Railway arches with workshops underneath, with lighting, 4mm scale

[Dr.Glum]

I thought I'd do a quick project; a couple of arches. Hah! It quickly became apparent that it made sense and I'd save time overall if I built a multiple set on one backing piece. So shown below are the first 8 out of 16 that will run along the edge of a 1 in 75 incline along the edge of the baseboard. So 4 weeks later . . . .

 

The backing board is 5mm black foamboard, with 2mm greyboard for the arch overlays. I did not follow the instructions in respect of a separate parapet wall: instead the arch layer runs to the top of the parapet. A second 2mm layer is stuck to the parapet wall making it 4mm thick. The coping stone strip was cut 5mm wide so as to not stick out too far. Another time I might reduce that to 4mm, and then the walls of the refuges would be flush with the coping.

 

Below, a closer view of 4 arches. The top edges of the refuges have not yet been cut off to match the prevailing slope, and the capping stones (to be blackened sandstone) have not yet been made.

 

I had to adapt the arches to get the necessary height. Obviously the buttresses are higher and I had to use some of the plain brick images to fill in the extra wall. I used strips of the 'ledge cover layer' trimmed to 6mm wide to cover the gaps and the printed lines on the buttress covers. The job of sticking them on was quite stressful, what with getting them all lined up, level, and straight. I didn't suceed 100%

 

Up till now I've only used Scalescene products as materials to cover areas e.g. brickwork or paving onto my own designs. These arches were an enjoyable exercise, but I was surprised at how careful I had to be to get the results I wanted. It was also the first time I had used foamboard and there was a learning curve with that. Another time I'd hope to do the windows better. Anyway next job is finish the fixing blocks so it can be screwed to the baseboard, then mark off the sloping board edge on the backside of the parapet so that can be brick papered. Then I can add the top coping stone layer. After that there is the more interesting job of making the light boxes to go behind the windows and doors. I'll post more pictures when that's done.

Tony

[Oldddudders]

The overall effect is jolly fine, and surely represents scenes in any city in the country. However, I am slightly uneasy about those horizontal rows of vertical bricks. They just don't look "right". How hard would it be to overlay them with rows of horizontal bricks as they are presumably intended to be used?

[Dr.Glum]

Hello Ian,

Thanks for the comments. I went for the vertical brick strips for a) expediency and b ) to minimize cost. I wanted a minimum work solution to covering the gaps, so, thinking back to glazed brick embellishments on red brick warehouses and other railway buildings in Central Manchester, I decided I could model decorative freizes using only the thickness of the paper. The real items I have in mind are either flush with the plain brickwork or stick out a couple of inches at most. Some are made from tiles, and some from non-stock bricks. They are not structural so can be used in either orientation. The brick images are not exactly what I would have designed from scratch, but at normal viewing distance I do get the colour contrast, which suits me.

 

My point B above led me to use the images available (for ledge covers) in some pages I'd already printed. I didn't want to have to print more pages to get just small items, as I'd already been alarmed at the rate my Epson Stylus printer was gobbling up ink. (I have to use Epson original cartridges to get good colour density, as refills from Cartridge World (at half the price) come out 'washed out' in comparison).

 

Going back to point a ), if I'd applied horizontal bonded brickwork, I would have needed to get more relief from the plain areas and this would have involved putting the overlays onto thin black card, with all the extra time and effort involved. I chickened out!

Cheers,

Tony (editted because my b ) without a space turned into a smiley when posted!

[Dr.Glum]

Now I've screwed the arch unit in place for the first test, and to mark off the incline line on the reverse side of the parapet.

Not the easiest item to photograph. I've cropped the next two views, but decided against airbrushing out the surroundings.

Yep, it'll be worth the effort, so long as I don't rip the whole lot off when I duck under to the other part of the layout . . . .

Cheers,

Tony

[Oldddudders]

The proof of any pudding is famously in the noshing! The arches look simply stunning in situ, so my carp is ruled out as it simply isn't noticeable! Most of us put a fascia on the front of the layout, but a "working fascia" is surely a new idea, at least on me. Scalescenes prove yet again to be very versatile, limited only by the innovative skills of the user! Well done!

[Dr.Glum]

Adding lighting to workshops

A glow through the dirty windows, and under the doors

 

Construction problems with the adjacent arches module 8 have made me turn back to finishing this module 7. Lights! I enjoy this bit. I have made light boxes out of 1mm stiff white card, as I want to see a diffuse light effect (and not the LED). I found on my first few buildings that any interior finish apart from white really knocked the reflected light levels right down, hence the white card.

