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rovex

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  1. rovex

    Brackhampton Snow Hill

    By rovex,

    As one does when you don't have a railway I've been thinking about what to build next, I want to utilise as much of the saved buildings from the old railway as possible, so this would mean it has to be quite a size, (so hopuse hunting has been a bit difficult what with prices in Redditch being somewhat higher than my backwater in Leeds. So as well as a house that has room for large Victorian furniture, I also need a large garage, or play room or a garden big enough to allow me to build one and still allow Kevin room to have the dog he's always wanted.
     
    Being so close to Birmingham my thoughts turned to Snow Hill (nothing like being ambitious and to be honest I was somewhat inspired by this thread from the old RMweb (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=40583) called Solsbury Hill but based on the pre 1908 Snow Hill - actually I'd love to know how this is coming along)
     
    I spent Saturday in Birmingham City Archives seeing what plans they have of Birmingham Snow Hill. The answer seems to be very little - Railways apparently being exempt from the old planing process. Any model would be very loosely based on it - thus Brackhampton and not Birmingham - that and my love for Agatha Christie novels. I've got plenty of photos and plans for the platform buildings I was trying to find something useful about the Ticket Hall and Station Hotel as well as tryiung to understand the layout of the offices and access roads above the station. I've only got a few photos. I'm stuck between scratch building the hotel or kit bashing the Vollmer Kit for the Palais apartments (3775). I intend using one of the faller train sheds for the roof of the ticket hall
     
    This is the Vollmer kit
     

     
    and this is the real thing
     

     
    it's not a bit like the real thing, but i hoped if I increased the height of the ground floor, added a few columns to the end bays, stretched out the middle, got rid of those rather nasty bay windows and removed the roof and those great curved dormers adding an extra storey to the ends and those rather trade mark chimneys I might be able to make something that would at least have the right scale and be passable, well at least in the dark with the lights off.
     
    If anyones got some decent photos or better still access to plans - I understand that BR sold most of them off in the 80's I'd be grateful. I think I've probably got most of whats readily available - (two books specifically about Snow Hill and of course that textbook on GWR architecture which has a very comprehensive section on the platform buildings)
     
    Cheers
     
    Rovex
  2. rovex
    Thanks to Mikkel's help and a bit of lateral thinking, in that I could only save the screen print's in a format which I couldn't upload, so I ended up printing them off and scanning them in, here are two track plans for the environs of Brackhampton station.
     

     
    This first one shows the overground approach with four tracks from left to righ the main up and down lines and then the relief up an down lines. These run into from extreme top to bottom, platform 12/11, bay platforms 10 and 9, platform 8/7, two through lines, platform 6/5, two more bay platforms 4/3 and at the bottom platform 2/1. Whilst looking very complicated the plan isn't finished and so far I've omitted the turntable, carriage sidings and cross over lines to gain access to them. Some of these are going to have to go. Building the access lines on a curve makes for very difficult geometry.
     

     
    This one shows the opposite end of the station and again some rationalisation here as well as most of the point work will be under neath the city centre, consequently the fish sidings have been omitted as it would be impossible to work these. The top track splitting offo from the curve is intenede as an engine spur and again as it is underground there seemed little reason to keep it running along with the main line.
     
    This is very much a first work in progress and bits will need printing off to get a feel for the size. But I've measured the area where the layout is going to go (when I've built the shed) and it should fit.
     
    I was thinking for the opposite sie of having a split level fiddle yard with down and up lines on different levels.
     
    Rovex
  3. rovex
    Those who have been following my long winded efforts to build my model railway may remember that I lifted all the trackwork following a failed experiment in securing both the cork underlay and the track using spray adhesive. The warm weather saw expansion which resulted in track lifting and the cork bubbling. As the track had not been pinned the adhesive didn't prove up to the job.
     
    So reluctantly the whole lot was lifted and I decided that I had to start again. Well the starting was delayed until recently when I received the last of the major pointwork items required. All pointwork has been made by Hayfield and he has been good enough to share some of his work on his own blog.
     
    This time around I have adopted a much more old fashioned method. Cork underlay has been glued down to the baseboard using PVA glue (and copious amounts of it. The cork underlay is 4mm thick and came in a huge roll bought of a certain internet auction site. It worked out quite cheap compared to buying the usual stuff sold specifically model railways.
     
