Townstreet Northlight Engine Shed - parts?

[Kallaroonian]

A little background to set the scene. Rather ridiculous over-complication that makes a solution less straightforward but ......  ... ..

 

So I'm in Australia and wanted to get a northlight engine shed from townstreet. Since they don't do technology and ordering by phone had the potential to be difficult with timezone issues I asked my mum to call them in the UK and have it shipped to her. She then shipped the model to Australia with a few other things. This was a while back and I've only recently got around to looking at making the model.

 

My issue is that I thought this kit could be made as a through shed or a shed with a back wall and I'd assumed the relevant parts would be provided to make this choice. Does anybody know if that is correct? In my case the kit can't be made as a through shed - which was my intent - because it has only the parts needed for a non-through shed ie a backwall.

 

So that's question 1. Given that is the case obtaining the alternative parts is going to be quite difficult - tyranny of distance, difficulty shipping thin plaster parts in international post etc. I'm considering ways to modify the rear wall parts to mimic the shed front and thus make the model into a through shed. Any thoughts on that would be welcome.

 

Lastly I'd never thought about it before but I notice this sort of shed doesn't have doors. Wouldn't the prototype have had doors?

 

The kit looks like it is going to produce an excellent model. I'm not here to suggest otherwise. It's just that the relevant parts are not there for a through shed although it's also possible this was an ordering problem

 

Thanks

[peter220950]

Is this in 00 or O gauge??

 

Peter

[Kallaroonian]

Hi. Sorry I should have mentioned. 00 gauge

 

rgds

[JeffP]

Just had a look on the Townstreet site. The 4mm model makes no mention of through sheds, but the 7mm one does. Extensions for length are also mentioned for the 7mm one.

 

If it were me, i'd bite the bullet and stay up late one night, then ring them.

[peter220950]

I would think the parts might be available from Townscene, and in 00 could fit in a padded bag between hardboard, so it's worth giving them a call.

 

The reason I asked was that I broke a couple of pieces in O and made a silicone mould and re-cast from another  whole piece. If you have the necessary parts, but not enough of them, it's worth casting the relevant bits, if they can't be obtained from Townscene.

 

Peter.

[Kallaroonian]

How would you go about making a silicon mould? And what material would you use for the casting?

 

Thanks

[peter220950]

I use RTV rubber, not sure of suppliers local to you, but if you put RTV into Ebay or Google it should come up with a load of suppliers. There are also a lot of videos on You Tube that show the process. For walls you only need to go with a single sided mould, the piers can be cast end on, but may prove difficult to remove in plaster, I actually re-cast my pieces in resin for strength.

 

I lay the piece on plastic card, face up, held down with double sided tape. Build up sides with plastic card to form a box, then pour in the RTV, it usually takes around 24 hours to set, then just peel the rubber mould off.

 

 

The sides can then be re-made with Plaster of Paris, casting plaster or resin. I used resin as it can also be cut about more easily, and used a couple of spare pieces to make a boiler house for my layout.

 

It's not going to be cheap, the RTV is around £25.00 (British Pounds) but it's a skill worth aquiring for the future, for making multiple components. from your own masters, as 1 litre does quite a lot .

 

An alternative is to build up layers of Latex over time onto the piece, then peel it off to form the mould but I've not used it, so can't say a lot more about that as an alternative, other than that I know it can be made to work.

 

Peter

[Kallaroonian]

Thanks.

 

JeffP - my source regarding the twin style option is the townstreet printed catalogue where it states the model can be built in either style.

 

I have three options I guess:

 - stay up late and call them :-) 

 - make some moulds 

 - make my own mods to create a through shed ie modify the end that is currently closed 

 

Tempted by the mould option just for the experience. 

 

But before I commit to that is there really no way to contact townstreet online?

 

thanks

[Kallaroonian]

One other thing I meant to ask about. Where do you get this silicon product from and what make is it? Also I see you moulded using painted parts - does the casting process affect the painting process? ie if you used a painted master would the exsting paint be affected and could you paint further coats after use in the moulding process?

 

thanks 

[Kallaroonian]

Oh and I'm still curious about the concept of doors on these sheds.

 

thanks

[peter220950]

One other thing I meant to ask about. Where do you get this silicon product from and what make is it? Also I see you moulded using painted parts - does the casting process affect the painting process? ie if you used a painted master would the exsting paint be affected and could you paint further coats after use in the moulding process?

