Easton, Isle of Portland

[Mick Bonwick]

Who else has made up Scalescenes kits?

 

Have you made them exactly as the instructions tell you to, or have you decided to alter them in any way?

 

The free depot/weighbridge hut is small and easily manageable, but the row of cottages is (as you'd expect) more complex and time consuming. It is apparent now that I should have taken more care over the cutting out and sticking together of the wall and floor/ceiling components. In most cases there was a discrepancy of fractions of a millimetre between the various layers, which meant that right angled joins were difficult to achieve at a later stage. In my case this eventually meant aborting the full 4-cottage model and amending it to a 2-cottage one. It does demonstrate the flexibilty of the design, though, and in the fullness of time I shall create another pair, paying more attention to the accurate measuring and cutting of all components.

 

One question I asked myself at an early stage in the construction of my very first kit, an original T026 Factory/Warehouse built several years ago, was, "Do I cut on the inside, outside or centre of a printed line?" The answer is not simple, because I found that I needed to check how parts went together before cutting them out.

 

I now have several spare walls and ceilings that might one day be used to construct a girder bridge.

[Tony Teague]

Mick

I haven't made up a Scalescenes kit as intended, just used parts from them, or in the case of 'St Giles Church'. I used the design as a template from which I built the church in plasticard, because I wanted textured stonework.

Do you follow:

Because in my mind, Adrian who writes it is a master in card building construction from Scalescenes materials; that said, he may just use their materials as an aid to scratchbuilding, rather than their complete kits.

 

Tony

[westerhamstation]

Hi Mick, I have just seen Tonys post above, I use the scalescenes papers and bits of the low relief factory to create the type of building that

I need for Ewer Street, also the brick railway arches. Over time I have found methods that suit me for the construction.

1. Always use a sharp blade ( a blunt blade is a dangerous blade ) Stanley Knife & Scalpel No10a blade

2. 12" Steel rule.

3. 6" Engineers Square.

4. Wall paper seam roller.

5. Pritt stik glue. PVa adhesive. Superglue.

6. Some form of heavy weights (for holding the card flat while adhesive dries.

7. 2mm greyboard, 1mm greyboard. old cereal packets for making templates.

8. Emery board nail file. fine sandpaper.

9. UV matt varnish.

10. Cutting mat

 

I have found that the 2mm  and 1mm thickness grey board is just right and gives the required dimensions, I cut just on the inside of the line.

keep checking for squareness, and always leave the construction to dry before moving on to your next stage.

 I hope this is of some use and happy modelling. All the best Adrian.

 

 

[KNP]

This is the corner pub and adjoining shops from Scalescenes (T022 terraced house & T023 corner shop/pub)

Ignore the outbuildings as they are scratchbuilt.

I did not use the roof coverings rather made my own from postcard but did use the kit base, the ridge/hip tiles from Wills.

All the walls where built individually as a flat surface (under heavy weights (books in my case) as Adrian suggested and left overnight to dry, as many features added before construction like windows, doors, cills, signs etc as it was easier to hold and work on.

 

 

 

 

Don't forget to leave some excess paper at the walls ends so it can lap over and around.

If you look carefully you can see the paper joint with the other wall behind the rainwater pipes.

 

Hope this is of help and if you need any further assistance by all means give us a shout.

 

[Mick Bonwick]

Hi Adrian,

 

Many thanks for that response. I can't be doing too much wrong, according to your list:

 

1. Stanley Knife for 2mm greyboard, X-Acto No. 2 knife for 1mm greyboard and paper.

2. 12" steel rules. I need more than one to account for putting them down and subsequently forgetting where.

3. 3 x small engineers' squares for checking right-angles and keeping them square while sticking.

4. I did have one, but put it down somewhere . . . . .

5. Never managed to get on with Pritt. Now always use PVA, either neat or diluted, according to needs.

6. Old pieces of lead pipe, donated by a friend who re-plumbed his whole house.

7. Tons of greyboard but no cereal packets.

8. I have a selection of abrasives, but use a square sponge block thing most of the time when doing this work.

9. I have tried several makes of matt varnish for sealing the papers, and Testor's Dullcote as well. They all work well enough as long as I don't overdo it.

