Arboretum Valley - Invasion of the Daleks

[C&WR]

Gah, last time I took up a challenge from the Arboretum I was forced to build a station building I can't use for a year or so!

[Jaz]

Well after the cough coughing.....I have spent ALL this evening making a.......toilet. I had to make something that was quick and use what materials I had to hand...and am just fighting it out with the roof

at the moment, but I'll put up what I have done so far. So you can have a laugh........

 

wills

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the walls

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evergreen

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the evergreen in question (the only packet i own)

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styrene added, after two bits dinged off into the ether net, and I am not wasting time hunting for them!!!!

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a door and some green paint inside and out

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a white base coat 

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first brick coat

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some other colours and a little black weathering powder

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a little left over roof tile, wills i think, from the Ye Olde White Horse, and 2 white plasticard triangles painted messy black

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and a quick shuffle on the Hogmeade tribute area to give it a temporary home

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No time to try to emulate the lovely insides that a bunch of you are undertaking. But a small finished scratch build. Not the tidiest job ever.

And still needs a drainpipe. Tomorrow perhaps. Time for bed...said Zeberdee.

[Sasquatch]

Has Stubby seen this?

That brick work isn't too bad Jaz!  ........ What are you gonna tackle next?    I recommend  a Wills Craftsman Kit . The watermill is a gem and so is the single road engine shed. In fact they're all very good!!   The pub took weeks to complete though.  Best thing about them is that they're easily customized. 

 

Regards Shaun

[Jaz]

Sasquatch,

Thank you very much, The Wills stuff is quite thick, I was scribing for ages.I think following a kit guidelines might be a good idea. It will show me how to do it properly. I concentrated on trying to get the outside half decent. Holding the sheet down to cut it was a pain the knife kept pulling it out of my non cutting hand. I cut to my size, and perhaps should have over cut slightly and then used a sanding block to neatern it up. My 45 degree angles were done by hand and are frankly atrocious. It need the Revell contactca to help melt them so they almost aligned, I used a knife to touch up a few of the bricks and the paint work to cover up the fact that a lot of the bricks don't align. The sheet was an English or Flemish brick and they are not uniform, the first piece got binned. The evergreen (as mentioned) pinged all over the place, a couple of bits reminded me of tiddlywinks and they flew off, if you have seen the mess my table is in at the moment you would know why I didn't bother looking for them. I had cut the plasticard into strip previously for a window. But until that hound (C&WR) challenged me, I was happy looking at his progress as well as that of of ACG_mr (especially the heating process), Freebs, JCL, et al. (edit=am expecting a drubbing after all my dolls house jokes)....Stubby I think would l laugh himself silly.

Oh and I see you put your buildings up on your gallery, thank you I will have a close look. 

Edited December 18, 2013 by Jaz

[Jaz]

I took this picture of a wooden hut L65 Ten Commandments I had bought, for comparison.

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Although to be fair, it would also look better if I gave it a decent paint job.

[David Todd]

I was scribing for ages

    ........................

[David Todd]

The Chopper......the cheaper version.............others' are available..........

 

You can use mini clamps' to secure your Wills sections whilst cutting, when you have cut half way, bend gently,then cut from opposite side,.....on the thick stuff.

 

Why not try..............SE.Finecast, brick sheet's...............................

[David Todd]

I used a knife

Table, Steak, Butchers', Commando,............Swiss, Stanley, Fred, George ???? .............   .......... ...................

[Jaz]

The Chopper......the cheaper version.............others' are available..........

 

You can use mini clamps' to secure your Wills sections whilst cutting, when you have cut half way, bend gently,then cut from opposite side,.....on the thick stuff.

 

Why not try..............SE.Finecast, brick sheet's...............................

NOW you tell me. So what is the best version? I think my chrissie present list just increased.

[Jaz]

Table, Steak, Butchers', Commando,............Swiss, Stanley, Fred, George ???? .............   .......... ...................

Ah well, um.....this

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and the thing kept undoing.....Kal did buy me a Tamiya knife to go with the scriber....but it was still in a packet somewhere. As is the tool that cuts nice 45 degree angles, I spent 5 minutes looking for it then gave up...perhaps not my best idea. The scissors were quick...if not accurate.

[David Todd]

I have shewn below,some items that may be useful..for  ..................

At this time of ..... .........do,do,and do your homework.......................................as there are some suppliers' out there, that will charge you up to £60 per item,

excluding VAT.

