Over the past couple of weeks I have been working on the first of the buildings that will be required for Ripe, with the signal box (a small, platform mounted type) and the station building.

After a couple of false starts, I'm happy enough with the Station building to post a few photos in it's incompleted state - incomplete as it is missing a roof, guttering, bargeboards, glazing and one window frame, as well as painting of the two exterior doors and windowsills (I don't have a suitable colour in my paint stash at present).

Platform Side;

It is a simple building, with a ticket office, waiting room, separate ladies waiting room (this was the 1920's ) and an office. I had been looking around for a while, and couldn't find any kits which appealed, so in the end, I bought the Staverton station building kit from Scalescenes to use as a template, took an inch or so out of the length and scratchbuilt from Wills Sheets (English Bond Bricks). Windows are from various sources, Mostly Ratio and Wills kits which I found in the bits box. I seem to remember buying a Wills Craftsman Pub kit once and using all the sheets for entirely different projects, so it is quite possible there are some of these too. Lintels are simply thin cardboard, cut in a strip and measured to a consistent (two brick) distance over the top of the window.

With a large opening at 'front of stage', I have bashed together an interior using the original Scalescenes parts and some posters/timetables printed off from Google Images on LBSCR poster Boards, found on StationColours.Info , scaled down by the totally unscientific method of reducing the image in Microsoft Word to the same size as the GWR Boards in the kit ( http://www.stationcolours.info/index.php?p=1_3_SR ) . The boards were then simply printed out, Pritt-sticked to thin card, and attached using the same glue onto the 'woodwork' from the Scalescenes kit. I can also see that I have got one of the poster boards slightly lower than the other, which is frustrating but not too jarring on the eye. Hopefully once the building is bedded into the platform etc it won't be too noticeable.

Side Elevation

I decided to add a 'Gents' as well, which is more Wills walling, with a simple roof made up from Balsa and covered with a dried (unused!) baby wipe, painted grey to represent a felted roof. It's the second time I've used this, and I like the effect it gives. The window/skylight is cut down from a larger window, and the door is from the Peco Modern Office Buildings kit - this is simply a flat, brown door with a raised doorhandle, so in order to 'age' it, I scribed panel lines using a craft knife and steel rule, and then scratched in some wood grain. This picture doesn't show it off especially well, but it looks surprisingly good.

Road Elevation

Finally, the road elevation, which will be hidden from normal viewing, but still needed to be completed to a decent standard in order to allow for photos across the station yard. Another door here in the same style, more cut down windows for the 'high level' windows in the station office, and a whacking great hole for another window which I will need to source. Windowsills throughout are a bit of a bodge - Wills tongue and groove boarding, cut down to one 'strip', with a chunk carved out of either end to allow the sill to sit in the window opening. It's something I've done before, and has the added benefit of being easy to run a blade across the width to produce a slight taper. The whole thing is mounted on a piece of Daler Board, which will be cut into the surface of the platform (I knew there was a good reason I hadn't yet stuck it down!)

Brickwork is painted with Tamiya and Humbrol acrylics, semi-dry brushed on to the brickwork after the mortar was painted with Tamiya Tan acrylic - the age-old method of painting on, then wiping away (another baby wipe!). The bottom edges, and the shady corner where the gents meets the wall has had some olive drab to give a bit of mossy/dank colouring. The actual colouring is a little better than it appears here, as these pictures were taken on my mobile in rapidly fading light this afternoon!

I should be able to finish the building off this coming long weekend, after a trip to Uckfield for some more supplies, which will hopefully also allow me to get the few bits (paint, guttering and a window) I also need to finish off the signal box too. In the meantime, I may make a start on the half-relief goods shed/store.