10. Several cutting mats, so that I can move one building out of the way while then working on another without having to disturb bits that are still drying.

 

I am not the most patient of modellers. Leaving things to dry is always a bit of a challenge. One of the free depot huts mentioned previously suffered from that problem, when I thought I'd be able to stick a third wall to two that had only been left for an hour. The whole assembly self-destructed when it leaped off the workbench onto the floor and landed on a corner. It was placed in the corner for several days before being allowed back on the work bench.

 

I have just skimmed through your layout thread and now need to start again and take more notice of what you have posted. There will be more useful information therein, I can tell. Thank you for taking the trouble to respond, it is appreciated.

 

 

[Mick Bonwick]

35 minutes ago, KNP said:

All the walls where built individually as a flat surface (under heavy weights (books in my case) as Adrian suggested and left overnight to dry, as many features added before construction like windows, doors, cills, signs etc as it was easier to hold and work on.

 

 

Don't forget to leave some excess paper at the walls ends so it can lap over and around.

If you look carefully you can see the paper joint with the other wall behind the rainwater pipes.

 

 

Thank you, Kevin.

 

I made the mistake with the cottages of not weighing down the walls having stuck the printed layer to the greyboard. The result can be seen in the photograph in the previous page - curly walls.

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/151137-easton-isle-of-portland/&do=findComment&comment=4244438

 

These were mostly straightened when the wall sections were stuck together, although a couple didn't stick perfectly all the way down to the floor.

 

I have found that the kit instructions are very good. I have also found that I need to follow them rather than do it my own way!

 

I am working on a replacement roof for my pair of cottages. The original construction provides for built-in gutters and I wanted to use some Modelu replacements, meaning that the upper floor ceiling and the roof sizes were wrong. I now find that the tiling strips are beyond my capability to keep to straight lines over the whole distance of the roof when sticking them down. I did try printing them onto grey paper to avoid having to colour the card edges, but the paper was too coarse and stretches when PVA is applied, thus rendering the tiles out of alignment. Ho hum.

 

That's all put to one side now, though, because there's some more weathering to do.

Edited January 7, 2021 by Mick Bonwick

[Mick Bonwick]

I've shivered my way to the workshop and dug out the cottages to show what I have salvaged, and taken a couple of photographs. There is still a fair bit of work to be done, as you can see. I haven't been as careful as I should have been with water near the model, so there will have to be some judiciously positioned vegetation in a couple of places. I had decided to varnish the model once finished rather than varnish the paper before I started. Mistakes can provide educational opportunities.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mick Bonwick]

While we're on the subject of Scalescenes I thought I'd dig out the first kit I assembled, ten years ago. This was made for a friend's layout that turned out to be too small for the building, and it eventually returned home. This photographs shows quite clearly what happens if you don't varnish the paper, either before you start or when the model is completed. Random contact with water turns the ink (from HP Inkjet cartridges) to a bright shade of green.

 

 

I could replace some of the damaged areas with a reprinted layer, but now have a different printer that doesn't render the same colours on any of the paper I have tried. It could be, of course, that the ink has faded on the model. It is not a problem because the model is not likely to be used on any layout that I make, in a similar vein to all those huts lying around. I'll continue to use it as an example of what not to do.

[Mick Bonwick]

Scalescenes depot hut number 5 has been completed, using the laser cut kit from ChrisInDen.co.uk. I printed the kit onto self-adhesive paper and assembled it all in a morning, rather than the complete day it took using the conventional process.

 

You have to be ultra precise right from the start if using self-adhesive paper - there's no room for adjustment once the paper is in place on the card. You can see from the photographs that I tore the paper above the door and didn't get it squarely positioned on the other end wall. I also re-printed one wall in the wrong colour after getting PVA on the original.

 

Here's the end result, warts and all:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The drainpipes were made from plastic rod and the brackets holding them to the wall are from Modelu.

 

[Mick Bonwick]

It's about time I did some more work on Easton, rather than just play about with stuff.

 

The next task is ballasting. The track all seems to be working as designed and lots of playing testing has established that it all works mechanically and electrically for all the train formations that have been planned, prototypical and otherwise.

