Acorn Wood Station

[Stuart Birks]

Having completed the village it was time to start the actual station. I could use all that I had learnt making the village buildings to help with the construction.
As a building to copy I picked Bradford-on-Avon. It is the right size and has an interesting level of detail. The only minor problem is the lovely bay window on the end of the building is at the wrong end for my location and so I have simply created a mirror image of it.







I took a lot more photos than this to give me a lot of the details.

The first step was to make a 2D CAD drawing which I could then use to determine all the dimensions and details. This is just a screen grab of a very detailed drawing with each wall element being detailed.


Now I was in a position to start construction

Stuart

 

[Stuart Birks]

An aparently simple building like this needs 14 wall sections which are detailed before joining them together. All the joints are mitred so the stone courses flow properly around the corners.



I had an etch made for the window frames, doors and the canopy brackets.



A combination of the etched parts with profiled plastic sections gives a good structure to the windows and doors.







All the wall panels have 5mm added to the bottom so that the building sits into the platform rather than on top of it. This prevents any gaps showing underneath it. The stone courses are scribed into the plastic walls. The bits of green are filler, some to fill gaps and some where I changed my mind about a stone joint and so I moved it.
Stuart

 

[LarryG]

I like this approach very much. It is very satisfying measuring up a structure and planning how it is to be constructed. I see from the etch this project has been on the go for some time.

 

[Stuart Birks]

Once all the wall panels are complete they can bee assembled into the building. Great care was taken to make the lengths very accurate so that any accumulated error was negligable so it came out the right size and square when it was all joined.









The next thing I made were the chimneys. Although small they have a very complex shape which took quite a lot to assemble. They will go through holes in the roof rather than trying to cut the bottom at the correct angle.



It was now time to work on the canopy. I included the brackets on the etch I had made and these had little bits sticking out for location. I made a simple jig to ensure that they were glued correctly in the beams.



Holes had been pre-drilled in the walls and so it was a simple job to get them in the right place. The beams were made over length on the inside of the building so they could be re-inforced with a gusset plate.







Just need the covering on now.
Stuart

 

[Stuart Birks]

Now the roof and canopy are added. The slates are made from strips of plasticard scribed and set on very thin small strips to create the step. Drain pipes were made from coper wire with thin wire wrapped around and soldered to create the pipe joins. The gutters are just half round plastic strip with one edge slightly filed to create a flat for gluing it. A while age I made a gutter with the internal groove in it but it didn't show even close up so now I dont bother.











Now its on to the painting.
Stuart

 

[ovener]

Your model is coming along very nicely. I like the idea of the copper wire for drainpipe - I may have to steal that idea try that myself. I've never been totally happy with plastic downpipe (full size or modelling!)

 

[jonte]

Marvellous attention to detail, Stuart.

May I ask: what tool did you use to scribe the stonework?;
how did you achieve the ‘scribed(?)’ moulding around the edges of door and window reveals?

Many thanks.

Jon

 

[jamest]

Hi,

Great work on the building and really interesting to see your approach and the steps involved.

I too would like to know what tool you use to scribe the stonework. I never seem to have as much success. Investors used a pointed tool and a ’vee’ but I’ve never got the same results as you.

regards
James

 

[john lewsey]

Lovely work Stuart, very nice indeed

 

[Stuart Birks]

Thanks for the comments.
The scribing was done with a simple hook ground from a knife blade. the cutting edge was removed and the thickness ground down to a thickness of 0.2mm not to a point. This gives a realistric mortar width.



The straight lines were done with a ruler, the curves around the doorways were done freehand following a pencil line.
The scribing does raise a burr on each side which has to be removed. I did it by scraping it with a knife blade.
The depth on the window and door frames was done by simple gluing a second layer behind the window opening with a slightly smaller hole in it.

 

[Stuart Birks]

The painting starts with a dark wash made thin enough that ir runs into the mortar grooves easilly. It looks a real mess at the first stage but that is fine. It forma a bit of pre-shading for the later layers.





Everything from this point on is layers built up by dry brushing with the layers gradually getting thinner and lighter. It still looks a boring mess after the first layer but it gets better.





Stuart

 

[jonte]

Thanks for the comments.
The scribing was done with a simple hook ground from a knife blade. the cutting edge was removed and the thickness ground down to a thickness of 0.2mm not to a point. This gives a realistric mortar width.

View attachment 193318

The straight lines were done with a ruler, the curves around the doorways were done freehand following a pencil line.
The scribing does raise a burr on each side which has to be removed. I did it by scraping it with a knife blade.
The depth on the window and door frames was done by simple gluing a second layer behind the window opening with a slightly smaller hole in it.

Many thanks for sharing, Stuart.

I think I’m right in saying it’s similar to the ‘Olfa’(?) cutter which I’ve often thought of investing in, so think I’ll add one to the collection.

Jon

 

[D6356]

Lovely work and having visited the original station, even as a mirror image a lovely rendition and super quality modelling.
Thanks for sharing
Robert

 

[Stuart Birks]

The knife is similar to the Olfa cutter but as far as I can tell the Olfa produces a V groove wheras I have ground mine to produce a square bottomed groove exactly the width I wanted. It would be simple to grind a different blade for a different width groove. In reality I doubt if you could tell the difference.

As I said the paint job continues with building up layers to get the colour right with some variation for weathering. It is also slightly dirtier near the ground.





The roof follows the same process but in grey.





The canopy is not the right colour here.

Both slate and cotswold stone have a huge variety of shades so virtually anything goes as long as it looks ok.
Stuart

 

[Stuart Birks]

This is the finished building. I made a small board to see what it would look like as the layout and platform ere not built at this stage.
This is the non-platform side and once mounted on the layout this side will not really be able to be seen.



The platform side with some figures added.



The end bay window which was one of the features that made me pick this building in the first place.



A couple mores shots with a loco in them.





This is it finally in position on the layout. I am very happy with the result.



Stuart