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My first attempt at scratchbuilding is coming along alright, at least by my standards, and now I'm about to embark on The Slating Of The Roof, about which I'm filled with foreboding.

 

I've done a small practice run, and that's shown me that I'm OK scribing my 10 thou plastic card every 4mm then cutting it into 6mm strips. What I'm definitely not OK with though is the thought of aligning 280mm long floppy strips accurately then gluing them in place without losing the vertical alignment. Horizontal alignment by Mk I eyeball doesn't worry me, but how on earth do I keep the strips straight and the correct distance apart vertically? And how to glue them in place? Does applying MEK along the top edge with a small brush and trusting to capillary attraction work?

 

Any hints and tips from you guys who know what you're doing will be most welcome!

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 Does applying MEK along the top edge with a small brush and trusting to capillary attraction work?

 

Any hints and tips from you guys who know what you're doing will be most welcome!

 

I discovered MEK is too aggressive - at least on my slates, which I make from 5 thou plasticard. d-Limonene is much kinder to the plastic. Assuming you're glueing them to a plasticard base layer, you could mark out the lines on it of the top of the slates will sit first as a guide. 

 

Mention was made of self adhesive slates in the current MRJ (263) - if I remember correctly in the Llangunllo article - which might be worth a look too. 

Edited by sharris
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Have you tried the Scalescenes method?  It uses pre printed card and paper and does a good job IMO.  You can get the pack here:

 

https://scalescenes.com/product/tx18a-slate-roof-tiles/

 

Uses a similar idea to what you described, cut strips of tiles/slates and glue them to a card base.  The pack includes a printed guide to keep your rows aligned.

 

John

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Thanks gents. I've tried d-limonene in the past but The Lady Wife objected to the strong pong, so I'm stuck with (!) MEK or Tamiya Cement. Did you apply it to the backof the strip or the roof prior to applying one to t'other, or align the strip then bleed the solvent along the top edge?

 

I also tried York's laser-cut stickyback slates, but I wasn't totally sold on them. AFAIC 10 thou plastic card is the way to go, so I'll just keep trying different ways of keeping the alignment while I glue the strips. It's got to be possible somehow, even for me!

Edited by spikey
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Hi

Self-adhesive photo paper with an appropriately sized grid printed on is easy to align. I use two rows from the grid for each visible row, with the individual slates cut halfway through (one row). The uncut row makes for easy alignment  as each row overlaps, and there's a printed line to work to. The photo paper is 110gsm, which looks about the right thickness, and is a dream to paint.

Hope this makes sense; it's easier to do than to describe!

 

Ian

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10 thou plasticard is way to thick to represent a proper slate roof - it scales to 19-20mm, where best slate is about 4mm thick.  Even the chunky Cotswold slate and concrete tiles are about 10mm thick.  Would do for the sandstone slabs to be found on some Pennine roofs.  You really need something about 2 thou thick - 40gsm paper would be about right - although 60gsm at 3 thou would probably be OK.

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... You really need something about 2 thou thick - 40gsm paper would be about right - although 60gsm at 3 thou would probably be OK.

No doubt it would, but I'm running RTR with tension-lock couplings on Peco track on a layout with hardly any signals on it but which has several Ratio and Wills kit-built structures, so I'm not unduly concerned about the thickness of the slates. What I'm bothered about, and what I asked for help with, is just how to align and glue my strips of 10 thou plastic card.

 

:)

Edited by spikey
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How about drawing a pencil line along the slates where the bottom of the next layer need to be.

Blimey! D'oh - why didn't I think of that? That'll work for me, so thank you, kind sir. I'll put in a good word for you next time I see Betty Windsor ...

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