Ricky's "Leddysh Gate" workbench

Hi there, everyone !

I'm finally starting my "Leddysh Gate" Workbench topic. I'll post here my works in progress for my Leddysh Gate layout and dioramas projects.

Actually, I'm working on a diorama that'll be included later in a small display layout for my locomotives. It's called "Leddysh Gate Locomotive Shed", and is inspired by the facilities in Didcot Parkway.

The current work in progress on my workbench is the scratchbuilding of a OO 4-tracks Locomotive shed (based on the one at Didcot). It's main structure is composed of PVC sheet board panels cut to shape and dressed with various elements such as plasticard brick sheet (from South Eastern Finecast), several beams and doors made from plasticard sheet and Evergreen strips, as well as windows I got from a Walthers Cornerstone kit I bought twice for kitbashing and scratchbuilding purposes.

Here are some photographs of the engine shed as it's now, as well as a few pictures of the real one taken in Didcot Parkway this summer.

Note that the rear side (the one with the big windows) will be fitted against the backdrop, explaining the lack of any structural element on the back side of it...

The panelling on the front of the engine shed has been carved in the PVC Board. This material, composed of a PVC foam board sandwiched between two thin sheet of PVC, is both sturdy and easy to carve, making it an ideal material when you want to carve your own brick or stone work on a scratchbuilt structure. Also, as it's easier to cut trough than plasticard, you can work with thicker sheets (I here use mainly 2 and 3 mm thick sheets) to create a realistic wall thickness.

Voila,that's all for now. Next time, I hope I'll be able to show you some progress on the floor and the first roof support elements.

Eric.

Hi Eric,

That is looking really great! Good job. I seem to remember that you need some pictures of the Railcar - I will see what I can do. I know Belgium to 81E isn't the easiest journey so let me know if you need anything else for your model.

All the best,

Castle

Thanks, Castle.

My GWR Railcar project is not yet on the rails, as I'm waiting till I'm coming to London in march for the London Festival of Railway Modelling (where I'll hold a demo on OO scale train weathering with Vallejo's acrylics) to try and find what I need to start this project.

Yet, as I was again short of materials to continue on the locomotive shed (run out of Evergreen H and I beams to build the under-roof structure), I switched to another building that's needed for this diorama / mini-layout project : the Coaling Stage !

I started from a Wordsworth paper kit, using it as a template to cut the main elements out of 2mm thick cardboard, then covered it with South Eastern Finescale brick sheet. Here are two pictures I've taken when I made the first "test-fit" of the walls of the lower section of the coaling stage (the brick part).

As you can see, it's still in the early stages of construction. I'll work again on it next week-end (Belgian Red Devils football team playing tonight, then meetings the next evenings won't allow me to get in the workshop in the next few days...). I'll of course post more pictures of the progress next W-E.

Hope you'll enjoy this,

Eric.

Hi Eric,

Make sure you come and see us again in March!

The coal stage is looking great.

All the best,

Castle

I'm not sure I'll be able to come to Didcot in March, but I sure will be in August during my annual holidays in England. I'll surely also take profit of my visit to "raid" the used book store (I had not the budget for it this year as I had already spend a lot by Model Zone before my visit (a 25% reduction of prices is an occasion you never let go).

I'll send more pictures this WE when I'll have done more to it (the next days I'll be deep into meetings at work and for my railway modelling club, so won't be able to hit the workbench...)

Till next time,

Eric.

Hi Eric

The loco shed is coming along nicely, can't wait to see further work on it. I'm interested in the PVC board as you call it. Do you have a manufacturers or trade name for it. The only foam board I know of over here is 3 or 5mm foam covered in a thin layer of paper or cardboard. While adequate it would be even better to stick plasticard to a PVC plastic backing as you describe your board coming in.

Keep up the good work

Andy

High, Andy,

Thanks for the comment. I'll send more about both the buildings this WE, as I'm (luckily) going to be able to hit the hobbyshop today to replenish my Evergreen H & I beams stocks.

