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Lower Station / Guest House - Trial Build

DonB

Entry posted by DonB

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I mentioned in my previous blog entry that the drawings of the lower station and guesthouse were the most advanced. To prove the correct positional relationship of the incline and the station a mock-up of the whole building was made, and give me an overview of the difficulties in assembling its complex shape.

Having read somewhere that foamboard could be used as a backing for styrene brickwork sheets, and thinking that it would make a sturdy box structure, I purchased a small pack of 5mm thick A4 foam board (Westfoam).

I printed the drawing and glued it to the foamboard, then cut the wall shapes, and a base, plus an internal footprint to locate the walls,

 

I am not convinced that the 5mm foamboard is the easiest material to use, even using new scalpel blades

I found it difficult to cut accurately vertically through the 5mm, and where walls were to meet at an angle, other than butting up at 90degrees, creating matching cut faces was difficult. The material does not like being attacked with a file or sand paper to create angles or chamfers on cut edges, the paper or light card surface produced woolly, uneven fibres, while the foam interior developed an uneven rounded and rippled appearance, as if it was being pushed away rather than cut away.

I also found it rather soft and local pressure "bruised" it easily resulting in small indentations in the surface of the board.

Thankfully I did not have to cut window and door apertures for the mock-up.

Much experimentation needed to obtain satisfactory results if I try this material again. Advice on this subject will be gratefully received!

 

However, I continued with a trial assembly, having now decided to ignore the roof, and glued the walls in a series of sub-assemblies using a PVA with "instant grab". Here I was again flying blind and did not know if the foam would react or dissolve in contact with the PVA.

In the event all seemed OK although when, next day, finally bringing the sub-assemblies together a certain amount of help from me to hold the thing together while the glue grabbed, resulting in a couple of gluey thumb-prints due to contact with non-permanent printing ink.! It will finish in the scrap bin anyway.

All in all a catalogue of disasters! I'm more of a novice at this scratch building game than I thought!

 

Then came the moment of truth, the assembly was offered up to the baseboard and incline. I was pleasantly surprised when it fitted nicely in the desired position and orientation, and allowing for the poor,crude finish, it "LOOKED RIGHT" although I have spotted a couple of changes that need to be made to the drawing.

A photo looking down the model incline, typical of many pictures of Bridgnorth on the internet.

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Here's my version. Despite the heavy shadow, it is possible to make out the station doors above a 9-foot drop!The "platform" is like a shelf, only 12inches wide, an apron on the front of the carriage overlaps it in use.

blogentry-136-0-67528100-1378397345_thumb.jpg

 

A view of the model at track-side base level showing the elevated station doors and mini platform position. Also a line indicates the 32 degree slope of the track.

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The front of the building,

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The doors half way up the front are to the guest house, the station door is at a lower level and underneath a 6-foot wide path in front of the guesthouse so not shown here.

The model base is at the level of the end of the track. The print glued to the wall shows lines representing the station concourse floor level, next my best estimate of the concourse ceiling, then the guesthouse entry floor level and last, the guesthouse top floor level.

To try to indicate the complexity of the building's structure this a view looking down on the model

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For me, this has been both a useful and frustrating exercise.

Useful in that it confirmed the location and orientation of the building on the base board, also that my drawing was within acceptable limits given that a large proportion of the prototype is not accessible, some of the outer wall measurements being inferred from interior sizes.

Frustrating in the choice of material resulting in unexpected problems, I thought for a while before deciding to show my crude attempt. Why is nothing ever simple?

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Ian Holmes

I've used foamboard quite a lot over the past few years. It's not perfect but I like it. Here's a few observations.

Perhaps use a heavier duty knife than a scalpel for the cutting. I use a Stanley knife or similar.

Sometimes the type of foamboard can make a difference too. Perhaps the fact that I'm in the US might mean things are different here to back home in the UK. But my local Office Depot changed from Elmers brand of foamboard to a "recycled" brand. This stuff is rubbish! The card surface is matt and softer, you can indent it just by holding it too hard. The foam doesn't cut so cleanly either.

The Elmers brand was firmer to the touch, didn't indent and had an eggshell finish to the card facing and cut cleanly and firmly. Foamboard does work. Some people get on with it easier than others.

Just a couple of thoughts if you don't mind them.

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DonB

Killybegs, thanks for the encouragement.
 
Ian, 
I think it may have been one of your posts where I saw reference to foamboard, It's nice to have someone to blame! (whoops, no smileys!)
Seriously, what thickness do you use, indeed is there a range of thicknesses available?
Appreciate that you are 'tother side of the pond and will not know of UK situation, just wondering whether it's worth searching.

Is there "Master Class" on using Foamboard on the web? I'm particularly thinking of window apertures.

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Ian Holmes

Ooh lummee... I'm being blamed.. Better try and redeem myself.

I use board that is about 5mm, I think it's 3/16" in old money, you know these colonials haven't moved over to metric yet ;) . There's also 10mm available I believe. I want to say someone on this forum has used 10mm foamboard as a layout baseboard. (Chris Nevards' Catcott Burtle was it?)

When I've used foamboard it's been on larger structures, like buildings in G scale or large factories where the thickness of the card mean the walls don't warp. I don't think there's any foamboard masterclass on the web I just made things up as I went along.

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DonB

Ian.

OK, and thanks.

Perhaps I was being optimistic in trying to use it for a 4mm scale model, even if it does stand about 175mm high (say 6.5" in old money) and for a fairly complex shape, as a first venture into a new (to me) material. Some you win .......!

Thanks for the interest, and information.

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DonB

What wonderful workmanship!

I suspect that I will not be copying the techniques displayed, since I would like to complete this project in this lifetime!

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