Wednesday 24th May 2023

Worklist:

Progress cladding on factory buildings.

The panels made the previous week had all developed a slight curvature and options to straighten them were discussed. Three trial options were agreed - clamp several together laid flat, clamp several together with packers at the end to accentuate the reverse curve and finally clamp several together flat and soak in hot water. All were setup and the last taken in for soaking over lunch. The latter (obviously?) worked best and will be adopted in future. 

Ready for a nice hot bath...

Two more panel sizes were arrived at for above and below windows. These were drawn and printed in no time at all. A trial corner followed, with panels glued on using contact adhesive. The effect was very pleasing. The bolt heads are very small, but still add to the reality of cladding.

The corner panels are our 'standard' height, while the two spandrel panels, yet to be glued in place, are the two new sizes. An infill panel to suit the building width will be cut down, as required.

Geoff noticed that a small strip of paint had been removed from the underside of the lake sheet which had not had a protective layer of plastic applied in time. Rather than try and touch the paint up, he decided to create a feature of a floating log, which was retrieved from the garden.

We still can't get over the superb 3D effect created (without realising) by a single layer of paint applied to the underside of a clear perspex sheet.

Wednesday 17th May 2023

Worklist:

Produce corrugated sheets.

The idea of printing our own corrugated sheeting has been discussed for some time, and Geoff was keen to have a go. Stephen had always liked the Wills sheets that had some bolt-head detail. After some research, Geoff had produced a standard sheet, representing an 8 ft sheet including the recommended overlap. This would allow sheets to be laid flat, with no overlap, to create a full wall covering. The resin (liquid) printer would be used.

The process went like this: A single sheet was drawn in Designspark, then several sheets were laid out to fill the 'build-plate' of the printer economically. The sheets were printed, the plate was left to drain-off excess resin, and then given a quick rinse in isopropyl alcohol. The sheets were then scraped off the build plate and placed into a dedicated washer/curer, where more isopropyl and an agitator washed them more thoroughly. Finally, an array of UV lights cured the sheets.

Build plate just lifted from resin tank

Build plate being drained

Sheets being scraped off build plate

Sheets being washed in isopropyl alcohol bath with agitator (photo to follow).

UV curing stage

Stephen then took one of the building prints and started to arrange sheets to create a suitable layout.

Although the sheets can be cut, different sizes can be quickly created from the original CAD drawing to produce multiple 'specials'. One example was full 8ft sheets spanning window head to cill were produced, but there will probably be a lot more.

3rd and 10th May 2023

A jumbled-up fortnight: The 3rd of May photos were lost and it wasn't deemed worth writing up the session. Then we on the 10th May, Sheila and Laurence came to see the layout, after which we retired to a riverside pub for lunch. 

In honour of Sheila's first viewing of the layout (!), Geoff and Stephen had set up all 6 boards, which amazingly provided them with previously unseen views of the layouts current status. The boards all seemed to follow on from each other nicely, both in colour/texture and features. The engine shed location wasn't 'miles away' from the station and didn't look odd.

3rd May work:

Stephen had unearthed an unopened packet of Peco flexible fencing. This had been purchased from Charles Covey of Raynes Park, where Stephen was living during early days of Cottesmore. Geoff now assembled and planted the fence between the bridge and the quarry. It was far more difficult to build than we remembered, and a soldering iron was used rather than glue! It did the job in the end. Stephen cleaned up the loading dock corrugated roofing and copings.

A few photos from the 10th May viewing: