Tavistock (GWR)

[Blandford1969]

Wow that is incredible structure modelling. How did you make them with such great corner joints?

[John Brenchley]

Hi Blandford1969

Thanks very much.

I presume you are referring to the corners in the brickwork.  As it was so long ago, I can't be too sure what I did but on the signal box, it would either have been a case of filing a 45 degree angle on the corners of the brick overlay  to get a sharp join or given that this layer was only about 15 thou thick, I might have accepted a butt joint.

Looking at the nearest corner in the picture of the rear of the box and enlarging it hugely on the screen, it appears to me that the mortar joints don't go right up to the corner, so this seems to indicate that I accepted a butt joint and from normal viewing distance, this isn't too visible.

with the station building, part of which is visible in the background, I adopted a different approach.  For the brick window and corner surrounds, I again used thinned down Ratio sheets but scored it almost all the way through from the back and folded it around the corners.  This inevitably gives a slightly rounded appearance to the corner but does allow the mortar courses to show up and flow round the corner.

Best wishes

John

[CF MRC]

I have never been particularly fastidious about brick courses continuing into corner joints, but do take a slitting file, extremely fine saw or scalpel blade to notch the courses on the corner: that catches the eye quite well. Before we made our own styrene brick sheet, the notches were all I used to represent bricks, along with hand painted bricks here and there. The corner details on a building are what your eye mainly alights upon. 
 

Tim

[John Brenchley]

The Goods Shed

The GWR Goods Shed at Tavistock was situated immediately behind the down platform at the Launceston end of the station.  It was a substantial building measuring approximately 75’ long by 65’ wide so a model makes an imposing building even in our small scale.

 

The shed was a timber framed structure covered with vertical planking, presumably  treated with pitch or some similar substance for weather protection.  In later years additional corrugated sheeting appears to have been added to the sides but I chose to ignore this as being a post WW2 addition.

 

Two sidings passed through the shed on one side and road vehicle access was also provided through second openings at each end.  Some images of the actual building are below.

 

 

 

The model is now about 20 years old and was built from 1mm thick 5 ply plywood which I scored vertically for 9“ planking.  The internal framework, made from thin pieces of square timber, was also included as this would be quite visible between the various openings.  I painted the plywood with thinned down washes of various grey and brown enamels which soaked into it quite well and hopefully looks like slightly faded pitch/creosote.

 

Originally, I made the roof from the Ratio plastic embossed slate sheets but as they do not come large enough to cover the whole roof, a join had to be made and however hard I tried to camouflage it, it was always visible.  After many years, this was annoying me too much and I replaced the roof with one covered with the ClearSolutions slate strips which were printed on sticky labels by Ian Barefoot – I discovered these at the time I was putting the roof on  the station building and have found them really useful ever since.

 

The shed appeared to have a stone base up to deck level and this was made from plastic embossed stone sheet.  A small crane was mounted on the deck inside the shed, and I used a Langley white metal crane to represent this – it a barely visible at most angles so whether or not it is the correct type is not too important.

 

Below is a picture of the model taken from the Plymouth (southern) end.

 

 

Office extensions existed at both ends, the southern one clearly being of timber, but most photographs show a brick-built office at the northern end.  In the article on Tavistock in the Great Western Railway Journal, issue 17, Chris Turner writes that “The brick-built office is believed to have been provided during the Second World War, to replace an earlier wooden structure”.

 

Originally, I did not have any images of this earlier office so left it off the model.  However, studying an enlargement of the aerial photograph last weekend, I decided that there was enough detail visible to make a reasonable attempt at including it.  A chimney is also clearly shown in the aerial picture, but I was uncertain what it was originally built from and whether it was replaced at the time the office was rebuilt.  The more recent pictures suggest brick but not necessarily the same as the new office brickwork as in some pictures, I think there is a slight join visible between the office and the chimney, suggesting a different colour or type of brick and leading me to conclude that the original chimney was never renewed.  The only colour picture that I have is very washed out but may have a hint of pink suggesting the office may have been red brick.  However, I decided to use dirty yellow brick for the chimney as I thought this would look more in keeping with the rest of the Tavistock where generally stone colours are more dominant.

 

 

In the above picture taken yesterday, the nearest corner of the roof ridging has already been cut away to allow the chimney to sit in place.

