7mm Pencarrow - Cornish BR(S)

[Pencarrow]

What thickness ply and grade of birch ply are you using?

Sorry, nearly missed this one...

The ply is 6mm birch ply from a proper timber merchant rather than a DIY shed. It's good quality, no voids, and has about 7 layers. Not sure what the official grade is though. The merchant also cut it for me to the plan I provided (remember to allow for 3-5mm lost on each cut though).

 

[Simon]

Great building, irrespective of methods of construction you have a very good "eye" for a structure and how it "ought" to look, I think.

As regards likes etc, to be honest I had never noticed the bar above the clicky like, and that we had a range of "options", I have just been clicking "like" as and when.

Do you not think though, that adding more "clicky options" makes this place more like the general social media? It seems to me that the best inputs are always going to be words and pictures.

I'm not actually aware that any of the "nuclear" button options have ever been deployed on WT, but I stand to be corrected, as ever.

In any case, I can think of much more appropriate "sassy" button type responses for this place, but best not go there, especially on a lovely sunny Sunday....

Plus, don't forget our lovely range of emoticons - there's one there for everybody.

I'm off out to the garden!

 

[JasonBz]

Sorry, nearly missed this one...

The ply is 6mm birch ply from a proper timber merchant rather than a DIY shed. It's good quality, no voids, and has about 7 layers. Not sure what the official grade is though. The merchant also cut it for me to the plan I provided (remember to allow for 3-5mm lost on each cut though).

That is a very good point, one that many people seem to overlook all too often.

It's knows as Kerf in the sort of technical circles where the width of the saw blade does matter

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Fully agree. A realistic concrete finish is IMO very hard to achieve. I think is the complex colours combined with the texture.

I concur, concete is a difficult finish to achive and I tend to study photograhs and prototype concrete structures. I've also noticed pre and post war conccrete have different textures and colours depending upon it's intended use in the building/structure and the original mix.

 

[Pencarrow]

Brick surrounds now done for the first of the 3 houses. Bit of distortion on the straights from the close up photo, all good in reality.



Whilst that set I've been working on the stone overlay. Going to be a pain doing all the cut outs but hopefully worth it.

 

[Dog Star]

So after a week ... I decided that a change of tack was required. Some work on the layout itself ... here is the plan of the left-hand side of the layout.

The benefits of the scale model of the scale are now evident - a good move to build the "little one".

 

[Dog Star]

Top is Peco which are 417.5mm long each.
Then C&L:
A5 - 440mm
B6 - 497.5mm
B7 - 531mm
B8 - 577.5mm
B9 - 582mm

This is a nice way to explain the physical size differences... and the effect of mixing crossing angles.

 

[Pencarrow]

The benefits of the scale model of the scale are now evident - a good move to build the "little one".

The 'little one' also has stock, so you can have a little play too...

 

[Pencarrow]

And stone and brick done on the first house bay...



Tedious but...

The contrast between the red brick and grey stone should be obvious when painted.

 

[michael mott]

Chris that really is some tricky cutting, It now makes sense that the bricks were placed first the stone being variable would be easier to fiddle into place in real life, not so the bricks which being regular would not work if cut up. When i did architectural work I always did up samples of the surface textures for each model as I did them, I eventually passed them on to the chap who took over my business. Ihad a case with about 60 different formulas for painting including concrete on the back of each was the order of paints and textures colours, and applications heavy or light flecks the order would also be noted as this changed the appearance a lot. Polished or fire flashed granite was achieved with either paint of Photographs cut up to represent the polished granite. scales varied from 1:100 to 1:500.

Michael

 

[Pencarrow]

Chris that really is some tricky cutting, It now makes sense that the bricks were placed first the stone being variable would be easier to fiddle into place in real life, not so the bricks which being regular would not work if cut up. When i did architectural work I always did up samples of the surface textures for each model as I did them, I eventually passed them on to the chap who took over my business. Ihad a case with about 60 different formulas for painting including concrete on the back of each was the order of paints and textures colours, and applications heavy or light flecks the order would also be noted as this changed the appearance a lot. Polished or fire flashed granite was achieved with either paint of Photographs cut up to represent the polished granite. scales varied from 1:100 to 1:500.

Michael

Yes, there is sometimes method on my madness Michael! My thinking, as you deduced, was to prioritise getting the bricks straight and plumb. Stonework can easily be bodged with a bit of filler...

I've made up notes several times on colours and finishes but then generally forget I have done so, or where I wrote it, until much later. There's no hope.

 

[Dog Star]

And the last few days I've been adding the road that goes in front of the grain store that leads to the goods yard.