About the PVC Board, the material consists in a compact PVC foam board sandwiched between two thin smooth sheets of PVC. Here on the Continent (Belgium & France), it's generally called "FOREX". It's the kind of PVC panels on which the publicists print their advertisings to put outdoors (the famous printed plastic advertising panels).

I buy the stuff in a sanitary materials store where you can found PVC pipes and the like (shop called "Super Plastics") under the brand name "Pa'Light".

The stuff is available from 1 mm thick to big thickness (even 30 mm) and in the thickness I'm using the most (which is 2 & 3 mm) it costs around 26 euros for a 240 x 120 cm panel.

If you're unable to find such product in the UK, just then mail to Super Plastics (here is their website adress : http://www.superplastic.be - 2 mm cellular PVC Board : http://www.superplastic.be/shop/plaque-panneau/pvc-cellulaire-sf/blanc/pvc-cell-sf-2mm-blanc-1220x2440.html - 3 mm PVC Cellular board : http://www.superplastic.be/shop/plaque-panneau/pvc-cellulaire-sf/blanc/pvc-cell-sf-3mm-blanc-1220x2440.html  - Unfortunately, the website is only in french, but I think they can speak English there)

Hope I've been of any help.

Till next time,

Eric.

Hi Eric

 

The loco shed is coming along nicely, can't wait to see further work on it. I'm interested in the PVC board as you call it. Do you have a manufacturers or trade name for it. The only foam board I know of over here is 3 or 5mm foam covered in a thin layer of paper or cardboard. While adequate it would be even better to stick plasticard to a PVC plastic backing as you describe your board coming in.

 

Keep up the good work

 

Andy

Hello Eric,  Looks like you are doing a grand job on the buildings will be watching with interest, keep the pictures coming...

George

Many thanks for that information Eric. I will take a look at the web site and also see where we can buy it over here.

THanks, George. And to answer you, there's definitely more pictures coming trough right now.

I just had a nice three hours of workbench relaxation working on my GWR coaling stage after a tedious day at work...

I finished the four walls, adding the brick sheet for the interior of the upper floor, also adding a wall separating the track zone at the rear from the front of the upper floor.

I also finished detailing the windows opening, adding the small brick strips to represent the "interior" of the wall, and already added the small door on the upper floor (don't worry if it looks like stone paper, because it is. I recycle old Faller printed card to build doors and windows for this building).

I finally added the wooden floor, carving the wood planks in a 2 mm thick PVC foam board sheet then assembled and glued the whole brick part of the coaling stage together before taking the pictures you'll see below with a small piece of track and a Dapol 4-plank wagon that was roaming around my workbench.

The whole lower part of the coaling stage with the track and the wagon...

On this view, you can see why I choose to add the detailed interior. I still have lots of work on this section, and have to find pictures of the inside of such a building (like the one in Didcot ?) to continue the interior detailing.

An upper view shows you the floor I added with hand carved wood planks...

And another view angle on the building. I'll start making the other doors and windows this WE.

Hope you'll enjoy the pictures.

Till' next time,

Eric.

Many thanks for that information Eric. I will take a look at the web site and also see where we can buy it over here.

You're very welcome, Andy.

Eric.

Hi there,

Hit the workbench again this morning, and started working on the water tank for my Coaling Stand. I built it out of a 3 mm thick PVC board base, and the "walls" were cut out of 2 mm thick PVC board. I then carved the planks (I'm kind of copying the look of the one in Didcot) directly on the PVC board with a sharp point, then added wood grain with a cardboard nail file... Here is the result as for now...

On this second picture, you can see the result of my carving and scribing work on the planks... This PVC board is really the top material to construct buildings with hand carved brick, stone or plank walls...

