Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

Thanks Chris,
Don`t know about this strain, I think it depends on the individual.
Julie`s Dad ( 93yo ) got it a few weeks ago and it`s hit him very hard indeed.
I`m doing my best to avoid it, but it`s not easy.....we`ll see...??
Gormo

 

Thanks Richard and Lorraine,
Yes 14 days will be the go I think........I don`t want this dropping on me whilst we`re away from home.
I have just done another R.A.T. and still all clear.
Julie is just taking it easy whilst I look after the household chores and she`s improving all the time...
Gormo

 

Thanks Phil,
Yes all is going well.....Julie is feeling quite a lot better today, so I am hopeful by the time we reach seven days that she will be fine.
I am still clear at the moment, but will not be convinced until we reach the 14 day period.
In the meantime, there is nothing we can do about it but just press on.
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
I`ve given myself another indoor task to carry on with whilst we`re stuck at home.
I`ve had this Metcalfe signal box for some time now ( years ) and I thought it may look good on the approach to Bamford platform roads.
It`s a bog standard kit with no frills, but sturdy nonetheless as Metcalfe kits tend to be.





As usual the roof slates and the corners of the building annoy me the most. Years ago it would not have bothered me as much, but as you grow in this hobby, you get a bit more picky about what you want to plant on your railway........or I do anyway.....I can`t speak for the masses....
I tackled the roof first as I had some Scalescenes slates left on a sheet from the terrace houses build. This is a comparison shot. Quite a difference in the size of the slates, and of course you add more texture laying them in strips.





Roof completed.





I`ve also decided to overlay the weather boards with some printed strips created on the PC with LibreDraw. You can see the green corner molding disappearing here.
Once this part of the building is assembled, I`ll add new corner cover strips to the corners made with greeting card. I`ve also sliced through the weather board strips along the corners where the walls have to bend.





The inside of the building is grey card, so we will cover that with some internal lining board. More detail to come on the inside.





The end walls will have the internal boards as well, but I can`t fit these sheets until the glazing goes in.





Weatherboards complete. I still need to add some paper packing strips on top of the vertical window frames and the green corner bits. There will be an overlay strip on these parts and I don`t want the strips to sink down below the surrounding weatherboards, or have a bowed shape to them. So in theory these packing strips will keep everything flat.





Now the cover strips for the weatherboard joins are going on in the same positions as the printed original.





This is as far as I can go now with the cover strips, until I get the glazing in and this part of the building assembled.





This is what it`s all about........texture......not too difficult to do, but it takes more time to complete.





Now the plan is to model a lever frame, a shelf with instruments, a pot belly stove, a clock, desk and chairs and probably some schedules on the walls and also a sign for the outside of the box......this could get interesting.?

More as it happens.
Gormo........run your trains guys and keep those rails clean....

 

Well moving right along,
The glazing is in and I`ve trimmed around the inside windows and doors as well. I`ve had to add one of my door prints to the back of the door otherwise it would be grey card.




The exterior of above





Also added a clock and some info sheets to the walls and managed to join inner and outer walls together.





I want to get some internal lining board on this ceiling as well, plus there`s more to do inside before finally bring the walls together.





With the building lit, it will add more atmosphere with the interior detailed in this way









This is my first rough experiment trying to make levers. It comes right into focus with the little man there to give it scale
This pic tells me the wire is too thick. The overall thickness of the lever is way too thick and the height is wrong........but !!!!....you gotta start somewhere...
I now know what I need to do to refine this process and I think the second attempt will be better...fingers crossed.




More as it happens
Gormo

 

Well yes of course Chris, I would be interested in the lever frame.
Thanks very much for doing that for me.
Gormo
PS....this is going to be one heck of a good signal box by the time it`s finished....

