Popular Post Chandwell Posted February 17, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 17, 2021 I think that the canopy is finally finished! On the whole I am really pleased with how it looks. The LEDs I managed to install along the main girders have worked well. I used standard 7/0.2 (I think) wire which once painted matt black is well-enough hidden along the girders. I have posted about the glazing already. It is my own design printed onto inkjet acetate. It was way too shiny at first and looked like it was made from sunglasses. My experiment of varnishing it with acrylic matt varnish worked out really well, thankfully. It took the shine away and left a kind of frosted glass look, which is better than I could have hoped. It is glued to the card frames just using normal PVA glue. The columns leave a lot to be desired. As usual, I wanted to avoid buying anything else special (already pushing a Fiver for the acetate and the LEDs!) so I didn’t buy any fancy laser-cut brackets or 3D printed columns. I tried a few things but eventually settled on cocktail sticks. At 2mm wide, these seemed about the right kind of size for the canopy. I used little balls of Milliput shaped by hand using nothing other than my fingernails to shape into some kind of base. Each one is slightly different and they have ended up looking a bit like painted cotton buds. Not my best work, especially when looked at closely, but on the whole the effect is decent enough. Sadly the roof needs to remain loose and easily removable and I made the decision to glue the columns to the canopy rather than the platform. This means that despite my best efforts, some columns float about 0.5mm above the surface which can be clearly seen on camera if not by eye. It’s annoying and something I may look at addressing with paper or Milliput perhaps. As ever with Chandwell, I have tried to keep it dirty and a bit depressing. I’ve tried to make it look unkempt by keeping parts of the glazing missing, and the wooden pelmets (?) boards at the ends missing. The canopy will be attached to buildings at the head of the platforms and the front of the layout, which is why the ends and front are currently floating a bit. That will be the next job, I think. Off to edit the video now. I have hours and hours of footage to sift through. 17 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
armleyroad Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 Bring on the video. The thought of doing my canopy glazing is making me wish I'd chosen another station, your effect has worked out superbly, can just see through the glazing to the platform but is still dull and heavily weathered. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steven B Posted February 18, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 18, 2021 Could you roll some replacement column bases from paper and glue them to the platform, allowing the columns to slot into them. This would give a finer appearance than what you currently have and stop the floating effect - any floating would be within the paper tube and not visible! Steven B. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Looks ok to me. if you don’t like it , how about a cheapass length of plastic tube off eBay , with slightly wider diameter over 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanks522 Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 The canopy looks spot on but for me the best bit is the LEDs, perfect dinghy 90s station lighting. Graham 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandwell Posted February 21, 2021 Author Share Posted February 21, 2021 Thank you, everyone, for your excellent suggestions of things I could use to improve/replace my columns. I like the plastic tube idea, although the wrapped-paper round the end approach is definitely in line with my approach to things generally! I am going to leave them for now and see what I think in a week or two. They do grate a little with me, but maybe I will stop noticing them once my attention is turned to the next build. If you're interested, I have completed the video of the build, and it's here. 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandwell Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 Quick update to show my plans for the side of the station. This is intended to have a look like Sheffield Victoria with bits of Darlington, Bingley, and Sheffield Midland. All quite low so as not to obscure the view into the station. I’m starting to build it this weekend. 19 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandwell Posted March 26, 2021 Author Share Posted March 26, 2021 I thought you may like this tongue-in-cheek look at Chandwell in its current state. Here is a Visit Chandwell Tourist Board video from 1993 in which local celebrity Britney Scroggins shows you exactly what you are missing out on by not being in Chandwell right now. 14 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffP Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Made me chuckle. And "Britney" is quite beautiful. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stuart A Posted March 26, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 26, 2021 Loving the tag line! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley West Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Love it! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanks522 Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Very good video! Almost makes me want to visit, I did say almost...... Graham 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 That’s cool, Britney has moved to chandwell from Newcastle I’m guessing, so she must really like it ! