Wednesday 20th December 2023

Worklist:

Building sign - review artwork, create waterslide transfer and apply signage.

Review new porch parts and assemble.

Finish pipework assembly and make good grass and foliage.

Fit engine shed windows.

Geoff had produced some artwork for the sign, which included some rust patches and a border. After printing onto waterslide transfer paper and trimming to size, the transfer was applied to the building. Microsol liquid was then applied all over the transfer to help bed it into the corrugations and over the bolt heads.

Note the bolt heads under the transfer.

Stephen had remade the porch components, but needed to check the width of the door cill. Once confirmed, the parts were assembled, ready for painting. It is still an option at this stage and will be reviewed again, as the area develops. 

The new paving in the area was discussed. One option was to lay stone slabs onto the existing 'gravel' surface, with a kerb along the front edge, providing a pedestrian area. The other option was to have paving flush with the road thereby suitable for mixed traffic, maybe stock for collection. The foam layer underneath would make the latter feasible.

Geoff finished painting and weathering the pipe framework. The concrete base was trimmed to size, then painted, and the area finished with electrostatic grass and foliage. More foliage could be trained up the pipes, which would be easier if the structure wasn't removable. It's present solidity makes the latter very likely.

Stephen fitted the engine shed window frames, which were generally a tight fit. The glazing will be added in due course.

Geoff had been researching a method of making trees from stranded wire, which gave a purpose for some very special cables. These lengths were rescued from the restoration project he's working on, and date back to 1938, when the carriages were first built. Lengths were wound together and trimmed to shape. 'Thick' PVA will be applied and dry tiling grout scattered over it to provide some texture.

View from the fiddleyard showing the three tracks. 

Left: The hidden track that runs under the buildings from the tunnel on the main station board. This is the Quarry line. Wagon loads of 'empties and fulls' (crushed stone and stone slabs), come and go on this line via the main station area.

Middle: The stonemasons private siding. The bulk stone materials come here from the quarry and the finished stonework goes on down the line for distribution.

Right: Is the 'mainline', to and from the main railway network.

Wednesday 13th December 2023

Worklist:
Review homework on the office/house.

Continue with pipework structure.

Print replacement windows for engine shed.

Degrade rust effects on engine shed roof.

Consider paving for office forecourt.

The guttering and downpipes built the previous week were lost in transit - twice!!! There was no choice but to remake them in the redesigned format. The back half of all the windows had been painted and fitted.

Stephen had always seen the office entrance with a porch to save staff waiting to be admitted getting wet in the rain. The first effort had oversized timbers and a tiled roof and it didn't look good. The tiles were cut off and a file was taken to the timbers, before painting. It was now a test structure, and didn't look too bad. The whole area had never looked resolved and now needed serious consideration. More anon.

Geoff made and fitted the timber panel at the pipe entry into the building. The pipe cradles were epoxied to the framework tops and the flanges were spaced-out and superglued in place.

After toning down the engine shed roof rust, Stephen returned to the office entrance and  made some trial stone slabs. Loosely laid, there was an immediate change in the area appearance. A Morris van was hastily retrieved from storage and placed to one side. It was looking good. Image searches for stone paving gave insight into how much texture was needed on thinner, coarse card. A panel right across to the loading dock would finish things nicely.

Geoff's trials with transfers onto the corrugated iron had worked well and after (finally) finding his sheets of home-transfer papers, it was decided to 'have a go'. The name, pulled from a list of common local surnames, random initials and an all-encompassing tag-line, will be applied to some transfer paper in due course.

It's all coming together nicely.

Wednesday 6th December 2023

Worklist:

Review Stephens homework on the office and house.

Progress pipework structure.

Fit angle brackets to hold the buildings down.

The primary homework was to weather the two buildings replicating Geoff's work on the workshop. With great trepidation, a slurry of plaster filler was applied to the buildings. Under the misapprehension that the wet slurry should be 'worked' into the painted, embossed plastic, this was started, but almost immediately some unexpected patches appeared. After letting the slurry dry a bit, the effect was better, so it was decided to let it dry-out completely. At this point, further rubbing down with paper towel evened the effect out, although the overall appearance had taken a beaten. However, the new 'down-at-heel' buildings might just suit the proposed location better, so the verdict was out for now.

Guttering and downpipes were made from umbrella struts and 2.5mm stripped power cable. All windows were initially painted white and the front doors green and brown, but the office windows and door frame were later painted green.

Dropped onto the layout, the 'shabby' appearance fitted well in their surroundings, and got the thumbs up.

Stephen turned to fixing the buildings over the 'tunnel' down using old aluminium brackets from one of Geoff's old LT projects. As per the cottages, the angles were fitted to the plywood base using 6mm bolts fed up into captive nuts from the tunnel ceiling below. With plastic sheet 'isolation' squares in place, epoxy glue was used to fix the buildings (and nut) to the angles.

Meanwhile, Geoff returned to the pipework structure at the board end. Brass and steel pipes were bent to the required shape. Brass cradles were made and the two pipes soldered to them. The printed flanges

had to be fitted prior to bending and therefore had to be moved around to avoid melting!

A third cradle was also soldered in place where the pipes come down onto what will become a concrete anchor base.

The wooden block was cut down and the void filled. 

A timber casing will be fabricated for where the pipes enter the building. A tree will be made and planted in front of the base, to a method Geoff had recently admired on YouTube. We await the outcome of that with interest.

An unusual view of the buildings from the fiddleyard end.

Extra windows needed to be printed for the house and office for Stephen to finish them off, but the part of the garage where the 3D printer resided was too cold, so the printer had to be brought into the 'warmer' room before it could be used. An interesting comparison of old and new technologies!

Stonemasons signage:  Geoff also ran a trial on applying waterslide transfers onto our corrugated iron sheets. A small proprietary transfer was applied and covered with Microsol. It appears to hug the contours well, but we'll see how it dries out next week.