Lynton Engine Shed

Lynton Engine Shed

This was my first "major" building and it would have new challenges to be resolved. The first and very important one was how to create the stone sides. I bought various manufacturer's embossed plastic as I felt it needed to provide a 3D effect. Having looked at other people's models I wasn't comfortable having to paint every stone and I didn't think I could create a realistic enough "look". Also the plastic embossed sheets tended to be somewhat "over embossed", exaggerating the look. My researches continued and for a short few months my local book and magazine seller was carrying UK magazines, Model Rail and Railway Modeller (sadly now stopped). I came a cross an advert for Scalescenes and looked them up on the web. For a VERY modest price I could download a file that I could print as many times as I liked. So I downloaded (didn't have to wait 10 days for mail delivery - instantaneous!) a couple that looked possible and printed them on matte photo card. Wow, one of them was exactly what I was looking for. Bob Barnard had told me about a year ago that for his model of Lynton, he had taken photos of the actual Lynton building stonework and created photo files which he printed and stuck on his models. To me they looked very convincing. I gave each "print" a very light spray of Dullcote matte varnish to seal it (Bob B. recommended this) and it was ready for cutting.

Now I could start on the structure. Again as in the previous buildings I scanned Steve Phillips' drawing so that I didn't mark his beautiful book. I also scanned all the other drawings at this time of the rest of the Lynton structures ready for when I needed them. I use these scanned drawings to measure accurately all the dimensions and mark them on the drawing - it's easy to forget a dimension!

I started with one side and marked and cut out the window openings, in 1mm Evergreen styrene .I then cut a second one identical to the first for the inside wall as the thickness of the wall totalled 5mm. The 2 sides were separated by Plastruct styrene strip 2.4mm x 6.4mm ensuring the window openings and the ends had this strip flush with the sides as well as spaced out ones along the side. I subsequently had to add more as the side was warping slightly.

I then cut the Scalescenes' stone paper accurately. I also cut the window sills and lintels and painted those concrete.
Next I made the windows out of the correct size strip styrene glazed them the same as the signal cabin, but also sprayed  them on the inside with ModelMaster Transparent Black Window Tint to simulate dirty smoked windows. Also added the wood strip under the roof edge and the vertical wood strips to support the enamel adverts. These adverts were made by finding pictures on Google images and creating high quality correct size prints and cutting those out. The west wall was then made and "wallpapered"  and insides of each wall both "wallpapered" and given a very thin white paint wash.

Now it was time to think about the roof. One of my local hobby shops had 3.5mm scale corrugated metal and it looked about right. When I got it home I found it was exactly the roof depth, so I didn't have to cut it along the corrugations, which would have been extremely difficult without distorting it. Now, how could I support it. No drawings or photos showed this so I had to improvise..This is the result:

Also showing one of the doors, which took a long time to scribe, cut and frame, only to have them all warp. Also I found out the diagonal supports ran the wrong way - Duh! Check the drawings and photos Mike before gluing! So I still have to remake the doors. The long wire attached to the door is an experiment, as I want to be able to remotely open and close them using servos, which I researched before PECO came out with their complete kit.

Now you might be wondering what is that plinth on the bottom of the sides for Mike? Well I decided to place the shed in this condition over a piece of track and check stock went through. Guess what? No it didn't! On Steve's drawing I hadn't taken into account the height of the model rail. Check and re-check measurements, Mike! It will be hidden by ballast/ash/weeds etc when "planted" so it won't notice.

So this is what it looks like in its current state. I haven't decided on the method of finally fixing the roof and sides together. I might just wait until the layout is ready for it to "plant" it and glue it down when I'm exactly happy with its positioning. Also I can't put the roof on until the pivot extensions on the doors are fitted through the baseboard for connection to the servos. I also still have to work out how to create and put the roof ridge on. I've tried aluminium sheet strip but I just cannot hold it accurately enough to provide the final shape. More thought needed here. I also need to create the 2 smoke outlets.

Well that's the Engine Shed so far and it will have to wait a long time before it gets more attention, while I build the other buildings and then the baseboards.

Although I started on the station master's bungalow, work stopped on it for more research, so I started the Station building. The next post will be this Station building progress as it is so far.

