Station Area Scenery
Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:30 am
We've had a baseboard with a station track layout outside for a couple of years now, but it is in a bit of a sorry state:
After reading Rik's excellent writeups on scored PVC foam for custom brickwork, I ordered a 5thk A3 sheet and had a go at a corner piece, which I thought came out OK so I moved on to something bigger and better...
I decided a simple first project could be a small water tower that would go between the run around loop tracks. I came up with a quick drawing showing the brickwork that I could follow to score the foamboard, hopefully minimising any mistakes on the actual model:
I also printed & laminated a ruler with the desired coursing & flemish bond marked, this is much better than counting out millimetres at a time!
The PVC foam was marked out, cut and filled as per Rik's writeups, resulting in a brick shell:
Time to move on to the tank. I threw together a design in Fusion360 for the panels and set the 3d printer off producing them. 4 sides and two roof pieces glue together, and corrugated sheeting is glued on top to produce a more interesting roof. The inspection hatch is also a 3d printed part.
The corrugated sheeting is produced from drink cans with a 3d printed roller tool:
Up until this point, the brick shell and tank were designed and built separately, not much thought given to how they would fit together. When I cut a slab for the tank bottom I realised the overhang looked a little excessive. 20 3d printed corbels later, I think the tank looks a little less precariously perched up there.
Now for the door. The outside frame was 3d printed, and plasticard scored for the wood-effect door itself. I regretted not putting windows in the long side walls, but this little one in the door will have to do. Bolt and hinges from the drink cans, handle from bent electronic component leads. My dad recently finished a riveting tool, so that got it's first try out on this door, the depth stop adjustment allows it to work quite well in both the thin sheet metal and 1.5thk plasticard. Could do with something like this for the brickwork perpend joint embossing...
To be continued...
I've finally decided to get on with scenery to smarten up that part of the layout. I'm hoping to chronicle the development of that area in this thread.After reading Rik's excellent writeups on scored PVC foam for custom brickwork, I ordered a 5thk A3 sheet and had a go at a corner piece, which I thought came out OK so I moved on to something bigger and better...
I decided a simple first project could be a small water tower that would go between the run around loop tracks. I came up with a quick drawing showing the brickwork that I could follow to score the foamboard, hopefully minimising any mistakes on the actual model:
I also printed & laminated a ruler with the desired coursing & flemish bond marked, this is much better than counting out millimetres at a time!
The PVC foam was marked out, cut and filled as per Rik's writeups, resulting in a brick shell:
Time to move on to the tank. I threw together a design in Fusion360 for the panels and set the 3d printer off producing them. 4 sides and two roof pieces glue together, and corrugated sheeting is glued on top to produce a more interesting roof. The inspection hatch is also a 3d printed part.
The corrugated sheeting is produced from drink cans with a 3d printed roller tool:
Up until this point, the brick shell and tank were designed and built separately, not much thought given to how they would fit together. When I cut a slab for the tank bottom I realised the overhang looked a little excessive. 20 3d printed corbels later, I think the tank looks a little less precariously perched up there.
Now for the door. The outside frame was 3d printed, and plasticard scored for the wood-effect door itself. I regretted not putting windows in the long side walls, but this little one in the door will have to do. Bolt and hinges from the drink cans, handle from bent electronic component leads. My dad recently finished a riveting tool, so that got it's first try out on this door, the depth stop adjustment allows it to work quite well in both the thin sheet metal and 1.5thk plasticard. Could do with something like this for the brickwork perpend joint embossing...
To be continued...