The one with electricals, doors , spiders and thinking

It's been a long while since I provided any updates and I'm now pleased to share some modelling on the engine shed. The Summer came and went and my modelling enthusiasm did the same . Anyway, with modelling Mojo restored I can share a little modest progress.
The doors have now been fixed along with very tiny hinges made of paper. The electrical connections to the North side of the engine shed as well as the roof batons ( that are just visible just below the corrugated roofing have been added. The jury is out as to whether these electrical connections were for telephone connection. The batons however still need  painting green . The area still requires ballasting , weathering and some enamel adverts applied as well as simple interior details like oil drums, cans , spiders and general accumulation of typical engine shed detritus.
In an effort to allow the module to be removable you can clearly see the holes for the screws that will enable me to remove the whole structure for any transportation or safe keeping. However I did not allow sufficient space for the door stops in doing so. So these are a little too close for comfort but it will have to be. The roof is just loose at the moment ( hence the scale 6 inch gaps) while I think over how to make this roof removable in case of any derailment inside ( caused by wandering spiders etc. ) . Now that thinking requires over with a) a beer and b ) another beer. Isn't thinking great ?

Round the bend.

Well sorting out the changes from Picassa to google pictures nearly succeeded in driving ME round the bend . Here are a few pictures of how the layout looks as a train enters the station . Much to do but the impression I hope is that the scene is beginning to take shape.

Baseboards build up

Here are  a few photographs of my model of Lynton showing progress on the south station board. I've had limited access to the layout ( in the loft) lately so I decided to take apart the 3 sections and bring this South section down into the garage . Whilst the weather was nice I was able to do some more work on this section outside . The loft is unbearably hot in the Summer. I've made progress on the engine shed and located it in position so that it is removable. The whole of the section needs the landscape forming and the track ballasting etc. However crude as it looks now, I'm beginning to see how it will turn out. I've purchased a static grass applicator and looking forward to using it soon. This is a new technique for me so will try it out first on my new little module of Ashover Butts station that I've also been busy making lately. Although not shown in these photographs the engine shed doors have now been painted and hinges added etc. Once this section is progressed a little more I hope to share some more pictures. I do hope that what you see is beginning to look something like the real location. He hopes! 

If you follow my progress on the blog I also apologise for lack of progress mainly due to lack of time lately. I can see some windows of modelling opportunity opening up in the coming weeks ! I guess this is a problem we all share as well.

Coaling stage

I've made the coaling stage using Plastikard and a plaster casting of a coaling stage. The model still needs painting and weathering

 but here it is posed with the engine shed. The engine shed is not as yet finished and is also posed. I received a very helpful comment on the previous post that would suggest the cowlings were not conical but perhaps a pyramid shape.

Screw - fix

The cowling on the engine shed vents has caused me a little thinking. Until I saw on my workbench a small screw sitting base up. Now if I could just have the top part of the screw this might do. So armed with table vice and hacksaw the end result wasn't too bad. In the pictures below I've only posed the vent cover on the model. Since then I've inserted a small plastic rod into the Philips head of the screw driver and pushed this into the cut off biro I used as the actual pipe out of the engine roof shed. Some super glue made all good. So please ignore the general wonkiness of the cowling in the picture as the finished item(s) do look straight . Maybe a little oversized to be honest but one can count rivets too much.

Stoned .....again

Well it has been a long time since the last post ( and that's not a euphemism ). I've been thinking about the station building and its  finish , considering I have now covered the engine shed in stone paper.
 The Station building was hand painted , way back in what seems like another century. I had wished that the finish of all the buildings would look of the same "style " of build, but having had no success in the finish of the engine shed by hand painting I had resorted to stone paper which is seen in a previous post. Now this was not going to match in with the style of my other buildings. Doh!
  I could have used the stone paper in the Outback model kit again but decided to keep this for when I eventually build their kit . The Outback kit is of the extended version and one which I do eventually hope to get around to building and Iam told , uses photograph images of the stone work.
 I contemplated driving to Lynton to take pictures of the station itself to produce digitally my own stone paper, and then ... An idea. Google Earth. Now then , it occurred to me that if I could get some screen shots of the station building from Google Earth how would that look? Well .. Not bad actually. So after some judicious cut and paste using my iPad and re - sizing in pages I was able , after some trial and error , to produce some usable sheets of stone paper which are after all, the actual stone used on Lynton station. It took some time to cut and "wallpaper"using watered down PVA but the end result I feel looks much better than the painted Plastikard . Here are the results of my efforts.
Lots more to do yet....

Stoned

Well... It has been a while since the last post on this blog. I've been thinking.......

 I was not very happy with my efforts to reproduce the look of the engine shed stone walls through the use of acrylics and enamels. I was beginning to loose momentum and dreading the thought of trying to replicate the same effect on all my model buildings. How long would this take me to just paint a few buildings whose finished look would be, well, less than desired? A new , quick and more realistic effect was required. Life is too short.
      Only a few years ago modellers " brick paper " was not of a very high quality. These days however the paper effect is much better. Photo-realism can be achieved by taking pictures of real prototypes and using the computer whole sheets of suitable stone or brick paper, doors windows etc. can be created with results far superior to my eye.
In my case the engine shed does not exist to take such pictures but I had recently bought the Outback Lynton  Station kits which, on closer inspection, included some very nice printed stone walls for the engine shed. Of course they were exactly the right size as well. Bonus !
So without too much trouble the engine shed walls were pasted with a very thin dilute wash of PVA glue and the stone print from the Outback kits pasted on. The external detailing had to be re done but a small price for the benefit gained I think. The new look can be compared here below against the acrylic painted original.
The rusty corrugated iron roof is not yet finished as this still requires the roof vents and the capping but was created in this case using Scale Scenes paper. Scales scenes can be downloaded from the website and reprinted as many times as you like once purchased .