Garden Railway Forum

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:41 am

philipy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:30 am Think Tom needs to add a banner to the top of the page " WARNING! Railway modelling can seriously damage your health"

Physically and mentally!

And financially

Rik

Ah, but modelling can be very therapeutic too - I reckon it's all about the right project at the right time, and when you're in the right head-space...

Anyway, I added the interior door yesterday evening, before disassembling the thing for the last time, to make sure I'd got all of the protective film off the foam board:
I'm busy this evening, but I hope to cut and fit the cladding at the weekend, and then it should really begin to look the part...

Cheers,

Andrew.

It looks like the Empire dude has discovered the force and destroyed the building!

Displayed on a red and white background makes me think of the barber's pole, blood and bandage...... makes me shiver just thinking about the injury sustained.

Craft knives can indeed be lethal. I was once hospitalized (outpatient) courtesy of Swann- Morton. The safety cover was a piece of plastic heat crimped on to the blade and Dingbat here tried to remove the cover by using my thumbnail against the cover with some force, thinking that I was applying pressure to the back of the blade. When the cover slipped off the back of my thumb opened up like a sausage cut lengthways, ; down to the bone! Forty years later the scar is still well defined.

My preferred weapon is a Stanley knife with fixed blade, much easier to hold and control, able to give more pressure on the cut and the blade far less likely to disintegrate.
I only use the 1991 (normal duty) blades and everything I make is done with one of these.

invicta280 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 13, 2018 8:08 pm Craft knives can indeed be lethal. I was once hospitalized (outpatient) courtesy of Swann- Morton. The safety cover was a piece of plastic heat crimped on to the blade and Dingbat here tried to remove the cover by using my thumbnail against the cover with some force, thinking that I was applying pressure to the back of the blade. When the cover slipped off the back of my thumb opened up like a sausage cut lengthways, ; down to the bone! Forty years later the scar is still well defined.

Heck - #feelingfaint

Yep, I definitely got away lightly with my own injury, which is healing nicely... I'm not sure what'll happen when the slot I've cut in my fingernail reaches the end, but I'm sure all will be well...

Anyway, back to the station building!

The main structure's all glued together now, and I completed the cladding over the weekend, so here's what it looks like now...

I think the slight indentations above the office door are probably where the glue melted the plastic a little, but I rather like how it looks so shan't be replacing that bit. The next step will be to get the roof to fit better then clad that too, followed by a little filling, tidying and detailing before painting. We've got a very busy couple of months ahead so progress may slow rather, we'll see...

Cheers,

Andrew.

I think it all looks just fine and the slight imperfections add character to the image.

Proper job there Andrew!

I don't have the patience to make buildings.

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:09 am I don't have the patience to make buildings.

I was pondering that the other day... Building this one's made me think that I'd like to move on to a NWNGR station building in (plastic) brick and stone soon-ish, but then I wondered whether I wouldn't rather spend my limited modelling time building some more rolling stock - it's taken me years to get round to making any proper buildings because doing something else always seems to appeal more. And there's a long list of WHR/FfR carriages and wagons I want to recreate...

What I like about this though is that the buildings will be visible most of the time (I may take them in over the winter months), whereas a carriage or wagon only comes out of its box at one of my infrequent running sessions - and even then only if it happens to feature in the particular train I'm running, which means that some might not see daylight from one year to the next! This project seems to be coming together a lot more quickly than my average rolling stock build too...

Yep, I can definitely feel an infrastructure phase coming on...

Cheers,

Andrew.

That's very impressive. I'm with Andrew on buildings. Just not my thing, but I suppose I'm going to have to tackle them some day.

Well if you want to sneak me in a generic station halt then I won't mind

Andrew wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:15 am
I think the slight indentations above the office door are probably where the glue melted the plastic a little, but I rather like how it looks so shan't be replacing that bit.

I wouldn't worry about your little perforations, err, sorry, indentations A little bit of rust strategically placed will soon give them a reason to exist.
The whole thing is looking really good.

I'm getting there...
The roofs on, a few little details added, now it just needs a bit of filler and some track pins pushing through here and there to represent the fixings, and it'll be ready for painting. I'm planning to do that with Plasticote primer (the building's grey anyway) and then picking out detail in acrylics. Does that sound OK or do folk think I should use a plastic primer, add a coat of varnish etc? All suggestions welcome - I'd like it to be able to survive outside 8-9 months of the year if possible...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Now that is very nice, Sir!

I've never used Plasicote primer so can't comment on that, but a squirt of Halfords grey plastic primer and whatever you want over the top, sounds fine. I've just used the primer by itself with a clear varnish, on Lower Bench station buildings and fittings and that's been fine so far.

I use acrylic plastic primer which is quick drying and permanent on plastic surfaces.
This is the range of spray paints I use and would recommend.....

That really is looking splendid Andrew. I'm with you on the aestheics of buildings on the railway, even if there are no trains

Great looking building, Andrew.

I agree with you that buildings seem to go together more quickly than rolling stock. I think there's more leeway for compromise on a building and fewer fiddly bits. Also, there's nothing mechanical to go wrong.

Regarding primer - I tend to use Halford's grey for practically everything and (so far) not run into any problems. On my last foamboard building (the water tower), I've actually experimented with using no primer - painting the acrylics directly on to the board. Not had a chance to test it out long term, but a couple of resin buildings which I acrylic painted without priming several years ago seem to have survived well - and they have been left outside throughout the year, rain and shine. Maybe it depends on the quality of the acrylics??

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Sat Sep 22, 2018 7:47 am Maybe it depends on the quality of the acrylics??

I'm pretty sure thats true. I've never had great success with acrylics, but because of that I tend to get cheap and cheerful from The Works, et al, so that I don't waste too much money. I rather suspect that's a self-fulfilling prophecy!