Projected Portable Module - Stourbridge Town

[Stubby47]

Do the concrete sleepers have holes in for the chairs/clips ? If so should your master, so the resulting casts have consistent spacing ?

[peter220950]

From the ones I can see stacked at the end of the platform there are only the Pandrol clip holders, which will be made from the tube sections I have.

 

On the running rail there's also be a small pad under the rail, which I need to check out, but it's simple enough to recast a mk3 if I can't apply individual pads, but I need them without for the sleepers stacked at the side of the track.

 

The Pandrol holders are too small to cast successfully and keep the hole through, so I shall attach the tubes separately with some sort of jig to put them in the correct positions.

 

 

For the ten or so on the running track I will fix the sleepers, then put pads on, fix the rail, then add the Pandrol clips and tubes. That's the theory anyway, the conventional sleepering and chairs either side of this short section will hopefully line it all up, as it's dead straight.

 

It all seems a long way from slamming a bit of Peco or C&L track down, but as there's only about 4ft of track I can afford to ponce about with this sort of stupidity.

 

What I suspect is that putting exact detail in won't always look right, I've just noticed the difference in colour between the running rail and the piece of new rail alongside, I may have to take some pictures another day when it's not there!

 

Peter

[peter220950]

Until I can get a supply of 3 bolt chairs I’m a bit stuck, I would normally start at track level and work my way up, but as there’s not likely to be a lot of wiring or point control to bury there’s not much I can get on with, particularly as I haven’t got the boards sorted yet.

 

As a result I’m still messing around with stuff well out of sequence, but I suppose any progress is better than sitting around doing nothing. Today saw the old piece of resin wall milled flat and the grooves milled out for the pales and rails.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A second trial seems to indicate that this part of the platform is now sorted, I just need to source some more 3mm x .5mm strip to match the bits I already have.

 

Thoughts then turned to the station building itself, I’ve made a start with a scale drawings but again the previous layout has robbed out my supply of brick sheet, so I’m waiting for new supplies before I can start.

 

Slater’s sheet now on order, together with some random stone for the wall alongside the entrance, though this may end up being hand scribed DAS.

 

 

Peter

[peter220950]

The brick plastic card has now arrived, thanks to an efficient service from Norman Wisenden, so I can make a start on the building and associated walls. The sleepering for the main track has also been cut, ready to make a start when the 3 bolt chairs have been sourced.

 

 

The only other progress has been on the random stone walling alongside the entrance footway, the embossed sheet arrived and I wasn’t too sure if it would be suitable,

 

 

but a coat of mortar colour

 

 

some painting of individual stones

 

 

and a dust with talc and weathering powder seems to indicate it’s a worthwhile route to follow.

It probably needs to be a bit lighter, but I haven’t yet taken more than a couple of photo’s of this bit, and then only on bright sunny days, so I can look more closely when I measure it up and take detailed close ups.

 

One thing that it has flagged up is the need to sort the layout lighting out this early, as the two photos of the same wall below show. These were taken with the same camera on different sides of my workroom, within an hour or so of one another.

 

 

So although it's way out of sequence I will also now have to source some LED strip to try out the various options, as it's apparent that getting the colouring to look right consistently needs more controlled conditions.

 

Peter

[Stubby47]

There is an awful lot of mortar in that wall, is it true to the prototype ?

[peter220950]

There is an awful lot of mortar in that wall, is it true to the prototype ?

That's one of the reasons why I need to go back and check it out, but if you look at the photo immediately above my last post it's not too far off. The joints are quite wide, as the wall is almost flush pointed, but it needs some better close ups to confirm.

 

 

Peter

[peter220950]

Bit of a quick update, I have actually made some progress on the station building, but still need to visit again to clarify some detail.

 

In the interim I have discovered a lot of things that I hadn't previously known. Peco do make concrete sleepering, but it's not on their website! I shall organise some to see how it compares with my castings. They also do 3 bolt chairs and Pandrol bases, again not shown on the site, so it might shortcut some work.

 

Also concerning the walling, I have now found some S E Finecast sheets that might be a bit better, again the site visit will clarify, but it does have a bit less mortar between the stones.

