Garden Railway Forum

The style is unfamiliar to UK structures but the material is not. You make it look so 'right' and will fit in well with your other buildings.

That's really nice of you guys to say, thank you! Getting the feel just right is paramount. I've noticed the sunlight and sky will vary quite a bit depending on where you go, so living in the same part of the world as the prototypes is a big help.

I've spent the past 10 months overhauling my car, and haven't had any energy for the real hobby - 16mm that is.
Having hit a roadblock building the new engine a couple weeks back, and three days now bashing my head against the wall in wiring up the indicators, I decided to ask for help on the pertinent car forum. But being that the car and it's forum is American, and everyone over there is asleep right now, I had myself an afternoon to take a much needed break to work on the things I really care about.

As mentioned eight months ago, the traffic office roof was painted to look like new-ish galvanised iron. (Camera doesn't really show the colour variation, but it's there) I wired in a pair of 12V "grain-of-wheat" incandescent bulbs when I did the roof. A pair of wires hangs out from under the building, and will one day be connected to a buried grid system. That's the plan, anyway..
This was the first time I'd actually powered the thing beyond testing the bulbs before assembly. Really pleased.
There's a tiny fibro-clad jewel shop in Woodford, Queensland, around the corner from the Woodford Railway where I sometimes volunteer in the workshop.
It's too damn cute not to model.
With a picture from Google and one from Street View, I got this far some months ago. Today I glued in the basic interior, and gave it a coat of grey primer after the photo. Tomorrow I'll topcoat it white. Cheers,
Aaron

Nice to see the Aussie outline buildings. Love the awning over the window. Very Queensland.

They certainly look the part. The lighting and interiors add another dimension.

Rik

Those incandescent bulbs give a "real" atmospheric feel that you don't get with LED's. Lovely.

Just to echo what others have said, the lighting effect is very atmospheric. I too was wondering why you were still using grain of wheat - that picture answers that. I'm looking forward to seeing you get a railway going again Aaron - you have an eye for realistic detail.

Cheers fellas. Hope I live long enough to see a new railway happen..

Not to mention the infernal car every time I post, (it's taken over my life and I'm not happy about it ) but I make a point to take the same approach in that project too - I personally dislike LEDs, and feel they often spoil a period feel for little, if any tangible benefit. I've used them for building lights in the distant past, and it just doesn't work for me. Even warm white ones give off the wrong colour, and diffused lenses still behave like a spotlight, when a radiant glow is usually what I need for buildings. But if, for example I planned on running the lights every night on a timer, then of course I'd use LEDs - they win hands-down for service life. And they were certainly better for headlights back in my HO days. For my planned use, however, I'd say bulbs would outlast the buildings themselves..
Of course my rivet-counting rants apply strictly to my own projects, to each their own!

05-07/03/22
The usual corrugated roof fitted, masking off the little shop took an hour and a half. I always underestimate the time needed to mask off..
Glazing as always was scribed and broken from a picture frame pane. (Are they called panes in hanging frames?)
Sprayed, and the door/windows picked out with a brush. Dulux Metalshield in the spray cans is very hit-and-miss, especially when brushing out of the can lid. But it's not a loco, so I'm trying to let the little imperfections slide sometimes.
Never sprayed a roof to look like asbestos, so I made it up as I went, using the colours I'd picked out of the cupboard. Partway through, I had to step away to grab something. Turning back to the shop, my immediate thought when I saw the oddly-coloured roof was "asbestos". It's a little more "brown" than it looks here.
I knew then I'd better stop messing with it. Ridge cap should be knobblier for an asbestos roof, but "eh", close enough. Touch-up and lettering to follow..
The traffic office has been sitting on my bench for months, waiting for a hood over the end window. Finally painted along with the shop, which all but completes the traffic office. It really needs a phone line post attached to the end wall, but it'd just get broken off in storage.
I'll add that as part of installation one day.
Both buildings of course need some weathering with Tamiya enamels, but I think I'll amass a collection of buildings and do them as a batch over a weekend..

Really effective paintwork Aaron, great job there!

Nice work Aaron, fantastic scratch building and weathering.

Another shop started, this time a rather large butcher.This one incorporates more "firsts" for me:
Individually-spaced slats on the awning ends.
A "concrete" foamboard slab at the front was made by cutting "chips" away from the outer edges and a texture was made in the top with a hard, dry clump of sandy clay. Weathering washes will bring out the concrete texture..
Rather than the usual moulded plastic windows, these are just large holes, behind which I'll epoxy glass, then glue mullions cut from styrene strip to the front side of the glass.
And a diagonally-recessed front door with a step up from ground height.

Shaping up to be yet another one of your masterpieces, Aaron

Great start Aaron, this will be another wonderful structure with all the fine detailing you always apply.

I am very impressed by your buildings. They provide a real flavour of Australia. Just looking at them makes me realise just how hot it must be - particularly when you cant rely on air conditioning!

I look forward to seeing them set out alongside a railway.

Trevor