Ball Spond Road - First layout for many many years

[jetmorgan]

Parcels/freight building now all but complete. Just need some boxes and packing cases to add some detail. I scratch built the platform section out of thick card and used Superquicks paving sheets rather than the Metcalfe paving as I think it just looks better. One problem though was on the platform ramp area where I couldn't get a colour match between one sheet and another so I'll have to hide that line somehow.

[DLT]

Lovely stuff, thanks for sharing.

Dave.

[jetmorgan]

Apologies for another update on the same day....sadly no I'm not working this quickly, just been a while since I did updates and didn't want to inundate everyone.

 

Time to start on the station building now I have gone as far as I can with the backscene. I'm using Kew Bridge station as my basic inspiration, just with a porchway entrance and an extended exit to the platforms. Building and platforms will all be on the same level unlike Kew Bridge which has a staircase down to platform level. A floorplane was cut out of very thick card. I then started to cut out a ground floor out of thin card as a guide for size and design. This card won't be used for the actual model as it's too thin. But it did show that I really ought to increase the height of the ground floor on the model. I also built a upper floor but I wasn't too sure about this as it looks too high but just keeping down to using the ground floor looks too low. So I think I'll stick with the 2 floors.

 

As I was still humming and haaing over the number of floors I decided to start on the proper roof.

[jetmorgan]

Sorry I don't know why the photos in the last post are out of order but no matter I hope it's understandable with what I have written.

 

Anyway, the actual roof is now built including a couple of chimney stacks. I've ordered some Superquick yellow brick paper...yes I know all the Metcalfe buildings are red brick so a yellow brick station building might look a bit odd but I wanted a bit of variety in the look. I'll probably do the platforms in yellow brick as well but as the layout is set in the 1970's-ish I may dirty them up a bit to hide too much yellow,

 

I could also make a start on the ground floor of the station building. Just the end walls at the moment as I don't plan for them to have windows.

 

Next job is to design some windows for it and well as some decorative arches for over the doors and windows.

[jetmorgan]

While I'm still dithering about deciding what to do about the windows in the ground floor I finally made the decision to have the first floor so made a start on that today. So the walls got cut out along with the smaller square windows front and back. also the chimney stacks were finished off, except for chimney pots and a chimney flue wall (I've no idea if it has a proper name) to the outside of one wall.

[chuffinghell]

Looks fantastic, I’m enjoying the progress photos and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished item 

 

as far as the ‘chimney flu wall’ I’d have called it a ‘thingy’ so your terminology is more accurate than mine 

 

Chris

[jetmorgan]

A little bit more progress but not much. Finally decided on the ground floor windows so got them drawn and cut out as well as the archways for the entrance out of the building onto the platform. Window sills done on the top floor windows. And in today's post came the Superquick roofing slates so I can at least get that done and the chimney stacks glued into place over the weekend and Metcalfe's retaining wall kit so I can make a start on finishing off the backscene. Also Metcalfe's brick sheets so I could finish off the roadside faces of the walls . 

[jetmorgan]

Taken a break from construction on the station building to do my self isolation Sunday project. The retaining wall kit for the front part of the backscene. I could only get one kit and I'll need another one for this baseboard and several others for the second baseboard. Bar some painting and a bit of dirtying up it's all now in place. I have some track turning up next week, a double slip and right hand medium point (Peco code 100 Streamline) so I can start laying some track soon...at least on this baseboard.

Edited March 22, 2020 by jetmorgan

[jetmorgan]

Trackwork finally arrived...now I can make a start on some laying

[jetmorgan]

Well it is now time to fix a mistake. I had originally thought that the archway on the Metcalfe bridge kit would be wide enough for the double slip and the pair of points to pass through but now I had some of the track pieces arrive I discovered an error in my design and the archway wasn't wide enough. So it was out with the chopping up tools and cut out the archway and keep the bridge abutments and go for an idea that I had had when first planing the layout and build a plate girder bridge and make the gap wider so there was enough room for the track work.

