using balsa/card/filler. A bit of a painstaking task, but one I’m sure will prove to be worthwhile once completed. I hope to do a fair bit more work over the weekend, particularly seeing as the weather is forecast to be a bit grim, in my “neck of the woods” at least, so another report will appear in due course.

[Andrew Cockburn]

The last few days have seen me completing the basic terrain on the model, which, I must admit, does resemble a cross between a lunar scene and a limestone quarry, or possibly a snowscene (bearing in mind the recent bad weather), rather than an old engine shed and it’s surroundings.

 

However, this is all par for the course, and the “white stuff” is in fact model filler, which I used in conjunction with card, balsa & fine sandpaper to give an uneven effect, and to represent such features such as worn-down tarmac, tyre tracks, potholes, dips, pools, piles of earth/ballast etc., and I have to say that I’m quite happy with the overall result/effect. Also in the scene can be seen a makeshift crossing, often found on real-life industrial-type railway settings, which has been formed from balsa/plastic Peco N sleepers to represent real-life sleepers, planks of wood etc.

 

 

My next immediate tasks are to paint the landscape appropriate colours, i.e. earth, ballast etc. etc., also to scenic the embankment, before concentrating on the model’s focal point, the engine shed itself. A further progress report then in due course ….

 

Edited March 22, 2018 by Andrew Cockburn

[Andrew Cockburn]

Its been a short while since I last posted a progress report, this has been due to the fact that I’ve been a bit busy of late, and as such not had as much time as I would have liked to devote to “all things cakebox challenge”. But I have managed to do a bit more work on “Down the old shed”, mainly transforming the appearance of the terrain from that of a “lunar landscape” to a surrounding area more in keeping with an old engine shed, i.e. dirty, muddy, worn etc. etc., and needless to say I’ve gone through a fair bit of Humbrol paint while carrying out this particular process!

 

You will also see from the photo that I’ve landscaped, or at least grassed the cutting at the rear, I hope to do a bit more landscaping work this weekend, in addition to starting work on the actual engine shed itself. Watch this space then for further developments ….

Edited March 31, 2018 by Andrew Cockburn

[Guest ShildonShunter]

Andrew a nice bit of landscaping we do like our hills and embankments. Will be watching with interest.

Edited March 31, 2018 by ShildonShunter

[Andrew Cockburn]

Since my last update, I’ve managed to complete one or two more tasks this week. I’ve completed the scenicing of the rear embankment, with the addition of some graffiti on the stone wall (those graffiti artists seem to get everywhere), also Woodland Scenics foliage to represent bushes, hedges and just general overgrowth. I’ve also gone over the trackwork again, picking out random sleepers in various shades of black, brown, grey, etc. just to remove the previously uniform appearance.

 

I’ve also erected one of the engine shed walls (the rear wall). As the inner side of the wall was originally a plain, “plasticy” appearance as opposed to the brick pattern on the external side, I enhanced this by the addition of a piece of brick sheet, specially cut to size, including of course to make allowance for the windows. As I didn’t have any plastic brick sheet to hand I had to use some from the Metcalfe card range which I had to hand, which originally didn't quite look exactly right. However, now that it has since been weathered, I think that it’s a bit hard to tell that its card as opposed to plastic, this will probably be even more so once the shed is completed.

 

 

I hope to do a bit more work on the shed this weekend, while theres still also a fair bit more to do generally. But “Rome wasn’t built in a day” as the saying goes, thus I always like to take my time over matters (within reason), while I always think in terms of quality when it comes to model making, even if it means doing something several times over in order to get it right/achieve the right effect. Another update then in due course ….

Edited April 6, 2018 by Andrew Cockburn

[Guest ShildonShunter]

Andrew the embankment and follage looks really good the brickwork and weathering are spot on looking forward to seeing more.

[009 micro modeller]

Looks like it's coming along nicely and you've got the colours for weathering and the brickwork spot on.

[Andrew Cockburn]

So step by step, stage by stage, bit by bit, the engine shed is taking shape. The attached photo shows three sides of the shed now erected, while these have also been weathered to achieved the grimy sort of appearance typical of such structures, and I dare say I’ll add a bit more weathering once the structure is finally complete.

