Dock Green

[Metr0Land]

 

 

Which way's the Magga Dan mate? I can't see any signs of it on this 'ere diorama.

[chaz]

Having looked at the warehouse end of Dock Green here are some views of the other (very unfinished) end. This is dominated by the canopy over a goods platform. The platform is really far too narrow, the real things were usually pretty generous to allow for access with carts and later lorries, the stacking of goods items and plenty of working room. I have had to compromise here, as with so much else on the layout, to get it into the available space.



Above is a general view. The platform has a planked top surface. This is from my favourite 0.8mm plywood stained with diluted drawing ink and sanded with fine glasspaper to produce "wear" highlights on any odd corners of planks which are slightly proud, exactly the places where wear would show on the real thing. The brass columns will be painted later.
The siding the wagon is standing on is to be inset into the yard surface with stone setts from DAS (hence the card packing between the sleepers). The setts will cover the area from the white strip of foamboard to the edge of the baseboard, and from the foot of the platform ramp towards the camera and beyond the edge of the photo.

A close-up of a section of the roof. The top surface is Slater's corrugated plastic cut into sheet sized pieces, with Peco trackpins to represent the fixing bolts. The ridges are thin card creased along the centre and then glued in place. The dark grey enamel paint has been treated to a patchy application of talc and some “dark rust†dry brushed here and there. The vertical surfaces are 0.8mm ply' (yet again!) stained with dilute black drawing ink and thinly painted with grey enamel to produce a patchy, weather-beaten finish. I need to add some "flashing" (probably thin dark grey card) to the planks below the ends of the valleys, as rainwater would otherwise make short work of these.

I included a couple of wagons in this view to give a sense of scale; the platform tracks will both accommodate six four-wheel wagons. The broad area of white board in the foreground will be given the planked treatment, but I don't think the ramp would be boarded, both horses and lorries might struggle with the slope if it were wet! I may well go for a tarmac effect on the ramp. I will be adding more timberwork to the platform edge on the end of the front siding to make it an end loading dock.

Should there be a board (a soffit?) under the overlap of the corrugated top surface, sloping down the angle of the roof?

The end wall under the canopy will have a bay-window style office projecting onto the area seen behind the GWR fruit van. I will put in another support column – that projecting corner looks decidedly unsupported. I may also add a length of gutter and a downpipe for the exposed edge of the projection. There's a lot to do!

Chaz

Edited December 24, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

Try various canals on Google Maps.

The colour of the water will depend on the area and what's polluting it. My memory of the Trent & Mersey Canal is that its the colour of cold tea, born out by this image http://goo.gl/maps/szqP

Most others are much cleaner!

Cheers, Dave.

 

Just had a look at the image from your link and....... that's the colour! Now all I need is a "recipe" to do this shade in gloss enamel, Hmmmmmmmmm...................

 

Chaz

[chaz]

I didn't want the "concourse" area underneath the goods platform canopy to be too plain so I decided to try a cabin/office against the back wall. First step was to make a mock-up in card just to see how it would go.....



....as you can see there is plenty of room for it. The etched door and windows have been in a drawer for years - I've had them so long I have no idea who produced them. I think a foreman might well lurk in an office like this and would need lots of windows so he could keep an eye on what was going on....

having made the mock up in card I decided the shell of the actual model could be made the same way. I used artist's mounting board (I bought a pack of offcuts from a local picture framer for next to nothing).



Here I have stuck the walls to the ceiling with PVA and am using G cramps and wooden blocks to keep the joints pushed together while the glue sets. I find that if I didn't do this the natural springiness of the card made the joints keep separating. The card was scored quite deeply so that the bends would form neatly. The "V" shaped groove is no problem as I intend to cover the shell with planking.



This photo shows the complete shell, walls ceiling and floor, glued up and tried in position. Of course I don't have to give the office any sort of roof as it will be covered by the canopy.

Beyond the office you can see that I have been busy adding boards to the top surface. In the foreground I have a short ramp boarded so that the end of that siding becomes an end loading dock. I won't be finishing the boarding until I have finished planking the office, as I want the planks to fit around it hiding any slight gap at the base and locating it in position.

