Modelling station interior

[AyJay]

Hello.  I have just purchased the Metcalfe kit 'Country Station', PO237 and having read the article about improving on the build of a card kit in last months BRM, I would like to do something a bit special with this kit.

 

I would like to make some interiors to go in the rooms and add lighting.  Nothing too detailed, just enough to give a reasonable approximation of a room with some furniture.  Possibly a floor & walls that when complete, will slot into the completed building from underneath.

Well firstly, I need some representative photos; all I have found so far is of the magnitude of Grand Central Station, not at all suitable.  So can anyone suggest where to look?

Secondly, how do I go about making interiors, in either card or styrene sheets?

 

Thanks

[The Johnster]

A good source for station interior, especially booking hall and waiting room, photos, might be the various heritage railway websites.  Some items will be available 'RTP', such as benches, and other furniture such as cupboards and cabinets can be suggested, if not modelled in high detail, with blocks of balsa of suitable size and shape painted dark brown (they were mostly polished wood or painted brown in reality).  Fireplaces might be more of a challenge and card or plasticard is the way to go here I'd say.

 

Most steam age railway station building interiors were painted in an off-white or cream colour on the upper walls, and something aligned to the company's overall colour scheme (GW = brown, Southern = green, LMS = maroon) for the lower walls.  Plenty posters and advertisments on the wall in the booking hall and waiting room, while the ticket office has notices of various types all over the walls.  Don't forget the timetable in the booking hall.  Ladies waiting rooms had frosted glass windows in the waiting room part as well as the toilet.  Offices and mess rooms tended to have frosted glass in the lower panels.  If you have a separate smoker's waiting room, it and probably the ticket office need to be distinctly gloomier and a bit nicotine stained, as do any mess rooms unless you are modelling current era.

 

Windows need to be blacked out if you are modelling wartime, and some remained that way for a long time afterwards as well, a good way to suggest the late 40s or early 50s.  Keep your lighting levels low, and warm in tone if you are modelling say pre 1970; incandescent low wattage bulbs were the norm in those days, and this will help with another problem; light leakage.  You want your light to be visible through the windows and maybe a crack under doors, and nowhere else, so the card has to be sealed so that the light does not shine through it and your building becomes a glowing paper lantern.  Most lighting that I see at shows and on videos is far too bright even for modern image layouts.  Post about 1970 but this isn't a hard and fast rule the incandescent bulbs were replaced by horrible blue cast flickering flourescent lights, and these in more recent years by led type lighting, but don't overdo the brightness!

 

This means ensuring that corners are sealed against the light as well.  Another aspect of low powered lighting is that it will need less ventilation; heat is given off even by leds and may cause warping of card or paint cracking, or even in extreme cases be a fire risk.  You need to be able to access the lights and wiring as well, so the building probably has to be removable and accessible underneath.  Your 'floor and walls assemblies that slot in' may not be conducive to this, but you will be able to assess your own situation better than any of us can.  Walls can be card or plasticard, and I would include ceilings; even if they are not visible from a normal viewing angle they affect the way the light reflects around the room.  

[DCB]

I put lights in the PO 238 stone built station and light leakage was a real pain, through the edges of the roof, round the chimneys, under the walls everywhere, Upstairs windows being illuminated by the same lights as the downstairs looks very odd so I had to add ceilings. .

I used yellow and orange LEDs to give a sort of early electric screw in bulb effect, clear LEDs give a strip light intensity while orange is sort of a gas lamp glow. To be honest you can't see a lot inside the building even when the shed lights are off and the station lights on.

I keep resistors well away from the card buildings, I have seen some very prominent scorch marks on other peoples card buildings where resistors have got hot.

[Steamport Southport]

It might be worth looking at the prototype it's based on which is Sankey. Many of the other stations on the Cheshire Lines were similar such as Widnes.

 

 

There are some external shots here. https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1366&bih=651&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=rtH9W8vpDeWBgAb_36foDw&q=sankey+station&oq=sankey+station&gs_l=img.3..0i8i30l2j0i24l6.180469.188057..190763...4.0..0.85.1127.18......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0j0i67j0i10j0i10i24.flCGJEzFdDw

 

Irlam which is also similar is now a pub so there should be some shots of the interior.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-32060569

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1366&bih=651&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=B9P9W9CmBKXCgAbXnZKgCw&q=irlam+station&oq=irlam+station&gs_l=img.1.0.0j0i7i30l2j0i24l7.177920.181874..183488...0.0..0.78.742.12......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i8i7i30j0i67.X1ZKgh5I724

 

 

 

 

 

Jason

[JZ]

What period are you modelling?

 

Springside do some whitemetal interior kits. Fairly generic and depending on how you paint them, can be used for any time in the 20th C up to probably the 1990s.

 

http://www.springsidemodels.com/id42.htm

[Clive Mortimore]

I put lights in the PO 238 stone built station and light leakage was a real pain, through the edges of the roof, round the chimneys, under the walls everywhere, Upstairs windows being illuminated by the same lights as the downstairs looks very odd so I had to add ceilings. .

I used yellow and orange LEDs to give a sort of early electric screw in bulb effect, clear LEDs give a strip light intensity while orange is sort of a gas lamp glow. To be honest you can't see a lot inside the building even when the shed lights are off and the station lights on.

I keep resistors well away from the card buildings, I have seen some very prominent scorch marks on other peoples card buildings where resistors have got hot.

Hi David and AyJay

 

I line the ceilings or roofs  of buildings with tin foil to prevent light leakage, it also helps reflect the light on to the detail you have modelled inside.

[JZ]

Hi David and AyJay

 

I line the ceilings or roofs  of buildings with tin foil to prevent light leakage, it also helps reflect the light on to the detail you have modelled inside.

Just like to add, as others will be reading this, if you are using resin RTP models, give it a good coat of matt black and any individual rooms made up as cassettes to fit inside.

[Wibble]

Hi David and AyJay

 

I line the ceilings or roofs  of buildings with tin foil to prevent light leakage, it also helps reflect the light on to the detail you have modelled inside.

Nice idea Clive   ....... no doubt inspired by the mirrored ceilings in your bedroom?