Great Southern Railway (Fictitious) - Signalling the changes...

[Tom Burnham]

6 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

This morning, the postie brought more paving slabs and a Wills platform canopy kit. I wanted a traditional-style canopy, but one without and glass in the roof. That discounted the Hornby standard yellow ones (although they do have rather nice cast supports), the Metcalfe kit, the Ratio kit and the Dapol kit (also excluded as just... something about it didn't feel right). That being said, the Wills one almost perfectly fits the platform (there is a slight overhang over the track, but it's clear of the loading gauge, and will keep the model passengers try as they board!). 

I have a vague recollection that the Airfix (now Dapol) station canopy kit was at least "inspired by" a Southern Railway original, so is the sort of thing that would have replaced a pre-Grouping one.

[Skinnylinny]

Well that was a very pleasant surprise! A friend popped over yesterday for a cuppa and chat, and presented me with a very small birthday present... which contained two packs of Andrew Stadden figures - Seated Edwardian People  (set 004, chosen because it appeared to have a wider range of social classes over set 003) and Edwardian Workmen (set 006). We then had a lovely hour or two discussing Edwardian and Victorian clothing, and colours, and generally coming up with various backstories for the characters, such as the gent who looks like a very sloppily-dressed goods porter (jacket wide open, cap at a jaunty angle) who looks like he's slipped down the pub for a quick one for lunch, and returned after a quick four or five...)



The Stadden figures were a big surprise, not just because I wasn't expecting them. The sculpting is exquisite, with several of the gents having wonderful muttonchops, one or two having fine details like watch chains, and lovely flowers on the ladies' hats. I was also surprised that every single one of the standing figures stands up unglued, flat on their feet. That'll make gluing them down much easier. For now, I shall glue them to stirps of plasticard and give them a mist of primer, before I have a first attempt at painting them over the weekend, which is mildly terrifying...

[Annie]

What an excellent and useful birthday present Linny.  Those Stadden figures are absolutely exquisite.

[Skinnylinny]

They really are! They've been nestled at the bottom of my Amazon wishlist for a few years now, just an entry that said "Any Edwardian figures" and so it was especially nice to hear the reasoning for picking those sets.

It's such a pity that the Dugald Drummond figure is only available in 7mm. The same goes for the Railway Children Edwardian Family set, and his Frank Hornby...

[Skinnylinny]

Well, the figure painting begins... They're far from perfect but they'll certainly do for me, and add a welcome splash of colour to the station platform.



Next up is one of the workmen, and I'll need to sort some nice benches for these ladies to sit on!

[Skinnylinny]

Well a few more have been painted over the course of the day - two workmen (one of whom needs his braces touched-up a bit - they're a little wobbly!), and another lady for the platform. I'm not sure about her dress sense, though - something doesn't seem to fit with the colours. Maybe the hat is too bright, or that scarf is just too... yellow. Who knows. Perhaps another trip to the tailor is in order...





The two women in the background certainly seem to be giving her the cold shoulder!

Edited August 1, 2020 by Skinnylinny

[Andy Hayter]

Remember that many poorer people would be wearing second, third, forth or more hand clothing.  Taken in, let out and matching only in as far as they had one current owner.

[Skinnylinny]

Whoops... two weeks have passed. Well, an update was due last week with work starting on platform 1 at Linton.



However. This morning, when the sun caught the layout through the window (I've mostly kept the blinds shut to keep out the worst of the sun lately!) I noticed that the brickwork was warped and bubbling. My previously carefully-aligned smooth butt joints now look like this: 



I tried peeling off the very warped plastikard and it turned out that the glue I had used (Bostick all-purpose - a UHU clone) had attacked the Peco platform edging pieces leaving me with this texture on the surface and a rather pronounced wavy warp to the platform sides:



They seem to be utterly beyond repair, but I'm hoping I can manage to keep the platform surface and reuse that. Lesson learned - the next set of platforms will be assembled with Revell Contacta poly cement. 

On another note, I see the Dapol Stroudley carriages in 7mm. I want to be excited about them, I really do, but... those underframes are something of a mess with various details that shouldn't be there! To say nothing of the spring hangers...

