Westerham, + Weald. Tarmac surface for the platform

[westerhamstation]

A piece of card from a cornflake packet, a print of the end of the building, some plaster board and plywood,and felt tip track, do not make a finished model of Brasted Station. But it has kept me busy for the best part of the day, and has given me some idea of what I want to achieve. Here are the results of todays efforts.

 

[westerhamstation]

Up the plasterboard road to the station, the road up to brasted station was quite steep and in the winter must have been quite daunting for the railway passenger getting off of the train at night, as it was about half a mile from Brasted Village all down a narrow country lane in the dark. To make the approach road up to the station, and the area in front of the station building and into the goods yard i am going to use some plasterboard, this will require bending to form the slope, the board has been cut to the approx shape,and on the flat part I have put some weights, where the slope starts I have wet the surface with some water, when it had soaked in I and then added weights to the far end, this seems to have worked but I have left it overnight to dry out.  If it works on to the next stage. (if not back to the drawing board).

Edited November 6, 2013 by westerhamstation

[bagpipes331]

Up the plasterboard road to the station, the road up to brasted station was quite steep and in the winter must have been quite daunting for the railway passenger getting off of the train at night, as it was about half a mile from Brasted Village all down a narrow country lane in the dark. To make the approach road up to the station, and the area in front of the station building and into the goods yard i am going to use some plasterboard, this will require bending to form the slope, the board has been cut to the approx ,and on the flat part I have put some weights, where the slope starts I have wet the surface with some water, when it had soaked in I and then added weights to the far end, this seems to have worked but I have left it overnight to dry out.  If it works on to the next stage. (if not back to the drawing board).

That looks like a strange water tower......

[westerhamstation]

That looks like a strange water tower......

What do you expect for a first attempt, it only needs painting. ( yellow perhaps )

[westerhamstation]

There is a saying, If it's not broke don't fix it.and another one, patience is a virtue. Well if I had been patient it wouldn't have broken and I wouldn't have had to fix it. Who thinks up these stupid sayings. The plasterboard was drying out nicely when I went and had a look at it, and thought to my self I bet I can peel the paper off of it now as soon as I started it snapped in half, and it also appears that this plasterboard is very reluctant to let go of it's paper backing, it was a bit like trying to remove woodchip wallpaper that had several coats of paint on it.Anyway lesson learned this is version 2. all that I have done to it at the moment is to give it a rough shaping with a paint scraper and a dusting of grey primer I will leave the pot holes in the surface when I do the final scenic work on the surface. Another thing that I have started is the front facia this is  going to be the same as Westerham Station, this time I am putting it on at the start of the scenic work which will give me the shape of the land at the front of the layout.

   The material that I am going to use for the basic shape of the emabankment and other ground is the same as Westerham, it's a laminate flooring underlay that is made from bits of wood fibre and coloured green, in the picture you can see that you can split it into quite thin layers which will follow the contours of the land quite well, I just fix it into place with PVA and when dry give it a brush over with PVA to stiffen it, it's then ready for scenic treatment. Here are some more pictures of progress.

[Oldddudders]

Would a heat-gun or blowtorch lift the paper without destroying the plasterboard underneath?

[westerhamstation]

Would a heat-gun or blowtorch lift the paper without destroying the plasterboard underneath?

That's worth a try, will give it a go ( outside on some scrap I think ) thanks for the idea . Regards Adrian

[westerhamstation]

Would a heat-gun or blowtorch lift the paper without destroying the plasterboard underneath?

That was interesting, I used a hot air gun on maximum heat setting on the plasterboard paper, it didn't burn or catch fire after about a minute I was able to remove the paper quite easily and it left a very interesting textured surface behind. I splodged a bit of colour on to highlight the result.

       Thanks Oldddudders for the suggestion

[JCL]

Now that IS interesting. What sort of paint would you seal that with? Would ordinary latex paint do it?

[westerhamstation]

Now that IS interesting. What sort of paint would you seal that with? Would ordinary latex paint do it?

Hi Jason,

   When I used it on Westerham Station I sealed it with watered down PVA , this has seemed to work okay. On the approach road to Brasted station I just sprayed it with grey car primer this was only done as a temporary measure before I do any scenic work on it, but that seems to have sealed it as well. I think that a crushed stone surface with pot holes is the effect that I will try to achieve on the finished road but thats a long way off at the moment. Regards Adrian

[westerhamstation]

Railway Terrace, then and now. (or back to the futre part V).

[JCL]

Thanks Adrian. That certainly is an interesting surface. The sort of thing you'd find in a goods yard maybe.

[westerhamstation]

Meanwhile back at Brasted Station, a little bit more progress on the embankment and the site for the station building. The platform surface and pavement outside the station are Tarmac, so I am going to use the same method and material that I used for Westerham, the base of the platform will be plasterboard, with plywood bonded to it with no-nails, and the top surface vinyl cushion floor, which after it has been given a seeing to with the sanding block gives a fair representation of tarmac.(still needs some more work) the front edge of the vinyl outside the station has been tapered underneath to get the kerb height a bit lower and it's all been glued down with flooring adhesive. I have a cunning plan for the kerb which will be revealed if it works, if it dosen't no more will be said. A gap has been cut in the embankment for what will be the bridge one day,  some plasterboard split in half and shaped with a camber has been glued down is being used for the lane underneath.

