Grindleford Station Hope Valley Line 1960s BR - Station Café build

[Alister_G]

Absolutely fantastic work Al!

 

Thanks Lee, that's very kind of you, but compared to the work you've been doing on Dover Priory, this is small beer.

 

Everyone who wants to see superb modelling should take a look at your blog:

 

http://lnrmodels.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Al

Pure Artistry, even down to the p#sser 

 

Lol, and I haven't even painted it yet!

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Well. over the last few evenings I've managed to make some substantial progress on the platform buildings.

 

I completed the tiling of the roofs:

 

 

 

 

 

and made the ridge tiles using a strip of 10thou plasticard bent double, and then 0thou x 20thou strip stuck to it:

 

 

The waiting room roof showed a tendency to want to warp, so I clamped it to some L shape steel with bulldog clips, until it learnt the error of its ways:

 

 

Whilst waiting for all the MEK to dry off completely on the tiling, I made a start on painting the outside of the structures, using Humbrol Acrylic RC424 BR Cream:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This will be weathered down later to be paler and dirtier.

 

More in a minute...

 

Al

Edited November 2, 2016 by acg_mr

[Andrew P]

Well. over the last few evenings I've managed to make some substantial progress on the platform buildings.

 

I completed the tiling of the roofs:

 

grindleford-platform-shelters096.jpg

 

grindleford-platform-shelters097.jpg

 

grindleford-platform-shelters098.jpg

 

grindleford-platform-shelters099.jpg

 

and made the ridge tiles using a strip of 10thou plasticard bent double, and then 0thou x 20thou strip stuck to it:

 

grindleford-platform-shelters100.jpg

 

The waiting room roof showed a tendency to want to warp, so I clamped it to some L shape steel with bulldog clips, until it learnt the error of it's ways:

 

grindleford-platform-shelters101.jpg

 

Whilst waiting for all the MEK to dry off completely on the tiling, I made a start on painting the outside of the structures, using Humbrol Acrylic RC424 BR Cream:

 

grindleford-platform-shelters102.jpg

 

grindleford-platform-shelters103.jpg

 

grindleford-platform-shelters104.jpg

 

grindleford-platform-shelters105.jpg

 

grindleford-platform-shelters106.jpg

 

This will be weathered down later to be paler and dirtier.

 

More in a minute...

 

Al

It's getting better by the day mate, well done.

[Alister_G]

I then painted the platform canopy, first using Humbrol 96 PRU Blue for the roof, which is meant to be leaded:

 

 

 

 

and then the valancing in BR Cream:

 

 

 

The roofs were now all dried out, and nearly straight

 

So I took Humbrol 96 PRU Blue, and Humbrol 25 Blue and added them to a saucer:

 

 

 

and then diluted with water and mixed roughly:

 

 

This was then applied with a full brush to the roofs:

 

 

 

 

 

When that was sufficiently dry, I put all the bits together:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that's where I've got to tonight.

 

Still to do are the windows and doors, the urinal, a WC and Cistern, and then some weathering.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

 

 

[Classsix T]

The Plasticard Master does it again...

 

...have a banana!

 

C6T.

[Alister_G]

Thanks, but I've got some already, you may have noticed...

 

They do rather intrude, don't they.

 

Al.

[Classsix T]

Brain food Al, don't knock it. They're obviously to you what spinach is to Popeye!

 

C6T.

[Jaggzuk]

Don't know which piece I love the most Al?  The slate roof, ridge tiles, clapper boarding or the interior, all so effective.  I really like the canopy lead roof, never seen leading done before, looks very good.  Seriously, all looking superb and so done quick too.

[vulcan product fan]

colour looks very smart al great work pal.

[Markeg]

Great looking Banana you have there.  I like the building too.

 

Mark

[jon_1066]

Looking great.  

 

One quick question - have you ever tried undercoating your models before painting?  eg a rattle can of grey car primer prior to putting on the humbrol?

[freebs]

Looking great.  

