jono26 Posted August 11, 2019 Author Share Posted August 11, 2019 Once the platforms were fitted and some PW detailing I could see the beginnings of the station so decided to press on with this area and build the back scene retaining wall which runs the length of the platforms and into the top corner of the layout. With the road bridge over the hidden curve section and hence raised land area I thought something like Dundee would work but in granite stone more typical of Aberdeen. The base of back scene is 12mm ply left over from the layout boards on to which I added a 4cm shelf to support the low relief backscene. This section is 240cm long and will support the bridge and new station building over the corner of the layout to hide the curves and the low relief back scene of the ‘old’ station building and some roofs to show the land is sloping down to the south away from the road bridge. I used a large stone block plasticard bonded to the ply with contact adhesive. Because I wanted a continuous wall without support pillars I interlocked the ends of the stone work filling the joins with filler. The wall was sprayed in Halfords grey plastic primer then light washes of acrylic pale grey/browns applied with a broad flat brush. I picked out the mortar with a dark brown coloured pencil (tedious job) then applied dark brown washes with the surface excess soaked up with kitchen paper, this highlighted the mortar a little better than just pencil. I then dry brushed some lighter brown followed by dark grey weathering until I was happy with the look. Once screwed into place the ballast was tidied up to the edge of the wall and then capping stones added. Capping stones will be glued on next and at some point in the future when more of the station is built I will add more weathering. I would also like to add cable hangers along the length of this wall with bundles of black cable which we will assume feed to the north end of the station. Jonathan 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted August 18, 2019 Author Share Posted August 18, 2019 Finnsbay history At the opposite side of the station to the newly installed back scene retaining wall there is a section of old station wall which once upon a time divided platforms 5 and 6 and supported the canopy and old platform access footbridge bridge. This wall connected to the road bridge abutment and road retaining wall now behind the end of the carriage stabling roads. When the station was redeveloped with the new station building over the tracks/platforms in the early 80’s additional concrete work was added to support the new building and approach road. I have been ‘evolving’ this design for a while with the resulting layout of walls and building having a believable history rather than something just put together to hide the curves. I knocked up a rough 1960's plan to help visualise how the station developed. Platform 6 at the bottom of the 60's plan was a branch line terminus closed in the 60's, this was later removed, and the site cleared for a new carriage service depot. The new station building over the platforms was added in parallel to the old bridge which was then removed and the access road added. Picture below in its primed ready to paint/weather state. This was primarily constructed from 12mm ply with the old station wall from 5mm ply. The concrete sections are 1mm plasticard bonded on to the ply with contact adhesive. The new wall section has now been painted and weathered and installed on the layout. The concrete supporting wall in the corner has a weathered concrete look but this didn't come out on the picture – phone camera is not that good. I think I may add more weathering but as this concrete is probably only 7 or 8 years old then it should look reasonably fresh. The supporting wall is based on the concrete sectional type walls used on motorway bridges which seemed plausible that this could be used in this instance to support the station approach road. Capping stones were fitted after this photo was taken. This also view shows I have plenty of room in the yard around the end of the stabling roads for vehicle access and all necessary power supplies for coaches. I have some very nice Lanarkshire buffer stops to build and fit on these roads which should be the same as those at Aberdeen Clayhills. Jonathan 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted August 25, 2019 Author Share Posted August 25, 2019 Signal Box Finally, a building on the layout and seeing as how I have some PW installed where better to start than with a signal box. Working my way south along the back scene from the retaining wall is the signal box forming part of the back scene behind the station throat. I want to put something there very similar to the current Aberdeen box, modern-ish (early 80’s) in dark brick and concrete. Probably not to everyone’s taste architecturally but its of its time and Scottish. For the structure I used 1mm white card, multi layered with 1mm grey card for strength and also internally braced with more grey card. I will coat in embossed plasticard brick sheet which I picked up at the Perth show earlier this year. I have taken measurements of the actual box from google earth then approximated my design from this, but mirror imaged the design to better fit the space/scenic plan. I use MS powerpoint to draw scale elevations of the building and figure out how it will all fit together. This is a big structure so should have an impact on the scene at 360mm long and 96mm high. Still