    The layout, which had been designed using Templot (when you still had to pay for it), was printed out onto slightly heavier duty printer paper and then glued on top of the cork using wall paper paste.
     
    The track abnd pointwork was then laid on top of this. Each peice of track has had drop wires soldered to it and these will then be soldered to the bus wires which will be under the layout. My previous layout have always suffered from terrible running quality and I think in part this has been caused by reliance on fishplates for electrical connectivity.
     
    I hope that with each separate piece of track having its own supply this will to some extent be ameliorated.
     
    Almost all the track at the North end of the station has now been relaid, with just a couple of bay tracks and platform 1 (or is it 12) to be laid.
     
    Next will the South end (under the Great Western Hotel) which thanksfully is somewhat simpler.
     
    Then starts the process of dusting off my old DCC controller and starting to attach power and point motors (i'm trying to buy 10 each month just after payday).
     
    My thoughts are also turning to the storage facility. I've swung between a traversr ( decided not to) a traditional fan of sidings and a casette system.
     
    Currently I'm thinking a mixture of traditional fan and casette may be the answer. My thought is to have the fast lines run into a fan of sidings where the crack expresses can be kept. The slow lines would then run into a casette system where the suburban trains and freight trains could be kept.
     
    Well enough words here are some pictures.


     
    Here is the station looking towards Paddington. From left to right we be through line (platform 12 and 11), two bays (platforms 10 and 9), through line (platform 8 and 7), two avoiding lines (up and down), through line (platform 6 and 5), two bays (platforms 4 and 3) and finally through line (platform 2 and 1). Although the station has been compressed it is still possible to get two trains onto the through platforms and the scissor crossings in the middle allow trains on the central platforms to cross each other.
     
    The bays are large enough for five or six coach trains if necessary - so you can see why I am desperate for Hornby to bring out some non-corridor Western coaching stock.
     

     
    a view striaght across the station throat.
     


     
    and now looking towards Wolverhampton (which I think I shall rename Worford for the layout).
     
    Although you can't see it in the background by the large tub of PVA glue are the four running lines (slow lines on the inside of the curve - the fast lines on the outside). The pointwork is such that any train arriving on a slow line can access any of the platforms and all four bays. Any train arriving on the fast line can access the main through platforms and the bays at platform 10 and 11.
     
    In reverse trains heading out this way can all leave by the slow lines and trains from platform 10, 11 and 5 and 6 can leave by the fast line.
  4. rovex

    70 ft update

    By rovex,

    Just thought I'd post a few more photos of the restaurant and corridor composite now they've had a coat of undercoat and the underframes have been put together.This is the underframe for the composite, the trussing is made from 60 thou square plastic strip. This shows the extension of the interior by adding an extra first class and third class compartment.
     
    both sides of the composite.
     
    the restaurant car
     
    underframes for both vehicles, showing the six wheel bogies on the restaurant car.
     
    Well today I'm gonna start of on the brake third and possibly the all third - if the cat will keep off the workbench
     
    Wouldn't you just know it, someone is selling all these coaches on ebay as old BSL kits.
     
    Rovex
  5. rovex
    Whilst I await some decent weather so that I can order the materials to line out the new shed without them getting soaked I've been dabbling with building the North Box for the station. This is based on the old one at Birmingham Snow Hill, which was some 50ft by 10 ft and stood on girder stilts because of the restricted site.
     
    The basis of the cabin are some butchered sides from a number of the Hornby GWR Dunster Signal boxes, the windows whilst typucally GWR do not match those of the prototype but life's too short to get overly concerned with such matters. The photos give an indication of the work so far.
     
    The box was electrically operated so no locking bars to model just lots and lots of cabling. The photos I've managed to dig up show lots of cables slung beneath the box and carried down the side of the stairs.
     

    This shows the parts from the Hornby kit which are going to be used. I used four kits to get the necessary parts, I could have used fewer but that would have meant more joints. The windows from the remaining parts will be used on the South Box, whilst the level crossings I'll stick back on ebay.
     

     
    These are the parts, with all but one trimmed and butchered. The windows turned out to be finer than I thought, obviously thicker than etched ones, but with a little work thinning the back of the frames down quite acceptable.
     

