Porth Dinllaen in 0

[Simond]

Whilst the glue sets, here's the box file for PD Loco as requested by TonyG.

 

pd_loco_2016_07_09_1127_04.box

 

Sorry it took so long, been busy...

 

I should say that there were quite a few templot plans, I exported many of them as DXFs and then moved them around on TurboCAD to work out how it was going to fit.  It was all very tight, and there are surely parts of the actual model that differ from the plan.

 

best

Simon

Edited November 5, 2018 by Simond

[Guest Bri.s]

The sheds looking great

Very Nice design and build on it Simon

 

Brian

[Simond]

Pleased with myself this evening. It was a wee bit stressful but it went together without major mishap.

 

 

Smoke hoods next, I think, and door frames.

 

Best

Simon

[3 link]

Morning Simon,

 

Wow! , that last picture has so much atmosphere, it has certainly been worth all the effort you have put in so far.

 

Once the buildings weathered it will be stunning .

 

ATB,

 

Martyn.

[Simond]

Thanks Martyn, all, for the kind comments & ratings.

 

Yes, gentle weathering (the building is supposed to be “fairly new”, say 3 years or so) will lift it a bit, but also, smoke hoods & vents, the boiler house and it’s unfeasibly tall chimney, roof and window glazing, roof walkways, doors, hinges etc., internal & external lights, slates, bargeboards, furniture, people, clutter... I hope it goes on for a long time to come!

 

It’s certainly taken a while to get to here. MrsD & I visited Aberystwyth on the 12th September 2015.

 

There is a mild concern. The whole building seems inclined to flex inwards. I think this is due to the way it is mounted on the baseboard, and a little underpinning may be necessary. A job for the weekend, I think, as MrsD will be out a a school reunion, and the granite kitchen worktop is flat...

 

Atb

Simon

[Miss Prism]

Simon - is the roof glued on permanently?

[Hal Nail]

Superb. Just out of interest how many locos will it house (I know it depends what type!)

[DLT]

Lovely job Simon, simply stunning!

Cheers, Dave.

[Simond]

Simon - is the roof glued on permanently?

 

No!  The roof trusses have "feet" that should rest on the capitals of the perspex pillars, but given the tendency of the walls to bow inwards, I fitted a pair of 3/8" alu angles and the trusses were adjusted to sit on these.  It can be lifted off (gingerly) so I will be able to fit the smoke hoods and lights, and weather appropriately, and also so I can rescue errant locos, and clean the track - hopefully very rarely necessary!

 

Actually, if the roof were / could be glued on, it would remove the issue of the bowing walls.  I hope to resolve this at the weekend, by some careful construction of a stronger foundation.

 

 

Superb. Just out of interest how many locos will it house (I know it depends what type!)

 

Indeed!  In the photo, there are 3 57xx and a 64xx with a bit of space left over.  It will manage two large tender locos and a tank on each track, and of course, you can prototypically leave the odd one sticking out.  The original was 21 "panels" long, the model is only 15 (- believe me, that was enough!) and each panel is 10' / 70mm long, including the column.

 

 

best

Simon

[Killybegs]

Bowing walls is always a problem with removable roofs. I'm also building a loco shed at the moment ( http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/82059-worseter-update/page-37 ) and, at this point the roof is still removable. One wall does want to bow at the top and I am now considering fixing the roof to stabilise it, but not before all work on the roof is finished, as it's easier to work on that way. In theory, the whole shed could lift out when finished. Of course I could always keep the power to the track in the shed turned off!

[N15class]

Bowing walls are a problem in full size buildings. With luck you get the roof structure right to stop it pushing them out any more.

[Simond]

Yes, but my issue is that they are bowing inwards, and thus trapping the roof. If you look above the Castle cab, there’s a piece of ally angle keeping them the right distance apart!

 

My suspicion is that the multi-ply MDF floor is too flexible due to the inspection pits, and as the building is not supported in the middle, its sagging there, thus pulling the floor out of true, and the walls with it. Hopefully a bit of timber underneath will put paid to that. If that doesn’t work, I’ll take up the bagpipes or something.

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Slates, slate painting, experimental roof glazing, incorrect bargeboards...

 

 

 

They look a bit garish when first painted, but I think the overall effect seems to work. Not sure that the card is stiff enough. I suppose I could shellac it before painting.

 

Nice to be making some progress.

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Correction to earlier post, each track will hold five pannier tanks. Fortunately, I only have five pannier tanks!

 

Best

Simon

[N15class]

What sort of age is the shed supposed to be. I ask because if Victorian it's more likely to have slate and a halves at end of row. Half slates are a fairly modern thing due to cost of larger slates.

[Hal Nail]

Correction to earlier post, each track will hold five pannier tanks. Fortunately, I only have five pannier tanks!

 

Nevertheless I’d advise buying a sixth, just to park outside.

[Simond]

What sort of age is the shed supposed to be. I ask because if Victorian it's more likely to have slate and a halves at end of row. Half slates are a fairly modern thing due to cost of larger slates.

Hi Peter,

 

The little are of slates I’ve done shows both approaches - as I cut the A5-long panel of slates to fit the area alongside the clerestory, so the top 8 rows are slate-and-a-half, the lower rows are half slates on the alternate rows.

 

The shed was putatively built as part of the loan acts, so following the Great Depression, maybe 1929 or 30 (can’t easily find a reference - but contemporaneous with Didcot & many other depots). on that basis, I believe that slate-and-a-half is correct.

 

I also chose Princess slates on the basis that they were apparently typically used for substantial buildings of this nature.

 

 

Does anyone have thoughts re the colour palette? I feel they may be a little too light, and a little too varied. I suspect a darker base coat will grin through the colour washes, and calm it down a bit.