 

Progress on the office to date is as shown in the collage of images below.  The bottom right image shows the reverse side of the ply where four of the layers of the ply have been carved away to leave a single ply thickness for the corner joints and the window surrounds.

I have now started on the window on the end wall using microscope slide glass and sticky labels strips for the framework.  I’ll add some more pictures of progress over the weekend.

 

Best wishes

 

John

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by John Brenchley

[Coal Tank]

This is really stunning modeling

John 

[John Brenchley]

Thanks very much.  I appreciate your comment.

John

[Mikkel]

I agree, excellent modelling. That first shot with the look-through really captures the spaciousness of the prototype.

 

Interesting to see two cranes outside in the aerial photo, next to each other. Haven't seen that often.

[John Brenchley]

Thanks Mikkel

 

Yes, 2 cranes does seem odd - the aerial photo is from about 1928.

 

Luckily N Brass models does sells a suitable etch for this type of crane based on an initial etch design by Julia Adams so I will be ordering a couple soon.

 

Best wishes

 

John

[Simond]

Just found this thread, lovely modelling!

[John Brenchley]

I've taken a few more pictures of progress on the goods shed office this afternoon before the best of the natural light disappears.

 

First is one taken on the workbench with the office just resting up against the chimney.

 

The window has had its glazing bars added and the woodwork is now painted to match the rest of the goods shed.  I slightly damaged the thin edge of the bottom of some of the planks on the side not visible in this picture so decided to deliberately ""distress" a few more to represent worn planks or some that may be rotting a bit with age.  The base is finished with a layer of Scalescenes printed brick paper, toned down a bit with water colours.

 

 

The glazing bars are thin slices of sticky label cut from the edges of the ClearSolutions slate sheet.  Before cutting them out, I gave the label a wash of dirty creamy grey water colour just to tone down the white a bit.  This doesn't really show up in the pictures as the white balance isn't quite right and the camera is making the model look a bit too bright.

 

The huge enlargement below just about shows that I have added the label strips in two layers to try to give the impression of two casement windows within an overall frame and with a slightly thicker central element.  There are a mixture a butt joints and overlapped joints - the vertical bars overlap the central horizontal one but at the edges there are mostly butt joints.  I now notice from this enlargement that on one of the vertical strips I have left an overlap at the top and bottom  instead of a butt joint - not sure if I'll risk correcting it though.

 

 

The chimney has now been glued to the side of the shed and a sub-roof added to the office.  Next, I'll need to fill in the gaps with a bit of wood filler so as to give a totally smooth base on which to start laying the slates. 

 

In the final picture below, the office is just resting in place.

 

 

Best wishes

 

John

Edited April 5, 2022 by John Brenchley

[Ian Smith]

John,

I like that a lot. The distressing of the plank bottoms is very subtle, and the fact that one or two glazing bars overlap is only noticeable in the cruel close up (and only then because I looked for it because you’d mentioned it! )

Keep the photos coming - when I started 2mm modelling a few years ago, the photos of Tavistock on the 2mm website (along with others) were what inspired me most when building Modbury. Thank you.

Ian

[wiggoforgold]

Watching this with interest, as I have in mind Tavistock South as a possible future project in 4mm scale. My plan is to model the station from a point just north of the front of the train shed, so I leave out the bulk of the train shed, the goods shed and possibly the timber and coal sidings at the front, and just model the front of the train shed, the signal box and the loco yard.

Alex

Edited August 8, 2021 by wiggoforgold

[John Brenchley]

14 hours ago, wiggoforgold said:

Watching this with interest, as I have in mind Tavistock South as a possible future project in 4mm scale. My plan is to model the station from a point just north of the front of the train shed, so I leave out the bulk of the train shed, the goods shed and possibly the timber and coal sidings at the front, and just model the front of the train shed, the signal box and the loco yard.

Alex

 

There should be a lot of interesting features at that end of the station for you to model Alex but you've definitely picked the end the didn't get photographed very much.  When I get to building that end myself, I suspect I'll be having to make a few inspired guesses as to what some of the buildings looked like.

Best wishes

John

[bécasse]

7 hours ago, John Brenchley said:

 

There should be a lot of interesting features at that end of the station for you to model Alex but you've definitely picked the end the didn't get photographed very much.  When I get to building that end myself, I suspect I'll be having to make a few inspired guesses as to what some of the buildings looked like.