 

Once it was cut out I tidied and squared up the cut ends with some thick card. This would also act as s support for the new road decking area and make a top section to a cosmetic box section bridge deck for the side girder pieces. The plate girder sides made up from thin-ish card and will be glued to the top of that new decking section installed and held in place by the new road way made as the bridge is now longer. 

 

Still some detailing work to do and clean up odd corners and the plate girder sides and the box section deck need a proper coat of paint on top of the coat of grey they have already had but I need some more paints for that which will have to wait until after all this isolation is done with.

 

Still got some work to do on the station building but the roof is nearly finished.

[jetmorgan]

Some track down at last. Just temporarily pinned in place for the moment so I can work out the width and length of the station platform. And I couldn't resist getting a few trains out to see how they looked.

[jetmorgan]

Well the past few days of isolation have given me the chance to get a job finished off and now the bridge that hides the baseboard joint is now complete. Gave the girders a coat of dark blue mixed with a light grey. Then it was dry brushing white over that to give a faded look. The box girder section the plate sides were fixed too was given a coat of dark green and then also dry brushed with white to give a faded look. Some blobs of dark and also light rust in a few areas and then some areas were patch painted in slightly different shades or just a dark grey and that was it. Quite a reasonable job considering it's been so many years since I've done anything like this and I'm limited to the number of paints I have at the moment.

[jetmorgan]

While working on the bridge the station building has got a bit neglected while I figure out how to sort out the windows. But I have now got the chimney pots done. Just thin strips of thick paper 118gsm in this case from work stuff that was going to be thrown out. Cut into thin and thinner strips, curled up and glued into tubes. A coat of matt black for the insides and Railmatch light brick for the outside. I decided to do a fancy looking one and the rest plain terracotta replacement pots and one of those longer ones with a sort of roof thingy on it...presumably they are suppose to keep the rain out.

[jetmorgan]

Another project started on Ball Spond Road. Platform now done and glued down. Used 2/16th thick card...scrap from work for the base and the side walls, along with cross bracing for the insides and a thin card for the topping. Once it was all dry it did have a bit of a bend and a warp in it but I cured that with gallons of PVA glue and numerous books from the collection to weigh it all down while the glue dried and it seems to remain stuck to the baseboard.

 

Once that was glued down I could make a start on fixing the track down properly on platform 1 and the stabling siding. I used one of Mainline 43xx 2-6-0's with it's wide cylinders so there should be plenty of room...although I have noticed coaches are a smidgen tight but still clear the platform edge. 

 

Also came up with a modification to the parcels/freight siding, I plan to put in a small siding coming off but one that has had the rails lifted but the sleepers left in place and also a few rails on the pair of points. This means I can use up an old pair of Peco Setrack points that I had knocking about.

[jetmorgan]

Taking advantage of the lockdown and the sunny weather I decided to get Ball Spond erected in the garden, just about enough room for it, and get some work down on it. First job was to fix down the line for platform 2 and the freight/parcels siding along with the dis-used head shunt, I'll remove the rails at a later date. 

 

With the 2 baseboards clamped together I was also able to start laying the first pieces of track on the second baseboard. Most important was fitting a double slip on the other side of the baseboard joint. However I didn't have a second double slip so I've used a single slip I had from another abandoned layout so I could get the geometry right. I cut the rails at the baseboard joint with my Xuron cutters and nailed the sleeper at the very edge down. Probably not the best way of securing the rails but the only one I could do at this moment.

 

Also fitted the rebuilt bridge to check all the clearances and I'm glad now I did rebuild the bridge.

[saxokid]

On ‎11‎/‎03‎/‎2020 at 20:30, jetmorgan said:

While I'm still dithering about deciding what to do about the windows in the ground floor I finally made the decision to have the first floor so made a start on that today. So the walls got cut out along with the smaller square windows front and back. also the chimney stacks were finished off, except for chimney pots and a chimney flue wall (I've no idea if it has a proper name) to the outside of one wall.

Impressive work here