[bagpipes331]

Looking good Adrian, looking good 8)

[westerhamstation]

The kerb stones are in place, the road and station forecourt have been coloured. I have tried to create a surface that has had a battering over the years and has had numerous repairs of varying quality. The method I used for the kerb stones was to cut a piece of cushion floor about  1.75mm wide and 500mm long,

I then gave the underside of it a mist of grey primer. It was then fastened to the front edge of the pavement with pva and left to dry, when it had set I marked the individual kerb stones by pushing a small screwdriver into the foam and then gave them a bit of a dirty up. One advantge of using cushion flooring is that it follws any contours in the road and pavement, any way here are some pictures of what been happening.

[Jaz]

Interesting original choice of materials, and have to say the kerb stones look really effective. 

[David Todd]

Seafoam tree method...........if you need ideas for scrub...........

 

http://nigelburkin.wordpress.com/tag/sea-foam/

 

[westerhamstation]

Seafoam tree method...........if you need ideas for scrub...........

 

http://nigelburkin.wordpress.com/tag/sea-foam/

Hi David,

Thanks for the link, thats exactly the effect that I need to recreate on the embankments and around the goods yard at Brasted, just scrubby bushes and saplings as I don't think the trees would have been allowed to grow to big around the line, if any one knows of a link to a cheap source of seafoam it would be appreciated, as I need to make a lot of trees and bushes. Regards Adrian

[roundhouse]

The road surface is very effective. WIll have to give that method a go at soem point.

 

Ian

[DLT]

This is a superb project, and I particularly like the road surface; often a difficult effect to get looking right.

Cheers, Dave.

[David Todd]

Hi David,

Thanks for the link, thats exactly the effect that I need to recreate on the embankments and around the goods yard at Brasted, just scrubby bushes and saplings as I don't think the trees would have been allowed to grow to big around the line, if any one knows of a link to a cheap source of seafoam it would be appreciated, as I need to make a lot of trees and bushes. Regards Adrian

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=seafoam+trees&newwindow=1&rlz=1C1CHFX_enGB530GB530&espv=210&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=pruJUunxDYeS7AaFs4GoBg&ved=0CEoQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=642

[Oldddudders]

12/10 for innovation and effort on Brasted. Use of unusual materials clearly holds no fear for you. Those pics of the road and pavement are convincing in close-up, will look terrific at normal viewing distance in a completed scene. Brill!

[Richard Jones]

Lovely layout - apologies for only just looking at your postings and getting around to commenting

 

Llike you I recently retired and am now hoping to (finally!) build/finish a layout - plan A, is quite small and was started in my late teens and has been "on hold" for 35 years, though in a fit of enthusiasm I've also started a much larger project plan B

 

Anyway - have a look at the  SR 1932 Sentinel Steam Railcar (http://www.flickr.com/photos/72791995@N00/5173621749/in/photolist-8TbauZ-6D9P9p-7j6tmw-drBTGh-e7aamU-7vTV9A-bWjSeZ-9JcQSV-btgWhX-9h5umn-drYmrb-e2xT88)

 

- fascinating vehicle which did run on the Westerham line - I will have to re-write history to have one running on my plan B

 

best wishes

 

Richard

[westerhamstation]

Lovely layout - apologies for only just looking at your postings and getting around to commenting

 

Llike you I recently retired and am now hoping to (finally!) build/finish a layout - plan A, is quite small and was started in my late teens and has been "on hold" for 35 years, though in a fit of enthusiasm I've also started a much larger project plan B

 

Anyway - have a look at the  SR 1932 Sentinel Steam Railcar (http://www.flickr.com/photos/72791995@N00/5173621749/in/photolist-8TbauZ-6D9P9p-7j6tmw-drBTGh-e7aamU-7vTV9A-bWjSeZ-9JcQSV-btgWhX-9h5umn-drYmrb-e2xT88)

 

- fascinating vehicle which did run on the Westerham line - I will have to re-write history to have one running on my plan B

 

best wishes

 

Richard

Lovely layout - apologies for only just looking at your postings and getting around to commenting

 

Llike you I recently retired and am now hoping to (finally!) build/finish a layout - plan A, is quite small and was started in my late teens and has been "on hold" for 35 years, though in a fit of enthusiasm I've also started a much larger project plan B

 

Anyway - have a look at the  SR 1932 Sentinel Steam Railcar (http://www.flickr.com/photos/72791995@N00/5173621749/in/photolist-8TbauZ-6D9P9p-7j6tmw-drBTGh-e7aamU-7vTV9A-bWjSeZ-9JcQSV-btgWhX-9h5umn-drYmrb-e2xT88)

 

- fascinating vehicle which did run on the Westerham line - I will have to re-write history to have one running on my plan B

 

best wishes

 

Richard

Thanks Richard, Best of luck with either plan A or B. That Senitel Steam Railcar would make a great model. regards adrian

[Southernboy]

I'm loving the colours and textures on your scenics there - rough, ready and quite convincing!