Macbear

Carrog station building in 7mm scale...

WEB Station up 30C.jpg

Coachmann, you have bravely brought us back to the point of this thread. Thankyou. Your building challenged me to take a very close second look as it is convincing. 

This where we agree, buying a kit and building it without significant modifications isn't a scratchbuild.

To quote Wikipedia, "There are as many ways of scratch-building models as there are modellers.." The essential probably lies in the personalisation of the making process. The end product may resemble something already produced either by another modeller, kit or even "RTR", but the mix of standard products, "spares" from kits or "raw materials" [such as acrylic sheet, wire, hemp, bits of plants..] could have something to justify the claim of scratchiness.

As a relative newcomer I enjoy using Linka plaster casting. I've ditched my "RTR" houses, church, station buildings and invested in carving tools and flat moulds. It's a long job, and as I'm learning on it I don't think I count any of those as finished, yet. With the best part of 3 metres of station platform just casting and modifying flat sections is a challenge.. but good fun. Am I a scratch builder? I like to think I'm an apprentice one. I also thank those who contribute to this thread for their inspiration and ideas.

Ebay:

 

Millhouses

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332780654091

An excellent piece of work. I don't see any clear mention the scale - and buyers may be better encouraged if that detail is included. Hope it gets a decent price.

I make plaster moulds as part of my living. I use what is sold here as "superfine" plaster which I buy in 25 kg bags from a ceiling specialist. There are a couple of brands available here, one of which is a bit crap and the other is very good. A bag costs ~AU$25, so it's not the end of the world if it doesn't all get used before it goes crunchy. I don't know if it's as fine or as strong as dental plaster, but it's fine enough to pick up brush marks in the release agent I use between the wooden masters and the newly poured plaster. Strengthwise, it's hard to tell, because the work I do isn't really directly  comparable to model building construction, but it seems quite durable, with an individual mould providing ~50 porcelain slip-castings before it starts to show major deterioration.

 

Getting air bubbles out is a combination of giving the mixing bucket a good jiggle before pouring (bubbles will congregate in the middle of the surface and can be skimmed off with an old spoon for particularly critical applications), getting a hand into the poured plaster and running fingers around all the areas where bubbles might stick while it's still liquid, and finally thumping the underside of my moulding bench with a rubber mallet for a minute or two to settle thing down. One day I'll buy/build a vibrating table to do the same job.

 

Plaster is stiff enough to remove the masters (for me, not necessarily for what you're doing) after about half an hour, depending on ambient temperature and humidity. However, full cure takes much longer (days) but, in my case, the dryness of the mould is more critical. By the time it's dry enough to use it will be fully cured. Again, cure time may be more important for Linka type castings.

 

I have noticed that plaster I've had lying around for a while tends to go off more quickly than fresh. I've just been using a bag I've had sitting around for 3 months, not having done much moulding recently, and it's been kicking off while I've still had my arm in the mixing bucket, which is a bit disconcerting. Makes it rather exciting as to whether I'm going to get it poured and debubbled in time .

I love using Linka and plaster. It can be frustrating if  you try to get the castings out of the moulds too quickly or slowly after pouring, and on no account try to speed things up by putting them on a radiator... I bought mixtures from Linkaonline see http://www.linkaonline.co.uk/store/c1/Featured_Products.html and there is a decent beginners' guide to plaster: http://www.linkaonline.co.uk/all-about-plaster.html  Curiously, the main man seems to get a tad fed up with mixing up his own recipe dry plaster mix, but he certainly has expertise!

Sorry not to have found the query earlier and I hope this may still be of use.

My old stock of plaster has been good for many years. Yes, I've started on new stuff as I've recently come back into making my own layout after a good 15 years - it's now for me not the children. A good airtight seal to the storage bin and only opening in a room with low humidity is possibly important - old snap on buckets from DIY projects with sealed plastic bags inside etc seem to do the job.

Glue - good old white PVA is fine, but for rapid bonding bits I like UHU. The casts must be properly dry and with large areas a backing such as a cut out from an old cereal box applied with PVA is strong.

Morning all

 

I've been making some Buddleia bushes and am just running out of mid-purple fine flock. Does anyone know of a company that sells single colour flower packs please? I can't remember where I obtained my existing (very low) stock!!!

 

Many thanks

 

exmoordave

I have been looking at flock/scatter and I wonder if this might help [i'm not tech savvy enough to create a hyperlink, but cut and paste into a search engine should do it]

http://www.modelscenerysupplies.co.uk/scatter-flock-ground-cover-trees-and-bushes/flowers/coarse-purple-flock-fP392

It's difficult to tell from images, and how coarse do you want the flock. Maybe worth contacting them - their contact page gives a  few options.

Hope this helps,

Macbear.

Wow! I ordered some track and fittings yesterday afternoon. They arrived at noon today [Royal Mail do just one delivery here]. The packing was expertly done. Comments about competitive pricing doesn't just apply to products but also to P&P. I'm a fan. Thankyou to other RMweb users for comments earlier in this thread which pointed me to Track-Shack.

Macbear.

Ian, very helpful. I'm looking to base my station building on a now long-gone small station in Nottinghamshire. Only a few, fairly unhelpful photographs seem to exist of the prototype. It is built to what seems to be a similar LMS design, but in brick. Your clear images have offered ways forward on some questions in my mind. I model in plaster with fixtures and fittings from various acrylics. Your high standards are a real to challenge to someone who is clearly far less experienced. Thankyou.