The way that the road sweeps round in a flowing curve might be an advert for S7 standards. Nicely done.

regards, Graham

 

[Dog Star]

That last photo had made me think. Everything in it has been hand made by me: boards, Templot plan, track, loco and wagons. Going back 5 years, I never thought I'd be capable of any of this - I just played and modified RTR, built plastic kits and did green stuff on various layouts. Quite pleased really now I've thought about it.

All good stuff to ruminate upon, just do not forget that you are one of the few modellers to have included a working trap in a layout.

Mind you, not sure that the trap is necessary given that there is a turnout, to a headshunt (?) which, being interlocked with the junction of the clay to the main, can be considered as protecting the main from a runaway.

regards, Graham

 

[Pencarrow]

All good stuff to ruminate upon, just do not forget that you are one of the few modellers to have included a working trap in a layout.

regards, Graham

Erm.... you'll have to read on...

 

[paratom]

Sorry, nearly missed this one...

The ply is 6mm birch ply from a proper timber merchant rather than a DIY shed. It's good quality, no voids, and has about 7 layers. Not sure what the official grade is though. The merchant also cut it for me to the plan I provided (remember to allow for 3-5mm lost on each cut though).

Thanks Chris.

 

[Dog Star]

And where I'm up to making the wharf building:

Your ability to make flat and smooth plastic sheet look like gnarly and lumpy walls is getting close to beyond belief. Another lesson in observation and techniques.

regards, Graham

 

[Dog Star]

Question from Dan on another thread about how I did this stonework:

Glad that someone else asked the question.

OK, the answer is that it's all a bit trial and error and that I keep going until I get the finish looking about right.

Sounds like many of us.

So to start with you have your model wall. I invariably use plasticard and the one above is Wills Coarse Stone which has been abused with files, sandpaper, filler and other sharp objects.

If you are attacking the base product with such tools.... why not start with a sheet of 60thou plastikard? What does the Wills sheets bring to the party?

regards, Graham

 

[Dog Star]

Pencarrow is based on a much compressed and rearranged version of Bodmin North. A few bits are fairly accurate but much of it falls more into the 'inspired by' category. As a result of my crimes against prototype fidelity there are a few areas I've struggled with getting to look right. One of these is the rear left corner of the layout where a lack of board width means that the bank, wall, road and buildings behind the yard can't be fitted in and there's a length of the layout between the grain store and the provender stores that ends too abruptly for my liking.

I'm building an 'inspired by'! With that in mind I've been looking for something to better finish the rear of the layout.

Flicking through books I looked again at the old Bodmin Wharf goods only terminus before it was rebuilt as a passenger station by the LSWR. The buildings below were a key part of the wharf but we're demolished by the LSWR prior to the new station layout opening on 1/11/1895.

These same few images are in just about every book and website covering the B&W.

So I decided to draw them up using a range of things to scale them such as the wagon wheelbase and height plus a guess at the height of the people in the photos. The full run of buildings is a good 40% too long so some amalgamation of the key features into a shorter set was undertaken.

One interesting element will be trying to guess how the buildings would have looked in the late 50s / early 60s period I'm modelling. That's c65 years after they were demolished. I doubt the bay windows and nice glazing would have survived...

I'll leave the drawing in place a few days to see how it sits with me.

This approach appeals to me in that you are moving to an "artists" viewpoint rather than a 100% accurate representation of what-might-have-been. I think that you are going to (maybe already have...) get a model that works for you.

regards, Graham

 

[Pencarrow]

This approach appeals to me in that you are moving to an "artists" viewpoint rather than a 100% accurate representation of what-might-have-been. I think that you are going to (maybe already have...) get a model that works for you.

regards, Graham

I think just about all the layouts I've worked on and contributed to have been "based on" jobbies. I quite like the prototype inspiration but without being totally tied to prototype. I also think that most prototype locations are big, very big in fact.

Modelling to scale requires a lot of space, and Bodmin North done to scale in 7mm would require knocking through into bedrooms! I don't think the 100% accurate model would add a while heep more in operation and would look a bit empty.

I think we are used to compression of reality. Train lengths, radii, trackwork all routinely get compressed and subjected to interpretation. I apply the same to scenics. Basing models on reality though does IMO help them look more realistic than a 100% fictional approach.

 

[Pencarrow]

If you are attacking the base product with such tools.... why not start with a sheet of 60thou plastikard? What does the Wills sheets bring to the party?

regards, Graham

Another good question Graham. As it comes out of the packet the Wills coarse stone sheets are, erm, coarse. Going over them with a nasty file flattens the stones to make them less lumpy. The other tools reinstate a bit of texture and amend some of the signature (standout) stones to make them less obvious. Using the Wills sheets gives you a good 90% headstart over starting with plain plasticard. Think of it as superdetailing or a scratch build aid.