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Fen End Pit

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Blog Entries posted by Fen End Pit

  1. Fen End Pit
    I've put a spray of gloss over the cab side and tender side so that the transfers would slide. I had the usual fun and games trying to get 5 numbers to line up and sit square. The spraying has also just 'lifted' the colour slightly so it doesn't look quite so matt and uniform. I also got around to fitting the balance weights on the driving wheels and painting the rims which greatly improves the overall look.
     
    I've got a couple of pictures from Colour Rail to help with the weathering.
     

     
    I've spotted something missing from the kit which I think I need to do something about. The rear wheel of the bogie seems to have a very visible splasher curving around the rear of the wheel. This is missing I suspect because trying to put one in the kit suitable for OO would foul the driving wheels. I'm presuming this was fitted the bogie rather than the main frames?
     
    David
  2. Fen End Pit

    D16/3 painted!

    By Fen End Pit,

    I think the colour is best described as 'Stratford unloved black'. I still need to sort of the driving wheels and then get some transfers on it. I did wonder about the colour of the guard irons, would they have been black below buffer beam level?
     
    Paint was Precision paints etch primer followed by matt 33 followed by satin 85.
     
    I'm quite pleased with the way it looks...
     
    (and no I'm not going to line it out!)
     
    David Barham
     

  3. Fen End Pit
    As requested a few more pictures of Fen End Pit.
     
    The drag line is scratch built based on plans from a Ruston Bucyrus works manual I was given by a friend.
     
    First up a view of the entrance to the works as a Simplex 40S arrives with a train of sand from the pit.
     

     
    This is a view of the entire unloading end showing the tipping dock, unloading conveyor and the storage silos.
     

     
    And finally a shot of the unloading hopper with a skip just tipped.
     

     
    Hope you like them.
     
    David
  4. Fen End Pit
    Over the last few months I've been working on a cunning plan to add interlocking to my lever frame. The frame itself is from the Shropshire and Herefordshire Area Group sold through the Scalefour stores. The frame is connected to a MERG CANACE3 circuit board so that each level generates a different event on the MERG CBUS. This means that the only thing coming out of the frame to the layout is the 12v and 0v power lines and the CANH and CANL data wires of the CAN bus.
     

     
    This has been fitted with a small modification in the form of a strip of nickel silver soldered into the bottom of each lever made from scrap from the etch. This 'tail' sticks out of the bottom of the frame.
     

     
    The locking is provided by means of a small servo under each lever which is fitted with a brass collar. The collar rotates to either lock the tail of the lever on one side or the other or present a slot through which the tail can pass.
     

     
    The servos are driven using MERG CANACC8 boards configured with the new CANServo8 code. Last in the box is a MERG CAN-USB board which allows the CBUS to talk to a PC.
     

     
    The PC runs the PanelPro from the open source JMRI project. Without going into too much detail (unless people want to know more) the levers are each defined as a 'Sensor', the turnouts on the layout and the servos which control the locks are defined as 'Turnouts'. I have set the CBUS boards on the layout which drive the points and signals to respond to the events direct from the lever frame so that I don't need to connect the PC. However when the PC is connected the 'Logix' programming in JMRI is configured so that each locking servo is set depending on the state of the levers.
     
    The great virtue of this system is that I can program all the locking on the PC and change it easily if (when?) I get it wrong. In practice so far I have got about half the locks working (there is some alignment work to do between the tails and locking rings) but have demonstrated I can make the distance signal only be released when the relevant home and starters are cleared. Also I can show that clearing the distance signal locks the homes and starters clear. In simple terms each lock has two conditional actions applied, one which unlocks the lever when A normal and B normal and C reversed etc. and a second which locks the lever when A reversed or B reversed or C normal etc.
     
    I could even get silly and add some train detection by track circuiting and then interlocking with that, or even only allow the starter to be cleared when I have a line clear from the box in advance.... or may implement locking that allows me to only pull the starter once per line clear.... This way madness lies.
     
