Leek station- an O Gauge project

Discussion in 'Specifically for scratch builds' started by York Paul, Sep 6, 2020.

  1. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Part of the work for Yorkie was the originally to put together the model of the signal box… or at least someone put the idea in my head to make it and it went from there, where I think Paul now has had to extend one of his base boards so he can have the building on the layout (to me it would be wrong to have the Station and not having it, and I’m not saying that because I’ve spent hours designing and printing it.:avatar:)

    anyway, the box kind of stalled after I printed it with it being 60% complete. It’s all printed, but I just moved on to other bits to return when the inspiration found me again… I know we have all been there with one model or another.

    anyway, yesterday I decided to pick up and progress one part I’d stopped with, the internal lighting..

    I’d already made the shades previously and made some lights from a £2.50 string of 30 LEDs from a garden centre. these were threaded through the shades and twisted up and will be made to look like the brown cables that lights in the 50’s and 60’s hung on.. sadly I have no idea if Leek was lit quite like this as we lack the info.. I digress..

    D81F3A1B-7DBC-4D6D-85D2-F236639D2371.jpeg
    the three lights were passed through the pre drilled holes in the conduit which is on the roof panel.
    On the opposite side I’ve fitted some adhesive copper tracking.
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    this has allowed me to solder the ends to the track and also to the battery.
    Why 3 runs? The idea is there is another 3 smaller lights to be fitted still Ona separate circuit that will have a switch in it, but share a common positive feed. 1392AF19-E998-4AEF-81B2-6898778FED3C.jpeg it all hides above the internal roof but under the outer apex.
    160F7A68-6BF5-46D1-BD2D-07548F1642D7.jpeg The battery box to the right has a button cell in it and is at the moment, just blue tacked down. 65EA3669-152D-4971-9D87-B05CD0F06FD1.jpeg
    and we have light!!!
    41A920C2-9B14-40F6-AA12-CCC12A40A094.jpeg EE101C74-7BA9-4690-9E8B-EA64CD17C53C.jpeg

    And my favourite picture so far…
    930AACE5-86F1-44DD-808F-0C4F08944213.jpeg

    However, the camera lies and the lights appear brighter in the photo that to the human eye. It has identified that a) they hang too low, but that’s an easy adjustment, b) they need another coat of green paint to stop the light bleed!

    that’s all for now..

    ttfn

    Andy
     
  2. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    G`day Andy,
    Nice job on the lights...:thumbs:
    You could always run a permanent power feed later on by adding a resistor / resistors into the line.
    I have experienced light bleed with the lights I have made. They look good when you paint them and then you turn the power on and you get little bits of light showing through the paint....:faint:It normally takes around three coats to cover effectively and usually now, on the third coat, I do it with the light on so I know where to add more paint if necessary.
    :tophat:Gormo
     
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  3. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Point taken on three coats but I really need a battery supply as it may not always be displayed in the same place.
    And thanks for the compliment ! :cheers:
     
  4. Kimbo

    Kimbo Staff Member Moderator

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    Very nice Andy.
    My tip is to use a black primer on the shades first regardless of the finished colour, this has worked for me on white, black, green, pale blue and yellow shades. I use the same method on exposed LED’s and then use a cotton bud dipped in thinners to expose as much of the light as required.
     
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  5. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Thanks.. good idea re the black on the shade..

    Don’t quite follow what you mean by the LED bit though? You mean to mask out the back? So light is focused to the front?
    Andy
     
  6. Kimbo

    Kimbo Staff Member Moderator

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    Yes Andy, sorry , I use a lot of the 1.8mm micro dot LED’s which are basically a square block with a domed circle. Light come out of the 4 sides not just the dome, so by painting them black all over then cleaning off just the dome gives a good result.

    as per the Ruston build I’m doing now. Picture should give a clear idea of the process. :thumbup:

     
  7. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    It's been a while since any build updates on the station were posted by me so here is a little progress report on probably what was a very tricky remake of a glaring oversight which was spotted then the model was nigh on completed. In thread #287 the back of this stone waiting shelter can be seen ... no worries except a photo came to light which showed three rear wall windows had been omitted, now this aspect has been covered by Andy Sollis who kindly came to the rescue which new window prints... you see we are both very pedantic when it comes to getting historical accuracy in our work... our Rule One is Get it made correctly or don't bother.

    Anyway I had to cut openings for these additional three windows and cut into a model which had been completed internally being as careful as possible. First stop was to make a new external wall skin and marking out the stone courses and window positions with a scalpel, the new skin was offered up as a template and tacked onto the existing wall face where the corners of each window were drilled through with a 1mm bit. Now removing the new skin I carefully prized out the old outer wall skin to reveal the wall framework and proceeded to scribe the plastic for the new windows... a sort of join the dots with a sharp blade.