 

Items' can be purchased from £20 -£30 quid........they are an aid, to the scratchbuilder, ..................the more experienced of us,............ do not need them..........      

 

 

 

 

 

NWSL Chopper I..........One of the most useful tools ever for model builders working in wood or styrene strip materials. An economical rigid, precision tool for cutting model building stripwood and plastic material to length quickly, cleanly. 

Provides clean, neat, feather free & accurate cuts easily and inexpensively using easily obtainable and economical single edge razor blades. Unlike some other cutting tools, The CHOPPER's rigid handle design is not only safer than a movable cutting design, it ensures consistently square straight cuts & accurately angled mitre cuts every time. Mitre cuts are a snap with the 30, 45, and 60 degree guides included

 

 

 

NWSL Chopper II     No sloppy, “fits all”, cuts any angle (whether it maintains the angle you want or not) complexity. Use the precision mitre guides to assure accurate angle and repeatability. Retains the high precision, extremely sharp, inexpensive single edge razor blade as the cutting tool to assure economy, clean cuts from a blade you can find when you need it—at most drug, hardware or paint stores—and can afford to replace as often as necessary for clean, sharp cuts every time. Increase your precision and model making efficiency
 

 

 

 

NWSL Chopper III  

Same as THE CHOPPER I above except longer work surface with two additional work stations ready for installation of optional #4914-4 handle assembly. 18" wide base.

 

Used in production work by many professional model builders and kit manufacturers, with dedicated multiple setup for various parts

 

Work area: 5.25" x 18" Base: 7.5" x 18" Weight: 1 lb-3.2 oz.

 

 

 

 

NWSL True Sander   True-up cutoff ends to perfect fit—A tool in the tradition of THE CHOPPER that provides accurate, quick finish sanding of end cuts on wood or plastic parts for fine fit. The adjustable angle guide allows you to accurately repeat any angle for proper fit on mitred corners as well as square cuts. Also included are pre-set 30, 45, and 60 degree mitre guides.

 

Unlike some motor driven sanding tools The True Sander gives you that delicate touch needed for working with small parts.

 

Work area: 5” x 6” Sand block face heights: 1” &1.5” Base: 7.5” x 8.5” Weight: 1 lb-0.8 oz.

 

 

NWSL Duplicutter II   This tool was designed by and for model builders who work in styrene plastic to make their model building more efficient, accurate and fun. Several needed functions are performed such as (A) squaring a piece of sheet so that subsequent pieces are easy to handle; (B) Securely holding sheet material providing an easy method to scribe and snap off pieces as desired; © But probably the most important function is the ease of making parts exactly the same size—make duplicate car sides, building sides or sections, anything where you need more than one of the same size, shape part.

 

Makes the job go faster as well as providing a more accurate duplicate part—particularly important when the project requires a quantity of duplicate parts.

 

Accepts sheets up to 8-3/16” wide. Single edge razor blade is the scoring tool (included) (or use your X-acto knife or similar plastic scoring tool).

 

Work area: 8-3/16” x 5” Base: 7-1/2” x 9-3/4

[David Todd]

Ah well, um.....this

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and the thing kept undoing.....Kal did buy me a Tamiya knife to go with the scriber....but it was still in a packet somewhere. As is the tool that cuts nice 45 degree angles, I spent 5 minutes looking for it then gave up...perhaps not my best idea. The scissors were quick...if not accurate.

 

      .....................   ...................     ............. ,  well, maybe the middle one, but not on thick stuff ?

 

Swan Morton..........has many varities.................

Edited December 18, 2013 by David Todd

[David Todd]

I have used a varity of sizes of these,to form the Cellotex/Kingspan............

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140mm-Surform-Multi-Rasp-Block-Plane-with-Blade-fitted-WW106-/121126563741

[David Todd]

These also................http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Wax-Carving-Tools-Set-Of-Six-prcode-999-AZV?p=gs&kpid=18283950120&gclid=CIKC4OC9ubsCFSkOwwod5x8ARw

 

But...........do........check around for lowest prices...............

[Jaz]

Am off to explore, does anyone have any votes for any of the above? 

 

NWSL I looks small?

NWSL II I admit to looking at this in the past, just not getting around to buying it.

NWSL III you mean people have them lined up side by side to remake the same piece over and over????

NWSL true sander...had you seen me using scissors on the evergreen strips yesterday...i might have ended up bitch slapped!!!!!!! Best NOT show you the sanding block I used...

NWSL Duplicutter II, so you can make your own evergreen strips????

Is there a clever tool for cutting out the windows? 