Lynton Lamp Hut

SR Lamp Hut, Corfe Castle, Dorset, before restoration

This was the only picture I could find of a "real" SR Lamp Hut, which I had taken many years ago on the Swanage line, long before restoration. but at least I had a "feel" of it. The photo was taken from a long way away (I didn't even "see" it then) so I've had to zoom in considerably, hence its graininess. Better than nothing though. To me there's nothing like having a picture of what you are trying to reproduce. It gives me that depth that a drawing has great difficulty in portraying. Hence I have a large collection of photos, in books, the L&BR magazine from issue No. 1 and plenty of actual photos bought mostly decades ago in sometimes the most unlikely places - just keeping my eyes open, because one day I might build a model of it!

As with the Signal Cabin (see post of August 31, 2014), I made a scan of Steve Phillips' drawing from his book. It looked pretty simple - should be able to get this done in a couple of hours!! Well, working out how it could fit together BEFORE cutting styrene was an important part of the planning. Even then, the first couple of sides had to be re-made. The roof was made using a piece of 2mm styrene and marking a line from corner to corner for the top. Then with first a fairly coarse file holding it an angle equal to the slope of the roof and parallel to the first side, I filed it down to near where it needed to be ensuring I kept it just below the centre point of where the 2 corner to corner lines intersected. I did this on the other 3 sides and then finished it off very carefully with a fine file to the exact contour. It was actually quite easy as long as you keep the file moving absolutely straight and not in an arc, which many people tend to do - just takes practice and a keen eye and a steady hand.
This is the hut before the roof edging pieces were added.

Now the "box" is ready for paint. I used Woodland Scenics' concrete water wash for the body and black tarmac for the roof. Humbrol satin 131 for the SR green.

And here it is painted. I'm not too proud of the green, I need to tidy up those edges. At normal viewing distance you cannot see, but when a train enters the station with my micro video camera, or close up photos, it could become very evident. One of those tasks it's easy to put off.

The enamel sign was made using the method described in the Signal Cabin post. The 2 "cast" (etched) signs will be made in due course - it's expensive making one-offs.

Well that's the Lamp Hut made. Now if I had been thinking ahead and had really looked at the whole plan of the station environs in detail, I would have seen that there is a second identical hut, used as a coal store for the station. I've only found one photo showing a part of it and none showing the doors, so I don't know what, if any, signs it had. Bob Barnard has one on his 4mm Lynton layout - a gerat inspiration. Now I have to try and remember how I put it together to make another one! Taking photos of progress does have advantages! I thoroughly recommend it. I didn't keep an exact track of the time to put it all together, but I estimate it was about 10 hours and not the 2 I had originally reckoned on. The second one will probably be much closer to the 2 hours - we'll see!

The next post will be the Engine Shed. See you then.

Getting started and the first of 10 structures - the signal cabin

Lynton Station building in 1967, my first visit to the location

This Blog is going to be a record of the creation of a working model of Lynton station and its immediate environs, the northern terminus on the old Lynton & Barnstaple narrow gauge railway, in North Devon, England, in 4mm scale. There is plenty written on the history of this railway, so I direct anyone interested in more detail to research all the materials available. The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Trust with it's headquarters currently at Woody Bay, North Devon, has a wealth of information available. www.lynton-rail.co.uk. 
I have been interested in this railway since the early 1960s having seen pictures of P.D Hancock's Craig & Mertonford Railway and it's L&BR loco "Alistair", and it is only recently that I have the time to actually start creating. This started when one of my daughters bought me the "bible" for the L&BR for my 70th birthday, Stephen Phillips' The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway, Measured and Drawn". It is a magnificent book with scale drawings of just about everything, which Stephen & Mike Bishop drew from their researches over many decades. If you want to model with any accuracy, this book is a must. The details of how to purchase, are at the L&BR Trust's website, http://www.lynton-rail.co.uk/shop/lynton-barnstaple-railway-measured-and-drawn

So how did I start? Many scribbles and a "statement" of what I wanted to produce; "The most accurate 4mm scale model of Lynton station that has so far been built". Sounds great Mike! If you've never tackled something like this, be aware that it will take a huge amount of time. Even with Steve's magnificent drawings there are still details that need to be researched. 
I had just built an 8' x 20" baseboard for my Swiss H0m RhB layout and I wondered if I could get the whole of Lynton station on it?