 

Thanks Gary,
Thankfully, Julie did not cop it as bad as you did. The worst part was a sore throat for a couple of days, combined with a runny nose and a clagged up feeling.
No cough or anything as nasty as that. She is actually feeling quite well now.....not 100%....but on the way out the other end. The only annoying and persistent part of the whole thing, is a loss of taste, which we hope is only temporary.
Meanwhile I have been plugging away at the signal box......can`t help myself trying to improve the detail.
This is a mock up of how it may look with levers and a signalman.



At this point below I`ve permanently joined the cabin walls. I won`t complete the roof bracing until lighting supports and other bits and bobs go in.



Lined under the main roof as well



Showing the roof support still flapping around in the breeze and the corner details completed



Here we are seeing what it looks like with a roof on it.......not fixed yet



Here I have glued brick paper to the parts that comprise the base.



Then cut a diagonal at each corner of the openings, and in this case, remove a rectangular section from the centre.



Then add PVA to the paper flaps and fold them back behind the face of the card.



Which results in something like this. I have also cut through the paper at the corner joints, so that they will fold properly.



Added sills and lintels to door and windows



More in the following post.
Gormo

 

Carrying on from the previous post.
The base was then assembled after glazing was fitted. Another mock up here seeing how it looks.
The reason for this mock up, is that I have removed the timber walkway from below the windows. I have been researching signal boxes and I quite prefer the look of this box without it`s walkway. They did not all have walkways and in fact it`s pretty hard to find any two the same. As a matter of fact they were probably based on an original design and then modified to suit their location and budget.
Anyway....too late now...the deed is done.



The brick corners need to be done in this view.



And now they are done



Gormo

 

Sure is...

 

Thanks Phil,
The cardboard buildings have been around for a long time, but I think when Scalescenes hit the scene, it took that type of model into a new ball park as far as detail is concerned.
I have borrowed from both parishes in the way I approach these buildings. I reckon the Superquick and Metcalfe kits have good bones. They are easy to build and quite robust, however they lack the attention to detail that you get with Scalescenes kits.
So why not take a Metcalfe or Superquick kit and give it a Scalescenes coat, taken from their Scratch Builders Yard. All the materials are available to transform a kit into something a little different or unique to your layout.
The down side is that it takes considerably longer to build this way......it might as well be a scratch build....but not quite. All the hard work of design and cutting the parts accurately has been done for you already. You just have to tease it and ease it into what you want.
So......this is where we are at the moment.
The brick corners of the building have been made over to remove the unsightly gap.







I`ve also fitted some card supports for a lighting channel.



This is the channel just sitting in place at the moment. It needs to have some holes drilled through it for LEDs. It`s purpose is to support the LEDs and also act as a means of carrying the wiring unseen to the end wall, so that it can then be directed into a corner of the building and then down through the floor.



Have also fitted the boards that cover the join, or transition from brick to weatherboard, between the lower floor and the upper floor.




So gentlemen, I bid you all goodnight
Gormo

 

Still plugging away at it.
I printed out a sheet of flooring to cover the grey base supplied.



The hole in the corner is for wiring



Applied weather boards and cover strips to the outside toilet and fitted it to the signal cabin.



Then the support bracket for the toilet.



Fitted slates to the toilet roof and fixed the roof in place



Trial fitting again to check all is good.



And from the back



More pics in the post below

 

I also decided to have a crack at a combustion heater for the signal box.
I downloaded a png. image and decided to print several images so that they could be glued to card ,cut out accurately and glued and stacked together to create a small cube.
Images with all vertical cuts done first. Much easier to do the small cuts on the full card.
This was then followed by the two horizontal cuts which gives accuracy for all the heights. I`m just using the rectangular shape...no legs or chimney.



These will all be glued and stacked together.



I will then wrap a strip of suitable coloured paper around the sides to cover the joins.



The heater was then sat on two slices of card removed from the brick window openings on the signal box.



Tried it to see how it looks.......I will have to work out a permanent location, so that I can then work on putting a chimney with it.....a vertical Black pipe going out through the roof.



A view through the window.



It`s going to be permanently warm in this signal box.......
Gormo