    David
  5. Fen End Pit
    Our 'Day of Railway Modelling' yesterday gave an opportunity for my D16/3 to drive up and down Pampisford. It took a bit of fiddling with insulation tape as the loco tender pickups initially were shorting on one side and then through to the locomotive via the tender drawbar and it was rather difficult to track down. The run also showed that I needed to adjust the pivot for the springing on the front driven axle as there was not quite enough weight on the rear (something I've adjusted tonight). It was good to see Pampisford up again and amazing that the layout still looks in good nick after so long.
     

     
    Fen End Pit operated well during the day and we left surprisingly little sand on the floor, remembering to empty the sand box under the screens regularly rather than waiting until the box fills up so much it drops on the floor with a crash! 'Delores the Dragline' as she is described every time a parent suggested to their child that it is 'Crankie the Crane' loaded a fair few skips during the day and a good time was had by all.
     

     
    Thanks to Brian for organizing the day and all those who brought along exhibits.
     
    David
  6. Fen End Pit
    A busy weekend of soldering has resulted in the bulk of the tender being put together. At this point I've found that the etchings for the tender in the PDK kit are a little rough. The half etching in particular is only about 1/4 of the way through the metal making the parts hard to cut from the waste, even harder to bend at right-angles and pretty useless where you have half etched detail. The sides shown in the previous entry had some .45mm wire soldered on as beading and then filed to a flat rather than trying to add the supposedly half etch sections which you were meant to try and curve to the radius of the flare and then solder in place (somehow!). Anyway the three sides soldered together nicely and gave a pretty decent fit at the rear joins with only a small fillet of solder needed to join up the flares. I was particularly pleased with the bottom edge joint along the tender base.
     

     
    One of the sides has a tiny pin hole in it which I think I'll have to fill with solder and file down. The fit of the tender front was a little suspect and I had to use some scrap etch to get the parts to align properly, keeping the tender sides square and not leaving any gaps around the coal door. The worse excesses of solder will be hidden by coal anyway. Do I model it full of coal leaving Town for a trip into Cambridgeshire or have it half empty as it travels south? Now has any one build removable coal from a tender and swapped it in the fiddleyard before?
     

     
    Springing on the tender is a particularly rough attempt as a springy beam. The problem being that there is simply no space at the end of the chassis to get much spring on the outside axles. Still it runs over by point work and has about .75mm of movement on each axle.
     

     
    Put together with the loco it really comes together, the ride height is about right (or will be when I've fitted a bit of lead to the loco.
     

     
    The target is to get the loco running for a little event in a couple of weeks time....
     
    On Saturday 16th July a small group of friends will be holding a day of railway modelling at the St Mary's Church Community Hall in Sawston just south of Cambridge. We are specifically not billing this as a 'model railway exhibition', just a chance to come along and see several layouts, see what we are working on, talk about model railways and possibly raise a bit of money for the church restoration fund.
     
    The layouts due to appear are:-
    Obberkaer - P87 Danish
    Pampisford - P4 BR-E (first public outing for nearly 10 years)
    Oxenbridge - P4 BR-M
    Fen End Pit - 16mm narrow gauge by yours truly.
     
    We will also have some demonstrations and other static exhibits ranging from 2mm finescale to French Gauge 3!
     
    As I said, it isn't an exhibition so we don't have any traders but teas and coffees will be available. Entry will be £1.50 for adults or £2.00 for adults with accompanying children. We shall be open from 10:30 to 16:00.
     
    If you are in the area it would be good to see you.
     
    David
  7. Fen End Pit
    Over the weekend I finally fitted the motor and some pick-ups to the driving wheels. After an initial problem as I hadn't fastened together the High-Level gear-box with its extension and some insulation tape to avoid any shorts between the pick-ups and the foot-plate the locomotive now moves under its own power around the layout! The wheels actually stay on the track and the quartering and wheel fitting worked well so it is nice and smooth. The speed is about right too which looks as if I chose the right gear ratio. Cosmetically not a lot more has gone on, but here are a couple more pictures which probably show it better than those previously posted.
     

     

     
    Thanks to rmweb I now have a good idea of what to put between the frames and will be making a suitable representation of the slide-bars just to fill the gap a little. (thanks Buckjumper)
     
    I also felt it was about time I bit the bullet and considered how to do the job I was least looking forward to on the loco, the flared sides of the tender. I was expecting this to be a complete ######### (didn't even bother typing a expletive there, I knew rmweb would hash it out!). However sometimes, just sometimes, things work out easier than you were expecting.
     