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chandwell Posted April 9, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 9, 2021 I’ve finally started looking at the backscene. I walked to the top of Ilkley Moor, 300 metres above my house over a 3.5 mile walk and just used my phone to take a few panoramas of the sky. I printed these onto A4 sticky labels (finally found a cheap brand that takes the printer ink really well). These were stuck to 0.5mm card and then this was stuck directly to the wall. The end result is great. You can see the joins when you look closely. But these are easy to edit away if you want to cheat. 20 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 Love it! Although still not sure I want to visit! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 PS - hope you wore a hat taking those photos 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 I love how the railway sits within those units, black was certainly the right colour, the whole things just 'fits' 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandwell Posted April 11, 2021 Author Share Posted April 11, 2021 (edited) 21 hours ago, TomJ said: Love it! Although still not sure I want to visit! The Visit Chandwell Tourist Board has a new slogan for 1994. “Chandwell. A lovely pace to leave”. 21 hours ago, TomJ said: PS - hope you wore a hat taking those photos I did! And if you watch my next video, you may even see it! Should be on YouTube in the next few days. 19 hours ago, woodenhead said: I love how the railway sits within those units, black was certainly the right colour, the whole things just 'fits' Thank you. I love the units. The railway is in my garage which is also the office where I work all day so I needed it to be tidy and attractive in its own right. We also needed extra kitchen storage space so we had a joiner build the cabinets from basic MDF. I chose a dark colour (“Mid Azure Green” ) to set the whole thing off and I think it worked. Took me the evenings and weekends of about four weeks to paint it all but it’s turned out well. Edited April 11, 2021 by Chandwell 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chandwell Posted April 20, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 20, 2021 Now that the sky is in place, I have finished the front station building and glued it into place: # It is a low-relief building being about 2cm deep. I've tried to give the impression of a wide set of stairs ascending to street level at the front of the station - the ground will rise from the front of the layout to the back, off-scene, to allow me to model a road over-bridge across the to back tracks. I will model these to look like the through route has been lifted. (Just noticed a bit of light bleed under the front wall there - one to add to the to-do list.) The station itself is modelled on Chester, with its arched windows and graceful doorways. I made the windows using the "sticky label technique" whereby you stick labels onto acetate from old food packaging and then cut out the "holes" for the glass. The photo above shows the steps that lead to nowhere, and the toilets. This view will never be possible with the canopy in place. The canopy is removable and simply butts up to the wires hanging out of the holes. These push against some copper tape which causes the canopy to light up: I am moving onto the rest of the building next, which includes building the clock tower. I am looking forward to making that. 17 6 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted April 20, 2021 Share Posted April 20, 2021 Super. I could spend half in an hour in that smiths, is there a cafe for a tea after ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandwell Posted April 20, 2021 Author Share Posted April 20, 2021 13 minutes ago, rob D2 said: Super. I could spend half in an hour in that smiths, is there a cafe for a tea after ? watch out for Pippa’s Pantry moving into the next building just next door to the Visit Chandwell Tourist Board’s new office. Dripping with grease and with steamed up windows it will serve the perfect mug of Builder’s Yorkshire tea. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steven B Posted April 20, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 20, 2021 Excellent work once again Michael. I can almost smell the stale urine from those toilets... Steven B. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandwell Posted April 24, 2021 Author Share Posted April 24, 2021 (edited) This is what I am thinking for the ground outside the station. This is the side of the station, not the front, and is parallel to the tracks. Here is a mock-up of the building, which I am starting to make today. If you see any issues with the design above for the ground, then please shout up as I would like to correct it before I start building! And just as a reminder, the ground will rise from baseboard level on the left, to slightly higher than platform level on the right: Edited April 24, 2021 by Chandwell 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandwell Posted April 26, 2021 Author Share Posted April 26, 2021 I’ve been having some fun making the back wall of my station building. Adjoining the siding, this whole wall will probably never be seen except at a very acute angle in some camera shots taken from the platform ends. So I’ve gone a bit mad with the graffiti (all named after people who will “get it” when they see it) and I’ve added a couple of red brick 1970s fire escapes where they just broke through the lovely Victorian stonework. It won’t ever be seen but it was a fun couple of hours making this. 11 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted April 27, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 27, 2021 Don't agree with graffiti on models, I somehow think it encourages the real thing, but it is a fact of life, and it has to be said, you've produced a superb and very realistic looking vandalised wall there ... well done! Do we need to start looking for your 'tag' around Chandwell???? Rich 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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