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    This really was a scary moment when the first window opening was made and the new skin offered in place, thankfully it all worked and the new hole aligned with the first window... now I could proceed with the other two openings knowing the remake process was working correctly.

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    So onwards and upwards with the rest of the windows and this is what the result of the surgery looked like... now the model shelter is starting to look like the original building did.

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    Here is the internal view showing Andy Sollis's exquisitely designed North Staffordshire Railway waiting room stove pots, the new window units are now in and glazed.

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    From the outside with all the elements fitted we have a better finish for Leek Station in my opinion... the decor surround window stones have been marked out in white prior to painting.

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    Finally this is the result we were looking for... the prospect of looking through the shelter and seeing light coming through from the new windows... it just adds that little bit of authenticity and character. Thank for watching and again apologies for the recent radio silence.

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  8. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Not so very long ago a nice colour photo showing the back of the Leek station water tank and small brick staff hut came to light courtesy of a Mr Ed Walton... I've posted only the relevant portion of the image to show another aspect which has had to be remade namely the small brick staff hut. Generally the tank room is totally correct bar for the stone corbel row on the third course which was omitted and is hardly viewable, however the brick hut had to be remade as it was originally gauged in size from some not so focussed pictures which resulted in the hut being too large.

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    So now with such close up detail information I could calculate precisely the measurements and noted the inset in the wall which allowed for a telephone pole stay wire ... funny how it all comes flooding back after all these years when the memory is jogged with a picture. The new hut now taking shape ... and a word of caution if using the Slaters embossed brick sheeting in Gauge O... the bricks are not to an exact scale so please don't take this material as gospel, a bit of jiggery pockery is called for when getting things to fit as they should.

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    The view from the coal yard side as would be seen, Modeluguttering and chimney pot in place. Window frames and door made by myself as scratch builds.

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    Now to add the rest of the gutters and rainwater goods then fit the roof tiles... and there lies another issue regarding the tiles... believe me I've measured the laser cuts I'm having to use against original sizes and there are anomalies in widths for sure... buts that's another work around thing I'm currently dealing with.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2022
  9. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Fantastic work as ever Yorkie..

    Wait till you post about the bridge - and the doors in the main building! :facepalm:

    it’s been a fun few months.
     
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  10. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Ah the wider than normal doors which were reused from the original 1849 station and the Staffordshire County Council build A53 road bridge.... hmm ... oh dear look at the time already... must dash its about now I have to take my meds. Can't be seen to be a weirdo on such an esteemed forum.:avatar::avatar:
     
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  11. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    So with sunshine out in full force this morning and the fact that the forum has not been subjected to my numerous postings of the same subject recently, for your perusal and enjoyment here is a very standard looking brick and concrete road bridge scratch build currently underway in my workshop.

    Seriously folks this is just a mock up shoot showing progress as the true to original orientation hasn't set.

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  12. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Wow.. I’d not seen these? (Had I?)

    the bridge is looking fantastic!
    Can’t wait to see progress resume.
     
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  13. Chris Doroszenko

    Chris Doroszenko Lost in the spare room Full Member

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    The bridge looks really good...almost mistakable for a google maps street view.
    Nice work.
     
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  14. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Its been a while for me posting progress updates because I had to rebuild the workshop with new roof and uPVC french doors and a side door... even put a timber roof overhang at one end so it looks like a railway goods shed. Anyway finally got back to making progress on Leek station ... here are a few pictures.

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    Some of the building elements are now fitted against the platform which I've managed to re create the worn tarmac texture of the original station platform... this was done using a mix of various cement adhesives stained with black ink.After experimentation I found that Mapai Rapid Set adhesive mixed with dilute PVA offers a good likeness and is robust.

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    We have flowers ! Churnet Valley stations always had nicely trimmed gardens, mainly the flowers were ordinary cottage garden varieties like Russell Lupins, White Rock, Aubretia and Golden Rod... my creations were made using various scenic scatters. The stones are tiny bits from a bag of Polar White chippings.

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    Still have to tone out the "glaze" look of the stone wall of the waiting shelter but now the whole platform has been remade and the building elements come together nicely. The porters room and platform wall still needs work to complete.

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    So the bridge now has the beginings of the staircase, this is made from 3mm Foamex sheet and laminated with embossed brick sheet of English Bond.Looking beyond the bridge will be the next module extension which will contain the crossover road and the north end platforms to ramp with water column. No steps fitted in the staircase and I have had to order more embosed English Bond to complete the outer sides.

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    This is the only remaining bit of the original Leek station left now, the underpass in the staircase led to the Churnet Valley Inn which in pre-grouping days was owned by the North Stafford, the LMS sold the hotel side of things off but the entrance remained in use with BR right up until closure of the line to passengers. I won't be modeling the Churnet Valley pub as that would take too much room and time up but the lawn and tree with pathway will form the layout edge.
     

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