    First up I made a jig consisting of a length of timber with a piece of the brass rod the inside diameter of the flare araldited to the top and a further length of mdf stuck behind the brass rod to secure it. This gave me a hard edge to bend the tender side against. Next up I stuck a length of metal the same thickness as the etched side along the bottom of the jig parallel with the top and at the right distance so that the bottom edge of the etch would rest on it as it was clamped into a vice.
     

     
    The etched side has a half-etched line on it for the up-stand on the top of flare and I know it was important to only bend this once as repeated bending would make it break off. Clamping the jig and the side in a big vice (first I tried with some scrap!) I was able to bend the etch over the brass rod knowing that I would have a bend in the right place in terms of height and being parallel. I found pushing the brass over wasn't possible as it was too thick and hard and I really didn't want to try annealing the brass first as I thought this would make it too soft. In the end however working along the side with a piece of steel, a small hammer and a bit of patience and I got the curve made to my satisfaction.
     
    You can see the resulting side and end below. The end has an etched tab which is why my length of nickel-silver used as the base-line has a gap midway along.
     

     

     
    Finally I bent the straight part of the flare (is that contradiction in terms?) back up to parallel in a bending bar and cleaned up the piece with a file. The result is pretty good I think and I actually managed to make both sides as a handed pair which seem to match well.
     

     
    Putting the three pieces together shows that I should be able to solder them together, there will be a little bit of solder to fill the back corners but not so much that I think it will be a problem.
     

     
    So now I'm thinking about the tender chassis, do I try to put pin-points and use the outside frames, do I try to make the inside frames take 2mm bearing and try to make some kind of horn block. May be something with continuous springy beams?
     
    All ideas gratefully received!
     
    David
  8. Fen End Pit
    Having finished soldering bits on to the loco body it was out with the glue to fasten on the boiler fittings, Westinghouse pump and lubricator.
     
    The Westinghouse pump casting broke in half as I was trying to clean it up so the middle section was replaced with lengths of brass wire. The hole in the footplate for the pipework from the pump didn't match with the drawing or photographs so it got filled and re-drilled.
     
    I had a slight 'Oh $h1t' moment when I looked at the plans and saw two snifter valves behind the chimney. Then I looked at the photograph of my chosen loco and it appears to only have one. I presume that different engines and boilers had then fitted differently?
     
    The lubricator had three horizontal holes drilled in it so I fed some .33mm wire through these and then bent the wires to feed either side of the valve chest and disappear behind the frame sides. I softened the wire first by heating so that it would make the tight bends better.
     

     
    so still left we have boiler bands, guard irons and brakes.... and a tender.
     
    The motor has still to be fitted but the loco pushes nicely through my single-slip so I'm hopeful it should stay on the track.
     
    David
  9. Fen End Pit
    Another Friday night and I finally got the right wheels fitted into my bogie and then the bogie fitted to the loco. The key thing here was that I wanted to bogie to give some guidance to the loco and not just 'go along for the ride'. I was concerned that with my tight curves on the P4 roundy-roundy I would see an unreasonable amount of overhang unless the bogie helped 'pull the front of the loco round'.
     
    First up is a picture of the underside of the footplate, you can see the rubbing plate for the spring from the bogie to push against. The side frames are soldered to match the main frame section, spaced for P4 rather than in the slots designed for OO. Finally you can see a length of spring steel which connects the main chassis to the bogie.
     

     
    Turning to the bogie you can see the sprung buffer which springs the bogie against the footplate. Also on the beam which leads back to the main chassis is the hole in which the spring steel wire previously mentioned engages.
     

     
    On the track everything looks pretty level and nicely sprung. The buffer height is a shade (~1/2mm) high but I haven't got the loco correctly weighted yet. I still haven't got a motor connected but have pushed the loco around with another and it doesn't fall off the track!
     

     
    I must admit to being quite pleased..
     
    David
  10. Fen End Pit
    I'll deal with the crisis of conscience first.
     
