Lynton Station Building - Part 2a, The Roof so far.

Having made some of the roof pieces as patterns I felt OK to start cutting the 2mm plastic sheet. All the edges had to be chamfered to ensure an accurate no-gap- fit with the mating part. But how was I going to hold 2 parts accurately to glue them together? I came up with a very simple solution. Pins at the correct distances into a piece of 5mm foam board. Here's a plan view.

Here's an end view showing the South end. 

I mentioned chamfering in the first picture and here I am demonstrating that. I used my very new Dremel cordless tool - an excellent buy - with an angular routing bit. I practiced on some scrap first as it's easy to apply too much pressure without moving the tool and cutting a nice deep groove - not the objective! A very steady hand held at a constant angle with a nice slow but continuous movement to cut the chamfer. It took a number of passes to get it right. In the end it was a lot quicker than trying to file it as every piece of the roof had to have this done.

The start of the North end fitted to the South end. I didn't have a piece of 2mm plastic long enough to make the West side in one piece, but as the join would be hidden by the tiles, it was not a problem. A strengthening piece was glued under the joint.

 

 A trial fit of the first part of the West side apex. Hmm, not too good. What's wrong? I checked everything and found that I had mismeasured the aperture for the second storey by 5mm. Even with continual checking it's easy for this to happen. So I had to add 5mm pieces on the south side of the aperture and cut the North side with a circular saw bit in the Dremel tool. A very steady hand (and nerve!) needed.

Here's the start of the second storey room using the same method I've used on all the structures so far. The outer walls are Plastruct "concrete" to give the rendered surface needed for the West side. This will be painted in the correct colour in due course. The East side will be covered in slate tiles, produced to the correct size by York Modelmaking for me.

Here's a trial fit on the main floor. I later found out that small pieces had to be fitted on the bottom of each edge where it sits on the bottom walls to raise it to the correct height.

Just the first trial fit of the roof to the main floor. Hard to judge at this stage if I've got everything correct.

The final part of the main roof waiting to be fitted. Getting all those angles correct was very tasking.

Adding the side pieces around the edges on the West side of the upper storey.

Starting to look like the real thing. West Side.

East (road) side. The second storey roof is just a temporary pattern.

An underside view of the roof on the West (platform) side showing the correct planking fitted. This was measured and fitted all the way around, as per the prototype. OK Mike, who is going to see THAT!! We thought you had learnt about unseen details after the signal cabin. But it was there and I am trying to make it as accurately as possible! And when my micro video camera pulls into the station, it may be seen. It's also part of the structure that makes it all fit together. 

What's this?! Heddon Hall puling 4 PECO coaches around an oval on my desk! This is the CWRailways 3D Hunslet body on a KATO chassis and put together and painted by Chris Clark, in the UK. Chris wan't too happy with the lining, but at normal viewing distance it looks just fine and I'm very pleased with his work - better than I could have produced. It's very happy pulling the 4 coaches at a very slow crawl around the PECO setrack with 9" radius curves.I added 8 wagons at first with the coaches but that was too much.

Here's a close up of Heddon Hall. But Mike, Heddon Hall wasn't even made in 1930! I know, but this is supposed to be fun and I needed something L&B to pull some stock as the Heljan MWs are still about a year away and my Backwoods MW kit isn't going to see the light of day until at least the basic layout is done, if then.

Windows are made for the upper storey and are currently being painted. The roof fits perfectly onto the main floor. That was always a major concern as until I got to that point I wouldn't know how accurate my measuring had been. Some measurements had to be down to 0.1mm (windows).

Well that's the roof so far. Keep checking back for the next part.

Lynton Station Building - Part 1

Creating Lynton Station Building

I decided that I would build the station in its Southern Railway's extended version as I could just about use L&BR liveried stock as well as SR. It may not be strictly correct, but this is modelling!

Let's start:

I was happy with the construction method I had used for the engine shed, so I continued   with this. The South West side was cut first together with the South side and the internal wall between the gents and ladies toilet areas. I used magnetic square guides to keep the walls at right angles. This is essential for every corner as otherwise it won't all fit together accurately. I worked to 0.25mm accuracy wherever possible.

Now we have the completed West side together with the bookstall recess, some of the internal walls and the North West part of the North wall.

Now we have all the South East side walls, external and internal cut and ready for assembly.

And here they are assembled together with the additional internal dividing walls.

Now all the walls are complete, so a start on "wallpapering" was next. This is a long and very accurate job ensuring everything is accurately measured and testing before committing to glue!

Before "wallpapering" the West and South walls (used the method described in the engine shed post), I painted the inside walls approximately how the SR would have (I used pictures from stations on the Bluebell Railway for guidance, where they have taken great care to be authentic).

And here's the last piece of "wallpapering" ready to glue and fix. Looking good! It's easy to think that as the major part of the building is now created your on the home stretch. That was the easy part!!! Now it's time to add all the details; windows with glazing, doors with glazing, sign boards and posters and other small details.

 Poster boards have been made and checked for positioning

 A detail of a poster board with the SOUTHERN sign created on the computer. Also lintels and window sills created and fitted.

 All the poster boards being painted.

Now we're working on the window frames and checking their accuracy for fitting to the window openings before adding the opening windows.

 The gent's toilet windows being checked for fit. This is important to do before adding the windows as I found out it's easy to get this stage slightly inaccurate and having to remake the frames.

Once the window frame is complete, this is painted in green before fitting to the window opening in the wall and before adding the windows which will be white.

This is the small window on the road (East) side to the right of the door, showing checking the fit of the window within the frame before painting.

And here is the frame and window after glazing and fitting.

These are the East side toilet windows with "frosted" glazing. It's an Evergreen rippled clear styrene. Quite effective.

North end completed.

East side door fitted - oops there's a small gap between the left side of the door and the frame. A piece of styrene behind that makes it less obvious! Even trying to be hyper meticulous, it happens!

Part of the platform (West) side detail. A Langley letter box. 

Here's the West side virtually complete. The weigh machine control box (already made) needs to be fitted along with making the electrical switch box.

The South end is finished. Not too happy with that slight gap in the "wallpapering. I thought I had positioned that where the guttering downpipe would be. OK, a prize for who spots it on the layout!!

This shows the flooring, "wood" for the main part of the building and "concrete" for the toilet areas. Yes I know the ladies waiting area is divided, but no one is going to see that!! I'm learning after all the comments about the floorboards and lever frame in the signal cabin.

Well the ground floor is essentially complete - yes I still have to also add the brick arches over the 3 windows on the West side - Thanks to Bob Barnard for pictures of the real thing. I've printed those but they are so small I'm having difficulty cutting them out accurately!

And now a taste for the next part - the roof. Making patterns to check before cutting styrene. Thanks to Tony Peart for this idea.

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