Camden Shed

[92220]

Just an airbrush Jeff. Various mixes of paints to give different shades, but basically matt black and matt leather as per Tim Shackleton.

 

Iain

[Physicsman]

Thanks Iain.

 

I haven't got an airbrush, so I'm sticking to dilute washes of acrylics. It'll hopefully be as effective as it has in the past.

 

An airbrush will be on the agenda for a spot of wagon weathering - eventually!

 

Jeff

[fishytrains]

The building is looking really good. As you say the extra details make all the difference.

 

Mike

[92220]

A quick take on some tracklaying and ballasting:

 

I pre-wire and drill wiring holes as necessary, then red primer:

 

 

Within 90 seconds, remove the red primer from the rail tops:

 

 

Spray with track dirt:

 

 

Again, quickly wipe off the rail tops, attempting to leave the check rails and wing rails still dirty....these will be painted properly when final weathering is done anyway.

 

While that is drying, paint PVA on the required area. Because of the way I have chosen to do this, I need to attempt to find a method that leaves fewest join marks when the next bit is done. I therefore ballast up the the outside rail on the final piece of track, leaving the sleeper ends needing to be painted around individually when the next bit is laid. It is crucial to the success of it to get a nice even depth of PVA accurately painted to match the neat way the track sits into the bed of PVA when it's laid.

 

 

 

Then sprinkle on ballast - in this case it is about 5 parts Carr's Ash to 1 part fine (N I guess...), and remove excess immediately with the little Hoover. This is the entrance to the shed area, so is mainly ash with a few noticeable lumps, which could as easily be fallen coal as ballast. There will be slightly different ballast in other parts of the shed area, using photos as much as I can.

 

 

One of the best £15 I've spent....it has just enough power to remove excess ballast, it's exactly the right height to run it along the rail heads, and you can remove and recycle the ballast really easily as its the only thing it's used for.

 

 

Nothing nobody else has ever done I guess, but nothing I've done is!

 

Iain

[1BCamden]

I think the scale of the venture, plus the level of detail and minimal compromise is the difference you are making.

Edited August 25, 2014 by 1BCamden

[92220]

Thanks Stanley, that's very kind.

I feel that I am making at least some necessary compromise most of the time, sometimes a lot. I just hope that neither the scale of the project nor the detail I'm trying to include, will be the main reason I never finish it!

 

Iain

[92220]

Alan, the painter, has finally been able to make some progress with the backscenes while we have been away visiting family and friends:

 

 

 

 

There are bits to refine here, but I think he has captured a very good likeness of what is evident from photos, and it will work very well as a backscene to the model as well I think.

 

I hope!

 

Iain

[LNER4479]

Love the pointwork, love the ballasting, love the backscene... dammit - I love the whole thing!

(picture with red Duchess and stock requested please!)

[92220]

Thanks! Here is a glimpse of one:

 

 

More on my Motive Power for Camden Shed thread - link below.

 

Iain

[1BCamden]

Hi Iain,

Very impressive, and the prototypical coupling on your 6248, any chance of a link to the supplier. Hope you had a great time away, we've all been waiting patiently (no pressure) for you return.

How is the shed insulation standing up in the warmer weather?

 

not quite 6248, but magic shot anyway - thanks to the photographer.

 

best regards

Edited August 25, 2014 by 1BCamden

[92220]

Hi Stanley,

 

Thank you. Patience is certainly a virtue when it comes to this project! I've also been slowed down by a return to competitive golf.

The front coupling on 46248 is an Exactoscale item: http://www.finescale.org.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=541_542_543&product_id=3951

They're really good if not cheap, although I confess I did pick this one up in a box of bits. I've also got a couple of these: http://www.finescale.org.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=541_542_543&product_id=3955 for 9Fs, as they look better than the one I've fitted to 92220.

The insulation really helped with the hot weather. The shed gets a lot of afternoon and evening sun so it could have got unbearably hot, but fitting internal wooden shutters to the windows (partly for security, partly to stop sun damage to the paintwork on stock in the fiddle yard) also reduced the heat gain. Well, I call them shutters. 2 sheets of mdf....

 

Iain

[1BCamden]

Hi Iain,

hope the golf goes well for you, and thanks for the links.

Parts (bits and pieces) are really tricky if you can't see them in real life, so this was one of those ' capture it now moments' thanks, much appreciated.

Glad to hear that the insulation did the trick, good investments are sometimes overlooked.

 

Found 6248 on shed moving off the coaling plant,

Edited August 25, 2014 by 1BCamden

[92220]

Thanks again Stanley.

 

A little more progress:

 

Here is a tiny piece of a photo of 46240 in Stanier Pacifics by Derek Huntriss. It's the best (almost the only) shot of the ARP box (Camden no. 1) in colour. Even b&w shots are uncommon, but I'd accumulated enough of those to build a representation of the structure. The vexing problem was how to paint it, and not for the first time, I found the detail I was looking for in this book, which was the first inspiration for Camden as a location to model.

