Focalplane's Workbench (mostly 7mm)

[Focalplane]

I buy wooden clothes pegs at French supermarkets (Casino and Carrefour have them) and the price is very, very competitive.  I imagine the push on style is now available only in up-market antique shops.

[Simond]

wooden clothes pegs, very handy.

 

aluminium hair grips, also!

best

Simon

[Focalplane]

The interior walls have no been lined with corrugated sheeting with space left to insert the glazing in the windows.  I think the next job will be to spray each of the walls with black primer and then glue them together at the corners with Roket Max, making a rigid square box on which to start work on the internal ducting and the roof.  The roof details can wait a while but there are other details, such as drain pipes, to be added to the side walls.  This building is by no means finished!  The smaller peripheral structures (shed office, toilet, water tank and coal stage) might be tackled while waiting for paint, etc. to dry.

[HarryP]

Ooh look, wooden clothes pegs.  Haven't seen these for years. As for the early push-on pegs that were probably made from beech in earlier times, they are probably made of balsa today haha! Everything has gone to pot and I have just paid Amazon a handsome sum for some pegs that I hope will last longer than a week!

 

Oh, and the shed....Yes, its coming along nicely. The roof details should be lots of fun...

http://www.wilko.com/washing-lines-pegs+peg-bags/wilko-functional-wooden-peg-36pk/invt/0328212 £1.00 for 36 and http://www.wilko.com/english-heritage/english-heritage-wooden-clothes-pegs/invt/0437065 £3.00 for 24.

[Focalplane]

Yesterday I mentioned the word "spraying".  Today the humidity has rolled in off the sea and it is drizzling!  First precipitation in weeks.  So next time I will not mention paint, spray can, primer or airbrush and just get on with it before it rains.

 

As Coachmann recently observed, the roof details are going to be a challenge, particularly as they will be the most obvious detailed feature and must therefore look right.  So I think some computer drawing using Illustrator could be the order of the day.

 

Does that mean that a threatening thunderstorm later in the day will strike the power supply?

[grob1234]

Lovely workmanship, Paul.

 

Not sure how I have missed this thread in the past, but really like it, the joys of O gauge!

 

Following with interest.

[Focalplane]

The rain has stopped but it is still "blotting paper" humid, so painting is off the agenda for today.

 

Instead I have started on the roof.  I have decided to make a single masonite (hardboard) roof backing, partially cut along the apex and then folded to fit the end gables.  The groove needs to be almost as deep as the masonite is thick and narrow at the base of the cut, ever wider towards the top of the cut.  To do this I used a combination of tenon saw, rip saw and scalpel.  Here is the beginning of the process:

 

 

After completing this, I carefully folded the roof over a temporarily assembled structure, propped up with paint cans, etc.

 

 

Looks good.  I may not have to glue the roof down which would make access to the interior easier once the shed is in place (though I intend the shed to be easily removed as well).

 

Off with the roof and work has started on the smoke ducts, using brass strip as shown as the "skeleton".  The ducts will be attached to the shed end walls, not the roof.  I needed to cut the roof so that the duct sides will be measured correctly, the plan being to have no un-prototypical gaps.  The brass strips are roughly in place:

 

 

In keeping with the rest of the shed the ducts will be made of corrugated plastikard.  I know some ducts were constructed of wood but that was also the principal reason why many engine shed fires occurred.  That Penmaenpool survived for decades suggests the ducts were fireproofed in some way.  One thing is for sure, the ducts won't remain white!

 

 

[Focalplane]

Despite the poor weather conditions (very hot and humid) I have made some progress with the first of the smoke duct assemblies.

 

 

Made entirely of brass strip and plastikard (plus two small pieces of box wood at each end, this was a bit of a learning curve for me as I have not done much plastikard modelling before.  Two small triangular pieces are required to box off the vertical duct to the roof and this was why I tested the fit, using those precious clothes pegs.

 

Here is a view from outside the shed doorway:

 

 

This is about the only view of the ducts that will be possible once the roof is on.

 

 

[grob1234]

Beware of warping with Plastikard.

[Focalplane]

Beware of warping with Plastikard.