 

One quick question - have you ever tried undercoating your models before painting?  eg a rattle can of grey car primer prior to putting on the humbrol?

 

 I can recommend this - it's quite cathartic too. White plasticard can take some covering

[Alister_G]

Looking great.  

 

One quick question - have you ever tried undercoating your models before painting?  eg a rattle can of grey car primer prior to putting on the humbrol?

 

 

 I can recommend this - it's quite cathartic too. White plasticard can take some covering

 

As a rule I do this for rolling stock, but I've never really considered it for my buildings.

 

There's no particular reason, really, except that I usually don't build the complete structure before painting - I tend to paint as I go.

 

And in certain circumstances - particularly the roofs - where I don't use a solid colour, just a build up of washes, I actually want the raw plasticard to show through, as it gives the right colour tones for the finish I'm after.

 

Al.

[beast66606]

Andy,

 

Not sure if you know this but there's a book in preparation :

Over The Dore & Chinley Railway : The Hope Valley Line Past & Present

 

Don't know anything else yet but hopefully it'll be available during the layouts lifetime.

[Alister_G]

Andy,

 

Not sure if you know this but there's a book in preparation :

Over The Dore & Chinley Railway : The Hope Valley Line Past & Present

 

Don't know anything else yet but hopefully it'll be available during the layouts lifetime.

 

 

Thanks very much Dave.

 

Yes, Holmesfeldian, who posts on here, is the publisher, and the last time I asked he said it should be out this October, but I understand it may have slipped back a bit.

 

I'm really looking forward to it, it's by Ted Hancock, who has been giving talks about the line for a number of years, and by all accounts should be as good as Bill Hudson's book on the Peak line.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[Holmesfeldian]

Hi guys

 

There have been issues beyond Ted's control that have affected his ability to devote enough time for the past couple of months but we're cracking on again now.

I received the Grindleford to Hathersage material last night!

Realistically, expect a spring launch and it will be a 'Through Limestone Hills' type of book.

The working title is simply "The Hope Valley Line" as Ted felt the more historically accurate title of "Dore & Chinley Railway" would not be as easily recognised by the general public. However the final title is yet to be determined.

Watch this space....

 

Check out my website for other railway book titles that are already available...

 

www.pynotpublishing.co.uk

[Alister_G]

Thanks very much for the update Nick, (and your reply on Facebook).

 

I'm sure Ted's book will fly off the shelves when it's available, as I'm pretty sure it will end up as the definitive work on the Hope Valley LIne.

 

As a happy customer I can confirm that Pynott Publishing have a fascinating selection of railway books.

 

Al.

[Mrkirtley800]

Lovely model buildings,Al. Really look the part. It is a wonder what you can do with plastic sheet.

Derek

[ChrisN]

Al,

Did I miss it or have I forgotten but what did you use for the leading?  Very effective.

[Alister_G]

Al,

Did I miss it or have I forgotten but what did you use for the leading?  Very effective.

 

Hi Chris, It's just a plasticard base, with 10thou x 80thou styrene strip round the edges and to form the seams, and then painted in neat Humbrol 96 PRU Blue.

 

Edit: whilst it was still wet I went over it with a brush load of water, which I think gives the final finish.

 

I'm really pleased how it's turned out, it looks quite good.

 

Al.

Edited November 4, 2016 by acg_mr

[Marcus 37]

Great work on those buildings Al. The weathering on the slates look really convincing. Looking forward to seeing you make a start on the main station building. A lovely looking structure having seen it in the flesh the other day. Unfortunately the cafe had shut for the day by the time we got there.

[Alister_G]

A bit of a diversion, this evening.

 

On Dave's Waverley West thread, we were discussing the fact that there are very few 1/76 or 1/72 scale models of civilian Land Rovers around, particularly the short wheelbase Series 2, 2A and 3 hardtop, which were the ubiquitous farmers' vehicle for at least 25 years from 1960 to 1985, and probably later.

 

Oxford Diecast do a Series 1 SWB, but unless you are modelling the very early 60s, it is unlikely that this would be what you would see out and about.