    Friday night was spent looking long and hard at the loco body trying to work out if everything was square. The trouble with a curvy footplate is you have nothing solid to gauge anything else off, I can see why some manufacturers build the curved valancing into a fold-up square etch so you can have something flat to work on. After much soul searching I've decided that while there are a couple of bits which aren't exactly perfect the chance of getting them perfect without unsoldering everything and starting again is just too much. It looks as if one side of the cab is actually <.5mm shorter than the other side probably because I had filed too much off while trying to fit it to the curve of the footplate. The other problem I have is that the cab seems to be about .5mm wider than it should be. Also there appeared to be a slight end-to-end twist on the footplate again of less than .5mm. None of this sounds too much and I managed to fix the twist in the footplate with a degree of brute force. I'm afraid I've decided I'm going to have to live with it and hope that the overall effect when painted suitable dirty black is ok. I suspect that I've just been staring too hard and I doubt any of this shows up in the pictures.
     
    Moving on, I fitted the reverser, cab roof and detailing and also had a bundle of laughs with the beading around the cab opening and cab hand rail. I suspect it would have been a lot easier to fit the beading before making up the cab but the kit didn't mention them in the instructions and I only worked out what the etch was for too late.
     

     
    The tiny little rear valancing foot steps were the complete pain I expected, two parts were provided on the etch, I'd had made 4 more by the time I had soldered them on without them pinging across the carpet.
     

     
    The foot steps went on to and have the advantage that the body now sits level on the workbench.
     

     
    So, can you see the dodgy levels?
     
    David
  11. Fen End Pit
    Alan Gibson handrail knobs got used for their intended purpose over the weekend, i.e. holding handrails rather than 'continuous springy beams'.Trying to bend the handrail for the front of locomotives with a continuous handrail is always a pain. The large pipe down the right hand side was held in brackets made for thin brass strip and soldered through holes in the boiler.
     
    Finally this evening I fitted the two footsteps on the curve of the valance. There are also two more tiny ones to go on the rear part of the curve, these seem exceptionally narrow as there is only about a millimeter of foot plate either side of the cab. I see that having a fairly high 'F' factor.
     

     
    The smokebox door, chimney and dome are 'positioned' only!
     
    David
  12. Fen End Pit
    A fair amount of fettling got the boiler to a decent fit around the splashers. I also enlarged and elongated the holes for the washout plugs, soldered a piece of scrap brass behind them and then drilled this with a hole into which a tiny length of nickel silver about .8mm square was soldered to form the bolt.
     

     
    I adjusted the upper part of the frames to match the drawings and the boiler length by taking them off, re-drilling and positioning the handrails and then putting them back on again. I then soldered the front the boiler into position. The solder has taken a fair bit of cleaning up but I'm quite happy with the result.
     
    I've just made up the cylinder covers. I found trying to bend the curves impossible even after softening the brass by heating on the gas hob and dunking in water. I was able to make the rear curve, but the front one ultimately broke off after one to many attempt. I ended up using a short length of brass tube and cutting a quarter section out of it and soldering in place. I'm not satisfied with the fit yet but I'll have another go tomorrow if I get the chance.
     

     
    Can anyone give me any advise on the handrail knobs? I presume I should use short ones of the smokebox and medium ones down the boiler, or does it need long ones? The photographs seem to show the handrail was straight and parallel with the boiler with no kinks of bends in it.
     
    David
  13. Fen End Pit
    Friday night meant a meeting with friends and the handing over of a length of 22mm diameter brass tube freshly purchased from Eileen's Emporium. I'd decided fairly early on that I wanted to replace the rolled etch in the PDK kit with a length of tube and I think I've made the right choice. Although the etch was rolled the fact that it had a number of holes already etched in it when it was rolled had meant that the curve wasn't completely smooth, also as it was still about 5mm larger in diameter that needed the extra force needed to roll it further was bound to accentuate this problem further.
     
    Cutting the bottom of the tube to fit the splashers and curving the sides of the firebox were time consuming but most of Friday evening and a hour on Saturday have got it to a reasonable fit.
     

     
    The smokebox wrapper from the kit was used and this was fixed with by resorting to 'Paul', my trusty 40 watt Weller. The half etched outer wrapper, complete with the rivet detail went on too and the front of the firebox saddle. The kit doesn't include a back so I think that is going to have to be filed up from some scrap brass.
     