Chaz

Edited December 24, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

I have added another pillar as the overhanging corner looked wrong. I needed to refit the canopy to do this so I took the chance to try the office under it...



I think it looks OK, or at least it will when I finish it. I may fit it with lights as a way of drawing attention, but this will mean I will have to do the interior properly (desks, chairs or stools, noticeboards, a clock, maybe a stove - could be fun!).

Incidentally, I am making all the scenery (buildings, retaining walls, bridges etc) removeable as the baseboards have to be stacked away in a corner of a room and they would take up far too much space if everything were fixed in place. The only items which are fixed are the platforms and the canal and the bridges over it.

Chaz

Edited December 24, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

I have spent some time today putting the woodwork onto the shell of the goods office. I used some fine spruce sections for the lintles and sills and (inevitably) my favourite 0.8mm ply' for the planking.



The woodwork will be painted in the BR (E) scheme of green and cream.

Now I need to give some thought to the detail work for the interior (that might take a while....)

Chaz

Edited December 24, 2012 by chaz

[Donw]

Pretty rapid progress Chaz

[N15class]

Looks very good the planking is very effective. Sort of reminds me of the old Smiths news stands on platforms.

[chaz]

Looks very good the planking is very effective. Sort of reminds me of the old Smiths news stands on platforms.

Thanks for comment. As soon as I cut the card I thought platform kiosk too - I hope the effect will disappear when the window frames go in. Also the green and cream paint will help, I seem to remember all the kiosks were varnished wood.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

Pretty rapid progress Chaz

 

Thanks, Don. Sometimes it pays to just get on with it! (Of course it's easier to do this when it goes well.....).

[chaz]

Had a pretty intensive day's work on Dock Green yesterday....



I finished adding the boarding to the "concourse" area. This fits closely around the office and so locates it. I also spent most of the evening adding the staining. The sort of job which I just press on with to get it out of the way.

Not sure how to finish the ramp up onto the concourse (the large white area between the two columns). I was going to board this as well but a friend suggested that if it were wet neither horses nor lorries would find enough grip to get up it. So if I do put planks down I will need to add some closely spaced battens. Problem with these is that to look convincing they will only have to be about 1mm wide - my Proxxon circular saw will not cope with this fine a cut - so I would have to cut strips of 0.8mm ply' with a scalpel. I'm not sure whether this is really practical - I know it can be done as I have tried to cut a couple, BUT it will take a long time..... I could use thin card for the battens but that would leave me the problem of how to finish them to make them look like the wood surface they are fastened to. Not easy.
The alternatives are to finish the ramp as if it were tarmac or to continue the stone sets that will be at the bottom of the ramp up to the top.

Chaz

Edited December 24, 2012 by chaz

[N15class]

I would probably look a brick or granite sets on the ramp, as these would be fairly hard wearing, and give plenty of grip.

[chaz]

I would probably look a brick or granite sets on the ramp, as these would be fairly hard wearing, and give plenty of grip.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Peter. In fact last night, as a test, I cut a few 1mm wide strips of 0.8mm ply'. Using a scalpel with a heavier blade (#26) they are easy enough to cut, if a bit tedious (I need quite a few). So I have decided to board the ramp and put a batten in the centre of every board. I know that 1mm wide is possibly oversize to scale, but I doubt my ability to cut them any thinner! If I sand the battens after glueing them on, so that the edges are rounded a little, they ought to end up looking well used. WTS.

 

Chaz

[Donw]

Another alternative is thin paper or card strips given a wash of knotting which stiffens them up and gives a varnished wood effect.

Just a idle thought wouldn't the cabin rather be in the way of a lorry or a horse and cart there doesn't seem to be a lot of room at the top of the ramp or is that just the photo angle. If it is just a means of accessing the concourse no ramp could mean the tail board of a lorry or a cart could be the right height to just wheel loads from the concourse onto the cart (by sacktruck?) or from the cart to the concouse.

Don

[N15class]

Just a idle thought wouldn't the cabin rather be in the way of a lorry or a horse and cart there doesn't seem to be a lot of room at the top of the ramp or is that just the photo angle. If it is just a means of accessing the concourse no ramp could mean the tail board of a lorry or a cart could be the right height to just wheel loads from the concourse onto the cart (by sacktruck?) or from the cart to the concouse.

