Cast Tunnel Segment Lining in N Scale - Any ideas?

[John M Upton]

Hello

 

I was wondering if anyone has managed to successfully recreate the look of LU cast tunnel lining segments in N scale?  I have toyed with the idea of creating a printed graphic. shrunk down to size and applied inside a tube but wondered if anyone else had any alternative ideas?

 

Many thanks!!

[Michael Hodgson]

If I were modelling a sub-surface section of the Underground, I think I would run the track in some sort of transparent pipe of the nearest suitable diameter - polythene or similar supported as necessary by vertical sheets of perspex spaced as necessary.  The sort of thing sometimes produced as an architectural model.  Because if you can't see the model, what's the point? 

 

Reminds me of an April Fool article in one of the railway magazines years ago, where it was suggested that lacking a railway room, the modeller had lifted a couple of upstairs floorboards and built his layout in the void between the joists !

[Engineer]

 

I have considered how to produce the effect of tunnel lining - both cast-iron and reinforced concrete - albeit in 1:35 scale. 

 

I would be creating diorama modules rather than a layout so considered clear acrylic tube to keep fingers away, with a lining of styrene sheet of suitable thickness to represent the depth of the cast-iron flanges.  In practice, experiments showed that it would be hard for me to create the correct impression this way, and currently I believe that a thinner sheet will work better.  I also concluded that a long continuous run of segments would not be as good as having short sections at each module end to frame each scene,  with the clear tube over the whole scene.

 

I did confer with the Copenhagen Fields project, via another web forum, on the exact dimensions of tunnel lining.  They are taking a different, high-fidelity approach:

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/52386-copenhagen-fields/page/21/

[Fat Controller]

2 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

If I were modelling a sub-surface section of the Underground, I think I would run the track in some sort of transparent pipe of the nearest suitable diameter - polythene or similar supported as necessary by vertical sheets of perspex spaced as necessary.  The sort of thing sometimes produced as an architectural model.  Because if you can't see the model, what's the point? 

 

Reminds me of an April Fool article in one of the railway magazines years ago, where it was suggested that lacking a railway room, the modeller had lifted a couple of upstairs floorboards and built his layout in the void between the joists !

The real give-away was that he suggested that he had drilled through some of the joists, IIRC

[Michael Hodgson]

21 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

The real give-away was that he suggested that he had drilled through some of the joists, IIRC

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that somebody might try doing that !

 

 

 

[Lord of Narnia]

For 4mm scale I know that service trunking has been used - it’s the ribbed stuff we run household services through below ground. You might be able to get a smaller version but might be over-scaled in 2mm. 

[John M Upton]

Thanks for the replies.  I have decided that only short 'visible' parts need to have some sort of representation of the tunnel lining and so have experimented with drawing up some artwork in MS Paint and then applying it, initially to the inside of an old loo roll!!!

 

So far, so good but I am having trouble making the tunnel walls stay circular, they keep want to kink out of alignment or unroll again.

 

I shall persevere.