peter findlay

That is brilliant.

Thanks Jason,

I'm really happy with the way the staircase (and the rest of the signal box) has come together and with how easy it was to produce with the software and the Portrait cutter.

Peter

Been a while since I posted an update on the signal box, but have been able to make some progress. The walkway is complete and an initial coat of paint applied.

Trial fitted in place on the model, final fitting will be done when roof and staircase are added.

The next step is to produce the staircase. The aim is to produce something looking like the picture below.

The individual pieces to be sent to the Portrait cutter were laid out as shown. I think it would have taken me much longer to cut these by hand and I doubt they would have been as accurate.

The bulk of the pieces were cut from 10 thou so plenty of time was allowed for the pieces to set with weight applied to try and prevent warping. the bottom layer was scored using the portrait to represent wood panelling.

The spindles, yule posts etc. were constructed from 40 thou square rod as for the walkway described previously. Small 2mm  beads were super glued to the yule posts to add decoration.

The final assembled staircase is shown below. It will be painted to match the walkway.

Next step is to construct the roof.

Peter

The Portrait cutter was used to cut two 20 thou laminations for the signal box walkway. The cutter was also used to cut 1 and 2 mm square holes that would be used to house the handrail posts as shown below.

The handrail posts were formed from 40 x 40 and 80 x 80 thou styrene strip. The post have an octagonal cross section, which has been represented by carefully filing away a small portion at 45 degrees along each edge.

Each post is secured in the holes in the laminated walkway.

The handrail is added and then the diagonal cross members.

The front elevation almost complete. The handrail will be continued around both ends.

Peter

The signal box design includes a upper walkway supported by timbers protruding from the main walls. In the design of the box I have made the walkway supports extensions of the joists that will support the upper floor in the box. The main joists were cut from 20 thou styrene and two laminated together to produce each joist.

The ends of the joists which carry the walkway has been rebated to carry the walkway and detailed as per the original plan.

The Portrait cutter handled the fine dimensions very well as shown below. The joists are designed to slip through the holes on the main walls to provide the internal support for the floor.

The walkway supports for the end elevations are shorter to meet the main joists from the elevation again with the same detailing.

The joists in place passed through the main walls and secured.

Next is to move on to the walkway itself.

To achieve the recessed panels in the signalbox doors, two laminations of 10 thou were used. The individual panes in the windows are seperated by 0.5mm. 

The width of the sides are reduced to take into account the existing thicknesses. Before fitting the windows were painted off white and the doors LMS crimson.

The cuts from the Portrait are very fine and much crisper than I could have achieved by hand.

Next is to add the supports for the exterior walkway.

Peter

Quick update on the progress of the signal box.

After the the brick detailing has been addded, the embossed brick is painted and dry bushed with Humbrol enamels.

The sills and lintels are painted to represent stone. The score marks created on the lintels using the Portrait cutter are more visible now.

Next step is to prepare the 10 thou laminations for the windows and doors.

Peter

The lintels and sills for the signal box are cut from 20 thou styrene. Before cutting the Portrait is used to score the individual blocks in the arched lintels and a guideline on the sill.

After they are fixed to the embossed brick of the structure they sills are filed to the scored lines to form sloped cast offs for rain water. The picture below shows some of the sills and lintels in place.

The signal box has brick detailing around the building so thin strips of embossed brick sheet (2 courses and 3 courses high at window level, 6 course high at base) were cut and added to the structure. The picture below shows this in process

Leaving the box to set for 24 hours the next step will be to paint the brickwork.

Peter

When cutting the 20 thou styrene I had the blade set to 10 and the speed set to 1, with the double pass option selected in the software.

The cut lines did not go all the way through, but were far enough through that it was possible to carefully "bend and snap" along the edges of the walls. For the apertures (particularly the windows with the arches) I found it better to  gently score with a sharp scalpel blade just to go a little deeper and then they popped out no problem.

Peter

Geoff;

I briefly considered trying the embossed sheet in the Portrait, but as it is thicker (about 30 thou if memory serve) I don't think it would have cut through.

Instead I fixed the embossed sheets to the 20 thou styrene and then cut it by hand close to the Portrait cuts, and then finished with a needle file and sanding stick.

Peter

Happy with how the cardboard test went, time to cut some styrene with the Portrait. Main structure is cut from 20 thou with additional layers and details cut from 10 thou. Some of the cut parts are shown below.

The main walls are joined first. Not the rear wall has been left off for now to allow easier construction of the chimney.

Slaters embossed brick sheet is cut to clad the outside, taking care to align brick coarses around the corners.

The window and door apertures are cut a filed to size. The chimney was attached to the rear section and clad before being joined to the rest of the structure.

I have just started adding the window sills. Next will be the lintels and detailing.

Peter

 I've been following the great work in this thread for a while and finally got a Portrait cutter for Christmas.

​

Jason's tutorial was really helpful in getting to grips with the software, so much so I've decided to use the cutter to build a signal box I've been thinking of making for a while. It's based on a design from 1880 ish.

I've drawn up the basic plan in TurboCAD and exported the various component parts as DXF files to the Silhouette Studio.

I've started by creating a cardboard test of the main components.

.

This was useful in checking some of the build steps. Next step is to move to 10 and 20 thou styrene.

Peter

Ron,

Hope you are back to full health soon.

Peter

When I get the time I am looking into the history of Larbert Station in scotland. I grew up in Larbert so I know the current station well, but I am really interested in its earlier history especially 1890 onwards.

I have located various OS maps from around this period that show the general track layout and I have some plans from the National Archives of Scotland that detail some of the station buildings from this time. I have found time to start creating a CAD drawing of one of the footbridges.

Maybe once my youngest (6 weeks) is a bit older and we are getting more sleep at night, I might get around to actual making something or planning where I would fit the baseboards.

Peter