Erstfeld Depot: A Swiss N Gauge Diorama

[MikeTrice]

Mostly around the edges and rely on it wicking in. Occasionally I will brush on the full surface before squeezing together. I never vent but do put the laminations under a flat weight whilst they cure. I use D-Limonene which is less aggressive than some solvents.

[PaulRhB]

Thanks Mike.

[MikeTrice]

A new set of doors complete with inset door has been produced and small pieces of styrene added to represent the locking clips:

 

Having a couple of spare doors I decided to try a colour test to see how I got on. Lots of lessons learnt from this including the need to thin the Vallejo paint and rub down the cuts first. Not happy with the colour of the framework. Really must do better:

[MikeTrice]

An experiment. What if I was to print the doors in colour, cut them out and see if they looked better/neater?

 

So a quick first attempt:

 

 

 

They were printed on High Resolution Paper and I suspect would be better on Matt Photo Paper. The edges were touched in (badly) with a felt tip pen, but I do think the results are looking promising. The lack of depth would not really be obvious from normal viewing angles.

[Vecchio]

Be careful to use the right kind of ink - otherwise the colours may fade over the time - especially if daylight (UV) is present. Otherwise the printed ones look the bit.  

[MikeTrice]

I will spray them with UV varnish to protect the print.

[MikeTrice]

Another oddity discovered. I assumed that the doors on the main shed were the same as those on the side shed. Trying to workout the various discoloured/patched panels led me to discover that the main shed doors have 7 vertical panels and the side shed 6!

 

I am still concerned as to whether I will be able to replicate the various stains/colours using paint so I have been taking the idea of printing the doors a stage further. The original panels are slightly transparent so the cross bracing does show through. All of this is being added to my artwork being produced in Inkscape as shown here:

[MikeTrice]

Ended up with a combination of printed image and styrene frames.

 

First off the coloured images were printed on printable vinyl:

 

Styrene frame and backing for doors cut on Silhouette and frame painted. Vinyl print trimmed after spraying will UV Matt spray:

 

Label fixed to backing:

 

Frame stuck in place with Solvent Free UHU (applied sparingly). Any visible external edges touched in with paint:

 

 

I reckon this is about the best I am going to manage. Beare in mind when looking at these images how small the originals are.

[MikeTrice]

I now have 9 different doors all numerically tabbed to identify them.

 

To see if they worked the side shed has been painted and the doors temporarily fitted with masking tape. The door surrounds were masked and painted a darker grey but have bled slightly so must do better next time. It shows in this image:

 

Fortunately when posed with models the ragged edge of the grey is far less obvious so I might just get away with it. Del Prado model on left:

 

[MikeTrice]

Decided to redo the pale grey surround. A suitable grey was not available in the Vallejo range so I custom mixed some in a spare bottle. This proved difficult was the resulting mix tended to dry darker than it looked when wet. I think I have got something that is good.

 

The two elements were masked with a combination of Tamiya 6mm tape and ModelCraft 3mm tape with some blue painter's tape as a fill in. I used the dodge of spraying the masked model in the base colour (Vallejo WhiteGrey) which means any creep under the tape is in the same colour as the base walls and does not show. The light grey paint was then sprayed on:

 

 

For the front of the main shed it was easier to brush paint the grey areas:

 

On removal of the tape I am VERY happy with the results so now need to let the paint go off over 24hrs before tackling the concrete:

 

 

[MikeTrice]

More masking, this time to spray the concrete areas. Masking is a tedius job:

 

 

After spraying. I used Vallejo Stone Grey as a base then oversprayed with black. Probably overdone it a bit:

 

 

 

[MikeTrice]

I hate painting. If any can go wrong it inevitably does!

 

I though I would get away with hand painting the roof and weathering it. Disaster:

 

Previously I expressed disatisfaction with the painting of the cement rendering and frontage and decided I had to redo it. The whole lot was masked of again (doubly boring as I had already done it once) and the cement resprayed. Whilst still masked I decided to attempt weathering using Humbrol Soot weathering powder and Decalfix as per their instructional videos. This went quite well but the very fluid nature of the mix used resulted in areas where it crept under the masting tape:

 

I hate painting!

 

 

The side in contrast came out quite well (for me):

 

A closeup of the front corner still highlights the file marks in the upper window column. I tried to fill these before respraying but obviously failed:

 

The use of Decalfix is supposed to allow water to be used to remove unwanated weathering. Unfortunately on an off-white base this was not really successful so I have had to resort to touchingin with more off-white paint. This is complicated by the lighter Vallejo colours not being very opaque:

 

A close-up of the roof shows where some of the paint is rubbing off so once all touching up is finished I will spray the whole model with acrylic varnish to seal it!

 

I HATE PAINTING!!!!!!!