need to add the front window section, fortunately this has darkened glass windows which means I don’t have to do any internals, however there are raised walkways on the outside as well as AC units and lighting to consider. Lego helps create nice 90 deg angles and I use Rocket card glue for quick strong bond. I still need to build the supporting back scene section for the signal box to sit on which will be mainly baseboard/ground level but dropping down on the south side (furthest from station) similar to the actual Aberdeen box where the steps drop down to the car park. Picture on the layout shows it in close to final position, I will need to remove some trunking and junction boxes which will be re done once the box is finished. Jonathan 6 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted August 26, 2019 Author Share Posted August 26, 2019 Front section and roofs fitted and the card structure is complete ready for cladding Jonathan 4 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 Signal box continued The brick cladding is now on, plasticard embossed brick fixed with contact adhesive on to the card base. I am so pleased I took my time to measure and cut the card and then glue it as straight as possible, even 0.5mm differences are enhanced with the brick courses when trying to match up corners. My technique was to cut slightly larger panels than needed 1-2 bricks wider/higher then get alignment and carefully cut down to get a good fit. I started with the lower brick section, then the concrete mid section from 0.5mm plasticard followed by the upper sections, relieved this step of the build is now over. Next step is to mask the roof and window cut outs and prime with Halfords grey primer. Capping stones and windows will be built separately and fitted once painted. Jonathan 12 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted September 14, 2019 Author Share Posted September 14, 2019 Signal box windows It took several trial versions to get a suitable construction designs for the windows on the front central section of the signal box. The pictures I have of the track side of the box are a little blurred, so I have based the design on the road facing windows which I have good pictures of. I designed the windows to slot into position from the top and fit snug up against the brick work using a laminate of 4 pieces of plasticard into which the glass window is sandwiched with space to fit a blind. Very happy this design worked out and looks close to the actual so this was replicated for the other 3 windows. There are six smaller window frames on the side building plus a some doors which I will scratch build. Jonathan 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted September 15, 2019 Author Share Posted September 15, 2019 Signal Box – Primed Moving things on a little faster to catch up to the current build state of Finnsbay - The signal box was primed ready for a first coat of paint on the brick work. I masked off the roof and window areas to leave clean card for gluing on frames/doors and roof covering. Window frames and doors were primed in white and a coat of slightly off-white paint applied. There is also a louvred grill on one side of the building which I had a go at scratch building, turned out OK on the third attempt. Jonathan 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted September 22, 2019 Author Share Posted September 22, 2019 Signal box - Painted I found a reasonable colour match for the signal box brick work with a tube of acrylic brown I have for weathering purposes. I started off dry brushing this on with a wide flat brush and after 3 coats it was not to bad but looked patchy so I used a thinner mix and carefully applied using the same brush with minimal pressure just to give the face of the bricks a more even coat while still keeping some evidence of grey in the mortar. I masked off the concrete floor section to do this, then masked off the brick work to paint he concrete band with an off white (the prototype seems to be painted white). This was followed by a coat of Humbrol acrylic matt varnish. And with the windows fitted Roof covering and capping stones to add before placing on the layout. A lot more detailing still required such as cable trunking, AC units, external lights, external stairs and security fencing but these will be added later once I can take measurements around the fitted/in place box. In the case of the fencing I am not sure if this fencing was present in the more relaxed HSE days of the late 80’s but it looks good so I will add it anyway. Jonathan 9 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Jonathan, having passed this distinctive building many times over the years I would say you've nailed it. Looks amazing and can't wait to see the rest of your layout progressing at this standard. Matt 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted September 25, 2019 Author Share Posted September 25, 2019 Basic building finished off with capping stones and roof covering which I gave a basic weathering and placed in position on the layout. The space to the left of the signal box will be for a transformer/high voltage regulator and what I assume is the switch gear building. To the right you can see the entrance door to the buildings lower floor (first photo) which will have an external stair running down to it. See google earth of the existing Aberdeen signal box to get an idea of what I am aiming for. I can now plan the front steps and paths as well as revised cable