    The photos show the boiler 'placed' into the frames so it doesn't quite line up exactly yet.
     

     
    This has shown up one problem with the kit which I have been double checking with my photographs and drawings.The etches for the top of the frames seems to be too long at the front. When I site the boiler, which I measured and is the correct length, in the frames the saddle at the bottom of the smokebox appeared to be about 1mm too far back compared with the top etches for the frames. This caused me to check the drawings and the etch looks like it has the saddle about 1mm too far forward. It isn't just a case them being fitted in the wrong place because the holes for the handrails provided just to the fore of the splashers are correct. I'm left with two choices:
     
    1) remove the frame, refile the tabs so that the from goes back in 1mm further back. Re-drill and re-fit the handrails.
    2) add a fillet of brass at the rear of the saddle (I've tried this) and file the front of the frames back to the right place.
     
    Anyway, while I ponder that, I turned to drilling the holes of the handrails and boiler fittings. I was expecting this to be a complete nightmare but for once things were easier than I expected. I think a combination of a new set of drill bits and vice with a V so I could hold the boiler straight helped a lot.
     
    It begins to look like a steam engine!
     
    David
  14. Fen End Pit
    Last night I spent an hour or so making up the cab floor and the splashers for the inside of the cab....
     

     
    Then I looked at what I'd made and thought, hang on, how are a driver and a fireman meant to stand in there, let alone swing a shovel or reach a regulator. Then I realised that the splashers were of course made to clear an OO gauge back-to-back so were by necessity about 4mm closer together than they were meant to be according to the drawings I have. Unfortunately the only choice was to make a new floor from some spare brass. I'll have to do a bit of filling around the cast backhead too.
     
    I think the work was worth it.
     

     
    David
  15. Fen End Pit
    Having spent the best part of an hour making one splasher yesterday afternoon I finally found the best way to do it. A length of etch around 40mm long by 4mm wide with a half etched edge along one of the long sides needed to be bent around the curved plate for the side of the splasher. This was proving 'challenging' and nearly as much fun as the other job of the day, applying new mastic to the side of the bath! I finally hit on the solution which was to clamp the curved side etch onto a smooth off-cut piece of paxolin which was about 6mm thick. This meant I could then bend the strip into place and solder it on without trying to do things in mid-air. Having worked that out the second one went together in about 10 minutes.
     
    Next up was the cab and this has been a bit fun too. The side panels had a half etched rebate around the windows and a separate etch for the window surrounds, not too much of a problem to solder in and clean up. However from my photographs the surround of the front windows looked just as prominent but the etch for the cab front was just plain. I found some scrap etch which gave me some strip material about 1mm thick, this was carefully bent to shape around the front windows and soldered on, once happy with the fit I filed the thickness down to about 5 thou to match the side windows. I think it was worth the effort.
     

     
    The cab sides were soldered to the cab front and then these needed a little filing so the bottom of the cab sides fitted with the curved footplate. This took quite a few attempts before I was happy with the results.
     
    Back to work tomorrow so progress will probably slow to a trickle again.
     
    David
  16. Fen End Pit

    Quality control

    By Fen End Pit,

    One of best things about modeling with a group of friends on a Friday night is help in the area of quality control. There are those times when you have worked so long on something that you convince yourself it looks ok but you still aren't sure if you are ultimately just kidding yourself and in the end it isn't quite good enough. On these occasions a second pair of eyes and a word of encouragement or even confirmation that 'no it isn't quite right yet' makes all the difference. I'm lucky that I have several friends who provide this service with tack, wit and cups of tea - you know who you are, thanks
     
    This thought was brought on by the splashers on the D16/3. Trying to bend one strip of brass around another and solder it with neat join and then fasten it to the footplate in the right place and at the right angle. I think I've got it, but until the next Friday evening I'm still not quite sure.
     

     
    David
  17. Fen End Pit
    A productive day, first up the bogie for the D16/3. I've not made a bogie for loco before so took a look at the CLAG website for ideas. The PDK Kit has a fold up bogie etch and two 'strengthening' pieces (according the instructions) which are actually the equalizing beams (I think). I elongated the holes on the main bogie etch and then used handrail knobs and spring steel wire to spring the equalizing beams off them. The result can be seen here, fitted temporarily with some wagon wheels just to prove the concept.
     

