Ian Holmes Posted February 9, 2014 Author Share Posted February 9, 2014 As I'm currently working towards getting another layout ready for a train show (My APA box interpretation of British Oak Coal loading point described elsewhere on RMWeb) time is spent thinking through things. I like thinking. I like to have things sorted in advance so construction goes smoothly, (famous last words). So this Station building has been bugging me a bit. The size of the prototype in 4mm scale is about 450mm long, which I think will be too long. So something shorter is called for. I think this could make a good basis. Window patterns are very wrong. But I think that if I add a canopy to it it might just work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Some spare time today allowed me a chance to get started on this experimental concept. I glued the cork underlays in place, and trimmed the styrene to the shape of the platform. I figured it would make a good base to build around. That section of track in front is a short length of Scalefour track. The section of track in the yard there might stay or might not. I could shove an engineers train in there once in a while for varying the operations. Liking this view I may have to change my decision on making the layout totally end on viewing. The background hill mass is too tall. This too is a not bad looking scene. The Wills "Tin Tabernacle" substitutes for a station building. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 Righty then. Time to get this layout of mine on the go again. I left the layout on March 20th having roughed in and mocked up a general idea of the layout, and that is quite literally what I did. I just left it there. It sat, I did nothing to it. I even bough a couple of US outline O scale freight cars whilst mooting a Proto:48 project. Every so often I'd go and look at the mock up and see if I still liked the idea. So, six weeks have passed and every time I take a look at the mock up. I still like it. I still believe in the concept. I know many others have built very nice SLT's. But I had to be sure it was right for me. My model railway layout building history is full of half started concepts and half finished layouts that haven't sustained my interest beyond the initial phase. So, when I took another look today, (a very rainy day just right for dabbling in a bit of model railway work), I saw this... ...and was happy. I decided to go one step further and add the basis of the rear background, the hill sloping up to the backscene and see how that feels. Nothing too clever in the construction here so far. Just some expanded polystyrene formers with strips of thin card crisscrossed over them to get a base for the slope. Hopefully in a couple of days when I get a day or two off work I'll cover this with the old paper towels soaked in PVA method to get the shape finalized. and if I still like that after a few weeks then I'll get on to the next step. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cklammer Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hi, Ian, I'd keep the tall hill/ slope in the background, as it is now I should find the slope too low when viewed as you originally intended. Also I'd put not only one but two yard tracks: one for the goods shed and one as a team track maybe. Scenery is overrated - more track is better - Christian Edited because of butterfingers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium HillsideDepot Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 30, 2014 It's very interesting to read of your layout development process, Ian, letting things prove themselves to see if they do really meet your requirements. I went through a similar process years ago with my Mortimore's Yard layout. It was slightly different to your method as the only place I could layout the whole plan was in the living room, so I was stepping over one end of it all the time, but I am sure having it at that stage for several weeks helped the plan mature. Not that I made huge changes, just numerous small adjustments, but I feel the layout is better for it. It's much easier to do that when its a few lengths of flexi track, paper point templates and cardboard cut-out buildings on a roll of wallpaper than when its all glued down. The plan ended up with all sorts of notes on it, things like "line these up", "ensure this .... allows that to..." and so on. I think that it is well worth the time, and I have several more wall paper rolls with plans on which I unroll now and again to tweak, to review, and so far, to roll up again. But one day, something will get to the stage that it is "right" and I will want to begin construction. I hope that you still like the layout in a couple of weeks time, and it progresses to completion. It's a great concept, well worth bringing to fruition. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Just come across this one and I have to say I do rather like the idea of an "end on" viewed layout. In fact, my mind is churning over a few possibilities and it may just happen to scratch the OO DCC sound "itch" that has been niggling away since I began work on my N gauge and O gauge projects. West Bay seems an ideal thought, looking at the 1906 picture (just after the maps -scroll down) http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bridport_west_bay/ I APA'n to have something sitting in the model room that might just work too... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone. It makes me feel good to know others think I'm on the right track with this project. So today I set to and worked on the glueshell, and after an hour or so of tearing up paper towels and gluing four, maybe five layers of them in place things started to look rather better than OK I expect it will be a while setting fully yet. We'll see what tomorrow brings on that front. The method really is a development of papier mache and when I was a kid that used to take days upon days to dry properly... Perhaps I will be making the structures tomorrow instead, or getting a start on them at least. I did find a rather superb thread here on RMWeb that gave me everything I'll ever need to know to scratch build a Provender Store type of structure. So I really could crack on with that. A small model like this really should have everything scratch built and detailed I tell myself. Besides It would cost me over $30 to get a Ratio kit sent over here to Minnesota. Money I could use to get a Heljan W&M Railbus sent over here or something similar like a Class 121 Railcar? One last thing for people who like to ask for track plans. Here's a track plan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 For some reason not even know to me, today I decided to set to and build the platform. I know I said yesterday that I might start on the structures. But I just felt like doing the platform instead. I was in the mood to work on the issue of getting the platform end curve to fit and besides, what would I stand the station building on if I didn't have a platform? The platform is built of 1mm styrene sheet faced with some Plastruct embossed styrene that I just happened to have in. To be honest I was shocked to find some. That's probably one reason that spurred me on to do the task. As I was in the right frame of mind for the task it went pretty smoothly and came together without any problems. The other thing that I did, as you can see, was progress a bit further with the slope up to the back scene. The glueshell had dried well overnight and for may own piece of mind more than anything, I gave it a coat of Lightweight spackle. For those unfamiliar with spackle it's basically Polyfilla. Then once that had dried I gave it a coat of woodland scenics ground colour to take away the snow scene look. We've had enough snow in Minnesota this winter to not need reminding of it any longer than necessary. So for these pictures I added a bit of sky back scene and a tiny bit of greenery. I immediately started to get a feel for a sense of place. It's something I can't quite put my finger on but its beginning to