A repaint for my 'Columbia cabin'

[PeterR]

Hi,

 

Way back in 2005 I built a model of what the Americans know as the ‘Columbia Cabin’, which is still available as a kit, but not on FN3 (or 1 to 20.3) scale. There was however a plan available from the magazine ‘Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette, and it is in the Sept/Oct 2001 issue of the magazine, and that is what I worked from.

 

This was one of my early buildings, and is quite large at approx 410 x 240mm wide. There is an article which needs some corrections in my website, which is a portion of my daughters commercial website and here is a link to it

 

http://www.musiccorner.co.uk/a379/Model-Miners-Cabin/article_info.html

 

Here is a photo of the building when it was finished- it then had roofing felt shingles on the roof, and my first experiments with making corrugated iron.

 

 

 

But time, and weather have taken their toll – it has been outside all the intervening time and was regularly buried in snow in winter. So a rebuild was called for – the roof was stripped back to the plasticard under roof – this did not have my now standard stiffening so had some ‘sag’ in it; this has bee left in it as it gives an air of age I think!

 

The paint had also suffered as can be seen in the photo below

 

PHOTO

 

I suspect that I did not apply a coat of varnish for protection, but the building was a long time ago and I am not sure.

 

First I made some more corrugated iron sheets – and my crimper gave up the ghost just as I had finished! I now have a new one from ‘First Stop Stationers, which as two handles and a set of 6” jaws; I have tried a sheet of the aluminum foil from food trays (to be exact it is from the Aldi 3 Bird roast tins) and that worked well The new one can be seen at the following link for those who may be thinking of buying one; the shhets I use are about 75 x 60mm or so.

 

http://www.firststopstationers.co.uk/acatalog/info_XCU2682100.html

 

here are a couple of photos of the new roof – the corrugated sheets were fixed on with a couple of strips of brown window frame sealant, with the edges glued with Evo-stik, and painted with metal primer in the ‘cheapest colour known to man’ – red oxide!

 

 

 

 

The faded and missing paint can easily be seen:I have also added the new vertical posts to assist in making the verandah rooves more secure than they were. These are made from some scrap PVC solid foam sheet, which I cut with a Proxxon KS230 circular saw - they are expensive at first but mine has proved to be a godsend; may main thickness of this sheet is 5mm, and it is available down to 2mm thickness. This cabin is made from solid PVC sheet, (1.5mm thick) and 'Korroflute - this is the stuff that estate agents use for their signs: nowadays it seems to be 3mm thick, originally it was 5mm thick - goto your local estate agent and ask him for the name & address of his sign maker - then go and see if he has any 5mm thick stuff which he will sell you. It will be it 8ft x 4ft sheets but he should be able to cut it to 4 foot square to fit in your car. I still use it, but I prefer the PVC solid foam sheet - that is also 8 x 4 sheets and is expensive - the semi matt fnish both sides is what you need NOT the glossy one side - that is more expensive, and much harder to cut. For glue I use Evo-stik in tubes, and my buildings stay out over winter. Here is an extra photo of last winters snow levels just for interest

 

 

 

Back to the new roof and its 'corrugated sheets - ensure that the inevitable gaps are filled with paint as you paint it the second time. The three stove pipes (it gets cold in winter in Colorado) are from plastic tube; the longest one is a couple of bendy straws in black – cut one up and thread it down inside for more strength – it will be needed except for the bendy bit; the top is a bit of a old ‘Biro’ pen tube, sat on some scrap in the top. Both the others are from my scrap box with one top being aluminum foil and the other is from a children’s drinks bottle I think. I also use the low angle blunt pointed top from the window frame sealant – nothing gets wasted. I was using annealed sheet from Fosters Lager cans: but I think the aluminum foiil may be easier on the crimper, which after all is intended for paper.

 

The repaint of the walls was with some Humbrol enamels for the base coats, and then acrylics thinned with a lot of water & some windscreen washer fluid (approx 10%) to kill the ‘surface tension’ – otherwise the very thin paint will lie on the surface in ‘droplet’ form. Several layers can be added and in different colours as well for variations.

 

Saving words (they say that a photo is worth a thousand words, so I saved typing 5000 in this article) here are some more photos of the almost finished article, perched on a garden stool to raise it off the ground!

 

 

 

Yours Peter.

[James Hilton]

Very effective Peter! Thanks for sharing - there is a treasure trove of your content on your daughters website - wow!