OK off to explore prices.

Will check the other posts/links in a little while.

Thank you for all the information.

 

Do you own shares?

Edited December 18, 2013 by Jaz

[C&WR]

That little outhouse looks great, Jaz.  I had no doubt your buildings would be just as proficient as the rest of your scenery!

 

Edit to add:

 

On my thread here/elsewhere I showed how to use styrene rod to make downpipes & half-rod for gutters.  The stuff bends beautifully just in hot water & then holds its shape.  Some use actual gutter shape styrene for the latter, but I've found this unnecessary in 4mm scale - the eye is fooled by the section, especially if you run a bit of black along the uppermost flat part.

 

I've also seen somewhere on here someone who make the downpipes with wire & then the supporting brackets with thinner wire wrapped round at suitable intervals.  The ends of the thin wire are then wrapped round each other to make small plugs which can be fitted into sockets cut in the walls.  This looks superb, and I will be having a bash at it one day!

Edited December 18, 2013 by C&WR

[Kal]

WOOT WOOT WOOT!!!!!!!!!

 

MY FGW Coaches have turned up from Hornby, Thank you Simon. 

 

Now I can run a full rake.     

[Jason T]

I have the NWSL Chopper 2 and it is a fantastic tool for cutting the same length of strip over and over again, as well as angles. What it won't do, however, is cut lengthways (e.g. you want to cut a strip of Plastikard off a sheet); neither will it mitre edges.

 

They are pretty expensive items (think I paid 45 quid for mine) so unless you have a specific need to cut repeatable lengths of material, or angles (30, 60, 45 and 90 if memory serves correct - it's packed away at the moment) then probably not worth bothering with.

 

As for brick sheets, I tend to use SE Finecast or Slaters. SE Finecast is squarer in general although the bricks are a bit rounded (can be sorted out with sanding) whereas the Slaters sheets are not always square (e.g. the mortar courses). The Will sheets, in my humble opinion, are far too small, too thick (making cutting a PITA) and at least for the brick, there is too much relief; it looks like someone has removed the mortar. I did use their stone sheets for walling and one retaining wall although it was a lot of hassle.

 

I don't bother mitring the edges of the sheets; I square them off and then follow the mortar courses round (carefully) with a file.

[David Todd]

Is there a clever fool for cutting out the windows? 

 

An expert.can be found.............

Edited December 18, 2013 by David Todd

[Jaz]

Sandside

Thank you.

Do you think you would consider buying the NWSL chopper III as well? I notice it has a 18in board. I am just looking for a good price at the moment.

What knife do you prefer? (dt mentioned the X-acto that seem to good good reviews)

[David Todd]

dt mentioned the X-acto 

 

Swan-Morton.............

[Alister_G]

Well after the cough coughing.....I have spent ALL this evening making a.......toilet. I had to make something that was quick and use what materials I had to hand...and am just fighting it out with the roof

at the moment, but I'll put up what I have done so far. So you can have a laugh........

 

Lovely job Jaz, shame you didn't do the detailed interior, but I agree it's not worth it.

 

Can I just say, though, that paint colour - EEWWWWWWWW!

 

 

Al.

[Kal]

See....See, I told you our living room should not be that colour Jaz      

[Jason T]

Swann Morton here too. I have two; a No.3 and a No.4 handle and use a few blades for different purposes, namely 25A (fits no.4 handle) for straight cutting and 9 (fits no.3 handle) for shaving bits off, etc.

 

For cutting lengths of Plastikard, etc., I just reply on a decent steel rule and a sharp blade. All you need to do is score the plastikard and snap it off, and then just clean up the edges with a file. I did ponder about getting the NWSL III but decided against it as cutting with the steel rule is accurate enough for what I need.

[Jaz]

Lovely job Jaz, shame you didn't do the detailed interior, but I agree it's not worth it.

 

Can I just say, though, that paint colour - EEWWWWWWWW!

 

 

Al.

I

used rail matches light brick initially and thought it a big pink, and I had googled old brick work, so just kept adding colour. The white should have been concrete on reflection.

but admit I should have considered what i might put it up against and matched that instead, but I was in a hurry. But all the pointers are really useful.

 

Sasquatch

How do you mitre your wall edges? I like the thinner stuff, but once Goathland is mostly up and running I want to emulate Freebs buildings - making the brickwork for myself, having done the walls by the river, I think I could handle it but like the rougher bricks or even better the stone worked ones. As usual it's time...time...time!!!

Edited December 18, 2013 by Jaz