feel like somewhere. I might just carry on with the project a while longer The view I'm building the layout around. The curve into/out of the station makes for a nice viewpoint. Mock up for the farmers warehouse in place. It's not tall enough. View across to the branch platform station building. I hope this view will pull together once the actual building goes in place. So, all in all, a good couple of days work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 Latest findings would seem to indicate that the platform as constructed is far too wide. Step will have to be take to build it into the scenery Probably put a grassy shrubbery covered raised area behind there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 10, 2014 Author Share Posted May 10, 2014 Today I decided to mock up a station building. I originally thought that seven inches (180mm) was long enough for the building. But once I had that in place I could see it was too large. So I cut it a couple of inches (50mm) shorter and made that 2" I lost into an outside gents. I feel much better about this. This now leads me into a conundrum. I was oscillating between scratchbuilding the structure and buying the Hornby Skaledale NER waiting room and adding some details to it. At seven inches long I could have scratch built it, at five inches long I could use the Hornby model. I'm loathe to use the Hornby Structure, not because of the quality of the model, from the pictures I've seen it looks a mighty fine model. A far cry from the Hornby structures of my childhood. It's just the money I would spend on that and getting it shipped to the USA could be better used being put towards some other stock for the layout. I could always scratch build a structure based on the Hornby model I suppose... Anyway, you know the drill by now, leave it for a while to see how I feel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merc435 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 And what are we supposed to do now if we need a wee? No gents? I'm gonna speak to the council about this! I love this idea. Having the trains perpendicular to the viewer is a brilliantly different viewpoint to the norm. Please fit a loo........... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 11, 2014 Author Share Posted May 11, 2014 "made that 2" I lost into an outside gents"..... And what are we supposed to do now if we need a wee? No gents? I'm gonna speak to the council about this! I love this idea. Having the trains perpendicular to the viewer is a brilliantly different viewpoint to the norm. Please fit a loo........... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merc435 Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Thank goodness for that, I didn't know how much longer I could hol........ Great work Ian, keep the updates coming. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d&h Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Today I decided to mock up a station building. I originally thought that seven inches (180mm) was long enough for the building. But once I had that in place I could see it was too large. So I cut it a couple of inches (50mm) shorter and made that 2" I lost into an outside gents. I feel much better about this. sta_bld_mock.jpg This now leads me into a conundrum. I was oscillating between scratchbuilding the structure and buying the Hornby Skaledale NER waiting room and adding some details to it. At seven inches long I could have scratch built it, at five inches long I could use the Hornby model. I'm loathe to use the Hornby Structure, not because of the quality of the model, from the pictures I've seen it looks a mighty fine model. A far cry from the Hornby structures of my childhood. It's just the money I would spend on that and getting it shipped to the USA could be better used being put towards some other stock for the layout. I could always scratch build a structure based on the Hornby model I suppose... Anyway, you know the drill by now, leave it for a while to see how I feel. I'm very impressed with this, seem to capture essence of the location. Re your building quandary have you considered Prototype Models Chalford Station Kit? Not sure you could source this locally but the postage on a card kit shouldn't be exorbitant! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 12, 2014 Author Share Posted May 12, 2014 Nice idea. But I'd much rather scratcbuild my own structure I think. I'm very impressed with this, seem to capture essence of the location. Re your building quandary have you considered Prototype Models Chalford Station Kit? Not sure you could source this locally but the postage on a card kit shouldn't be exorbitant! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 I'm also thinking about ordering a Dapol Park Royal railbus kit. What would I use to motorize that? I beleive there are kits available to power it. Any recommendations/thoughts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hippo Posted May 13, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 13, 2014 Hi Ian, Hollywood foundry make a specific chassis http://www.hollywoodfoundry.com/ Ta Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 Ooh.. the BullAnt people Excellent. Thanks Owen. Hi Ian, Hollywood foundry make a specific chassis http://www.hollywoodfoundry.com/ Ta Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 The "looking at" phase continues. Adding bits and pieces to get the feel of things. Things are looking good. Apart from this view Which is feeling very good. I'm feeling good enough about the station building to start construction when I have some spare time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry1975 Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Hi Ian. This is looking very good and its giving me ideas for my own tuning fork layout. Will follow this with interest. Jerry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyDuty Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Very nice! I've considered an SLT of the Looe end but have never gotten past the imagineering stage (although I did pick up a 153 to do it.) I like the end-on viewpoint you're doing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 Very nice! I've considered an SLT of the Looe end but have never gotten past the imagineering stage (although I did pick up a 153 to do it.) I like the end-on viewpoint you're doing. Heck Ken. You're in Chicago. Thats down the road from Minneapolis in US terms... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 Some interesting historical shots of The Looe branch platform here http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/looe-branch-including-moorswater.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 Yeah. These elements in some of those pictures showing me things I'd like to incorporate in my model. Don't know If I could justify getting that big stone building in though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 As you may know I've been on the horns of a dilemma trying to work out what to do about the station building for the layout. The real Liskeard building scales out to a good 18" long in 4mm scale. The selective compression of the structure was the dilemma in question. I had mooted using a Hornby Skaledale structure and detailing that. But decided I'd prefer to scratch build my own. Creating a freelance structure is more difficult than I thought. However, flicking through an old Hornby magazine I found this old freebie Scalescenes kit. I like the proportions of the structure so I think I will use it as a guide for my scratch build. There's no intention to use this building, my structure is still going to be a wooden model. Clapboard rather than the tongue and groove of the Liskeard building (simply because that's the styrene sheet that I have to hand). I'll just adapt its proportions and layout of doors and windows to my structure. There's nothing to say I won't use any of the signs though... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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