trunking runs. This was also another good opportunity to run the mk3a push pull service from Glasgow to set the scene. With the Mk2 coaches now getting closer to completion I will have to find another two 47/7's then I can fill the station with ScotRail livery. Jonathan 18 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley West Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 Coming along very nicely, Jonathan! You've made a great job of that building. It really looks right at home. Cheers Dave 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Rail Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 19 hours ago, Waverley West said: Coming along very nicely, Jonathan! You've made a great job of that building. It really looks right at home. Cheers Dave Worthy praise indeed. Yes. Multiple likes and a follow. Ian. 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 Station Backscene Roofs Behind the station wall are a series of station buildings which will be represented as low relief sitting on the long narrow shelf. At the bridge end the wall is retaining so the majority of the buildings will be visible but as you move further south away from the bridge the land level drops such that the retaining wall becomes the rear wall of the old station buildings hence only the roof is visible. Picture below is my first pass idea built up in white mounting card looking more like the scouts have pitched their tents for a jamboree but eventually they will have slate roofs. The three roofs sections to the left are on a raised wall section part of which will be a flat roof housing AC unit and ducting etc- ideas based on google earth views of Aberdeen station. After looking at the pictures I didn’t like the three pointy roof sections which are supposed to be the ends of long roofs but this doesn’t really work in low relief so I scraped them and went for a single long roof section with North South axis Next up was the slow process working my way through covering the backscene roof sections in slates. I use paper over laid in strips to get the right profile and glued on with Pritt stick, slow process but worth it for the end result. I made up a grid of tiles on powerpoint and printed this to A4 then cut out the strips and tediously cut the leading edge of each to define the individual ties. It took several weeks (intermittent evenings between other job) to finish coating the roof sections in tiles and then fit the lead flashing/ridge tile made from 12mm lengths of paper soaked in a water/pva mix moulded around a 1mm projecting ridge made from 0.25mm plasticard. Having taken more photos this highlighted the tiles that were not sitting flush, so more work sticking these down before priming and paint. Phase one of the station building back scene roofs are now complete and on the layout. I primed these in light grey then hand painted the tiles and lead flashing using acrylic paint in various grey shades and a final coat of matt varnish. I will wait until the rest of the station is complete before weathering. Currently working on phase two which sits at a higher level on a granite block work building. This is the section which previously had the three pointed roof sections. As with my other builds this is a card base with plasticard block work (left overs from the platforms) stuck on with contact adhesive. I have also worked out the design for the signal box walkways and steps on the line side and drawn up plans for the high voltage compound/shed which will sit to the north. This means I can now work out the paths and additional trunking across the front of this section. There are also a lot of small details (AC units, vents, manhole covers, steps, lights, cables etc) to add this area so I will be working on these before adding everything to the layout. Jonathan 9 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Bus Driver Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 Wow that's looking amazing. just oozes 1980s 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted November 3, 2019 Author Share Posted November 3, 2019 Some time later... I have been busy with holidays and work so only bits and pieces done since the last posting, but in some ways this mini break from the workbench has given me time to breath and plan the next steps on the layout. The steps and platform for the front of the signal box have been scratch built from plasticard. These have a security fence across the front with gates to give access to the line side. I ordered up the Scale model scenery kits LX055 fence and LX092 gates as I liked the look of these and I needed to be able to modify them to fit the steps and gates. Picture below is the modified fencing runs for both sides of the signal box front. The diagonal section for the side of the steps was made from individual cut bars fixed with Rocket card glue. Very easy stuff to use and flexible for bashing about to fit whatever it is you are building. Once the glue on the fence was fully dried I spray painted in grey primer. So far the steps have had a coat of white primer and a light wash of acrylic paint mixed for a new concrete look. I have also been working on detailing for the signal box with AC units, wall lights, trunking, concrete paths and made a start on the brick shed and compound for the voltage regulator/transformer. I have been trialling build parts for the actual transformer and think I have a reasonable likeness to the real thing. Despite being small the transformer/voltage regulator is quite