Don't worry, John. A few months after you have completed modelling and painting these buildings, a photo (or a series of photos) will emerge showing that you guessed wrong. Been there, done it - and more than once!

[John Brenchley]

I have a building construction question that I hope my fellow modellers can help with.

 

Based on pictures of the office at the southern end of the station, I think I will need to add a strip of wood on each side immediately below the slates (is barge board the correct technical term?) to the office I am building for the northern end.  

 

What I am not sure is whether or not it should also extend past the chimney breast.  I've drawn the two possible variation on the picture below with photoshop.  I can't really tell from the enlargement of the aerial photo which version might have been there.

 

 

Which is most likely to be the correct one, based on prototype building practice please?

 

Thanks

 

Best wishes

 

John

Edited April 5, 2022 by John Brenchley

[Caley Jim]

Since the purpose of the barge boards is to protect the edges of the roof my guess is that they would extend up the full side of the roof, so yes, covering the side of the chimney. 

 

Beautiful modelling BTW John. 

 

Jim 

[Miss Prism]

The purpose of the bargeboard is to protect (from rain) the vertically-slatted boards below it. The brick is probably regarded as self-protecting. Besides which, if the bargeboard did extend over the brick, how would it attach to the brick?

 

[John Brenchley]

Thanks for your replies Jim and Russ

 

50:50 each way so far!

 

Anyone else with suggestions?

 

Thanks

 

john

[Caley Jim]

1 hour ago, Miss Prism said:

The purpose of the bargeboard is to protect (from rain) the vertically-slatted boards below it. The brick is probably regarded as self-protecting. Besides which, if the bargeboard did extend over the brick, how would it attach to the brick?

 

Sorry, Russ, as you will see from my reply I completely disagree with this.   Roofs with a considerable overhang still have bargeboards, as do those on brick buildings.  They are there to protect the edge of the roof purlins, not the top of the wall.  See here.

 

Jim

Edited August 9, 2021 by Caley Jim
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[queensquare]

2 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

Sorry, Russ, as you will see from my reply I completely disagree with this.   Roofs with a considerable overhang still have bargeboards, as do those on brick buildings.  They are there to protect the edge of the roof purlins, not the top of the wall.  See here.

 

Jim

 

Agree fully with Jim. The barge boards would have stopped at the chimney

 

Jerry

[kitpw]

My guess is to place the verge closure (it's not really a barge board) on the timber cladding and just point in the slates on top of the chimney breast (or is it a pier merged with a chimney breast?) - just a neat mortar joint.  All the verge closure is doing is covering the gap above the head rail of the timber framing and the underside of the slates - the gap is the slating batten thickness:  in timber frame construction, mortar wouldn't work. (It also covers any ragged cuts in the tops of the vertical cladding but don't mention that in front of the chippy who cut the cladding!).

 

It's a really nice model and well worth pursuing these little details. 

 

Kit PW

 

 

[CF MRC]

As soon as the roof is laid over the top of the chimney breast, the plank / barge board / verge closure would go over the brick work. It will also look better and be more stylish. 
 

Tim

[Miss Prism]

Ok - I am corrected!

[John Brenchley]

Thank you everyone who has offered their thoughts on the length of the "plank".

 

There was a lot of logical thought behind both alternatives but after having a more thorough search on the internet for images, I think I'm going to go with the longer version that matches the extent of the slates i.e. extending over the bricks.

 

Best wishes

 

John

[John Brenchley]

A few final photographs to show the completed office added to the goods shed at Tavistock.

 

Firstly a composition of construction shots showing

 

   The strips of roof slates being added to a sub surface of thin card.

 

   The roof trimmed and weathered with dilute India ink and grey / brown weathering powders.  Gutters and downpipes from plastic,

 

   The barge boards added slightly proud of the roof surface so that the roof subsurface below the slates fits into the recess.

 

   The roof glued in place just needing some lead capping.

The colour balance in the first two images is totally wrong - the problems of indoor lighting.  The first one is far too brown - the slates are actually light grey before any weathering.  The second one is not brown enough - the roof is actually sitting on a piece of buff coloured card.  

 

And lastly a couple of pictures of the goods shed back in place on the layout with a few goods vehicles artistically placed.

 

My next job should be getting some forestation on that bank.

 

 

 

Best wishes

 

John

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by John Brenchley