 

 

So I had a go. Red brick basis, dry brushing of various other shades and a wash of mortar colour.

 

 

I've attached the supports for the footbridge and begun painting them, and the rest of it.

 

 

 

Still have to build the bases for the legs and bed them in, when the backscene and this area is completed.

 

Iain

[Jason T]

That brickwork is looking fantastic Iain (as is the footbridge). I always find brick an absolute swine to get right.

 

How I wish I'd had chance to see Camden before I moved up North.

[92220]

Thanks Jason. I've got a bit of weathering to do once I've painted the concrete (?) sills, lintels and pillars. They look more like weathered sandstone in colour to me? Plus the roof..... And the window frames are doing my head in..... Not to mention the Camden no.1 sign..... And what was the surface like between the box and the Goods Depot? Concrete? I'm thinking it might have been sections of concrete a bit like the bit on BCB? It takes a while, to say the least!

 

You know that, when you're next down this way, you're more than welcome.

 

Iain

[TerryD1471]

A real joy visiting this site after an interlude. Thoroughly enjoying your progress reports.

 

Terry D

[92220]

Thanks Terry. I am a follower and admirer of Hest Bank too.

Maybe one day we can hire an aircraft hangar and set up Camden and Hest with a few miles of spare streamline off scene to connect the two....

 

Armed with a carefully scaled drawing of the Camden version from LMS Engine sheds Vol 1:

 

 

my first effort at building the ashplant is here:

 

 

And about to go in the bin as it looks like its been made from milky bars in Qatar in summer. I used 80 thou plasticard in the mistaken belief that this would provide some rigidity, especially in the legs which are thin.

 

So, version 2 will use 40 thou and will be laminated instead. This attempt will also build it around a base as if it were a normal building, to keep it square and true, and only cut off the base when it's complete.

 

 

If that doesn't work, I'll try something else!

 

I need to build this in order to get the track laid absolutely right through the ash pits as it is so cramped, and I have to straighten out some curves that are on my plan but not on the real thing. The prototype Camden ash plant scales considerably smaller than the Bachmann item, so, although I could and have plotted things in Templot, I wanted to get it right this way as well.

 

Iain

 

Edited because I pressed post not preview by accident.....

Edited September 14, 2013 by 92220

[Arthur]

Just a thought Iain, could you use square section styrene section from Evergreen or Plastruct for the legs, possibly as an inner core laminated on the outside to the right size? They're pretty rigid and would provide good support.

[92220]

Hi Arthur,

Thanks, and yes, I'd thought of that, but also thought the weak point would be where I joined the legs to the rest of the structure, and this bit might be most likely to deform slightly. So I'm looking to have the two side profiles as complete pieces, then use Evergreen strip laminated inside that for the leg thickness.

Box section legs may be attempt 3 though - I'm not ruling it out!

Thanks,

Iain

[jukebox]

Iain - another way might be to use a brass U section frame on the outside quarters of the structure for rigidity, then build up the plasticard as a veneer around it? 

 

I'm sure your soldering skills are up to it.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[92220]

Hi Scott,

That's a good shout too, thanks. I was thinking also of a square section balsa framework, almost exactly the correct section for the legs, and then a veneer of card or 10, 15 or 20 thou plastic around that.

I think I will get there somehow: will be interesting to see which method wins through!

Iain

[92220]

Take 2:

 

Legs made from 2 laminations of .080x .188 strip inside the .040 shell.

 

 

Progress so far - I didn't remove all of the waste but left a connecting piece at the bottom to tie it together. Also I've fixed it to a base accurately marked and square. Once complete, all this will be cut away. I think.

 

 

 

I used Limonene as well, to reduce the warping tendency, so we will see what shape this is in the morning.

 

Iain

[Andrew P]

Morning Iain, I have just had look through and I am more than impressed with your ballasting.

 

I will use your method for ballasting as I am new to SMP / Marcway, having used Peco in the past.

 

Cheers.

Andy

[92220]

Thanks Andy. I can't claim any credit for it - it came from Captain Kernow originally I think, but others have followed suit.

The rate you build layouts, you'll have completed P4 Waterloo to Clapham Junction before I get this ashplant done....

 

Iain

[1BCamden]

Iain - another way might be to use a brass U section frame on the outside quarters of the structure for rigidity, then build up the plasticard as a veneer around it?

 

I'm sure your soldering skills are up to it.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

Not wanting to mess with your head, but Scott has a point, maybe all brass. I recall reading through an article in MRJ where a signal box was built in brass, then overlaid with plasticard. Very rigid result, no warping.

Edited August 25, 2014 by 1BCamden