 

thanks 

 

I have a local supplier I can pick it up from, but have also purchased from Ebay. If you put RTV silicone into the search, and look for kits of around 1kg, you should find this sort of thing:-

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RTV-Silicone-Moulding-Rubber-1-05kg-1kg-50g-kit-Shore-A-5-40-quality-guarantee-/252391697979?var=&hash=item3ac3b7ae3b:m:mz6gMdi7Tjsnb91UJ_RygfQ

 

You may get a cheaper supplier locally with an internet search for the products, try local hobby suppliers. The reference to Shore rating is the stiffness of the finished product, higher numbes are stiffer, useful if you have a deep mould with high sides to prevent it flopping about. With a flat mould that you peel off the finished wall a rating of around 15 to 20 is fine.

 

I have never had a problem with the mould not peeling off any surface I have cast from, painted or otherwise, I would probably give any master a quick wash after a mould has been taken, but I've never noticed a problem with residue from the RTV.

 

With regard to doors, they were timber, opening outwards, and usually with a small pedestrian door in them. In many cases they were removed altogether, there was a brief thread on here some time ago,

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/47406-which-way-did-steam-shed-doors-open/

 

Just as a thought, it might be worth dropping an e-mail to Invertrain, who are a Townstreet supplier, if nothing else they might be able to give you a private  e-mail address for Townstreet, evenif they can't supply individual components?

 

http://www.invertrain.com/maker.php?maker=Townstreet

 

Good luck with your hunt,

 

Peter

[John Tomlinson]

Oh and I'm still curious about the concept of doors on these sheds.

 

thanks

I doubt if I've ever seen such a building with shed doors, although its not impossible.

 

More modern facilities, notably diesel depots, often had doors, either of cupboard type or rollers from the top. As with many things in steam days I suspect the provision of workplace comforts was low on the list!

 

John.

[JeffP]

The provision of doors depended a lot on the owning company. I've seen pics of Haymarket with doors in steam days, and other pics of northlight sheds without doors.

 

It will also depend on the era: in later and BR days, the doors had often got damaged or rotted and were removed.

[Grovenor]

Website

http://www.townstreetuk.co.uk/

Regards

[Steamport Southport]

I think the issue of doors may have been dependant on local needs.

 

It seems that smaller sheds with minimum staff may have had them. Possibly because the shed would have periods without staff being present. Plenty of thievery back in the day, just think of Private Walker "liberating" things in Dad's Army.

 

But it seems that many of the larger sheds with staff working 24 hours a day then they were probably an inconvenience and were not fitted. Staff and locomotives would have to move almost continuously. Most photos of sheds that have doors usually show them open and they all seem to open outwards.

 

I believe that when Southport MPD was preserved then the doors came from the local EMU depot in Meols Cop that had closed. I don't think they were fitted previously.

 

 

Jason

[NINJA]

I am using a friends Ipad to send this message. The northlight engine shed is normally supplied as a dead end shed but when requested parts can be substituted to make a through road shed at no extra cost. To keep the cost of our shed models down, doors are not supplied. Prototypically in the 50's and 60's most steam shed doors had been discarded.

 

If you still want to build a through road shed let me know and I will send you the parts f.o.c.

 

Regards,

 

Pat Lockley

[Kallaroonian]

Pat,

 

Hi. Thanks for getting in touch. I just have to be impressed by the power of the grapevine.

 

A couple of things. It's no big deal about the doors - it was more a question about what's appropriate and not a comment reflecting on the kit. I have also dug out some pics of the relevant prototype and you are all correct - no doors.

 

Regarding the through shed issue I had somehow perceived this before getting the kit and then, er, read words to this effect in the catalogue you also sent. All of which brings me to this point.

 

Your offer to send the parts foc is much appreciated thank you. I don't think I'm going to pop my home address up on this forum though - would there be an email address where I can write to you and provide the postal address? And in the meantime I'll think about whether there's anything else I want to order :-) 

 

Thanks

[Kallaroonian]

I'd like to publicly thank Pat for helping out with the missing parts which turned up FOC in Australia yesterday.

 

Spectacular customer service and very convincing models, both of which I commend to the forum readership.

 

......Pat, now we just need a more substantial water tower kit based 100% on the one at Hatfield ;-)