Garden Railway Forum

Hi, after recieving some 3mm foam board i decided to give it ago and have ago at building a station building, after i had cut the two sides i started to think its the right height for an engine shed so after adding a roof it is resembling the basic outline of an engine shed rather than a station building, but oh well, the station building can wait!


any tips for:
how to make a slate roof
how to make the shed doors
and how to cut out the windows

would be much appreciated as this is my first time using foam board
cheers
Joe


by the way it is wide enough for an engine to fit in (at least a mamod with a few centimeters either side anyway)

Hi Joe, this foam-board looks to be the same as the one I use too. It isn't suitable to be left outdoors so you have a wide choice of materials to choose from to enhance the detailing.
Firstly I would recommend the use of parcel tape (brown paper tape with water soluble adhesive) to stick all of your join lines together while the glue (PVA) sets. This makes the whole thing stronger and keeps it in place when constructing the building. As for windows..... use a sharp knife against a steel rule before sticking the structure together. You can get a much neater cut and finish if it is flat on the workbench.
The window frames can be made of wood or plasticard with a small rebate to push into the hole and hide the cut edges at the same time. Glazing can be cut from clear sheet and stuck to the inside after painting.
Doors can be made of either wood strips or plasticard scribed into planks. Both should have bracing on the inside which will show when the doors are open.
Roof 'slates' are easily made from coloured art paper cut into individual pieces and stuck in line against a pencil mark on the roof. If you mix the colours it looks much more realistic than using only one. I use a black, dark grey and dark blue. When dry, brush on some grey/brown weathering powder to give streaks like water running down the slates and ageing them.





I hope this is useful.... it works for me!

Thankyou very much, good job it is the engine shed then as I intended to leave the station building out doors, any idea of what foam board would be suitable for that? Your building look cracking
cheers
Joe

Don't forget that planks of wood are readily available at your local CostaNeroBucks................. or you could buy a bag of 1000 for very little money.

Joe, I don't want to argue with Peter, but if it is a plastic foam then it ought to be OK outside, UNLESS it is the one with a paper coating?
However if it doesn't have the paper coating, then it will still depend what you clad it with, of course, and if that is suitable. Mine are all finished with scribed surfaces  to represent, brick, stone, timber etc and painted with ordinary emulsion paint from sample pots.

With one exception, all of my buildings are all made from foam board and I leave them outside permanently. In the pictures below, the station building is resin, but the shop and hotel at the rear are foamboard and have been out since late last spring and the bridge on the right is now on its third winter.
The thatched cottage has been outside since last June.

Windows, doors and frames are plasticard. I use one of the Evostick ultimate glues generally for this.

thanks Phillip, i brought the foam board from this supplier http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1mm-3mm-5mm-M ... 46030ead32 and the board just had a peel of clear sheet

Sounds like the right stuff to me. A bit like the board they use for covering fascias but thinner.
For doors I would use the foamboard and scribe planks with with a screwdriver. I use black plasticard for slates. I cut individual slates but I have seen strips done as well. As suggested you could use coffee stirrers to clad some foamboard for doors as an alternative.

The foam board you are using isn't the same as the one I use... yours is suitable for outdoor use, as Philip says, but mine is not as it is the paper coated variety. As I said before, mine are not built for outdoor use on a permanent basis as I intend to alternate between Emett style and conventional buildings.
I am very impressed with the ones Philip has produced... they seem to be well suited to the conditions and the detailing is just right.
Please disregard my advice as you might end up making new buildings on a weekly basis!

Not at all Peter you've been very helpful as I didn't realise there were different types of foam board

Nice start Joe. There is nothing wrong with starting with one idea in mind and changing half way through.