Hinton Road Engine Shed

[GWR57xx]

Things are progressing, but there’s not a lot to show for it at the moment.

I’ve been wrangling with the issue of weathering the coal stage, because I’m not happy with the results of my attempts so far.  As a diversion I’ve been drawing up plans for the main running shed, which will be based on a standard Churchward two road shed. Several prototype walls have been cut which have provided weathering test pieces. I keep tweaking the design, but I think it’s now close to something that will fit together nicely.

I’ve also been cogitating over how to finish the rear of the coal stage, and have settled on a high (scale 8 or 9 feet) boundary wall. This will come up to just below the coal stage floor, so the interior will still be viewable. The boundary wall will probably extend for much of the length of the layout eventually. The parts for the length behind the coal stage have been built, primed and tarted up a bit (engineer’s blues and picking out individual bricks). Now waiting on some decent weather so the parts can be sealed with matt varnish prior to adding mortar courses.

Hopefully something to show soon…

[GWR57xx]

This is the state of the back wall at present, viewed from outside the boundary wall:

 

 

Nothing is glued yet - still waiting for a break in the rain so the parts can be varnished, then mortar and weathering added.

 

This is the view from inside the coal stage:

 

 

That would be looking down onto the track of the coal wagon ramp.

The cast iron "shoes" along the top of the wall are for support posts for the canopy over the wagon unloading area.

I'm currently thinking that this wall will extend in both directions for the length of the wagon ramp, possibly further. This will be along the edge of the baseboards.

 

[GWR57xx]

This is where I'm at with the design for the running shed:

 

 

Again, nothing is glued, it's all just resting in place.

Still needs a bit of fettling in places.

 

[GWR57xx]

I've finally gotten round to restoring all the lost images from the server crash.

[GWR57xx]

At last the rain held off for long enough to get outside to spray the wall parts with matt varnish:

 

 

These were then left for a day or three to fully cure before applying the mortar courses:

 

 

Another few days later and the parts have been assembled into a wall:

 

 

 

I'll re-do the coping stones to give a little bit of overhang.

 

[GWR57xx]

I haven't been able to make any progress on painting & varnishing anything because of the rain.

In the meantime I've been cracking on with bits of the shed.

I've been wondering what to do with the hole in the gable walls front & back:

 

Looking through all the photos I can find, it's hard to determine what (if anything) is in most of them because they just appear as black holes.

Those that can be seen appear to have either nothing, a glazing panel or a vent of some sort.

I think a vent is the most likely (at least when newly built - they probably rotted out by BR days).

I tried a laser-cut version, which is a bit flat (obviously 2D):

 

Next I tried a 3D printed version:

 

It's not clear from the photo, but in person you can tell that the slats are sloping.

 

Any of the three options would probably be OK, but I think I'll stick with the 3D version (painted black).

 

[Hal Nail]

14 hours ago, GWR57xx said:

I think a vent is the most likely (at least when newly built - they probably rotted out by BR days).

The bottom one does give the appearance of more depth, the middle one looks more like a cover. No idea which is the more prototypical though!

[GWR57xx]

Progress is being made, honest!

Slow I admit, but some progress is better than none?

First up is doors:

 

These are the eight doors for the front and back entrances, in primer.

And partially painted:

 

I got off to a bad start, as you can see bottom left.

After masking across the middle(ish) I carelessly painted the top of the door in "Tint #4" rather than the bottom so had to get the IPA out and start again. I was more careful after that!

 

Next is the internal front & back walls:

 

These have been painted white and sealed with matt varnish, now waiting for mortar and then the bottom five feet (up to the window sills) to be painted black.

 

External front & back walls:

 

These have been painted, now waiting to be sealed then mortar added.

 

Lastly for this update, Windows.

I'm making each window up from four pieces of white card plus the glazing. That's glazing bars each side plus outer frame each side.

 

To help get these accurately aligned I printed a little jig (the glazing piece is a little oversize, needs trimming):

 

Then to align this window panel on the wall panels I made another jig:

 

The window panel drops into the central cutout then the wall panels fit into the end guides:

 

I will have a lot of these wall panels to make, so these jigs should make construction a lot easier.

TTFN

[GWR57xx]

First batch of eight windows (outer frames yet to be added, just waiting for the glue to fully set):

 

These panels are kept pressed between two sheets of glass and weighted to make sure they stay flat while the glue sets.

 

[7mmin7foot]

Superb modelling, the buildings , brickwork and windows are simply stunning... Really impressive.

 

Steve

[GWR57xx]

4 minutes ago, 7mmin7foot said:

Superb modelling, the buildings , brickwork and windows are simply stunning... Really impressive.

 

Steve

Very kind, thank you.

I’m enjoying following your Tribute thread - you’re making much faster progress than me. Most impressed.

[GWR57xx]

A little bit more progress to report.

The doors are painted:

 

 

All over brown (tint #4, chocolate) would have been a lot easier but they're done now and look quite stylish.

 

A batch of low walls with chamfered engineers blue brick headers have been built and painted, ready for mortar:

 

Difficult to see the chamfer from this view though.

 

The interior end walls have been mortared and painted, now ready for assembly:

 

Still a long way to go...