     
    With the sides fitted to a new base, and some stregthening of the back wall. The only photo I have of the rear of the box, which because of the way it will be placed on the layout will be the public face of the box was unusual (well to me at least) in that several of the panels of windows were painted out. Perhaps even stranger whilst there is an obvious soil pipe for the toilet facilities, these appear to have been behind one of these painted out window panels (in this case the first one after the access door).
     

     
    And now it sprouts legs. I was concerned that the girders looked strong enough to support the structure, and having glued them in place (evergreen plastic mouldings), was becoming a bit worried that I'd gone over the top.
     

     
    cross girders start to go in.
     

     
    Final shot for this post. Most of the girders are in place. There are two cross girders to go in at the ends to give "X" bracing. Between the other legs were a series of cabinets with sliding doors for stores so far as I can work out, and a panel carrying cables. Braces also need to be added from the top of the legs to the edge of the Box. These will be fun to try and cut.
     
    The roof is loose for now to allow access to glaze the box after painting and because of the large number of windos to allow me to fit some kind of interior.
     
    Rovex
  6. rovex
    After taking a diversion into laser printing for the future city centre of my model, I've been putting my 3d skills to more currently practical use.
     
    The station retaining wall along Livery Street has been designed and indeed printed. It wasn't cheap and the brickwork is \ little hit and miss, but I did it this way for several reasons.
     
    1 Speed - a have a very low boredom threshold and lots of unfinished projects. This way I could get most of the wall done before I got diverted to something else.
     
    2 Uniformity - it was important to me that the wall was done to a certain degree of accuracy. This wall is going to support the cast iron screen wall whch will be made up of printed elements and I wanted them to line up correctly, if the eventual roof is ever going to sit correctly and not be floating away in one or other corner.
     
    Unfortunately as each wall panel is different, as the road rises along the length of the station, it meant that each panel had to be drawn out using the previous one as a starting point. This also meant it wasn't going to be possible to print one and then cast it.
     
    Hear are some photos of the painted prints not yet stuck into place and with a mock up of the screen wall placed on top.
     




     
    Finally I've mocked up some of the platform buildings using screen shots of the "kit of parts" shown on earlier blog entries.
     

     
    For the monent I'm going to concentrate on painting and fixing the retaining wall and getting all the platforms built.
  7. rovex
    Following on from last nights post, here's the same thing after ten years of wear and tear.
     




     
    Weathering has been done with some Humbrol white weathering powder and some old cars weathering powders, mainly black, brown and rust. The leadroof was first washed with the white powder and white spirit. Lead tends to whiten as it ages and then it was given a wash of the black and whiote white spirit. This took the edge of the white and added the soot.
     
    The sides were done in a mixture of the brown and black. whit copious amounts of white spirit to prevent it looking to extreme.
     
    Finally the girders were done in rust. This has been washed down a couple of times and I may do it again, as I had forgotten just how far a little rust powder goes.
     
    Dean
  8. rovex

    chimneys galore

    By rovex,

    Thanks for all the kind comments to my last Blog entry.
     
    Having had my two nephews (4 and 7) and their mum stopping with us for the last week the opportunities for modelling have been limited.
     
    Anyway with them packed off back to Leeds, I've been catching up by mass producing chimneys and roofing the central portion of the hotel. The roof has been made as a separate unit so that it can be lifted off to allow me access to the building to finish making all those windows. I've installed some (being those that came with the original Kibri kit, but lots more windows will be needed especially for the back of the hotel. As these are made up from a frame and two sashes, I've been putting it off.
     
    Here's the progress on the front
     

     
    The white structure in front of one of the windows is going to be a newsagents and tobacconists. The original building ended its days festooned with at least three such structures. I've decided to model just the one. I am however intending to add the huge lettering which adorned the front, advertising the fact that this was the Great Western Railways Snow Hill station and the several signs advertising refreshments. I've also bought a large stock of posters to put in the concourse. GWR/BR(WR) didn't seem to mind that these blocked many of the groundfloor windows.
     
    Heres an arial shot, to give an idea of the eventual size of this part of the station. The arched structure supported by the speaker will eventually form the ticket office wall.
     

     
    Right, back to work
     
    Rovex
  9. rovex
    It being too cold to be in the shed, I have spent the day playing with Sketchup.
     
    Opposite the entrance to Snow Hill id the Great Western Arcade. It was built over the tunnel carrying the tracks from Moor Street to Snow Hill. Originally it had a very impressive facade but this fell victim to enemy action and was burnt out. Rather than restore it after the war it was demolished and for a long time the arcade was somewhat truncated.
     