 

Someone suggested kit-bashing the Airfix LWB model which comes as a military Series 3 with a trailer, so, as a long time Land Rover owner and enthusiast, I thought I'd have a go.

 

For the princely sum of £7.99 here's the basis of the conversion:

 

 

The box artwork, and the painting guide inside look OK, quite authentic,

 

 

but when you actually look at the parts in the kit, things start to turn sour.

 

 

Putting aside the fact that this is a long wheelbase version, the shape of the wheel arches is wrong, the front wing is the wrong shape, and the roof is far too thick.

 

Compare the wheel arch shape with the real thing, one of my previous Land Rovers :

 

 

You can see that the top of the wheel aperture in the wing is flattened on the real one, and not a complete curve like the model.

 

Some filing to be done there then, no big deal considering the butchery we are going to do elsewhere.

 

The next problem is the front of the wings. Oh dear!

 

 

Compare with another of my real Landys:

 

 

Looks nothing like, wrong shape, the headlights are the wrong size and in the wrong position, and the headlight surround, which should be square, is a thin rectangle.

 

The Airfix kit seems to use the wing shape of the Series 1: which has a much greater curve on it than the Series 2 / 3, and because of that, they haven't enough room on the flat part to put the proper headlight arrangement.

 

It's a bit strange, as the artwork shows it correctly, and bears little resemblance to the kit.

 

 

 

Anyway, let's put that to one side for the moment, and look at what we need to do to convert from a Long wheelbase to a Short wheelbase vehicle.

 

A LWB Land Rover has axle centres at a nominal 109 inches. I say nominal, as the build tolerances on a Land Rover were such that you could easily get a 110 inch Series 3 or a 108 inch.

 

Added to that, because it uses Leaf springs, the more weight is in the vehicle, the longer the wheelbase would be, as the axles would move apart as the springs flexed.

 

Anyway, working on 109 inch axle centres, my mathematical genius works that out at 36.3mm in 4mm / foot scale.

 

Surprisingly, that's pretty much what the model has:

 

 

Bodywork-wise, the front half, up to the back edge of the doors, is exactly the same for both LWB and SWB versions, so we only need to consider the back half for butchery.

 

Using my mathematical prowess once more, I calculate that the axle centres should be 29.3mm apart for a SWB vehicle - that's 88 inches at 4mm / foot, so I need to cut 7mm from the centre of the chassis. I will also have to cut off and shorten the prop shafts, and leave the gearbox in situ...

 

This is not turning out to be quite so simple...

 

On the bodywork, it's also not straightforward, as the rear wing will have to be cut in two places - one between the back of the door and the wheel arch, and then again between the back of the wheel arch and the rear of the tub.

 

I'm going to have a cup of tea and a long, hard think about this, now...

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[emt_911]

Al. It looks like a fair bit of work to change it. However, with your modelling skills and knowledge of landrovers it should turn out to be fairly accurate.

 

I'm looking forward to the result

[Alister_G]

Right, so after a couple of cups of tea, and several cigarettes, I had a plan of sorts, so I took a scalpel to the bodywork, as being the slightly less evil of the two jobs: body or chassis.

 

So I took the first body side, and scribed a line where the trim panel under the doors meets the wing, and then down the back of the door:

 

 

I continued scribing, until eventually I had seperated the rear wing completely:

 

 

Then I measured 7mm, which happily came just where one of the mounting lugs was, and cut off a section of the wing:

 

 

 

I then did exactly the same on the other body side, and then shortened the overhang at the rear on both wings, and ended up with this:

 

 

I then cut a 7mm chunk out of the floorpan:

 

 

when all placed on the as yet unaltered chassis, this is what we've got so far:

 

 

 

That's all for tonight, tomorrow I will cut the chassis, propshaft and exhaust pipe and shorten it all by 7mm.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

 

[westerhamstation]

Hi A, what a work of art, will you be fitting a galvanised chassis. I have half a can of Waxoyl if you need it. All the best Adrian.