Garden Railway Forum

You are correct about the UK, but does it always have to be done the way people expect them to be, I personally like the lighter colour, it stands out a lot more, for me anyway. But a little darkening were people have sit would look great too, it shows they have been sat on at least.

Hi all and thanks for the range of comments I think that is much better. A much more natural oak colour. They looked stark white against the teak interior.
This is antique pine before sanding and a sealing coat.
D.

Far better in a slightly darker colour. That gives them a more substantial appearance and more in keeping with the original timber used.

Very nice.

Hi all. Time to pick on your experience.
I know i can do imitation leather seating in 1st class but i have ordered some thin black leather samples online and would love to make buttoned and padded leather seat pads if possible. Any help and ideas would be welcomed. Especially how to cover a foam pad without the leather puckering up at the corners (or does that matter?) .
D.

During my many years as a picture framer I stretched possibly thousands of embroideries, tapestries and other fabrics and the one guaranteed thing is that corners will always be an issue when it comes to making a tidy job. Dependent on the thickness of your leather you could have a very untidy finish on the reverse of the cushion/squab as there will inevitably be a doubling-up of the material thickness. The thinner the better for your needs, but that might eliminate leather and be some other more flexible material.

Hi Peter.
The puckering problem is what i am woried. I could hide any on the underside by making a small box like structure to house the seat. It is more the four edge corners being untidy that wories me. I am probably attempting something a little too far but i can always modify my ideas if it turns out to be an impossible task. It will be interesting to see how thick the leather is when it arrives.
D.

This is the problem I had when doing my saloon seats, but as they run length ways I just made them butt against each other with no end folds. Do your seats feature arm rests, if so the same might be possible.
Then thinking about this some more, and this is a bit off the wall, I wonder if black plastic sheeting as used in the garden could be used. It's much thinner, black, and a "hospital tuck" might be possible without creating too much thickness. It could be a bit shiny which may be fixed by a rub with some steel wool. I'd imagine your probably only looking at 1/8th inch of foam so the buttoning won't need to pull in far. A bit wild but just a thought.
Grant.

Thats not a bad thought Grant. Some sort of black sheeting mght be more flexible to pull aund th corners. There are armrests but the drawing is unclear as to whether they are come up from the sides of the seat or are just screwed to the side of the carriage. D

Another suggestion David, neoprene rubber as in wetsuits. I wonder if that can be purchased thin enough, or cut to suitable thickness (your obviously a dab hand with a scalpel) And then for corners and ends prepared as my crude pic. and glued with contact cement. I know it buttons beautifully as I've used it for a model car seat.
Grant.

LNR wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2017 10:03 am Another suggestion David, neoprene rubber as in wetsuits. I wonder if that can be purchased thin enough,

Thinking sideways from there, how about toy balloons? You can get big ones in a variety of colours and my guess is that one balloon would do the seat and back of one. i.e.: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/36-Inch-Gian ... jQTViOmp4Q

Hi all.
My leather (type material) has arrived. It is very soft and thin with a leather texture and stretches in one direction so will try with this first but thanks for all the backup suggestions if this fails.
I think i will make removeable seat units so i can make the whole seat with cushions away from the carriage and slot them in and out as i need to during manufacture. I might use your idea in principal Grant while continuing the leather under the seat to glue it and making the front edge leather wider so it can wrap around the sides maybe hiding the corner joint.
Onwards and upwards
D.

LNR wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2017 10:03 am Another suggestion David, neoprene rubber as in wetsuits. I wonder if that can be purchased thin enough,

Most railway upholstery I've seen has had sewn corners, not folded ones, so glueing the corners would be reasonable.

You can buy neoprene in sheet form down to 1/32"(0.8mm), which is a bit thick to form folded corners, but probably OK if the corners are cut and glued. One issue is colour, as it usually comes in a choice of black, black, or black..... Balloon rubber is suitably thin, but is usually natural rubber and rots fairly quickly, unlike synthetic rubbers like neoprene. Nitrile gloves are a source of very thin durable rubber, but the colours are a problem.

Another possibility might be thin PVC upholstery material, as the corners could be welded with a hot soldering iron.

If you have a good craft shop locally, have a browse to see what materials are available. There may also be something suitable for miniature upholstery from the dollhouse and miniature furniture hobby suppliers, as they use similar scales.

Not too sure what foam would be suitable for modelling deep button upholstery, as ordinary upholstery foam would be too soft relative to the cover material in this size. You might need to use a dense packaging foam and drill holes where the buttons will go, so it will form the right shape around the buttons.

The TVT doesn't use buttoned upholstery, but I did contemplate moulding it from Fimo PVC modelling clay and forming the divots for the buttons with a small Philips screwdriver. Once the Fimo has hardened, a hole can be drilled and a pin pushed in to simulate the button. I think Rik has used Fimo in a model and I've seen some very convincing model upholstery done in Fimo by Neil Ramsay.

I can see some experimentation in your future.........

Graeme

Hi Graeme.
The foam i have is a coarse but tough and firm foam that is about 5mm thick. It was used as packing in a box of flat packed furniture to even out the thickness of some of the boards in the box. One backup plan i have is to carve, prime and paint blocks of either balsa or polyeurathane foam and pre-form the button dents and push a dressmakers pin into the dents to form the button. Using fimo would be good as i could use a piece of leather to push into the surface to mould a leather texture into the surface.
D.

River Lin wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:54 pm The foam i have is a coarse but tough and firm foam that is about 5mm thick.

That sounds like the sort of foam I was thinking of........ It is firm, but unlike styrofoam it doesn't crush when compressed.

Can't remember when I last used balsa for anything to do with model railways. The clear pine available from the local timber merchants is a native species and nice to work with hand tools, so I use that for anything made of wood.

Hadn't thought of pressing a surface texture into Fimo, but that could also be used to simulate the texture of fabric upholstery.

Regards,
Graeme

Hi all.
Had a play with some of my leather today. Pushed a dressmaking pin through a small piece, through foam and into a piece of ply. Got mixed results. Looked very realistic but the pin head pulled down through the leather a couple of times, maybe due to the firmness of the foam trying to resist the pinhead from forming the sunken button. I might try again but before tapping the pin down i will put a dab of superglue on the pinhead to attach it to the leather before touching with a drop of black paint. I would be upset if i finished a seat pad to have a button pop through and spoil it.
Was at the GCR in loughborough today, on a Santa special, and noticed many seatpads without buttons and they looked fantastic too in old smooth leather.
D.

Funny the things we notice as modellers. I bet most people around you wouldn't be able to tell you the colour of the seats if asked.
Grant.

I am sure you will have solved it soon David, it will be brilliant when done, please post some photo’s when it’s done.

Latest.
So that i can make up the seats in 3 parts more easily i have decided to make up a frame for each complete seat unit out of thin ply for the back and sides and mahogany for the front rail and legs. The seats can then be made out of the coach and dropped in when complete. I have included for the seat pad to fit inside the frame and sit on small brackets. The lower back pad will be at a slight angle and the headrest held flat to the back of the frame.
The photo below shows me using the wooden box again. I glued one leg in place 10mm in length. Then laying the seat frame on its back and touching one side i was able to glue the other 3 legs in place, all touching the 2nd side allowing them to be glued in the correct position. Legs glued in place and surfaces that may show have been stained mahogany. Prior to varnishing.
Armrests will also be mahogany and glued to the ply.
D.

Wot "no webbing and springs in the base".
Only joking!, these are going to be very sumptuous looking first class seats I suspect.
Grant.