complex with many small scratch built components. At this time it is still a collection of small bits but I will post pictures when I get it assembled. Last weekend I was in Edinburgh so picked up essential building materials from Harburn Hobbies so I can push on with the main station building. Also this year I have the opportunity to attend the Warley show on Saturday so my recent planning for the layout has developed a big shopping list for the next coach and engine projects rather than wait until Glasgow show next year. Jonathan 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted November 17, 2019 Author Share Posted November 17, 2019 One transformer assembled and primed and ready for a lighter coat of grey. Also made a start on a switch gear cabinet to sit alongside in the security fenced off area. For those familiar with Aberdeen Clayhills depot there are more transformers at the end of the stabling roads which I intend to replicate, should be easier next time around now I figured out how to build these. Jonathan 4 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwonder318 Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 Wow! Real nice work, loving this lots looks the business. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxokid Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 Lots of nice modelling work here 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 Happy New year First update on the layout this year, and for nearly 2 months, and pleased to have the signal box and transformer/sub station fitted in place and nearly complete. Still some tidy up to do with gravel/ballast around the building and a little weathering in not to mention the small blank area of base board to the north of the sub station which will probably get some old concrete/tarmac and more security fencing. The last photo shows some progress on the station building which is now rising above the top of the retaining wall. To the far left on the flat roof section will be a large industrial AC fan unit just to add a bit of interest. This is still on the work bench having just had a final coat of paint and will be having detailing added over the coming week. With this section of the station building in place I can now make a start on the larger main station building. Jonathan 10 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 The stations industrial AC unit now added on the roof top. The main unit is scratch built from plasticard with the grilles from scale model scenery and the walkway reworked from their LX241-OO Industrial Walkways kit. Jonathan 4 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 Last weekend I made a start on basic wall structure of the dual carriageway bridge over the south end of the layout. The walls are formed from 12mm ply glued together with no more nails. There was a little trial and error and odd angles to cut but finally got it how I want. There will be a supporting piece added to the back of the board and another on the far right of the picture. The gap in the wall is for road access to the depot. Next step is to clad this in plasticard and paint up to a weathered concrete look. Example of what I am after below, left is a motorway bridge on the M1 and on the right a road bridge over the main line near Edinburgh. Jonathan 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 The bridge walls are now clad in 1mm plasticard which I pre-scored with the block work as per the pictures previously. This was given a coat of Halford white plastic primer as a base to start washes of colour to get a weathered concrete look. For concrete I do not sand the white primer as I find the slightly raised texture after spraying is good enough for a rough concrete finish. And for scale below, couldn't resist running some trains around - Edinburgh push pull leaving Finnsbay Jonathan 8 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono26 Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 The bridge walls and the front of the bridge are now fixed in place after being weathered on the workbench. For the weathering I applied many thin layers of acrylic dark brown/black washes to build up an aged concrete look. The bridge deck is a separate piece of ply which will carry a 4 lane dual carriage way and the back scene but before this I will need to add additional support. Jonathan 4 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxokid Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 6 minutes ago, jono26 said: The bridge walls and the front of the bridge are now fixed in place after being weathered on the workbench. For the weathering I applied many thin layers of acrylic dark brown/black washes to build up an aged concrete look. The bridge deck is a separate piece of ply which will carry a 4 lane dual carriage way and the back scene but before this I will need to add additional support. Jonathan More nice modelling build work here Jonathan... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Brady Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Good Morning, I've just come across this thread and an excellent layout. However the thing that really stands out for me is your representation of Aberdeen SC. You have really captured the look of it. I shall also add having worked Aberdeen SC what a lovely box it was but like the building unusual in the way the panel was a 90 degrees to the railway. Benjamin 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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