 

Meanwhile I have started the floor for inside the shed. With the rear not being visible I will probably omit adding the 6th track:

 

[Siberian Snooper]

It all looks pretty good to me, the marks add a little to it in my opinion, as if the building has seen some wear and tear and I bet from 2 foot or so is hardly noticeable. Close up shots are bound to show the flaws, but I think the overall impression is very good.

[MikeTrice]

Before full cleanup takes place I decided I wanted to seal the existing paintwork following the rub-off that occurred. Both components have been sprayed with an aerosol of Humbrol Matt Acrylic Varnish (a lovely product to use). At the same time I sprayed the various doors so the printed parts blended in with the painted frames. Will post photos later when daylight returns.

 

While the varnish hardens overnight I have scribed the glazing on the Silhouette.

 

Note that there is a big bug in the version of Silhouette Studio when using the pen tool as a cut setting and spurious scribed lines appear (top left hand window):

 

 

Taking the window that worked and trying rescribing most have worked but the bug has appeared on one of them. Frustrating but not the end of the world:

 

The scribed lines were painted with the grey Vallejo mix used previously:

 

The surplus is then "polished" off with a tissue:

 

The circular window in extreme closeup:

[MikeTrice]

Weathering added above main doors (to match photos) with Decalfix and Soot Weathering Powder. Whole lot sprayed with Humbrol Acrylic Matt.

 

Left hand office window and circular windows fitted. Doors glued in place and awaiting their glazing:

[sbb]

This is great craftmanship.

 

Even more inspiring as I started working on exactly the same topic.

The Erstfeld depot is a landmark and central operations hub of the old vanishing Gotthard main line and makes for a great diorama to shift and park your loco's.

 

Excellent documentation as well, I will stay tuned and closely watch every progress.

 

Thanks,

Michael.

 

 

[MikeTrice]

End windows masked off ready to spray the wider vertical rails:

 

With the masking removed:

 

With the main shed having its paint touched up then given another coat of Matt varnish I can finally install the doors and windows. This is the result:

 

 

 

[MikeTrice]

Time to start the groundwork. The spaces between the tracks are infilled with DAS Modelling Clay.

 

First some clay is rolled out using a couple of pieces of styrene to act as thickness spacers. These were chosen to match the height of the Peco sleepers:

 

A palette knife is used to rough trim the rolled clay:

 

The clay is then laid in place and pressed down around the track:

 

Taken up again and turned over the ends of the sleepers can be seen and the clay trimmed back further to avoid them:

 

PVA is then spread on the baseboard:

 

And the prepared piece laid in place on the PVA. When happy with its position the surface is stippled with a stencil brush in best Chris Nevard tradition. I am hoping this will give a fair representation of the fine ballast used on the original:

 

All areas have now been done and the whole left overnight to dry. Today I have started to build up the areas around the pathways to reproduce the various levels and it will now have to be put aside again to dry:

 

 

 

[MikeTrice]

The gaps around the track have been ballasted with Dapol N Gauge ballast. The colour is not quite as grey as I had hoped:

 

The following images were taken as a sanity check and to see if I could live with the colouring that has resulted (I should add that I am still to colour the fine areas between the tracks):

 

 

 

 

[Gordonwis]

Great work

[bgman]

Before full cleanup takes place I decided I wanted to seal the existing paintwork following the rub-off that occurred. Both components have been sprayed with an aerosol of Humbrol Matt Acrylic Varnish (a lovely product to use). At the same time I sprayed the various doors so the printed parts blended in with the painted frames. Will post photos later when daylight returns.

 

While the varnish hardens overnight I have scribed the glazing on the Silhouette.

IMG_0371.JPG

 

Note that there is a big bug in the version of Silhouette Studio when using the pen tool as a cut setting and spurious scribed lines appear (top left hand window):

 

 

Taking the window that worked and trying rescribing most have worked but the bug has appeared on one of them. Frustrating but not the end of the world:

IMG_0372.JPG

 

The scribed lines were painted with the grey Vallejo mix used previously:

IMG_0373.JPG

 

The surplus is then "polished" off with a tissue:

IMG_0376.JPG

 

The circular window in extreme closeup:

IMG_0377.JPG

Hi Mike,

 

Extremely nice modelling, admittedly I haven't looked of late but good to catch up with your work.

 

May I ask what tool (make / supplier ) you have used in the Silhouette to scribe the windows with and also the material used too.

I've read the excellent thread using the Silhouette and would ideally like to purchase a "scriber" from a UK source if possible.

Grahame

[MikeTrice]

For scribing I use an Amy Chomas engraving tip: http://www.amychomas.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=78

The material used is 0.5mm PETG: http://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Raw-Materials/Plastics/Item/Clear-PETG-312-510mm/ITM6944