 

The first image below shows testing of the hard white leds from a 20 piece Christmas set bought in a garden centre for 2.99GBP. I re-read my notes about other leds I have used and trialled a 3.9Kohm resistor. The result seemed bright enough to illiminate the cracks round the doors, but not too bright to wash out the printed glazing bars.

 

So I soldered a 3.9K into the wiring and carried on. However, when I offered it up to the back of the workshop, the brown muck on the windows washed out to a grey, so I wasn't convinced. The following evening I tested with an additional 2Kohm and that was much better, so I obtained some 5Kohm resistors and redid my connections.

 

In the picture above you can see the three card edges that will be glued to the back of the arches module, with the removable lid so that I can later change the led if I so require for whatever reason. In the background you can see an ex-PC power supply (PSU) of the sort I use for lighting on the layout.. These were scrounged at work from scrapped PCs of the type that were current at least 10 years ago. Even these old ones (or possibly especially these old ones) can power a lot of leds. Reading the label on the can you find the outputs are: +5v 15A, +3.3v 12A, +12v 4A 48w, -12v 0.4A, +5v aux 2A. Looking at those numbers makes me wonder why I'm not using the 5v or 3.3v as its nearer the 2.5ish volts that one should provide across the led. (Mainly, my lighting bus also has to support some legacy grain of wheat bulbs, plus I have a stock of resistors suitable for 12v circuits). The other thought is that those amp values are a reminder of why I use substantial cable to run from the PSU to a point on the layout from which a mini-network of lesser wire runs to the actual lights. I'm nowhere near deploying that many lights yet, but voltage drop is an issue and gradually there will be more and more joints and lights . . . .

 

And now my doh-moment admission. I started to cut up the Christmas lights set some weeks ago, and started adapting the battery box that came with it, to use in a makeover of an old cycle headlight to LED operation. Doh! Who thought to mark which was positive on the unit before cutting the leads? Apparently Mr.Brain was on holiday that day. Buggrit! However two factors saved the day. I examined Maplin LEDs and observed that the long leg (the +ve one) joins to the smaller of the anode/cathode thingeys inside the body of the LED. As a second pointer, I observed that although the legs on the Christmas led had been shortened in the factory, when they were soldered onto the leads, one was longer than the other, and yes, that proved to be the positive. So all was consistent and the test worked first go.

This is part of the back of the module, with two light boxes and some of the wiring. I could have used copper tape, but those red and yellow wires are single strand copper, so they are stiff enough to stay where you put them. (They are from a small stock of remnants from a 3mm layout that my Father and I started in about 1958. Is this an age record? (I know it isn't.)) The wooden block is a fixing point. It is glued to the foamboard (Evostik) and has a generous hole for the screw with washer: this allows sideways adjustments when the module is screwed into place against the edge of the baseboard.

 

My era is 1950s to early 60s, so I'm looking to emulate flourescent tubes (which I remember as being very harsh in those days) or possibly (for a workshop) some sort of arc light (again from memory, of going to scrap car parts workshops with my Dad). So the picture below is of two of the arches, illuminated. Note the light shining above and below the doors.

I really must learn to cure parallax distortion, by holding the camera body in line with the subject. Hey ho! At the other end of the module are two workshops with one window each. These only need minimum size light boxes as shown below. For variety, one of them has a 12Volt yellow LED. You can see the chocolate block that is the power feed point for the 4 LEDs on the module.

All this may seem a lot of effort, but gradually dim little lights will appear all over my layout and I'll be able to do night time running.

Cheers, Tony

[smudgeloco]

Very nice, very nice indeed.

[iL Dottore]

Very nice indeed.

 

I've never really gotten on with card, preferring plasticard, so it's pleasing to see what CAN be done with the material (and makes me have second thoughts about working in that media)

 

...I have made light boxes out of 1mm stiff white card, as I want to see a diffuse light effect (and not the LED). I found on my first few buildings that any interior finish apart from white really knocked the reflected light levels right down, hence the white card.

 

They look very neat and tidy! I have done the same, but working with plasticard (and thank goodness they are hidden behind the scenes!). One thing to note is that if you have a detailed interior this will tend to "suck up" the light (if I can use that term) and alter the quality thereof, as you have noted. Making a silver foil reflector to place behind the LED (or grain of wheat bulb) helps boost the light output.