    A modern building now occupies the site but the original arcade exists behind this building - albeit with a more simplified roof.
     
    I have decided that I would like to have the original building and so began my search for photographs etc. Surprisingly I've only found a very small handful of photographs.
     
    This is progress to date. Still some more to do and the original carved stonework will have to be reproduced in Milliput, my Sketchup skills aren't up to it.
     



  10. rovex
    I've got the design of the facade finished and so thought I would share a few more pictures with you.
     




     
    Its succesfully loaded up to Shapeways - though that doesn't mean much until you try to print it. As the cost of likely to be 125 Euros I'm gonna wait until their next sale. I'll share the results with you
     
    In the meantime for those interested here is a link to one of the few images of the original
     
    regards
     
    Rovex
  11. rovex
    Having got a tad bored of drilling little holes in my 70 ft stock in order to attach grab handles I've put them to one side - I'm very easily distracted as well which doesn't help. I've done a bit more work on the BSL Centenary all third, it's has door hinges, handles and door handles fitted and the roof has been cut to size and the requisite vents added. Now needs masking for the blood to be added. The photo shows it next to an airfix composite to give an idea of the actual differences in the coaches. I intend using some cut up interiors from the composite to make the required seven compartments. I should have plenty as I'm going to use the frames of two coaches when I make the BSL restaurant cars which I'll do when I find the kits I've got squat away.
     

     
    The other centenary I've had a go at- I couldn't resist seeing if it was possible - is the left handed brake third. The Hornby (ex-airfix) model is the right handed version. Its quite straightforward to get the sides right - you cut out an equal amount of each side - I think it was about 96 mm, splice each side up to move the windows around, glue them back together in the right order and then insert back into the coach sides. The luggage section of each was identical (or seems to be). I sanded the new side pieces on the table before gluing them back in, as this seemed easier. The problem is going to be ensuring you have smooth sides (there are no door frames to hide the cuts) I think I'm getting there but I've just given the resulting coach a spray of undercoat which will I am sure reveal all.
     
    The roof was changed by splicing off the vents and putting each one on the opposite side of the roof. Effectively mirroring their old positions. Any moulded handrails have been cut off and the coach drilled to accept new wire ones. I've not added these yet pending any more sanding that needs doing.
     
    Any way here are the pictures along with some of the original coach showing that right and left handed versions are mere mirror images.
     

     
    I'm looking at the drawings for the brake composite and wondering if i can do this by cutting up a composite and a brake third but I'm inclined to think I'll have more success with the BSL kit, unless the Comet sides will fit the Hornby coaches - now there's a thought.
     
    And I promise I will get those grab handles on the 70 ft stock.
     
    Rovex
  12. rovex
    With the aid of the annual bonus from work I've purchased teh home for Brackhampton. Its at the end of the Garden and thus allows the long suffering other half to be free of all things model railway. It was put up surprisingly quickly on Saturday and once boarded out will give approximately 21ft by 14.5 ft to fit the railway in.
     


     
    Right, where did I leave that number of the builders yard
     
    Rovex
  13. rovex
    I have got around to painting the model of Brackhampton (pronounced Birmingham) North Signal Box I made several moons ago. I have been unable to find any decent colour pictures showing how the box was painted in real life and the girder supports were causing me some heartache. "black" seemed too stark and dark stone didn't seem appropriate either.
     
    Anyway, last week I was leafing through a new book of GWR structure colours in Ian Allan's Brum bookstore when I found out that some features on GWR buildings were painted "chocolate" and this was before BR(W) region adopted it for surviving GWR buildings - and so I seed was planted.
     
    The girders would be painted "chocolate", the rest would be painted in typical light and dark stone colours. So was born what must be one of the most colourful of buildings to grace the layout - Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen would be proud. Of course the whole thing is going to be weathered considerably. I want to aim for a building that hasn't been painted since before the war and has been standing out in Brum's sooty atmosphere for ten years.
     




     
    railings and a door need to be added, and I shall have to dig out my Coopercraft Signal box name kits and add a name to front and back (it appears to have had plates on both sides - although that on the back looks more like an enamel one on one photo I've seen.
     
    With all those windows some representation of an interior will need to be added - as it was an electrical box this means I can avoid having lots of levers.
     
