Helston Revisited

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

It's the others. 😄

I knew that, too. :)

[Andy Keane]

I have been a bit diverted helping with our club layout. But its good to do other stuff.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

Samhongsa built brass small prairie 4567 has been to the shops to be converted to DCC Sound with a YouChoos setup, the new low voltage stayalive system and a set of running lamps. Also added a crew, some fire irons and a spare lamp. Quite pleased how this has gone, though how some people paint their crews so well defeats me. Mine are rather daubed on but its the best I can do given large hands, old age and poor eyseight. From an operating distance they are fine. She next needs to be wethered down and this time I will go for a very light touch. Also I need to worry about the valve gear and working feed pump link as these are all very nicely built and I don't want to clog them.

On test as DC only prior to the change.

the new system wired up - I leave plenty of spare cable to allow for maintenance.

Fireman at rest.

In the sidings.

Driver on the regulator.

Not sure what to do about the wheel rims. I can touch them in but in use the tend to rub off again - anybody have any thoughts on that one? Currently they look like they have been "curbed".

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Andy Keane

[Regularity]

22 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

Not sure what to do about the wheel rims.

Try using a permanent marker pen, or indeed gun blue solution, followed up by polishing the treads but not the rims.

Other useful thing to do is buy a 2B block of pencil “lead”, and run that on the surface and inner faces of the rail head. It will keep your track cleaner and improve conductivity.

[Andy Keane]

On 29/07/2022 at 15:01, Regularity said:

Try using a permanent marker pen, or indeed gun blue solution, followed up by polishing the treads but not the rims.

Other useful thing to do is buy a 2B block of pencil “lead”, and run that on the surface and inner faces of the rail head. It will keep your track cleaner and improve conductivity.

Great tip - just applied and hey presto:

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

Having sorted out the locos for the time being I have finally made a start on the main station building.

I drew this up in CAD from the Pat English Drawings.

Then Jakub at LCUT made a lot of bits for me.

I have started to put these together - the walls with chimneys are two layers of ply either side of a layer of card. The outher walls are just one layer of ply plus card.

Then just propping the bits together it starts to make sense.

[Graham T]

Nice work Andy, that's going to look impressive!

[Andy Keane]

Thanks. I am still pondering the canopy valance. Jakub has cut me an accurate card set but I wonder if I should get some brass valance that would be thinner and stronger. Also not sure how much interior detail to add.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Andy Keane

[Graham T]

A brass valance sounds good.  Do you have one in mind?

 

I'm shying away from interior detail at the moment, I don't think any of it would be visible in my station building as it will be towards the back of the layout.  That said, I did do an interior for the signal box - which is almost invisible!

 

Of course, you could do a full interior with a removable roof...

[Regularity]

During the day, the inside of buildings tends to be darker than the outside, and the glass tends to reflect more light than passes through: you can’t see much.

During night time, the only places you would see into are those without curtains, blinds or shutters. You might therefore see something of the inside of a waiting room, but they weren’t known for blazing light prior to modernisation (which happened after Helston closed).

By all means indulge yourself in lots of interior detail if you wish, but a simple two-tone colour scheme with just a few details will probably suffice, even if you intend to light the building for simulated evening operating sessions. 
 

If you make the roof removable, or the whole building detachable from its floor, you can always come back and add more detail later.

[Gilbert]

8 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

Thanks. I am still pondering the canopy valance. Jakub has cut me an accurate card set but I wonder if I should get some brass valance that would be thinner and stronger. Also not sure how much interior detail to add.

I suspect Brass will be a good investment Andy

Chris

[Andy Keane]

27 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

I suspect Brass will be a good investment Andy

Chris

Yes I think your are probably right, especially if its got a removable lid. I have not yet used brass in my buildings so it would be a first - but I guess epoxy will stick brass to card OK if I wipe the brass with very fine wet and dry paper first. Certainly solder will be no use!

[Gilbert]

1 minute ago, Andy Keane said:

Yes I think your are probably right, especially if its got a removable lid. I have not yet used brass in my buildings so it would be a first - but I guess epoxy will stick brass to card OK if I wipe the brass with very fine wet and dry paper first. Certainly solder will be no use!

I've also come across this Andy - I little more forgiving than normal CA- I've not used it on the brass/card combo but others may have done.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015JPV482/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item

[Andy Keane]

20 hours ago, Regularity said:

During the day, the inside of buildings tends to be darker than the outside, and the glass tends to reflect more light than passes through: you can’t see much.

During night time, the only places you would see into are those without curtains, blinds or shutters. You might therefore see something of the inside of a waiting room, but they weren’t known for blazing light prior to modernisation (which happened after Helston closed).

By all means indulge yourself in lots of interior detail if you wish, but a simple two-tone colour scheme with just a few details will probably suffice, even if you intend to light the building for simulated evening operating sessions. 
 

If you make the roof removable, or the whole building detachable from its floor, you can always come back and add more detail later.

What do people think of the little LED powered fireplaces (https://www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk/lx010-oo-laser-cut-fireplaces-with-flickering-leds-oo4mm176-374-p.asp) ? The station has a lot of chimneys so it might be nice to add some glowing fires? I certainly plan some working interior lights to go with the platform lights.