 

Some time ago I created a testbed for track noise testing, a 'baseboard' made from plywood and foamboard and covered with closed cell foam and cork as underlay for some Peco code 75 track lengths. I have called it back into use and will be trying out ballasting methods on it, using different adhesives with a pile of Woodland Scenics brown ballast that I have.

 

The first length was started yesterday, and ballast was applied using an applicator that came from, I think, John Lloyd at Green Scenes. When applied from the applicator the ballast is approximately positioned, so needs to be teased into place and off of the sleepers using a brush. Static electricity is very good at upsetting your precise work with a paint brush, sending individual pieces of stone back onto areas you've already done.

 

 

Ballast applied using the clever device:

 

 

And then carefully brushed into gaps and off the tops of sleepers:

 

 

The next step will be to dampen the ballast, but I need first to find the atomiser that I bought specifically for the task, a few years ago. I know I put it somewhere safe.

 

 

[Gilbert]

Mick

I find lightly tapping the rail with the spoon will dislodge most of the errant ballast making the brushing a little less onerous.

I'm sure a carefully distanced airbrush could do the wetting if you don't find the first choice tool....

Chris

Edited January 18, 2021 by Gilbert

[bgman]

Ah! The pretty bits.....

 

That applicator was a godsend when I worked in 4mm, pleased to see you've got good results too. I also went for the closed cell ( camping mat.....cheap option ) approach and used Copydex mixed 50/50 with water and a drop of IPA. I found my trial pieces using PVA were slightly harsh in the old decibel department.

As Gilbert suggests a teaspoon lightly tapped on the rails does the trick and any stray bits that were left on the sleepers were picked off once it was dry.  It did result in a slightly quieter running surface so I hope you find it satisfactory too Mick.

 

G

[Mick Bonwick]

The teaspoon tapping worked a treat, much quicker than trying to brush the bits off. Thanks.

 

I used an atomiser to spray small areas at a time with IPA and then dripped a Copydex solution (20% Copydex, 80% water) onto the track using a disposable pipette. I found that a length of 6" was possible before the IPA evaporated to the extent that the ballast was too dry to accept the Copydex mixture. This was how it all looked after doing 1' last night and leaving it to dry:

 

 

This was how it looked just before I worked on the next section this morning:

 

 

The stuck down section ends just where the pile of ballast sits towards the left hand side of the photograph.

 

This third shot shows the join. Not easy to spot, even this close up. The non-stuck section starts just to the left of the inverted V mark.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Mick Bonwick

[Mick Bonwick]

While I was waiting for the Copydex to dry . . . . . . . .

 

A recent post by @sb67 in another topic, about yellow (London) brick, prompted me to get out my coloured pencils to check my theory about using them to colour embossed plastic card. I have done this sort of thing in 7mm scale and in red brick, but sought to prove that it was as straightforward in 4mm scale and yellow brick.

 

The plastic card used is Flemish Bond brickwork and the pencils are Faber Castell Polychromos. Mortar course is created by running a thinned grey enamel paint mixture into the detail using capillary action.

 

 

 

From these combinations of colour I think that this one comes closest to the ideal:

 

 

The colours used here are Light Yellow Ochre and Raw Umber.

[Mick Bonwick]

This time I've used a much darker grey wash for the mortar course and Brown Ochre as the highlighting colour. I'm not sure that this combination looks right, though.

 

What do you think?

 

[westerhamstation]

Hi Mick, I like the one with the darker grey mortar course, but have a look at this link.

https://www.google.com/search?q=yellow+london+brick&tbm=isch&safe=strict&client=firefox-b-d&hl=en-US&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjs5_aKsaruAhXU44UKHQdtDMkQrNwCKAB6BQgBEJwD&biw=1583&bih=749

All the best Adrian.

[KNP]

1 hour ago, Mick Bonwick said:

This time I've used a much darker grey wash for the mortar course and Brown Ochre as the highlighting colour. I'm not sure that this combination looks right, though.

 

What do you think?

 

 

That looks better

[sb67]

They all look great Mick, I've def seen buildings with a darker mortar course. Did you paint the mortar first then use the pencils? 