    EDIT
     
    Some work done on an interior - as its not pianted yet the camera tends to bleach things. But I've built the 37ft electrical lever frame with lots of little levers (thank you Station master ).
     

     
    The photos I;ve seen show a writing slope and two benches at the back. Also a number of cast iron radiators along the front - I'm going to see what I can do to represent these. The false roof I've inserted means I've lost some of the space where block instruments fitted, but again I'll have to see what I can do.
     
    Some of the interior photos (http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh1772.htm) show some extra instruments added in front of the lever frame. They look like black cylinders about a foot long - one of top of another - anyone know what these were for?
     
    A final shot showing a badly painted signalman enyoying some fresh air now the platform is safely railed off.
     

  14. rovex
    Well this 3d printing malarkey is something that can cause the brain to melt and dribble out of your ears. I have been playing around with a model for the overall roof columns. The hope is that if I can succesfully design one than it can be amended to create the other two types.
     
    So having beavered away, I then have to convert it to a "dae" file, then download another programme and convert it to an "stl" file, then downlaod another programme , because Shapeways doesn't like the design - something to do with holes - this programme every time I pressed fix made it worse. Finally I discovered a function which allowed you to upload the model to the cloud - it fixed it and then you downloaded it.
     
    However something funny happens along the way a model which started out as 92 mm is suddenly 3.2mm abns too small for Shapeways.
     
    So I go back through the conversion process and open it in Sketchup, now its over 16 metres long?????
     
    Anyway after reducing it down again I've managed to get it to upload to Shapeways.
     
    The girders for the canopy were too thin? so I have to decide whether to proceed or beef them up a bit - they only seem to be 0.1mm to thin, so I might risk it and see what one of each looks like.
     
    Anyway here is a presentable version of the roof columns
     

  15. rovex
    The laser prints arrived today. So I am posting a few pictures for comments.
     
    I apologise for the quality of the photos but my camera isn't up to much when it comes to close ups and the flash bleached everything, so I had to turn it off.
     

     

     
    These are probably the best of the photos. The surface is a bit rough and I managed to mismeasure the roof column so this is a bit short. I've corrected the uploaded version, so next time should get it the right size.
     
    Would appreciate knowing what people think
     

     
    This is screen shot of a possible wall piece - a work in progress. I am contemplating making up several different types and constructing the main station buildings from these. Still work to do including adding a brickwork texture - Is there an easy way of doing this.
     
    Does anyone have any thoughts on the best material to use. The above were printed using frosted acrylic - but its quite expensive when you consider the quanitiy I'm going to need. I was wondering about white plastic - which is considerably cheaper.
     
    All opinions welcome
     
    Dean
  16. rovex
    I couldn't help myself - I had to upload a few photos of my latest ebay purchase. This is a model of GWr railcars 35 and 36 made from three Hornby railcars. Not my work I have to admit. Very well made and needs only a little bit of fillering and sanding to complete the bodies.
     
    I intend to replace the plastic handrails and install flushglazing and other details.
     
    I can now sell the Westward kit I bought of this train many years ago.
     
    So now my Brackhampton has a suitable train for its express service to Cardiff.
     




  17. rovex
    Arrived home from work today to find that the sample side all had arrived from shapeways. This was done in FUD and I must say looks a far better product than previous samples. However this is reflected in the price.
     
    I've sprayed in brick red as a primer and also to help it show better in the photos below.
     

     
    An exterior shot.
     

     
    close up of the column detail
     

     
    Another exterior shot
     

     
    and a partial interior shot.
     
    The top and bottom screens will be glazed and you can see in the last photo how I have created a recess to take some plastic glazing. This should also help to strengthen these peices. Although there are not that flimsy.
     
    The distorted look is caused by two factors - the hole the column has been planted in is a little too large (so the column is not standing upright) and the bottom barrier is somewhat distorted, but hopefully this will be resolved by the glazing and gluing them together.
     
    Cost is going to be an issue - this was about £30. A cheaper material could be used but wouldn't print. I'm not sure whether it would be possible to cast this, given the complexity and I don't think resin would be a solution.
     
    Also as Livery Street rose towards Colmore Row on the real thing the heights of the columns got progressively shorter and this may mean designing each one individually.
     
    it might be possible to design this with the screens as separate parts and then perhaps these could be cast along with the standard length columns, with the ones getting progressively shorter being 3D printed.
     
