cakebox2021 From Household Rubbish to ‘Fantasy Halt’

[Marly51 1,727]

On 22/03/2021 at 12:22, TangoOscarMike said:

I love the quality of your drawings.

Thanks, Tom... I find planning in pencil on paper, then inking up with an ordinary Bic ball point pen quite relaxing! 

Edited March 24 by Marly51

[Marly51 1,727]

Moving on at a pace, with various bits, at different stages of construction and painting, spread over the house and workshop! This was the base before I fixed the track, ballasted and applied DAS clay to the structures for the stone effect! 
 

[Wrenn 1,612]

Hi Marly51 I'm liking your build. Whenever I have watched any of your builds, I have always been impressed in your card structure builds.

Can I ask what card it is you use as it looks quite thick, ideal for building structures.

Edited March 24 by Wrenn

[Marly51 1,727]

14 hours ago, Wrenn said:

Hi Marly51 I'm liking your build. Whenever I have watched any of your builds, I have always been impressed in your card structure builds.

Can I ask what card it is you use as it looks quite thick, ideal for building structures.

Hi Kevin, To be honest, I use whatever materials I have to hand. It could be laminated cereal box card, corrugated box card, but in this case it was the 2mm grey backing board from an A3 sketch pad. You need a really sharp knife for this card, but it is a pretty good base for applying DAS clay, which is drying at present, before I attempt to carve out some stone detail!
 

Marlyn

[David Bell 2,857]

Now you have placed the building the whole thing is screaming Emmett. The tall and narrow dimensions really carry it off. 

Looking great

Cheers

David

[Marly51 1,727]

Juggling all the different elements just now! Two more stage photos...

 

 

Stonework moulded from DAS clay, scribed and primed along with baseboard. Track fixed and ballasted with fine aquarium stones.

 

 

Who would have guessed that a standard toilet roll tube would be the same circumference as my plastic container?
 

 

Edited March 27 by Marly51

[Wrenn 1,612]

This is looking good Marly51.

[Marly51 1,727]

The one thing I enjoy in these small CakeBox challenges is the opportunity to explore other themes, scales, and techniques. In the past I have used photographs of stonework to reproduce the colour of paint used on scenic and building work,  but this time I tried a technique used by a number of modelmakers, where you take some of the colours found in the stone, to pick out individually, on top of a base layer, then apply a black wash.

 

 

I was quite pleased with the result. The building was built up in layers of paper and card, and the paper textures are scaled up from some 0 scale Clever Models texture sheets, which I have downloaded from their website. To create that exaggerated ‘Emett’ look, the chimney has a removable top piece, to comply with the rules that everything should fit inside the box! Some additional details to be added to the building and photos of the loco and carriage to follow shortly... and, yes, there is a tiny stove inside the building!

 

 

Edited April 1 by Marly51

[Marly51 1,727]

I was scrounging around looking for something to make a down pipe... going to have a go with this sleeve from an ‘Earth’ wire, a few old plastic stemmed buds (with cotton removed) and some garden wire to maintain the bend from the gutter. Found some moulded plastic which might work for the gutter!
 

[Wrenn 1,612]

I like the look of your cakebox theme. Impressive modelling as always Marly51.

[Ben B 1,850]

That is wonderful, that building is a real work of art

[Marly51 1,727]

Thank you Kevin and Ben B, for your kind comments! Inspiration has to be credited to Rowland Emett’s many crazy railway cartoons, which he produced for Punch magazine!

[TangoOscarMike 859]

On 24/03/2021 at 20:58, Marly51 said:

Moving on at a pace, with various bits, at different stages of construction and painting, spread over the house and workshop! This was the base before I fixed the track, ballasted and applied DAS clay to the structures for the stone effect! 

 

I have a question: Do you need to take precautions to prevent the DAS, as it dries, from distorting the card substrate?

[Marly51 1,727]

11 hours ago, TangoOscarMike said:

 

I have a question: Do you need to take precautions to prevent the DAS, as it dries, from distorting the card substrate?

I mainly use DAS for paving/cobbles on relatively solid foundations such as plywood. But for small areas on structures, which are constructed of thick card, I find there is no noticeable distortion. I paint PVA glue onto the area to be covered, take small pieces of DAS flattened to the thickness I require, and smooth it down with a wet finger. I have a bowl of diluted PVA for smoothing down. For certain areas, like the platform edge, I use a sculpting tool to make sure the detail is retained. On the building I laid about 2mm of DAS, and on the platform it was a little less - 1mm. Once dry, the stonework is marked out in pencil, then scribed with an old scalpel blade.

Edited April 3 by Marly51

[Marly51 1,727]

Because I have modelled the locomotive and carriage in paper and card, I find the detail becomes a little tricky when it comes to painting. So I decided to produce my locomotive linings and texture papers on the computer and print out on matt photo paper. The models are almost finished, but it is still working out quite fiddly, so just have to be patient! I follow Jim Read’s topics, where he has described modelling locomotives and rolling stock from card sealed with shellac, but I hope to have a go using his technique another time.

 

[David Bell 2,857]

This has come on a treat. Very impressive.

Cheers

David

[Marly51 1,727]

Since the deadline for submission has been extended a bit, I remade the front of the smoke box, because the chimney was slightly off the vertical! Trust me to chose an oval cylinder for the boiler! While my model is nowhere near finescale or prototypical, it is still a challenge to cut the curves for the cradles under the boiler accurately out of card. I am also attempting to make the cab roof out of an aluminium drinks can and discovered the bottom of the can had a dome shape, which might work for the smoke box door... fingers crossed!

 

 

 

Edited April 6 by Marly51

[PaulRhB 20,569]

Great stuff, another that would expand into a great layout  

[Marly51 1,727]

1 minute ago, PaulRhB said:

Great stuff, another that would expand into a great layout  

I am afraid I would need another workshop, PaulRhB! I am working on an idea for a layout which provides a complete run around (possibly dogbone), with an interchangeable middle section. I could then enjoy modelling different themes, eras, etc to my hearts content!

[Marly51 1,727]

Checking the dimensions of the model within the cakebox. I am leaving fixing buffers to the carriage and locomotive until the main carriage structure is completed! Cab roof and smoke box door are painted and currently drying in the workshop!
 

 

[Wrenn 1,612]

Marly51 your scratchbuilt loco looks great, this is turning out to be another good cakebox build.

[Marly51 1,727]

On 10/04/2021 at 09:15, Wrenn said:

Marly51 your scratchbuilt loco looks great, this is turning out to be another good cakebox build.

Thanks Kevin! This small diorama is a self-indulgent distraction from my half finished N gauge layout, based on a real location!

[Marly51 1,727]

One ‘Emett-style’ loco more or less finished... may add a few details before final photos. One tall carriage with a small footprint to follow!
 

 

That drinks can came in quite handy!

 

 

[Wrenn 1,612]

Nice modelling Marly51, you have captured the Emett style nicely.

[Andrew D 240]

That is superb!