[Mick Bonwick]

18 hours ago, sb67 said:

They all look great Mick, I've def seen buildings with a darker mortar course. Did you paint the mortar first then use the pencils? 

 

Thanks, Steve.

 

I have tried applying the mortar first and I have tried applying the mortar last. After quite some time I have decided to use the latter approach as the normal method. It has the benefit of hiding (covering up) any areas that have not been covered by pencil.

 

Adrian's most useful link from his Google search, a few posts back, show just how much variety there is in the colouring and format of London yellow bricks. From what I can tell, as long as it's got brown or yellow in it, it's right.

[Mick Bonwick]

More ballast testing today. I completed the metre-long test piece using diluted Copydex as the adhesive, but have now decided that this will not be the way I do the layout proper. With PVA in the past I found that every mix was near enough identical in its consistency and usability. In previous use I was able to achieve that with Copydex as well, but not this time. It's probably because the Copydex has a shelf life that is significantly shorter than PVA.

 

When mixing the Copydex on this last occasion I had some 'stringy' bits in the mixture that were picked up by the pipette and deposited without me noticing initially. They became apparent when the mixture started to dry:

 

 

I also had a small problem with the spreading of the mixture in that it went all over the top of the sleepers instead of just between them as on the two previous sections. This resulted in pieces of ballast being carried onto the top of the sleepers as well. Maybe I wasn't concentrating enough - the music was rather loud! It is all cleaned up now, though, and I'm going to use PVA for the adjacent piece of track in the hope that these minor irritations will be absent.

 

The amount of time it's taking to complete these small sections doesn't bode well for the layout proper.

[Tony Teague]

Mick

 

Whilst appreciating that you are striving for perfection, would it not be prototypical for a few bits of ballast to be found on sleepers?

 

In the same way, the 'white stringy bits' that you have encountered - might they not be good representations of 'stuff that got flushed' in the days before retention tanks? (Especially if sprayed with a dusting of track dirt colour).

 

Just saying......

 

Tony

[nickwood]

36 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

Mick

 

Whilst appreciating that you are striving for perfection, would it not be prototypical for a few bits of ballast to be found on sleepers?

 

Tony

We all know that MIck suffers from CDO which is OCD really but Mick has to have it in alphabetical order 

 

[chuffinghell]

10 minutes ago, nickwood said:

We all know that MIck suffers from CDO which is OCD really but Mick has to have it in alphabetical order 

 

I don’t get that! maybe it’s because I’m dyslexic? 

[Mick Bonwick]

Experiences from yesterday and today have resulted in the decision to use PVA as the adhesive for ballast. I have used PVA on many occasions previously and it has been right for the job. I thought I'd try Copydex, though, because it was successfully used for sticking underlay to boards and track to underlay and I knew that it was easy to dilute with water and then apply with a disposable pipette. It is also easy to remove if you make a mistake!

 

The final section of test track has been less than acceptable. As well as the lumps of unmixed Copydex mentioned earlier there was, once all had dried, a thin film of fluid on top of the sleepers that gave everything a white finish. I successfully removed the white film, but some ballast came with it, leaving holes and gaps in the finished surface. The previous two sections had none of these after effects, but I decided to go with the old favourite rather than the chance of only a 66% success rate.

 

 

 

An interesting exercise and I'm glad I didn't just plough ahead with the Copydex on Easton.

 

Any more observations on my disroders will be treated with the contempt they deserve. KO?

[Gilbert]

Two things I do which may help:

1. I use neat PVA to lay a thin (3-5mm)boundary strip of neat ballast along side the sleepers overlapping the cess (which I generally lay prior to ballasting). This helps set the boundary when dry-ballasting and helps hold the shoulder in place. I have used masking tape for the outside of the glue strip when I want a particularly neat finish. I think I picked this up from a US magazine.

2. I use the wet water very fine spray once the rest of the dry ballast is in place and I now use matt medium rather than dilute PVA for the final step(but both work).

 

This is my latest effort...you'll notice there's no cess.....doh..

I also do a bit of an overspray once its down. (Phoenix Precision weathered sleepers..)

Chris

Edited January 22, 2021 by Gilbert