Guisborough Station in N

[RicJ]

Retrospective update no 7:

 

Final retrospective update.  Last week I did some experimentation with roof tiles.  I ordered a set from MK Models, York Model Rail and someone from a Facebook group kindly sent me a sample from Scale Model Scenery.  

 

 

The MK models set arrived first and I chopped up an old business card (I wonder if the person who handed me that at a construction show in Germany earlier this year had any idea that it would eventually become part of a tiny roof) to the rough dimensions of the porters cabin roof and using some slightly watered down glue, set about the incredibly fiddly process of applying the tiles row by row.  As the tiles were coloured black, I then quickly painted and weathered them.

 

 

 

 

Next to arrive were the York Model Rail tiles which were the only set with a self adhesive backing.  In theory this should've made them the easiest to apply but I actually found it caused a bit of a problem as it was so sticky, there was no way to slide the tile row around a bit to get the position completely right before setting it in place.  Once they touched the surface, they would stick immediately.  They were also slightly larger in scale than the MK Models tiles and instead of being black, were a more accurate grey but I still drybrushed a bit of my own colour onto them.

 

 

 

Finally the Scale Model Scenery set arrived and were almost identical in scale to the York tiles only with no self adhesive backing.  These tiles were also pre-painted with a weathered and lichen covered effect which looked great but wouldn't fit in with the Guisborough station roof.  They also came with a tile topping strip so I decided to combine them with the York tiles and make a full roof.

 

 

 

 

So although the larger two possibly look 'better' as they're bigger and therefore more visible, I will be going with the MK Models tiles for the simple reason that I counted the tiles on a photo of the porters cabin and they were one tile off from being identical!  Something that also gave me faith that my measuring and CAD design must be more accurate than I could have hoped.

 

 

 

[RicJ]

And then aside from the tile shenanigans, I also spent a bit more time working on the stonework paint technique on some spare laser cuts and I think I've now got it down ! 

 

 

[zr2498]

The stonework is coming along nicely. There does seem to be some 'dots' in the mortar lines. I wonder if that is the laser process.

It may be that it cannot be seen with the naked eye, but can be seen on camera?

 

I have done some stone work for bridge piers and abutments. That was done with Townstreet castings, so a completely different material.

 

Here is an extract from a document produced for a Missenden Abbey meeting. It might be of some use?

 

Painting and Weathering

The basic colour will have been determined by the base colour initially applied to the castings and the joints. Thinners can be used to help blend the joint colour relative to the base casting colour. The thinner will depend on the paint formulation used (cellulose thinners for the Colron spirit based).

Weathering needs to dull down the base coat, apply variation to mortar courses and variability to the surface which will be seen on the prototype (but scaled down). For example, some stones will have colour variation, a number of areas will have dirt accumulation, some will have had water running down surfaces, and other areas will have a green hue owing to damp conditions and lichen.
This is a typical selection of washes and pigments used:

 

a) A MIG 1501 Grey for white filter > applied to the mortar in a few areas
b) A MIG 1602 PLW Deep Grey wash > applied to some mortar and some stones (blended in) + rain streaks (brushed downwards)
c) Abteilung 502 ABTP039 Urban Industry Dirt pigment > applied to dull down surfaces (especially if a little shiny), and blend in joint areas
d) Abteilung 502 ABT023 Black Smoke pigment > dirt and smoke effect on top surfaces and inside walls
e) A MIG 3019 Army Green pigment > effect of damp areas and joints representing moss and lichen – needs to be subtle
f) Black Smoke and Urban Industry pigment + Abteilung 502 pigment fixer > variable mix applied to the deck to represent dirt / grime accumulation

 

Please let me know if more info is needed. PM me if you want to discuss - I do live in Guisborough!). Of course this might be totally unsuitable for your materials of construction.

[RicJ]

Hi and thanks for the reply.  Yes, the dots in the mortar lines are a result of the laser cutting process.  I guess when it's etching rather than cutting, the laser pulses slightly which causes the dots.  I guess one thing that's lost in the photos I've posted is just how small the building is.  When viewed with the human eye from a realistic distance (rather than the close up photos I posted), it actually looks completely different and a lot more realistic.  Hopefully this photo illustrates that a bit better:

 

But modelling in N is always a lot trickier to achieve finer detail.  What is clear to me now is that I should probably tone down the mortar lines a bit more as I did with the middle sample where I added a more sandy wash over the white.

 

But thanks, I will definitely be in touch when I no doubt come up against any future weathering challenges!

[RicJ]

This week I completed the CAD designs for the station house which is definitely the most complicated building so far.  I drew the stonework from photographs but had to use a small bit of artistic licence with the rear/North elevation of the building.  There are no known photographs of this side and I only had architects plans to go on but hopefully it's not far off.  I guess we'll never know! 

 

As Gavin is unavailable until sometime in September, any further laser cutting will have to wait until then.  I the meantime I will continue with the CAD for the remaining structures and also turn my attention to dipping my toe into the overwhelmingly intimidating world of brass loco kit building (as sadly, Atso seemingly wants nothing to do with my enquiry about a 3D printed V1/V3)...

 

Edited August 13 by RicJ

[RicJ]

The most recent building to have its CAD designs completed was the goods depot.  This involved a hell of a lot of stone drawing, as usual, using photographs and counting the number of stones making up the height of the building.  But on the whole, I'm very happy with the final results:

 

 

 

 

This design also threw up the first 'engineering challenge' of the project.  For many years, I thought that the large wooden access doors on the West elevation opened inwards to allow goods wagons in and out of the depot.  At some point though, I realised that these doors were actually one solid door that slid open sideways on rollers.

 

 

 

This presented a bit of a challenge if I ever wanted to regularly shunt wagons in and out/through the depot.  The solution I eventually concocted was, instead of just designing the door to scale, exactly as it was, I would create the door pattern to be etched onto a larger piece of wood leaving only the etched section visible in the archway.  This would then sit in a pocket hidden in the inside of the building and will hopefully be slid between the open and closed positions by means of inserting a pin into a tiny hole on the right hand side of the door.  The pocket and buffer sections when correctly positioned will ensure the door only ever slides into a completely accurate position and doesn't get stuck too far open.  

 

I also used the same system to a smaller scale on the loading bay door on the North side of the building.  When the designs are eventually printed, I guess it'll just be a case of getting the pocket position and tightness just right and hoping the MDF slides comfortably.

 

 

[RicJ]

This week marked the (some might say momentous) occasion where I finished the final major bits of the CAD drawing process with the completion of the main station train shed:

 

And the booking office and waiting rooms:

 

 

Working out the relationship between these three structures and how they sit and fit together with each other along with the station master's house, was easily the most confusing, time consuming and challenging part of the drawing process and I guess only time will tell once they're laser cut, whether my designs are correct.  

 

I am hoping that I'll be able to book some time in with Gavin at Stoneybridge for later this month when I'll probably find out that I've completely missed a load of important things or done them wrong!  There are approx 10 different buildings that will make up the station so a lot to work through with him before we can start cutting them out and making them a thing.  I will spend some time going over them with a fine toothed comb before then just to try and make sure they're in the best possible shape before the next major milestone.

 

I have now started working on the platforms and walls.  A mixture of sandstone and brickwork (accurately counted of course!)