     

     
    Then feeling daring I thought I'd try what I expect to be the most difficult bit of the superstructure. Curving the footplate wasn't something I was looking forward to. I'm pretty pleased with the result though as the ends end up horizontal and the curves seem quite smooth. I'm finding the cusps on this kit are rather heavy which seems to mean I end up doing a lot of filing. Not quite up the the standard of some of the more modern manufacturers but I think the etches were originally drawn for O gauge and then reduced (perhaps someone else knows if that is the case).
     

     

     
    David
  18. Fen End Pit
    It is so much easier to design a model based on a prototype than to try and work in a vacuum. In this case I was lucky enough to have a friend take a few pictures of various suitable station buildings which I could try and base Empire Basin station on. I've spent a happy few hours counting brick course and have tried to draw up the proposal in TurboCAD. I've stuck pretty much with the original just altered the window sizes very slightly to fit the pile of Brassmasters/ Scalescenes etches I have. I've also replaced the rather functional modern canopy with two doors with a back dated single door.
     
    I'll be interested to hear your guesses of the station the photographs were taken of.
     

     
    I think once I have a canopy on the rail level buildings it will also form a pretty good 'view block' for the entrance to the fiddle yard.
     
    David
  19. Fen End Pit
    The last few days work means that the goods warehouse to the rear of the layout is pretty much finished with the exception of some weathering, downpipes, ground cover etc. etc.
     

     
    From viaduct level you get a good view of the entrance which has some detail inside with loading platform, some internal walls and various notice boards cut from the Scalescenes goods shed kit. I'm wondering about the area around the signal box. I'd originally thought about adding a water tower into the scene but think this may dominate too much, also I'm not sure how many suburban stations would really have had watering facilities. Any ideas anyone?
     

     
    Swinging around you can see the mainline which will be on a bridge over the road and the lower level vehicle access. The opposite side of the road to the retaining wall will have the passenger entrance to the platforms and the current plan is the show the one end of the station canopy, a typical GER 'saw tooth' arrangement on each platform (think Liverpool St - Chingford route).
     
    To the right of the warehouse I'm looking at another warehouse, but this time facing the canal rather than the railway. I'm tempted to also put in a hydraulic accumulator tower!
     
    David
  20. Fen End Pit
    Yesterday evening was spent rewheeling my Christmas present of a Bachmann Cravens DMU to P4. Santa Claus had also provided a set of wheels from Branchlines. These are stub axles are a direct replacement for the wheels for the OO wheels. The key thing is to get the new stub axles parallel and here meeting with friends in the possession of GW Models wheel press is an excellent idea.
     
    The hardest bit is getting the motor bogie off and this is best done with small screwdriver on the inside end of bogie, a little tweak in the right place it popped off easily.
     
    I had a bit of a scare this morning when the DCC played silly devils for a moment but all resolved itself. I've now painted the wheels so that they aren't shiny silver anymore. I'm very impressed by the running and general quality of the model. Next up is removing the couplings, trying to close couple the coaches together and get a DCC accessory decoder so that the lines on the trailer aren't always on.
     
    As ever any suggestions welcome.
     
     
    David
     

  21. Fen End Pit
    Or in other words all 16 ton mineral wagons might look the same at first but they are not all equal.
     
    In this case we have a slope sided 16 ton mineral from Parkside , a standard 16 ton with morton brakes from Airfix and finally on the right a fitted 16 ton with the longer wheel base, tie rods between the W-irons and a somewhat rusty bauxite livery.
     

     
    All I have to do is remember to couple the fitted wagon next to the locomotive to increase the brake force available.
     
    David
  22. Fen End Pit

    Shark Attack!

    By Fen End Pit,

    Today was one of those days when I painted two wagons and got the colour of both wrong the first time!
     
    This shark started off bauxite but then I realized it should have been black for my chosen period.
     
    Got a few assorted fish to go in front of it to work on now.
     

     
    David
  23. Fen End Pit
    The last few days have been spent putting a hipped roof on top of my Scalescenes constructed goods warehouse. As I've built the various units I've been developing the method and thought people might be interested in the order of construction which worked best for me.
     
