Edging

[ohanlonmartin]

Not sure but if this has been done to death, my apologies.

 

I am now trying to construct the platform tops on my 00 scale layout, the base material is 2mm MDF (to be fixed on top of 18mm timber) which I plan to cover with Metcalfe paving sheets, not the Metcalfe individual paving slabs.

 

Has anybody a recommendation to achieve the white line edging on platforms, at present I have experimented by using strips of white card (the reverse of the printed paving sheets) and sticking those on to the platform tops.

 

Given my skills level, the width of the white strip finish on the platform top I am looking for is 2mm or approx.6 inches in real life, by using strips of white card 5-6mm wide I can stick this to the top and crease/fold and stick the remainder down on to the platform top edge and then trim off the residue which gives a finish of 2mm on top and 2mm along the edge.

 

However when it comes to folding the white card strips down to cover the edge of the platform top it is difficult to "crease" the card and achieve a neat fold, the card is less than 1mm in thickness but it is strong enough to be very resistant to creasing.

 

Scoring the underneath of the card runs the danger of cutting through it and then trying to re-stick the strip of card on to the platform top edge.

 

I have considered some form of white paint as the edging finish but doubt if I can be neat enough in its application and there would then be a difference in depth between the paving sheets finish and the white edging.

 

Any suggestions?

[Stubby47]

Have you tried the Tippex correcting strip that comes on a roll ? Carefull application of that could give you the necessary top width and front edge.

You'd need to lay a row of edge slabs to maintain the height.

Stu

Edited April 26, 2017 by Stubby47

[APOLLO]

I used white / cream masking tape folded over the edge. Works well.

 

Brit15

[ohanlonmartin]

Many thanks for those,

 

I had indeed considered both options previously but wasn't confident of getting the Tippex straight and neat enough but I will now give it a go, on the masking tape; I did have a go with white insulating electrical tape but found it to be too pliable to get a straight line.

 

On my experimental pieces I have used rows of edge slabs and in-filled with paving slabs between those, the finish looks quite good, to me anyway but I am far from happy with my folded over white card for the edging.

 

I would really like to get a clean crisp right angle finish on the edging and am wondering if there is any sort of balsa wood or plastic right angle profile that might do the trick, there is quite a lot of platforms to be edged and although only a small detail I think they are very noticeable and need to be the best finish that can be achieved

[Campaman]

I would use slabs to get the correct edge then mask off leaving the edge ready to paint.

[Branwell]

How about 'Trimline' self adhesive lining?

 

http://www.modeltechnics.com/trimline.htm

[ohanlonmartin]

Thanks again,

 

On the masking off and painting suggestion I feel the danger is that on lifting the masking tape it may well pull away the top surface on the printed paving sheets, over time would the paint not discolour?

 

The Trimline tape looks like a contender and I will ring the supplier for more info, if I am reading their blurb correctly does it mean there are 8 different tape widths on the one roll, my ideal would be for a width of circa 4-6mm.

[Branwell]

Thanks again,

 

On the masking off and painting suggestion I feel the danger is that on lifting the masking tape it may well pull away the top surface on the printed paving sheets, over time would the paint not discolour?

 

The Trimline tape looks like a contender and I will ring the supplier for more info, if I am reading their blurb correctly does it mean there are 8 different tape widths on the one roll, my ideal would be for a width of circa 4-6mm.

 

Yes, you get all the widths on one roll, which is 2.5m long. Widths, in mm, are 0.5, 0,8, 1.3, 2.1, 3.3, 5.0, 7.0 and 10.0.

[ohanlonmartin]

Thanks,

 

That might work out a bit wasteful as ideally a 5-6mm width would do the trick, however in my local stationers yesterday I picked up some standard Tipp-Ex erasure ribbon in a little roll-on dispenser.

 

This is a very light white plastic ribbon used instead of the liquid form of Tipp-Ex and might do the trick if I am careful as it is very fragile, just need to set up a simple type of guide to run the dispenser along in order to achieve a straight line of 2mm width on top and then wrap the remainder around and under the edge of the platform.

 

Packet of 3 dispensers for €5 so not a big money loss if it does not work out as hoped and at 5mm width and 6mtrs in each roll seems great value if it works!

 

By the way my layout is set in the ubiquitous late 50's to early 60's steam to diesel period and am wondering if my using printed paving sheets entirely is correct for that time period or should it be paving for the edges only with tarmacadam in the centre of the platforms?

[tractionman]

By the way my layout is set in the ubiquitous late 50's to early 60's steam to diesel period and am wondering if my using printed paving sheets entirely is correct for that time period or should it be paving for the edges only with tarmacadam in the centre of the platforms?

Probably best to look through photos from the period, I've got one in front of me now of Wednesbury station taken by R C Riley in 1960 and the platforms have no white lines and are asphalt except for stone slab edging.

 

Yet other stations in the Midlands at around this date did have white lines, even small ones. A 1963 picture of Henley in Arden station, for example, shows white lines and paved platforms, including the island platform.

 

All the best,

 

Keith

Edited April 30, 2017 by tractionman

[ohanlonmartin]

Thanks Keith,

 

Should have mentioned the layout is based on the pre-LMS and would be representative of practices in that region.