    Another thought would be to hollow the columns out to reduce the amount of material used and perhaps run plastic or brass tubing up the middle for strength. As the original columns were cast iron dressing on H girders this rather has the merit of imitating the real thing.
     
    Dean
  18. rovex
    track laying has recommenced. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but following an expansion problem and an experimental track fixing method I lifted all the track on my layout and decided to start again.
     
    This time 4mm cork underlay has been glued down with copious amounts of undiluted PVA glue. On top of this the track plan has been pasted. It was printed out on heavy duty printer paper and then pasted down with wallpaper paste. This should ensure that the track is in the right place. I'm starting in the middle but before the scissor crossings which were such a feature of the original Snow Hill go down, I've decidd to try and make a representation of Great George St Bridge. The photos show the attemprts so far. The cork underlay is cut out and a 20 thou plasticard peice fitted to shape. track chairs are fitted to two pieces of 4mm square plastic strip from evergreen, using a lenght of track to ensure there are in a striaght line. With sleepers attached to each end these are glued down to the 20 thou sheet. Cross timbers are then added and the whole sprayed grey, the timbers picked out and then the sides of the rails painted brick red to represent the rust. All will be suitably weathered once in situ.
     
    I am also taking the opportunity to paint the sides of all the rails to represent rust. I only hope my patience lasts.
     



     
    Now for a question. This time around I intend to wire up as I go along, including the numerous point motors that will be needed, but where to put them. The point motors that is. Obviously they will have to be beneath the track, but do I cut out a small hole and feed a rod up, or cut out a larger whole and fit the point motor directly below the track.
     
    If the motors go immediately belowthe point I was thinking as all points are handmade I would fit a plasticard rectangle beneath the tiebar and then fit the point motor to that - I intend to use peco point motors operated using old Hornby passing contact switches (assuming that will work).
     
    Do any one have any thoughts, opinions etc?
  19. rovex

    The odd Hornby Composite

    By rovex,

    Apropos of nothing in particular I was wondering why Hornby decided to model the 57ft GWR collett composite coach and get the compartment dimensions wrong. For those not in the know it is supposed to have four first class compartments and three third class. Now, whilst the division in the corridor side is in the correct place in the coach one of the first class compartments is actually the wrong size. Its got third class dimensions.
     
    It has occured to me that this coach shares the same chassis as the old (rather ghastly) LMS corridor composite. I wonder if the internal piece that represents the compartments was actually made for the LMS coach and rather than manufacture a new interior, the GWR coach was fiddled to fit the one already available. This would also explain the toilets at each end - yes I know the GWR coach has toilets at each end - but it doesn't have end vestibule doors and the interior is obviously meant for a coach that has.
     
    Well there it is - not exactly earth shattering and probably not news but it has puzzled me why a manufacturer would go out of its way to make a coach with such an obvious error. Hopefully Hornby will take pity on us Western modellers and give us some new state of the art coaching stock, I'd rather have that then a new all singing Castle (I seem to havea few of these already and have no intention of replacing them).
     
    Is it too early to start the New Year wishlist - hehe
     
    Rovex
  20. rovex
    Well a pleasant afternoon which should have been spent in the garden - or at the very least doing some productive modelling has been spent beavering over my new toy - sketchup - on the computer. The results are here.
     

     
    The Central girder
     

     
    The intermediate girder
     

     
    the valance
     

     
    and all four compenents shown together - roughly
     
    Now I shall no doubt find that what I've created is unprintable.
  21. rovex
    The latest CAD ramblings.
     
    I've been playing with the canopy parts to see if construction could be made simpler by putting all the parts together and this is the result.
     


     
    I've ordered three of these to test out the modular design and see if it works. if it does I shall be selling a lot of unopened ratio canopy kits.
     
    The eagle eyed amogst you will have spotted that one of the arms on the support has lost its detail. I don't know why this keeps happening, but it does not look like this on the Shapeways site. We shall have to see what it looks like when it arrives. I am expecting it any day now.
     
    If this works then I shall need a canopy end piece and here it is
     


     
    So you can see with these two parts and a spare support canopies of any length of a tolerable GWR design can be built for reasonable outlay - lol
     
    for example
     


     
    Though seriously I am wondering if there is a market for these. We shall have to see what the actual products look like.
     
    Finally as a bit of fun (who am I trying to kid) this is the entrance from livery street.
     