I also thought if I left the doors to the booking hall open you would be able to see in to that bit so maybe worth a bit more effort there.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

1 minute ago, Gilbert said:

I've also come across this Andy - I little more forgiving than normal CA- I've not used it on the brass/card combo but others may have done.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015JPV482/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item

That looks interesting and probably less messy than epoxy - thanks

Andy

[Andy Keane]

I felt the Deltic might get lonely so got him a diesel pal, only this time second hand, but pretty near perfect. These actually did run to Helston in exactly this livery (but numbers 8, 9 and 12 not 26) so its clearly justified if I want to run in 1960. It is satisfyingly heavy but will need sound at some point.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Andy Keane

[Regularity]

4 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

What do people thing of the little LED powered fireplaces (https://www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk/lx010-oo-laser-cut-fireplaces-with-flickering-leds-oo4mm176-374-p.asp) ? The station has a lot of chimneys so it might be nice to add some glowing fires? I certainly plan some working interior lights to go with the platform lights.

I also thought if I left the doors to the booking hall open you would be able to see in to that bit so maybe worth a bit more effort there.

I think it’s up to you, to be honest. A bit of flicker might be interesting, but it might be distracting.

If the weather was cold enough for the fire to be on, would the doors be open? 

Regardless, the point here is that if you want to depict wood panels or tongue and groove, you probably can get away with painting the surface and then adding plank lines with a pencil, and the suggestion of panelling with a bit of shading - 2 different pencils, of different grey shades and hardness.

[Andy Keane]

5 hours ago, Regularity said:

I think it’s up to you, to be honest. A bit of flicker might be interesting, but it might be distracting.

If the weather was cold enough for the fire to be on, would the doors be open? 

Regardless, the point here is that if you want to depict wood panels or tongue and groove, you probably can get away with painting the surface and then adding plank lines with a pencil, and the suggestion of panelling with a bit of shading - 2 different pencils, of different grey shades and hardness.

I plan to use the scalemodelscenery GWR printed panelling for the dado rail and down and simple paint above. Also the doors I plan to leave open are to those to the ticket hall and that I will decorate with the Springside DK2 kit of parts as well (https://www.osbornsmodels.com/springside-dk2--ticket-office-detailing-kit-27470-p.asp ).

I will pop in a lots of lights and then select which ones to actually use when I have it in place as its easier than retro-fitting.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Andy Keane

[Regularity]

47 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

I will pop in a lots of lights and then select which ones to actuall use when I have it in place as its easier than retro-fitting.

That’s a very good point.

[Andy Keane]

While building up the station I am also scratch building the well known bridge at the entrance to the station area. I have two unknowns. How high should the parapet be when standing looking down at the station and would the bridge have had pavements either side, I am guessing about four feet high and no pavements, just tarmac right up to the parapet but perhaps others know better?

In an old copy of "The Practical Railway Engineer" at one point GWR bridge parapets are described as being 4'6" high - I wonder if that was standard?

Edited August 7, 2022 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

The bridge is slowly coming along. I next need to add the parapet copings and the arch stones before filling in the cracks and paint.

I have opted for a brick lined arch as I had some flexible sheet for that. Though by the time it is all weathered up I doubt it will even be visible.

[Andy Keane]

The station building and its two canopies are now ready for paint. In the end I opted for laser cut card for the valances over brass and then added brass strip for the two longways bits. I did get a set of etched brass valance but it is so thin it is way more delicate than the card so if anybody wants a set let me know and I will pop them in an envelope. And yes you can spot the deliberate error on the main valance where I spaced out the brackets evenly forgetting they have to fit around the windows and so two were in the wrong place. Duh!

[Andy Keane]

Main walls assembled and primed. Internal walls roughly in place. I have had to guess at the internal layout based on the doors and similar stations but nobody will of course really notice!

Working from left to right below I am saying we have:

1) refreshments (with door from platform)

2) parcels with forecourt entrance and access to the platform via the porter's room

3) porter's room with platform door

4) station master's office

5) booking hall with ticket office (the ticket office has a door from the station master's office (not sure about that)

6) two waiting rooms (main and ladies)

7) two toilets and a store (interestingly lower right is the gents which will have a little concrete structure outside - it really did have two doors but the platform door was closed up and a notice board placed over it)

Any suggestions much appreciated.

View from the end with the toilets and waiting rooms and shows the dog-leg booking hall with window into the ticket office:

This is the entrance side:

And this is from the platform:

Edited August 11, 2022 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

More progress on the station building. The main stone work is painted save for the final matt coat and weathering.

I have to go around and touch in all the corner and cap stones which need to be slightly lighter in colour (I have done just the left hand end so far) and then finally build it up, add the canopies, lighting and roof. I guess another week or two should see it done.

[Andy Keane]

I am now placing the station on the boards to measure up the foam that will sit under the platform. It is 15mm wall insulation foam that is light, rigid, cheap and easy to cut.

I will clad this in 2mm card with laser etched paving slabs etc.

Getting some buildings on the boards an a train running on the track gives me a bit of a lift when progress seems very slow.

It is of course a 55xx tank and B set! 5520 is suitably dirty but I have yet to mess with the Hornby coaches.