Garden Railway Forum

Following on from the Church it's time for a new building I think! Decided to build a signal box, thinking about trying more detailing inside this time as the style of box has plenty of windows.

That's a great old photograph of a magnificent building. I love the bargeboards (that could be a challenge) and the tall chimney, very elegant! With all that glass you do need to spend time on the interior too, I wish you all good luck and will follow the build as you go.
Have you got more pictures or drawings to help you?

Hi Planty, I see that you used foamboard for the building of the church and no doubt you will be using the same for the signal box, what is the life span of this board when left outside in all weathers and what adhesive did you use to join pieces together

regards freelander

I've had a test piece out in the garden without any paint or lacquer on it for a year and it still holds together well. My building has been out for about four months or so and is holding up very well. So fairly happy with the foam board.

For bonding it all together I used Everbuild P16PIPE P16 Plumbers PVC Pipe Cement from amazon, about six quid a tub

Peter Butler:123097 wrote: Have you got more pictures or drawings to help you?

Yes managed to find five or six plus a few similar boxes at Lofthouse

A bit more work on a wet Sunday afternoon. Basic frame of the building built and the brickwork marked out. The aim will be to build a floor with all the interior detail on that can just slide into the frame, then add the window frames.

Perfect weather for that kind of work, good start on the structure.... tidy, as they say here in Wales!

freelander:123103 wrote:Hi Planty,  I see that you used foamboard for the building of the church and no doubt you will be using the same for the signal box, what is the life span of this board when left outside in all weathers and what adhesive did you use to join pieces together

regards freelander

Freelander,
Not to hijack the thread but I've had similar foamboard buildings outside permanently for three winters now, with no significant deterioration.

Planty I'm Very interested in this type of construction and will follow this closely we were debating buying a box or building one for the P and S line.
We look forward to the pics in due course


Steph

Slow progress over the last few weeks, but a couple of pics of the interior coming on. Combination of foam board, plasticard and wooden BBQ skewers

This is going to look good, if the detail inside is anything to go by.
Grant.

I can see 2017 being 'The Year of the Building' with more structures being added to give our railways a more realistic setting. Now that a greater variety of materials are available suitable for exterior use it would be a shame not to take advantage of them.
There are many model village videos on youtube for inspiration and I have been watching and learning from others there. Good luck with this signal box, it will be a great addition to your line.

Another day and some more progress! Brick work completed using a dremel and a flat head screwdriver to detail the foam board.

Side shed built using a combination of foam board and coffee stirer cladding.

Getting to the tricky point of when to add the window frames, pre or post painting the interior?? Frames are built but might continue with the steps and roof barge boards first

Brilliant progress. That foam board certainly does look like something worth investigating.

Rik

Signal boxes do take a bit of planning as far as the windows go, as they take up a large percentage of the building. Looking good so far.
Grant.

I can only agree with the others, this is a really impressive building. You are capturing the characteristics very nicely.

Andrew

Not a huge amount of progress since the last time, spent a bit of time building the steps. These were foamboard in the main, the spindles were brass rods that I inserted through holes drilled vertically and then tops were rounded off using milliput.

The brickwork has been dremelled out and a base undercoat added. You'll notice some humbrol liquid masking, this is an attempt at keeping some joints clean for when the windows and roof are glued in to ensure the foamboard welds together. Realised all the interior needs to be painted though before the windows put in place!

The wooden BBQ skewer signal levers had a little bit of detailing added at the top, just a bit of spare brass rod glued into place.

You don't fancy building me one do you as this is brilliant

Couple of new photos of progress so far

Pretty impressive and a nifty bit of paintwork going on there..... well done.