I laid out some old PECO crazy 009 and BEMO H0e track which I had in my stock and bought the 6 points using the new PECO mainline 18" radius ones. Having measured Steve's drawing of the whole station environs I realised I would need at least another 4ft if I was going to have a scale model. Also Tony Peart, who has built a number of the L&BR stations, challenged me to ensure I have all the land contours (and I accepted his challenge), so a "flat" board was out of the question. something else new for me.

Making a start on buildings

I determined that I would construct all the buildings to an accuracy of 0.25mm and I have so far been mostly able to achieve this. That might seem a very fine tolerance, but unless you work to that, parts won't fit accurately. We'll see this when I get to the station building itself. Just on one side of the station building, I counted 207 separate pieces of plastic for the windows, doors and lintels. I find I can only work about an hour at a time because of the level of concentration needed and a VERY steady hand.

Let me start with the first building, the signal cabin. I made a scanned copy of Steve's drawing (only for my own use, I am very strict about respecting copyright laws) and ensured it was to the exact 4mm scale. I do this as I didn't want to write in the book itself. I would need to do lots of measuring of the drawing and writing the mm dimensions on the drawing to use when measuring the styrene. I then determined the different types of plastic from the Evergreen and Plastruct ranges for each element and bought those (a few at a time as I never knew what I was going to need until I got to that part - my local model shops got to know me well). I had decided that I would work in styrene as I'm very comfortable with that medium and I could achieve the desired accuracy relatively easily.

I measured and cut and laid the pieces out on the drawings. The signs are created in MS PowerPoint and then printed at best quality on my inkjet photo printer. A couple of the signs need to be etched (for the lamp hut - see another posting) and they will be created in due course. The main box of the 4 sides and the corner pieces are then glued together ensuring everything is absolutely square and level in all planes. I use liquid styrene glue and a very fine paint brush to apply it accurately.

Now come the details.

 The Nameboard was made in the same way as the enamel signs and it was glued to the mounting board made from a styrene backing piece and the 4 sides.

Once all the windows were complete and sprayed white on the outsides, glazing was next, using clear 0.13mm styrene. Before fitting all the windows the building had to be painted. Now all you lucky guys in the UK can get the exact colours. Here in the USA and with the restrictions on mailing paints now, I had to do intense research to be able to create the closest colours from available paints here. The SR green was OK as Humbrol do one that is an exact match but I had to mix the yellow/cream from a Vallejo yellow and white. It was brush painted and needed a couple of coats taking 2 days to dry between each coat. Vallejo paint is really nice to work with and flows well with a paint brush, not leaving brush strokes. 

Now I turned to the interior. C'mon Mike, this is about 1.5" cube. Who is going to look through those windows - which will be on the backside from the viewing side anyway? Well if you go and research on the yahoo groups L&B Modelling page you will see many posts about which way it was considered the floorboards ran! Duh!! I added a clock, track diagram and a lever frame, which, after it was all painted and glued in place, I was politely told it was the wrong type. Maybe one day I'll change it - or not! 

Nearly there. Just the roof!!! Now this took 4 tries to get it to just reasonable. It is slate and I used Wills' slate roofing. The trouble with that is it is very thick and it would look totally wrong, So I had to experiment (this is how 100 hours goes!). I used a Dremel router (held between my knees!) to shave down the insides of the four sides so that it only showed a very thin edge and would then sit within the top sides and would be held there without gluing it down (I could then take off the roof if I wanted to prove to someone about the interior. Wills' sheets are very soft and it was very easy to take off a fraction too much and that part of the roof ripped off. Hence the 4 tries. But I did learn a valuable new skill with the router. I then added the final parts, the gutter and downpipe. I still need to paint the interior of the gutter black.

Not part of the cabin as such but an important part of it is the wooden walkway over all the point and signal rods and cables that exit from the cabin. This was made from basswood strip.

Anyway, this was my first building in almost 50 years and I am pretty pleased with it as I didn't know if I could pull off all this detail in 4mm scale. It took about 100 hours.

Sign up and look out for my next posting describing the lamp hut.