{Edit: someone from Dapol has explained the strange combination of details!}

Edited August 12, 2020 by Skinnylinny

[JeremyC]

Linny, one thing I learned when using Evostik to attach plastic sheet to sealed card buildings was that it was essential to apply the glue to both surfaces and wait until it was fully touch dry before joining them together. Not waiting for this to happen resulted in solvent attack of the plastic (Guess how I found that out!). I'm fairly sure the instructions for the type of Bostik you've used are the same when used on two non-absorbent surfaces.

Edited August 12, 2020 by JeremyC

[relaxinghobby]

I'm holding here a little red tin of Evo-Stik solvent free impact adhesive bought in Wilkinson's IIRC. A 250ml tin.

It is a white glue maybe a PVA type and seems pretty good and claims to stick anything. I know someone who sticks white metal kits together with it. It is runny and easy to spread over a flat surface.

May it that will be kind to plastic kits too.

 

To resuscitate the plastic platform edge have you tried either a very coarse file to grind back the rough dry glue surface or glue some rough grit sandpaper to a block of wood so you can sand the plastic back to a more or less smooth condition.

 

Look on the bright side you have produced aged distressed platform edge, sort of heavy duty weathering to produce a bit of texture, more realistic look?

[Skinnylinny]

Thank you for the message. I did consider trying to sand the platform edge back to flat. Unfortunately, the plastic underneath is now very wavy, and for the amount of work needed to try to straighten them out and sand them and replace the plasticard... it was simply quicker to rebuild the sides from scratch. I managed to keep the platform surfaces, mind you!



The arrivals platform has now been rebuilt, and I'm playing around with the departures one as I type - glue is setting. I'm now using poly cement (Revell contacta). 

[Skinnylinny]

A little playing around with some lighting components I have lying around today. First a Gaugemaster platform oil lamp:



This is running on about 3V. It doesn't cast a visible pool of light on the platform in dim lighting conditions, but casts a lovely orange-yellow pool at 6V. I realise that for an oil lamp, it probably ought not to be bright enough to read one's newspaper from. That being said, the control boards that come with these lamps allow the brightness to be adjusted after installation.

I also played around with a yellowish LED that came with the Gaugemaster lamps, and while it casts a slightly sickly light with a slight green tinge to it, it has certainly vindicate my decision to fit full interior detail to the signalbox. Powered by a 3V button cell and blu-tacked inside the roof, it certainly looks good, but I'll be replacing the LED with something warmer-tone, probably a grain-of-wheat bulb running at well below its rated voltage, and hanging down from the roof to avoid heat from the bulb damaging the plastic box roof! I assume the lighting in the signalbox would need to be bright enough to see the train register. Would the light be centred in the 'box, or over the desk?

[Caley Jim]

43 minutes ago, Skinnylinny said:

Would the light be centred in the 'box, or over the desk?

I think usually both. One over the desk for writing up the register and one (or more, depending on the size of the box) in the centre to illuminate the lever frame, track diagram, block instruments etc. 

 

I tried button batteries (3 x 1.5v) to power the 2 LEDs in my box for Kirkallanmuir, but found they only lasted less than 30 minutes, so they are now powered, via resistors, from the 12vDC supply for my uncoupling magnets and turnout actuators. 

 

Jim 

Edited August 18, 2020 by Caley Jim
Spelling correction

[Skinnylinny]

Well that was fun! I attached the grain of wheat bulb in the middle of the ceiling, ran the wires along the top of the roof, then down the edges to allow them to be tucked into the corners of the 'box walls, popped it together, tested everything... and then realised I'd got the roof on backwards with the chimney at the front. Cue much swearing!

I tried removing the wiring in order to correct things, only for the insulation to rip off the wiring and stay resolutely attached to the inside of the roof. Much carving, and a new bulb and wiring later, things are looking much neater. No pics yet, but they'll be forthcoming once everything's assembled for good.

[Caley Jim]

1 hour ago, Skinnylinny said:

.... and then realised I'd got the roof on backwards with the chimney at the front. Cue much swearing!

Yep, been there done that!    See half way down that post! 

 

Jim

[Nick C]

On 18/08/2020 at 16:20, Caley Jim said:

I think usually both. One over the desk for writing up the register and one (or more, depending on the size of the box) in the centre to illuminate the lever frame, track diagram, block instruments etc. 