 

Re the randomly placed sleepers. In addition to those which form the crossing, and which were "laid" a short while back, those on the extreme left of the siding in front of the shed represent a makeshift buffer stop, a remnant of the original buffer stop, which it is to be assumed “disintegrated”, rotted away or whatever, can be seen lying on the ground for effect. The sleepers immediately behind the track leading into the shed are supports for a wagon body, which will form another “makeshift” object, i.e. a fuelling point, while those sleepers in the foreground are also supports, this time for a grounded van body/store.

 

Next task will be the completion of the shed, I hope to have this done by the end of this week, the whole model itself possibly by the early-mid part of next week. Heres then looking forward to more enjoyable modelling, another progress report in due course ….

Edited April 10, 2018 by Andrew Cockburn

[Andrew Cockburn]

Work on “the old shed” is progressing nicely, this has included the recent addition of some interior details as can be seen in one of the photos below, i.e. a small workbench, tool cabinet (that’s the green object), electrical cables, a length of fuel pipe, also a small electrical junction/switch box (the grey object). I’m a firm believer in adding detail, as this what can make or break a model/diorama/layout and help bring it to life, the trick is of course to achieve a fine balance, i.e. not too much, and not too little.

 

And unfortunately, in addition to more “handywork” by the resident “graffiti artists“, I’ve also had a “vandal attack” on the shed, hence the broken windows and hole in the roof which can be seen in the other picture - perhaps a task then for the British Transport Police ie to track down the culprits! But joking aside, this was done to help add to the realism, i.e. to create the impression of an old, decrepit engine shed which is deteriorating, and is in need of one or two repairs here and there.

 

So still a bit more work to be done, but I’m enjoying it, another progress update will appear in due course ….

Edited April 12, 2018 by Andrew Cockburn

[Andrew Cockburn]

Down the old shed - the grand finale

 

I can now reveal “Down the old shed” in it’s final finished form. Its taken roughly two months to complete the model, but I have to say that I feel it was time well spent, and that I’m happy with the end result, which can be seen in the photos below.

 

The intention was to portray in model form a decrepit steam-turned diesel shed, and to this end I’ve tried to incorporate a fair degree of detail, weathering etc., without overdoing things i.e. trying to achieve just the right balance. And to this end a fair range of materials have been used, including Noch rust paint, Peco Scene static grass tufts, Deluxe Materials scenic water, & Woodland Scenics foliage/scatter material, all of which I feel have combined to help create in miniature, a typical run-down railway scene. The two van bodies which form the makeshift fuel point and storage, were, as far as I recall, a couple of Peco “cast-offs” suitably modified/weathered, while other “fixtures and fittings” are from contemporary manufacturers. The engine shed itself as I may have mentioned earlier, is in need of repairs to the windows and roof (hence the ladder going up the to latter), while there is also now a “drooping” gutter in need of attention!

 

Notice also the “clapped-out” 08 shunter in the siding, gradually detoriating! This is is an old Farish model which really did “give up the ghost” a fair while back, but rather than chuck it out, I kept it, for I thought it may well be useful as a possible static model sometime in the future. And it eventually found use on a previous N Gauge layout of mine, also as a “wreck”, and when the layout was eventually scrapped, one or two bits and pieces were salvaged, including the shunter, again with possible future use as “a static” in mind.

 

So thats “cakebox mark 4” completed, I intend to take a short break now from “all things cake box/general modelling”, after which I’ll hopefully have come up with a suitable idea for what will probably be my fifth and final cakebox offering, more details then in due course.

[Andrew Cockburn]

Ooopppsss, almost forgot this pic!

[009 micro modeller]

Looking fantastic. Do you perhaps need a bit more foliage to hide the 08's inside frames?

[Andrew Cockburn]

@ 009 micro modeller

 

Thanks for the comment, and yes, I may just add a bit more foliage/weeds around the 08's wheels/frame/chassis, although I wouldn't want to obscure

these completely, as it may spoil the intended effect.

[Guest Bishoptrains]

Hi Andrew this is a fantastic CBC I like what you have done with the engine shed the weathering looks great and the embankment and follage is nicely done..