 

Tom

 

I was not aware of this problem (having never really used the product before) but I hope the brass strips will go a long way to containing any warping.  This is going to be much more important when I tackle the brick buildings, though I do intend to use thin ply as a base with a skin of molded bricks.

 

For the smaller corrugated sheet buildings I could use thin brass rods (available locally) to form the underlying skeleton framework.  My brassfounder genes may come to the rescue once again!

 

Completely off topic, it was my ancestor's lot to work in Small Heath, the setting for Peaky Blinders.  The actual timing of Peaky Blinders, though, post Great War, was when my father and his business partner set up their metal finishing business at the top of Newhall Hill, eventually moving into premises, now derelict, on Legge Lane!  It is interesting to see the Peaky Blinders interpretation of what inner Brum was like only one (long) generation ago.  I didn't know these areas until the early 1950s.  A lot had changed, partly due to the Blitz.

[grob1234]

Tom

 

I was not aware of this problem (having never really used the product before) but I hope the brass strips will go a long way to containing any warping.  This is going to be much more important when I tackle the brick buildings, though I do intend to use thin ply as a base with a skin of molded bricks.

 

For the smaller corrugated sheet buildings I could use thin brass rods (available locally) to form the underlying skeleton framework.  My brassfounder genes may come to the rescue once again!

 

Completely off topic, it was my ancestor's lot to work in Small Heath, the setting for Peaky Blinders.  The actual timing of Peaky Blinders, though, post Great War, was when my father and his business partner set up their metal finishing business at the top of Newhall Hill, eventually moving into premises, now derelict, on Legge Lane!  It is interesting to see the Peaky Blinders interpretation of what inner Brum was like only one (long) generation ago.  I didn't know these areas until the early 1950s.  A lot had changed, partly due to the Blitz.

I think using the brass, especially in your larger scale is a good way to go. I made some scratch built buildings for my N Gauge train set and used 1mm plastikard with a brick overlay and did suffer some warping, though that has now been controlled with internal bracing, and was never too bad anyway, being small. When I build in OO I'll be using a thin ply inner, clad with plastikard bricks.

[coachmann]

I never found anything wrong with Plastikard so long as the thick stuff is used as the basis of a model and then clad with thinner finishing material such as brick, stone or wood etc. I recommend Slaters Mekpak as being superior to some other brands. I've been using 'another' brand this week and it evaporates far to quickly leading to all sorts of problems. 

[Focalplane]

I suppose that the 7mm plastikard is thicker than for the smaller scales so that could help. The ducts are non structural so even if they warp slightly it will not affect the overall build. The little blocks of boxwood also give a surprisingly strong bond between the brass strips.

 

My liquid plastic cement is by Model Master and must be a couple of decades old. It not only keeps well but is very effective. I bought in in Texas and have found a source in France, but at a price. But if the next bottle lasts as long I can hardly complain about that.

[N15class]

Odd numbers of layers are better. As it seems to be better balanced.

[Simond]

Have a look at Chris' (spams) thread, and Ron Heggs' Manchester & Sri Lanka threads. Also Mike Bragg on the G0G website. Lots of good techniques with plastic, iirc, Mike uses a ply structure with PK overlays.

 

Best

Simon

[Focalplane]

Painted black:

 

 

Primed then two coats of Humbrol Matt Black as a base coat.  Next, detailing and weathering.  The roof is on hold due to the tiles being out of stock at Slaters.  Items to add that are in stock here include the downpipes (brass tube a scale 8" diameter, about right) and painting the brick foundation.  The windows can be added once I have painted the white vertical bars - thanks Coachmann for the idea!

 

Weathering will probably be quite light as, even after 6 years of standing empty, photographs of the shed show the corrugated sheeting to be in good condition.

 

I can see no reason for not glueing the sides together.  The brass strips at the corners were not painted in order to get a better CA bond.  The smoke ducts can be added after weathering and detailing.  They are black enough already!

 

Other detailing items can't be ordered yet as the supplier is on holiday, but will include tools, piping, taps, standpipe, buckets and hooks.  A workbench or two plus shelving/cabinets would not be amiss but these can be knocked up from basswood.