 

Best

Simon

[Miss Prism]

The colours of the slates will blend together with dark overwashes, but I feel you've got too much variation in the initial slate colouring.

[Deano747]

Looks very good, Simon, but I'm inclined to agree with Miss Prism that the general colour should err towards the darker shades and more uniform. Obviously some variety in shade to break up the monotony!

 

Regards, Deano.

[Killybegs]

The commonest slates on GWR sheds appear to be Duchesses at 24" x 12". If head nailed these would be laid to a gauge of (24-4)/2 = 10". If centre nailed (24-3)/2 = 10.5".  Stratford on Avon shed, on which mine is based, would appear to be head nailed. With regard to verges, both large 'slate and half' or half slates were used, so one needs to check one's prototype. Stratford had half slates.

 

In my earlier post (for those that might have seen it before I  deleted it), I got a bit muddled up with my conversions from 4mm to full size, hence 16" wide slates instead of 12". It's an age thing!

 

With regard to colour, there would be very little variation except where a slate had been replaced.

 

I have to say, I'm not particularly looking forward to slating the shed roof, there's an awful lot of it .

 

I will follow you build with interest Simon.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Killybegs

[N15class]

Colour depends on the local. North Wales would be with a mauve tinge, Yorkshire are towards a green tinge, Cornish are a mid grey. Not sure about south Wales.

[N15class]

Hi Peter,

The little are of slates I’ve done shows both approaches - as I cut the A5-long panel of slates to fit the area alongside the clerestory, so the top 8 rows are slate-and-a-half, the lower rows are half slates on the alternate rows.

The shed was putatively built as part of the loan acts, so following the Great Depression, maybe 1929 or 30 (can’t easily find a reference - but contemporaneous with Didcot & many other depots). on that basis, I believe that slate-and-a-half is correct.

I also chose Princess slates on the basis that they were apparently typically used for substantial buildings of this nature.

Does anyone have thoughts re the colour palette? I feel they may be a little too light, and a little too varied. I suspect a darker base coat will grin through the colour washes, and calm it down a bit.

Best

Simon

I missed the top bit. Certainly looks much nicer with large end slates.

[Simond]

John, Peter, 

 

thanks, I can't check my prototype because of course Porth Dinllaen is primarily a holiday village nowadays, nice golf course, lovely beach, excellent pub/restaurant (Ty Coch) on the path down.  It never suffered the indignity and intrusion of Brunel's would-be Irish Mails port and my loco shed!

 

My shed is modelled on Aberystwyth, of which I have many photos and will check.  Difficult to estimate slate sizes but can probably count the rows.  My slates are drawn so that one third of each slate shows, one third is behind the gap between the slates in the row above, and one third is stuck to the roof, so they are not actually to scale.  Real slates probably only have an overlap between alternate layers of the area for the nail holes - the 3" or 4" John mentions, whereas mine are one third of their cut height.  I could reduce this without it showing, so if I redraw them, I may revisit the design.  More slates per piece of card!

 

I can amend the slate size quite easily and laser cut to any required size - but I have to sort the right card out first, and, following the helpful comments above, I need to prime them with a darker grey. 

 

I think perhaps just a couple of shades of grey (nowhere near fifty) and mauve (N Wales) will do it, leave the green out.   Earlier photos show a section of plain grey slate roof on the boiler shed and it looks completely wrong as there is no colour variation at all - so somewhere between nowhere near enough and too much is required!   I agree that the slate-and-a-half verge looks better.

 

There is a hell of a lot of it - my roof is a little less than 1100 x 150 mm each side.  The current slate cutting pattern gives me 8 strips of slates approx 200mm long from an A5 card, currently they overlap to give a 5.6mm (9.6") overlap, so I will need around 25-30 rows, each 5-6 strips long - about 20 A5 cards each side.  Putting the slates on stripwise is very much easier than individual slates, as my pal, Ken did some years back on his magnificent model of Swanage Station building.

 

thanks to everyone for the constructive and helpful comments

Simon

[Simond]

Wasn’t feeling very inspired tonight, but fiddled around with the slates that I’d cut. These are not stuck down!

 

 

And dulled down a bit with a wash of grey

 

 

Not enough, I think. Difficult to tell the difference! It needs a darker grey base, definitely the colours need to be done before laying the slates.

 

Best

Simon

Edited November 7, 2018 by Simond

[bgman]

Simon,

 

The cut slates look very good to my eyes, when it comes to colouring them to your satisfaction I have found that during the process it can sometimes be slightly off putting knowing what you're trying to achieve and not looking quite right.

 

Don't be too concerned at this stage and maybe come back to it when you are more in tune with what you want to see in the finished model. For the record I have probably rejected more than I have completed which at the time has made me think I have wasted my time, however, eventually it comes together and it's always worth while in the end.

 

I find myself looking at what I've done, put it out of sight then later look at it in different light conditions and seem happier !

 

Going off at a tangent, I've just spent quite a few hours trying to get a second hand O gauge Pannier chassis to run correctly and I'm damned if it will. So I turned my attention to the ongoing Dean Goods chassis ( the tender is sorted by the way - YEY ! ) and within half an hour with it temporarily set up it ran quite nicely, just needs a little bit of fettling but for my first O gauge build I was extremely happy.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't get too hung up and maybe try something else before going back to the roof, we can sometimes be our own worst critic !

 

Sorry for the long winded reply in your thread.

 

Grahame.

 

p.s. Here is a very quickly taken shot on my iPhone of an unfinished model showing the roof to date which has taken three attempts and I'm still not certain!

 

 

p.p.s please ignore the lantern on resting on the lead roof which is another trial at roofing ! Hey-Ho !!!

Edited November 8, 2018 by bgman