I had to leave for a few hours the workshop, my cousin's daughter being here and the kiddo was awaiting the "Great Saint" (I'm playing Saint Nick for her...), but before watching Chelsea playing (Yeah, I'm a HUGE fan of the Blues... got my treat with a 0-3 victory at West Ham and two goals by my favourite player Lampard...), I still had time to work a bit more on the building. The water tank sides are assembled with sub-roof also glued in place (just have to find the right undulated paper to depict the corrugated metal plates). I also started to work on the windows that are test-fitted. The ones for the upper part are "see through", but the ones below are simply painted with markers to simulate a wooden interior...

On those two pictures, you can see the windows test-fitted in place. The look is convincing, even if the lower ones are not at all "see-through".

This is now the result with the tank in place and the windows being test-fitted. Now we can start to see how this will look when finished. Looking good, but still a long way to go...

But that's all for now. Too darn cold in the workshop now, so I'll switch to watching a good movie on the Telly (still got that "Origin of the Planet of the Apes" movie recorded on my TV decoder to watch...)

Till tomorrow, then,

Eric.

Hi Eric,

Missed this yesterday (when I was at Didcot!) sorry! I am back later in the week so I will sort a few pictures for you. The look of the deck where the coal unloading is done is sheet steel to aid the easy manoeuvring of the coal tubs. If it was wood then it would be quite difficult to move a 1/2 ton tub on it! The tubs have small thin solid steel wheels on them.

All the best,

Castle

Edit: Ace flicker shot of the upper deck: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20959297@N06/5769033353/

Thanks for the information, Castle.

Is there anywhere on the Web where I can find pictures of the inside of the Coaling station ? This would help me a lot to correct the floor and to build those coal tubs.

Meanwhile, I'll work on another building for my locomotive facilities diorama-layout : a small locomotive crew building inspired from a GWR switcher's house;

Thanks again for the help,

Eric.

See above edit!

All the best,

Castle

This one shows the operation of the tubs and ramps. This is the tub type with the narrow door and angled front to load tank engines. The ones for tender engines have a door across the whole of one end: http://www.onlineweb.com/rail/photos/didcot_rly_centre_2010/didcot_rly_centre_2010.htm

Anything else you need?

Thanks, Castle. That was just what I needed...

I can see I still have loads of work on the inside... and a little mistake to correct (I added an interior separation wall with big openings between the track and the front part of the second floor of the building...)

Now, I'll hit back the workshop.

Thanks again,

Eric.

No problem Eric,

See the above post for a bit more information and if you type 'Didcot coal stage' or 'GWR coal stage' into Google images then there is a load of stuff on there. Most of the shots that turn up are of Didcot as it's the only one left in full working order!

If you still can't find anything of what you need on line, let me know and I will sort you out a picture or two.

All the best,

Castle

Hi again, Castle.

Thanks for the informations. I'll be sure to check, but as for now I got all I need in pictures. The one you found me has everything needed in it to build the interior and even the coal tubs.

I already corrected the floor by adding a steel plating floor on the front half of the upper floor, leaving planks only where the track will be (it'll be mainly covered with spilled coal, thus won't be seen too much). I even got back in my "bits and parts" box to find some Bare metal Foil that I had leftover from a P-51 kit assembly (yep, I also love building military planes and already gathered a Dakota and Horsa gliders for a scene I planned to go above the hidden yard of my future layout, and that will depict the boarding of the "Pegasus" company on the eve of D-Day )

I made the raised plated floor from .5 mm plasticard sheet glued on a .5 mm card sheet template, then added 25 mm squares of bare metal foil to depict the plating sheets. This looks good, but yet very bright. It'll be dulled later with a bit of weathering.

Pictures later (as I forgot my SD-card in the computer and will only go back to the workshop in the afternoon.

Thanks again for the help,

Eric.

Here are finally the pictures of the new interior "steel plated" floor and a few more of what I've done on the building up to now...

You can see on this picture that I added the new metal plate floor inside. I really find that the baremetal foil does the trick...

You can see now how I made the plates stand out simply by overlapping the squares of baremetal foil. It'll loose a lot of its shine when weathered, though.