     
    Still a bit of work to do on the brickwork and the crest above the door will have to be added in modelling clay. Again the rivet counters will have noticed that the inner door is not arched. I have done this because the topology of my Livery Street is a little lower than the actual one which has resulted in me stretching the door downwards to meet the proposed pavement. This made the door too tall and narrow for my liking, so I lowered the lintel by adding the inner archway.
     
    Still some brickwork to add - and my goodness that is laborious.
     
    Dean
  22. rovex
    I've been in Leeds for the last couple of weeks doing some 12 inch to the foot modelling - that is decorating my old house in an effort to make it presentable to potential buyers.
     
    My partner and I have found somewhere we want to buy here in Redditch but we need to sell the old homestead first. Hopefully all will go smoothly and as soon as I'm allowed I can start building a layout to run these trains on.
     
    Anyway having got back last Sunday I've been busy building the two dining cars for the centenary stock that I dug out of my father's garage (much to everyone's disgust - "Is that what we moved all this stuff for!!!" - some people have no understanding - lol). I also found a kit for another all third which i didn't realise I had. Once all are built I should be able to run something approaching a proper centenary train, with all coach variations provided. (God I only hope Hornby don't announce new Centenaries as coaching stock that wouldn't be funny .
     
    So for those interested here are the five new coaches after initial painting - For a change no bits of paint have come away having permanently attached themselves to the masking tape. I lightly sanded the aluminium sides of the old BSL kits which I think helped. And very little paint beleding - miracles will never cease.
     
    The two brakes are the Airfix conversions shown elsewhere on this blog. Still plenty to do - so will keep me occupied over the Xmas hols.
     
    Happy Xmas and New Year everyone
     
    Rovex
     

  23. rovex
    Last week I finally took the plunge and ordered the results of my CAD doodles. I sent for one roof pillar and enough canopy parts to make up some three sections.
     
    I decided not to buy the valance sides and having designed a roof and failed to upload it properly decided from a cost point of view that these bits could be more readily constructed from plasticard.
     
    When the items arrive I shall post the results.
     
    For the last few days I have been playing with the roof column to make a piece for the sides of the roof. Here are the preliminary results.
     

     
    an amended column and screen - still needs the lower part of the screen wall designing.
     

     
    and here a bit of a play to show what they will look like with several joined together.
     
    Dean
  24. rovex
    Impressed with what can be acheived with 3D printing I have been having a play over the weekend with "Sketchup" a free 3D drawing programme that can be downloaded off the interweb.
     
    I had intended to use the ratio canopy kits to produce the extensive canopies that covered the bay platforms at Snow Hill. Each one being approximately a metre long (or more) in model form. However the work needed to beef these up was concerning me, and I wasn't sure that they would look high enough.
     
    They also (whilst a prototypical GWR design) weren't right for Snow Hill - Although I don't know why I'm being so precious on that score.
     
    Anyway having seen other people's efforts I thought I would at least try and draw some up and see If could create something that could be printed up. Given the nature of the beast it lends itself to a mass production technique like 3D printing.
     
    So here is my attempt at drawing the support column and cross beams. - lots of these will be needed.
     

     

     
    I'm quite pleased with it. the programme is quite easy to grasp, The only thing I haven't got to grips with is making rivets - any ideas anybody.
     
    Dean
  25. rovex
    With quite a lot of the track down, I've been knocking up the platforms (well roughly at least). Nothing spectacular in the methods used. Paper template and a pencil held against the biggest coach.
     
    The photo shows the platforms 1 to 6 (I think - it doesn't help that at some point the platforms were all swapped round). Platform bases are 12 mm ply and topped with 2mm plasticard scored to represent paving slabs. Later I'll build up brick walls to cover the edges of the ply, with suitable wiring strung along it as seems to abound on a lot of platform sides.
     
    In the distance can be seen the basis for the footbridge steps. These are some plastic steps taken from old Triang/Hornby concrete foortbridges, The height will be reduced and the sides covered over with plastic sheet and embossed brickwork.
     
    The bay platforms are very narrow, to my mind, although I think they comply with the regs - but this can't be helped if I am to get the station into a sensible width. It also matches the width of the ratio GWR style canopies which will cover most of these.
     

     
    And this shot just shows the Great Western Hotel and concourse (which hasn't progressed much since the last photos of it, mocked up across the station throat
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