 

 

The right hand sheet is the new one, the down side is its harder to paint the individual stones!

 

 

So now I'm off to try to source the Peco bits, as well as the Exactoscale chairs, once C&L are up and running for mail order.

 

I will post more on the building when it's a bit further advanced, suffice it to say I've been glueing individual bricks on in some places, something I've never had the time or patience to do before, but the ticket office wall is complete with exactly the same brick layout as the real thing.

 

Peter

[peter220950]

I have to say I’m really enjoying this challenge, the ability to spend time on very small pieces of work is a godsend. On my other layout the work required in producing an 8ft length of two and three storey buildings meant that it was more of a chore than anything to take pleasure in, but with only one building and a retaining wall there’s time to really concentrate on detail.

 

So far the last couple of weeks have seen little visible progress but a lot of thinking and planning, time has been spent in trying out paint colours and weathering of brickwork for the main ochre colour and the blue engineering bricks.

 

 

 

A start has been made on the main station building, with the marking out of the ticket office front wall to exactly match the brickwork patterns. The reveals to the window are all lined through, and the corner joints have been mitred to prevent unsightly gaps. The angled cant bricks to the top of the wall were made up with strips cut from the brick sheet, but the soldier course at the bottom was a different matter as there’s nothing on the sheet that suits. I decided that rather than scribing a sheet of card I would cut individual bricks from the Slater’s sheet and fix them to a plain backing. There’s also a single course of bricks below this line that shows in various places where the falls to the platform vary the ground level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wall sections were then backed with square section and a backing piece was attached to form a box, with a couple of air holes to let the structure ‘breathe’. The ticket office counter was then fabricated, and left loose to fix it once painted, I now need to sort out the best way of producing the stainless steel finish of the counter.

 

The centre section of the wall at the other end of the building has also been made but I need a further visit to sort out the exact length of the building and some other details of the back wall.

 

 

On other fronts there has been a bit of movement, mainly in ‘research and development’, the station clock being a case in point. Having searched through several hundred watches on eBay I have located one with a suitably sized and decorated face, that will provide a working mechanism. A proper enclosure will be fabricated when I get onto the roof above the entrance area.

 

 

 

 

The glass for the windows has also been delivered, it’s not quite scale thickness, but it’s as close as I can get, and there’s nothing quite as good as glass to represent glass.

 

 

 

The recent discussions elsewhere about the new Peco Settrack points, on the Forum, noted that there were templates on the Tower Models website. I downloaded a left and right to check out their suitability for the fiddle yard, but having found they would work I decided it was easier to use up some of my timbering to build my own, so double sided tape was put on the plans and sleepers cut to length. It’s not accurate on any way, but it’s all hidden anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

I still haven’t managed to get over to do the final measurements on the station building, but next week should see this completed and some more progress on the building can be made.

 

 

Peter

[peter220950]

Not a lot of progress visible to date, but I have been getting stuff done, its just not very photogenic.

 

Phil (Brush 4 Intentio Models of this Forum) has had a look at the herringbone platform finish and it looks like he can help me out with this and the tram acrylic interior cutting. The artwork is pretty much there, it just needs some straight edging sections adding.

 

The other progress has been with etch artwork for the railings, air bricks, drainage grating, and the revised tram sides for the 143 and the PPM.

 

 

So not a lot to to see but things are moving forward.

 

Peter

[peter220950]

Having just about recovered from a weeks holiday with the grandchildren I've had made some progress, though a lot of it is still a bit nebulous.

 

A box of track goodies has arroved from Peco, though I may not use some of the bits, the 3 hole chairs are also on order from C&L, to be picked up at Telford.

 

 

 

The etches for the Class 139, the PPM, and station railings and gratings have also arrived,

 

 

And I'm particularly pleased with the drainage gratings

 

 

And now I'm back at home I can order the baseboards to get some real progress.

 

Peter

Edited August 12, 2017 by peter220950

[Ben B]

Hello- just been reading through this thread, did the project progress?  I used to use Stourbridge Town a lot when I was at College in Stourbridge in the early 2000's.  This thread brings back happy memories... it was still the class 153 when I was using it, though I did like that such a short line had such a neat, functional little station (manned too, which was a surprise for such a tiny place).