 

Friday evening, time for a glass of wine. . . . .

[2ManySpams]

Have a look at Chris' (spams) thread, and Ron Heggs' Manchester & Sri Lanka threads. Also Mike Bragg on the G0G website. Lots of good techniques with plastic, iirc, Mike uses a ply structure with PK overlays.

Best

Simon

Thanks for the plug Simon. After a fair bit of trial and error I've adopted the three layer approach to building the shell of my 7mm plasticard buildings.

 

For the shell I use either 40 or 60 thou (1mm or 1.5mm) thick material depending upon the size of the building.

 

A photo or two below of a recent build:

 

 

 

The inner and outer skins are spaced with vertical strips spaced out regularly. Why? Uses less plasticard than three solid layers and the gaps allow you to run solvent down the strips to aid fixing and also the solvent vapours to escape.

 

That last point is important and I'm convinced that solvent fumes trapped between layers is a contributory factor to the warping issue. For the same reason I always still holes in plasticard assemblies that make up into a sealed box.

 

I'm a big fan of plasticard because:

* it's quick to bond

* minimal tools required

* it can be curved or twisted into shapes

* it can be sanded and filed smooth

* it can be scored or distressed to create a variety of surface textures from rough stone, brick and rotten timber

* it takes paint easily

 

Once the three-layer plastic shell is made up then I fix on the finishing detail layers, brick, stone, timber, corrugated whatever.

 

Something to avoid is cutting a single layer wall and then adding multiple relief layers to just one side. Almost certain to result in warping.

 

I've also moved away from fixing plasticard onto card, ply or mdf shells due to differential movement in the materials due to temp or moisture changes. Plus I find cutting plasticard a damn site easier than ply or mdf.

 

The brass skeleton idea should work nicely though. Not something I've tried.

 

Hope this helps.

[Focalplane]

Chris

 

A most useful post and contribution.  Thank you.  I need to re-read this in the morning - that glass of wine has dulled the blade a bit!

 

Paul

[2ManySpams]

Some more of another building...

 

The versatility of plasticard:

 

 

 

Bracing on the rear face of a building that is almost 1m long, nearly two years later and no warping.

 

An example of holes in what will become a closed box once the rest of the roof goes on - lets the solvent vapour out.

 

 

 

 

[coachmann]

I've never seen plastikard used like that (engraving the surface with brick or stone). It's pretty damn good as is the colouring.

Edited June 23, 2017 by coachmann

[Focalplane]

With a clear head this morning, I have re-read yesterday's posts and want to thank all for the links, photos, descriptions and encouragement.  As a plastikard novice I may have been lucky with the availability of the 2.5x7mm brass strip and Roket Max adhesive.  The three ply concept and also the vapour issue are completely new to me and require more study and practice.

 

I mentioned my liquid cement brand, Model Master, yesterday.  Here is a photo:

 

 

It has lasted 20 years and is still half full and as new.

[Simond]

Never seen that before. Does it say what it is, or is there an MSDS?

 

Belay that, there is: http://www.rustoleum.com/MSDS/ENGLISH/8872C.pdf

Good website too.

 

Best

Simon

Edited June 24, 2017 by Simond

[Focalplane]

Simon

 

The only information on the label (out of view in photo above) is that it contains xylene.  It is made by Testors, Model Master is a name given to a range of paint tinlets that cost the Earth in France.  Here is the link to an American supplier.  The price in Euros that I have seen is about 10 times that but I could not find it this morning.

 

Paul

[Simond]

38 quid on Amazon, someone's taking to papa-155!

 

Or on eBay, about £8 with between £13 and £49 postage!!! It seems to be a US-only product.

 

The recipe is in the MSDS I linked to, the ingredients are cheap enough, but you'd end up with about 3 gallons of the stuff, which is probably more than most clubs would use in a few years.

 

Best

Simon

Edited June 24, 2017 by Simond

[Focalplane]

So twenty years ago they just mentioned xylene with no reference to an on-line data sheet.  Health and Safety has come a long way.

 

Having read the Rustoleum SDS I am just pleased I do most of my hobbying outdoors!  And we don't have gas appliances either.