Garden Railway Forum

So the barley pit railway needs to develop some scenery. Buildings are on the cards but I need so help in building materials. Everything MUST be able to stay outside all year. So what materials work? Would styrene that's clad and fixed down survive?

I m going to try styrene pizza bases on small areas- crane plinth for one- stuck to wood. Wondered about expanded polystyrene but cant stand the mess.

Vapouriser:93595 wrote:I m going to try styrene pizza bases on small areas- crane plinth for one-  stuck to wood. Wondered about expanded polystyrene but cant stand the mess.

I'm thinking high density styrene (kingspan) as it have a spare sheet of it. Might just give it a go anyway but wondered if anyone had any advice for it.

So, I've decided just to go for it as I had the foam spare.

I'm using plain 5mm foamboard to build a model of Speech House Rd goods shed. It takes scribing really well. The intention is to make a roof from modern slate to weight it down. I will try and start a thread on this tomorrow as I'm quite pleased with the results so far.

I built an engine shed using 6 mil wpbp ply. Covered it with some very cheap white filler( almost plaster of Paris but out of a tube) I scored rough lines to look like stone and covered that with cheap grey paints from 99 p shop. It s not something I d reccomend to be honest but it has been out for 2 years , blown around in winds and deposited on by many birds and remains unscathed. Pure luck!!

Looks like a good start. I usually attack the poly-styrene with a bread knife and then detail with a soldering iron in a well ventilated area.

Here's a good guide for poly-styrene buildings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP3hrp7 ... F165581B35

Thanks for the responses guys! Zach that video was perfect. Just need to work out my windows and doors and then it looks like I'm melting stone into it

Foam board (like wot estate agents in the UK use for "FOR SALE" boards is good - the MDLR's Southern Railway concrete lineside hut was built with this, with added wooden detail and painted with masonry paint.

MDLR:93608 wrote:Foam board (like wot estate agents in the UK use for "FOR SALE" boards is good - the MDLR's Southern Railway concrete lineside hut was built with this, with added wooden detail and painted with masonry paint.

That's a genius idea!

http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/proj ... t7648.html


cheap and easy to build

Foam's good and weatherproof ~ the "ultra low relief" row is just a sheet of foam, while the grey "back-to-back terrace" is sheet foam construction with a plastic roof and resin shop fronts on the street side.

If I may interpose.
IMHO foam insulation board is okay but can become a bit powdery at the edges after a while out in the open (the bits with the foil on it seem ok). I have also seen birds peck at it and other animals seem to like attacking it (This may be just the local loony Welsh wildlife).
Still it is easy to carve with an old bread knife and can be coated in cement or plaster to protect it.

Well I've given it a go... More details to be added later on but have the rough outline sorted to see how it fairs.

Looks nice. What are you going to coat it with?