Don

The trouble with models is compromise, the real thing takes up more room than most have.

 

IA friend of mine made a model of Redditch goods shed in 4mm scale, I would of said it was only a bit bigger than an average country shed, but the model was still 2 feet long. far to big for any model railway except the largest.

[chaz]

Just a idle thought wouldn't the cabin rather be in the way of a lorry or a horse and cart there doesn't seem to be a lot of room at the top of the ramp or is that just the photo angle. If it is just a means of accessing the concourse no ramp could mean the tail board of a lorry or a cart could be the right height to just wheel loads from the concourse onto the cart (by sacktruck?) or from the cart to the concouse.

Don

Well Don, there's not a lot of room anywhere on Dock Green. I have been forced into all manner of compromises by the inescapable fact that 16 feet by 2 feet is just not big enough for the yard - I just hope for a convincing look, with not too many obvious faux pas. However I will be erecting one of those low "fences" made of old rail to protect the cabin from careless lorry drivers!

As for the idea of backing up lorries to the platform - that happens off the edge of the baseboard.......

[chaz]

The trouble with models is compromise, the real thing takes up more room than most have.

 

Quite so, Peter. In fact it's usually made worse by the average modeller (and that definitely describes me) who, given more space, will just try to get more in.

"If only I had another foot/metre/couple of yards....."

 

Chaz

[Metr0Land]

How did you colour the descking in #86 ? Looks really good.

[chaz]

How did you colour the descking in #86 ? Looks really good.

 

Thanks for the kind comment. I used Winsor & Newton black drawing ink, diluted with lots of water and then put on with a #2 brush. (EDIT - I should have said that's really only traces of the ink so the mix looks like dirty water) I only mixed up a little at a time and this gave rise to the slight (?) variations in tone.

If you are going to do this be careful not to get any PVA on the top surface - it seals the wood and prevents the ink soaking in, giving rise to very obvious "bare" patches. Of course if this does happen a little enamel paint might retrieve the situation. When the ink is dry I sand the planks (always along the grain!) with fine glasspaper. This gives a worn-smooth effect and produces the occasional worn-clean bit if the end of a board is slightly raised.

 

Chaz

Edited August 12, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

Another busy day yesterday. I planked the ramp.



Lots of ply' strips cut to width on the Proxxon circular saw. Scissors to cut the strips to length. Pencil guide lines drawn on the foamboard base to help keep the planks parallel and to mark where the "joints" will be. Canopy support columns unplugged to get them out of the way. Fine nozzle PVA bottle to apply small amounts - an excess oozing out would not do.



Later I added the anti-slip battens to the ramp and to the slope up to the end loading dock. The sort of job that really does make you feel that you've taken leave of your senses! I also gave the office cabin a second coat of buff and some green on the "skirting board". The windows and door also got their first coat of green.

I put the canopy back on so that I could see how it all looks. The small lorry is there to give an idea of how much room there is between the ramp and the office. It's certainly tight!

Next task in this area (which I have been dodging, as it's a bit daunting) is to do the setts off the end of the ramp and around the siding in the foreground, which is to be inset.

Chaz

Edited December 24, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

You know that feeling when you have spent absolutely ages doing some fiddly task, and then you stand back to admire the result and think "Oh dear, is that what I wanted? Does that work?"

 

Well...........

[two tone green]

It does for me, very nice. Well done.

 

The planking is a very nice alternative to brick and paving stone.

 

Another suggestion of ways to do things to add to my potential list. Thanks

[chaz]

It does for me, very nice. Well done.

 

The planking is a very nice alternative to brick and paving stone.

 

Another suggestion of ways to do things to add to my potential list. Thanks

 

Thanks for the reassuring comment, Two Tone! Maybe in a day or two, having moved on I will look again at yesterday's results and like 'em more. Now, where's the DAS......?

 

Chaz

[Rob Pulham]

It looks superb to me Chaz ,another potential convert here

[chaz]

It looks superb to me Chaz ,another potential convert here

 

Wow! Thanks Rob. You've convinced me. Convert to 7mm?

 

Chaz