    First up is a general picture of the building I've been putting the roof on. This is a railway owned goods warehouse positioned next the a viaduct on my North-East London 'Empire Basin' layout in P4.
     

     
    The shape of the roof was drawn up in TurboCAD, you can see a finished hipped section and the net drawn out next to it. In addition to drawing the outline I also put a number of parallel lines to help align the rows of slates. The distance apart isn't really critical as these are just there to help me keep a straight line.
     

     
    The paper net was cut out and then positioned on the building, as this part of the building is against a backscene I the trimmed the paper to the back of the building by eye.
     

     
    The paper was then stuck to 1mm card using a glue stick. I've found that not all glue sticks are the same and you can use the different characteristics to your advantage when building Scalescenes models. For large areas of paper where you want some degree of adjustment before it 'holds' I particularly like WHSmith own brand glue stick. This is slightly slippy when applied and allows for movement as you put the two work pieces together. Where you want more immediate 'stick' for example on the 'fold over' on buttresses I prefer original Pritt stick or Power Pritt.
     
    The complete unit was then bent to shape, the ridge stuck with PVA and a length of masking tape while the PVA set.
     

     
    Next up comes the slates. Here I found the order to do things made a significant difference to the speed at which you could put things together. On the first roof section I cut a line of slates out, applied the glue, stuck it on the roof, repeat..... This works fine but it is tedious constantly changing tool and trying to apply glue to a narrow strip wastes glue and gets a waste piece of material covered in glue.
     
    I settled on the following method:
     
    Firstly I cut between the rows of slates all in one go, keeping the ruler consistently to one side of the grey line on paper. By positioning the paper with the cuts going left to right and then working with a steel ruler cutting each row moving towards me I found I could always see which row I'd just cut and avoided cutting a 'diagonal' across of row of slates when I lost my concentration (yes, I did this once when I was cutting one row at a time)
     

     
    Then I turn the whole paper over and apply glue stick the a number of strips simultaneously.
     

     
    Then the ends of a strip can be cut and a single strip, pre-glued, taken from the paper and applied to the roof. I found applying a coating of glue stick to the roof made for easier sticking, the WHSmith slippy glue stick means you can move the strip once on the roof and the horizontal lines drawn on the net help you to align then rows of slates well.
     

     
    Once a whole side of the roof was completed I moved on to the other sides of the roof. Remember that you can trim off the excess strip and put to one side to use on another section of roof later.
     

     
    Trimming the slates to the roof seems to be best done with a pair off sharp large scissors. I found I could hold one blade of the scissors against the roof and then cut along the ridge of the hip without too much problem.
     

     
    Finally ridge tiles were applied, I found sticking these with PVA worked for me. If you apply a little pressure to the sides of the ridge tile strip as you stick it down you can get a little ridge along of the fold. It might even be worth trying to put a length of plasticard rod under the paper, maybe I'll try that next time.
     

     
    I hope people find this useful and once again thanks to John Wiffen for an excellent range of kits and resources for scratch builders.
     
    David Barham
  24. Fen End Pit
    Christmas seems to be a traditional time for me to do some Scalescene's buildings and this year seems no exception. The large goods warehouse is at viaduct level with a street level entrance below track level. I spent a few hours cutting card to make up the road level and I am quite pleased with the view you get from under the bridge of the main line. I think the retaining walls looks like a suitable location for some bill boards.
     

     
    I also decided to put some hipped roofs on the building. The main roof is a little under the parapet level and the hip sections were drawn out in Turbocad then stuck to 1mm card and covered with Scalescene slates. I still have the larger section of the warehouse to do but it is coming on.
     

     
    David
  25. Fen End Pit
    A Bank holiday seemed like a good time to do a bit of building work and finish off the roof of the big warehouse behind the viaduct. The Brassmasters etchings made the northlight units quite rigid though cutting them all to a different length to match the profile of the backscene was a bit of a faff. I had decided that one end of the building would house the lift shaft so this got a block house on top to house the lift mechanism.
     

     
    From track level the building now looks quite impressive. I still need to add some pipework etc which will hide the joint between the front and side sections.
     

     
    David
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