Jump to content
 

Recommended Posts

Chris

 

How do you - and any others reading this - make your gutters.

 

I am struggling with mine on the Notley signal boxes and despite searching find I cannot get hold of half round tube. 

 

I can get solid half round section but I want to be able to see inside my gutters!

 

Any thoughts or helpful hints or details of sources. Currently I am having to resort to cutting down 3/16" tube and its not going very well!

 

regards

 

 

PWR

Link to post
Share on other sites

Having looked at my 7mm signalbox, it has channel section guttering. So maybe this is available in the plastic section displays that one sees in model shops.

 

 

Hi Coachman

 

I tried those and Eileens Emporium - nothing listed. 

 

I wonder if you can get brass in these shapes?

 

PWR

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

If you are really hair shirted about it, how about rolling some very thin plasticard around a former and dropping it into boiling water to reform it?

 

Failing that, how about cutting up some vac formed corrugated roofing for 16mm or 1" scale and using that?

 

Solder some brass tube to a bit of brass plate, and then mill the top half of the tube away.

 

You could probably do the same with a small belt sander, although you'd have to be careful that you didn't get the work so hot that the solder melted.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Chris

 

How do you - and any others reading this - make your gutters.

 

I am struggling with mine on the Notley signal boxes and despite searching find I cannot get hold of half round tube. 

 

I can get solid half round section but I want to be able to see inside my gutters!

 

Any thoughts or helpful hints or details of sources. Currently I am having to resort to cutting down 3/16" tube and its not going very well!

 

regards

 

 

PWR

I'm lazy. I use half-round polystyrene rod by Evergreen or Plastruct and draw a black line with a marker pen to represent the inside of the gutter. I have tried, unsuccesfully, filing brass tube and cutting polystyrene tube, but in the end took the least line of resistance commensurate with a satisfactory effect.

 

Chris

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I get some suitable thickness plastic sheet, round off one edge, gouge a groove with a round file run along a straight edge and then slice the grooved section off the sheet. The inner side doesn't have a curve but is invisible from most angles.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

I get some suitable thickness plastic sheet, round off one edge, gouge a groove with a round file run along a straight edge and then slice the grooved section off the sheet. The inner side doesn't have a curve but is invisible from most angles.

I have also used this technique to good effect. On all guttering, installation of the supporting brackets is essential for a convincing appearance.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you all for you kind comments and helpful suggestions.

 

I must confess I had forgotten the drinking straw option and I am sure you can get them in plastic too.

 

Paul R

Link to post
Share on other sites

Paul

 

Yes, you can get plastic ones. No idea which plastic...

 

If you drill a suitable hole in an offcut of wood, and use a razor saw to cut a diametral slot across the hole, I reckon you could press a scalpel blade or razor blade edge first into the slot,and then push the drinking straw through the hole from the other side, thus cutting it in half lengthways.

 

Hopefully without cutting your fingers length- or any other -ways!

 

Best

Simon

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

I am working on the platform for Tonfanau Camp station. The basic structure is the same as Cwm Bach employing 5mm foam board and thin card for the edging flagstones. The surface is to be finished as tarmac and I decided to try Gordon Gravett's method of talcum powder sprinkled through ladies' hosiery on to wet gloss grey paint. I did the sprinkling yesterday and left it to set overnight. I have just been out to check and it has been a complete failure. None of the talcum powder adhered to the paint and I now have a shiny surface. I don't understand what has gone wrong. Next attempt is likely to be mixing talcum powder with the paint and then painting blended compound on to the platform. If that doesn't work, I may have to revert to laying fine "wet and dry" paper painted grey as on Cwm Bach.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Another way you may want to experiment with, for a finely textured rough surface, is seiving dry polyfilla. It's an extension of what you do when laying ballast,putting ballast down and then using an eye dropper to put a mix of watered down PVA with a drop of washing up liquid to secure the ballast. The Americans do similar with dry plaster mixed with powder paint called "zip texturing". I have trouble with this, in that droplets can form on the surface spoiling the look, so I put the well diluted PVA with detergent mix down on the surface first, and shake a light skim of polyfilla over this, so it gets wetted from underneath. Does SWMBO have a fine wire Flour sieve in the cookery department you can borrow without repercussions? Load the sieve away from what you're working on, and then hold above the surface and tap the rim lightly. It only needs a thin film, to keep a level surface, if you add more you get into more uneven ground cover effects. When dried out, I paint it with acrylic paints, the artists type you mix with water.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hello Chris, I have a question for you.

 

I remember reading your description of your simple rocking axel system on here but now that I want to use it I can't find it.  Any chance you could direct me towards it again please.

 

Best

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Hello Chris, I have a question for you.

 

I remember reading your description of your simple rocking axel system on here but now that I want to use it I can't find it. Any chance you could direct me towards it again please.

 

Best

This is frightening frankly but I asked Chris about compensating Parkside wagons - see Cwm Bach thread in Oct 14 (mentioned again with photo April16). I guessed this was a year ago tops and had to go right back to find it! Edited by Hal Nail
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...