 

That's what we've got in Alresford box, along with one at the top of the stairs so you can see where you're going to do token exchanges. The overhead one is angled to better illuminate the diagram and signal repeaters.

[Skinnylinny]

Well, I finally did it - I broke open the box containing the bits for Linton Town station building - the venerable Peco Manyways brick country station and Manyways station houses kits. They've been seen on many a layout over the years, although a fair chunk of them will be hidden behind canopies at Linton Town. 

In fact, the canopy has caused a few headaches. The canopy that is supplied with the station building kit is rather short (both in length and height). In fact, the whole station building isn't very tall. So much so that, even after trimming down the Wills platform canopy supports, the bottom of the valencing was still a good two feet above the top of the wall of the building....

So, some 40thou plasticard, clad with Slaters brick plasticard (English bond to match the building) formed a wall extension on the platform side, in a similar style to March station. 



Please forgive the unmade bed in the background!



The road side of the station looks like this, and will have the kit canopy (made slightly less deep) to cover the entrance:

[Skinnylinny]

On a lighter (and brighter!) note, following a conversation with Gary (BlueLightning), this monstrosity has happened. Just needs a terrier in large-logo Banger Blue to haul it, or converting into a push-pull with a high-intensity headlamp and tail lamps in the end.

 

One to suggest to Hattons for their Genesis carriages, do we think?

[Compound2632]

6 minutes ago, Skinnylinny said:

On a lighter (and brighter!) note, following a conversation with Gary (BlueLightning), this monstrosity has happened. Just needs a terrier in large-logo Banger Blue to haul it, or converting into a push-pull with a high-intensity headlamp and tail lamps in the end.

 

One to suggest to Hattons for their Genesis carriages, do we think?

 

Definitely has something of the 4-VEP about it!

[Nick C]

On 08/09/2020 at 14:50, Compound2632 said:

 

Definitely has something of the 4-VEP about it!

Probably more comfortable and less draughty than a VEP!

[Compound2632]

15 minutes ago, Nick C said:

Probably more comfortable and less draughty than a VEP!

 

I commuted by 4-VEP between Reading and Twickenham in the 90s; should I blame the twinge in my right knee to my preference for sitting RHS facing forward?

[Nick C]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I commuted by 4-VEP between Reading and Twickenham in the 90s; should I blame the twinge in my right knee to my preference for sitting RHS facing forward?

Quite probably! We lived by the Arun valley line at the time, and you'd be checking as the train approached to see if it was a VEP or a CIG, especially in the later years when some of the first class compartments in the CIGs were declassified, the disappointment when it was a VEP was huge!

 

So, Linny, a VEP or 444 in LSWR salmon and brown next? 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Nick C

[sem34090]

Many years ago I downloaded a 444, 450 and 158 into SketchUp, replaced the multicoloured swooshes with green then did the rest of the train in salmon and brown.

[Skinnylinny]

A little more work on the row of houses along the back of Station Road - I managed to get my hands on a pair of the old Hornby semi-detached kits - one Victorian Semi and one pair of matching shops. The plan is to cut the buildings in half, using the fronts as half-relief along the backscene, while the rears will be used over the tunnel used as a scenic break. Perfect! At first glance, things looked good - proper Flemish-bond brickwork, beautifully-moulded displays for the shops (4mm scale chicken, bacon, ham and ribs?, anyone?):



However, once I started to build, there are a few issues. The fit of parts... isn't great. The corners I have tidied up with a bit of filler, but the windows don't fit very nicely into the front wall - there's a bit of a gap around the edges of the bricks making up the arch. I got the thing built up, and plonked it next to a Petite Properties kit, and. Well.



There's a bit of a size discrepancy! Normally I'd disguise this by saying that the right-hand one is a more up-market building (presumably further from the station with its soot and grime?) while the left-hand building is more of a worker's house, with lower ceilings, smaller rooms etc. I think this might be one of those cases of early building kits being made to a slightly smaller scale so as to fit better (read: more!) on a train set board.

 

[Compound2632]

The further away, the smaller it looks...

 

Almost certainly sold as "00/H0 Scale"!