I've also added the brick pillars on the outside walls. It's simply made from a sub-base of 160 gr/m² card sheet, glued on the walls, then covered with the South Eastern Finescale brick embossed plastic sheet.

This technique allows enough thickness to figure a 1/2 brick thick element by simply gluing below the top a strip of brick sheet to represent the "stairs" effect...

More next time this evening,

Eric.

Thanks for the pictures, Mikkel. They are really useful to me, because they show details I have not seen on the other pictures I have. I'll be sure to add those details to my model.

Eric.

Hiya there everyone,

Hit again the workbench this morning, working on the Coaling Stand.

Here are pictures of the works.

The front of the building has received the last raised brick details (on top) as well as the stone windows sills made out of evergreen styrene strips...

A closer look shows the raised brick elements which gives much more character to this building.

And Tadaaa ! The water tank roof is in place ! This buildings really starts to look like the real thing. The next step will be building the coal chute (two small ramps) and the wooden protection around it (center door on the upper floor).

On this view from above you can see the detailing made for the interior that is really quite simple : the beam, the posts and nothing else. The things that will have to go there are coal, coal tubs and figures, that's all !

The interior beam support for the roof (and the water tank above) has been made out of Evergreen styrene I-Beam. I made the riveted joint plates from Bristol drawing paper, and imprinted the rivets in it with the rounded point of a pencil. You can see the result of this "riveting plate" on this close-up picture.

And I could not resist to close this serie of pictures with a close-up taken trough the front door. This is as close to the real as it can get. I'm quite satisfied with the result, and can't wait till it's painted, weathered and populated with the coal tubs and figures to see the final look of it !

Excellent work Eric. It's good to see a fellow pvc foam board modeller. Carving wooden planks in the pvc really is very effective isn't it? 

Thanks, Freebs.

Indeed, Foamex (or Pa'Light as it's called here in Belgium) is really effective for such a job. I also love to use it as "sub-structure" for my building projects as it's thicker, easier to cut and lighter than plasticard (I use mainly 2 & 3 mm thick, and cut trough it like trough .5 o 1 mm thick plasticard respectively...)

Also, I found the stuff quite indispensable to work on "big" building project like the St Vincent Church I built for my club layout (see here : http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/74067-show-us-your-scratchbuilt-building/?p=1233393) and that took about two years to be made (now, I'm working on about 6 feet of low-relief suburb buildings of the 50's for the club layout, with the street diving down from the station to a square below (around 3 inches of difference from mark 2 feet to mart 4 feet...) with the help of two novice modellers I'm teaching at the club...)

I hope I'll receive soon some stuff I ordered from Gaugemaster (corrugated sheet, Plastruct & Slaters profiles & sheets) and as soon as I got them, I'll be back to work on the buldings.

Eric.

Hiya everyone,

Well, had not a lot of free time to do some modelling this week due to work and, this morning, to more usual home chores, but yet I had time yesterday night at my modelling club to finish one of the houses needed for a 6 feet long street along the main station. It's made out of Foamex board, covered with Slaters brickwork, Kibri roofing, and hand-made windows and doors (base is .3 mm thick plasticard, draw the window there, remove the glass part, then glue behind the wall. Trough the openings, then, I inserted .5 mm window sill (out of .5 x 3 mm section strips), thickening outside with 1 mm square strip. Then I built the window frame on with 1 mm square and .5 x 1 mm section plastic strips (all from Evergreen). Once done, I inserted a 1.5 mm square section strip under the roof overlap and fixed there the 1/2 tube to figure the cornice, and a 1 mm diameter plastic strip bent to shape to figure the gutter. Next step will be to add the wood latticed panelling on the "garage" door, door handles, chimney, then will paint the lot before installing the window glazing (transparent printable film).

Here are two pictures of the work as it is now...

(sorry for the bad quality, I took the pics with my mobile phone, as I left the camera home...)

Well, hope you'll like this, and that'll help you wait for the next instalment on my "Leddysh Gate" modelling project.

Till then,

Eric.