 

I tried the Tipp-Ex white ribbon dispenser and it worked well by using a long straight edge as a guide to run the little mouse dispenser along the platform top, only snag was that with the sharp edge on the printed card slab stones the ribbon is being cut as you run along the edging, so you are left with just the top 2mm showing and nothing left over to wrap around and under the 2mm MDF.

 

Not a huge problem as the MDF can be touched in with maybe liquid Tipp-Ex along the facing edge to complete the job.

 

The Tipp-Ex white ribbon is extremely light and has to be so as to do its intended job of erasing on printing paper but it gives a nice clean white finish for my purposes and leaves virtually no thickness on the top surface of the platform.

[ohanlonmartin]

Google is your man okay......

 

Quick scan on there for LMS stations and Keith's comments about variety is spot on, a mixture of all paving slabs and just slabs along the edges with the infill done in tarmacadam or perhaps even concrete, including various finishes along he same stretch of platform where sections of paving slabs were replaced with tarmacadam, presumably as an expediency measure following repair works?

 

Some platforms did not have the white lines but the vast majority did have them.

[jamie92208]

As far as I know white lines only appeared as part of the black out precautions in WW2 and weren't around before that.

 

Jamie

[tractionman]

As far as I know white lines only appeared as part of the black out precautions in WW2 and weren't around before that.

 

Jamie

I wonder if the war promoted the practice of lining on platform edges, as I have some prewar photographs of Midlands stations which show its use in some instances, such as a 1938 photograph of Kenilworth station with white lines looking quite worn, and another of Great Barr in LNWR days again with platform edges white-lined. The latter image also has a Webb coal tank at the station, which is how I came across the picture (my Bachmann Webb tank has just arrived  ).

 

Here's a link to a pregrouping shot of Great Barr

 

http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrgb60.htm

 

And a prewar shot of Kenilworth

 

http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrk151.htm

 

These both come from the excellent Warwickshire Railways website (the photos I've been using are from books I have).

 

Would be interesting to know what the prewar and pregrouping practices were elsewhere.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

Edited May 1, 2017 by tractionman

[Guy Rixon]

You could paint the white edging using a rigid shield rather than tape as a mask. You can make one from plastic sheet with the edge filed to a chamfer, and its used vertically, with the chamfered edge pressing down on the surface to be painted. If you use this with viscous paint - I recommend artists' acrylics - then you should readily be able to paint a clean line without the paint going under the mask.

[28XX]

For those who didn't know, the lines were traditionally applied using whitewash from a bucket using a rightangled brush on a broom handle. Plenty of drips ended up in the middle of the slabs.

[Tinker]

I made some platforms just using 18mm MDF tapered the ends for the slopes, made a narrow rebate along the platform edge and pva'd  in strips of heavy duty printing paper, if you want the platform to be high add to the base of the MDF.....

[ohanlonmartin]

I made some platforms just using 18mm MDF tapered the ends for the slopes, made a narrow rebate along the platform edge and pva'd  in strips of heavy duty printing paper, if you want the platform to be high add to the base of the MDF.....

Tinker,

 

I originally fitted the edging slabs 2mm back from the platform extreme edges thus creating a rebate which was the thickness of the printed card, my snag arose when trying to wrap strips of he same card on top of and around the MDF, the card used was strips of the printed type just reveres with the white side on show, the card is proving too stiff to wrap around the MDF top

 

The platform construction method I have gone for includes 18mm soft wood bases topped with 2mm MDF overhang along the sides running the length of the platforms, it's just the overhang bit I want to get the white line onto as well as the facing edge of that MDF overhang.

 

Positioning the printed card slabs right to the edge of the platform top now allows me to do away with any rebate and just try to overlay the white lines on top of the slabs themselves, hence the Tipp-Ex and paint methods being explored.

 

Anyone any thoughts on what the platform bases should be covered in as in brick, concrete or whatever, my initial thoughts were to use the Peco plastic facing but their cost is prohibitive for the amount I need, not sure whether LMS station used brick, concrete or other base construction materials.

[allan downes]

I usually scribe a deep line 10mm in from the platform edge right down the length with a box scriber that  prevents the paint from spreading beyond the line.

 

You can just make out the white platform lining in this shot.

 

Cheers.

 

Allan

 

 

 

 

[Bill_J]

Most modellers seem to paint while holding the brush like a pen or pencil and moving their hand from the wrist. If you use the whole arm it is surprising how much more control you have when trying to paint a fine straight line. Watch a traditional signwriter or pinstriper at work.

 

Regards

[ohanlonmartin]

Thanks Allan and Bill,

 

In my earlier life working for the Irish railways there were some gifted sign writers whose skills were eventually lost with the introduction of "femo" (spelling) stripes, I did use a gauge to set out my 2mm white edging distance and used that as my guide, without taking measurements I reckon a scale 6 inches looks about right for the white line.

 

As usual I am looking for a non-super skilled way to achieve what I am looking for, hence the use of ready made striping if possible, anyone any info on the platform base materials that were used among the LMS stations, brick (what colour?) or concrete?

Edited May 3, 2017 by ohanlonmartin