Garden railway in 16mm: Wilmington Light Railway

[Greengiant]

I have gone as far as I want to with the cattle dock for the time being, apart from some strips that are required for the slope.

Planted it in some gravel to get a feel for how it will look on the railway.









Martin

 

[Greengiant]

Finished glazing the rest room, so attached it to the main shed. Pleased with the little opening window, but not pleased with the so called matt varnish on the roofs. Need to look into alternatives for this (more on that later as to what I ended up using).











Martin

 

[Greengiant]

The windows for the signal box have been cut from 2mm PVC Foamex.



Test fitted into the wall apertures.



The door from laminations of 3mm and 1mm. I have discovered PVC Foamex can also be glued with MEK, this made assembling the door a lot easier and not as time critical like super glue.



Also test fitted to the aperture.



I had a stack of empty CD cases, the recessed CD inlays were removed, then the clear cases were run through the band saw to remove all the return edges, this left me with a pile of flat polycarbonate clear sheets, nominally 1mm thick, from something that was destined for the bin.



The band saw does leave micro chipping to the edges, maybe a finer blade would have been better. However, it was easy to true up the edges with an OLFA laminate cutter.



I had kept the cut out pieces from the door to act as templates which was just a case of scribing with a scalpel blade to mark the sheet, then cut through using multiple passes with the laminate cutter. After the first couple of cuts with a ruler the Olfa can be used freehand because it follows the groove.





Martin

 

[Greengiant]

I never seem to able to stick with one project, always having a number of things on the go at the same time.

A start has been made on getting the parts cut for the station building.

Inspired by the GWR one at Brynamman, which my friend Geoff Taylor has modelled in 4mam for his new layout. He kindly gave me copies of his original drawings he made for his model, which I adapted slightly to give the look I wanted for my version of the building and to suit narrow gauge proportions with regard to the main canopy, not forgetting scaling up to 16mm.

Platform elevation with an indication of the full length canopy valance, with a lean-to entrance to the righthand end.



Righthand end shows the profile of the canopy, the lean-to that wraps around the rear corner and an indication of the main chimney stack, with a second stack in the roof.



The public main approach face. Lean-to wrapping around, main chimney stack and a small canopy over the twin entrance doors.



The remaining end.



Micro chisel used for vertical mortar joints, ground blade to the correct width, thickened handle with Gaffa tape and an old door knob to make pushing comfortable.



Lining up chisel for embossing.



For the vertical board joints I scribed twice with different sized tools in an attempt to simulate shiplap. Does not show up well in photographs! These tools are usually used in cake decorating. This is the fine ball.



This is the thicker ball, handle beefed up with tape.



Bricks and boards scribed, window and door apertures cut out. The framing pieces will be added as overlays of 1mm and 2mm Foamex. This photo the shiplap form shows up better.



Both main side walls.



Lean-to drawn and scribed, ready now for cutting out.



For the main cutting I like these curved blades, for final corner cuts I use a scalpel.



The main chimney drawn and scribed.



Roof chimney drawn and scribed. The Pentel pencil I have had for about 35 years.



Chimney parts cut out.



Next on the drawing board are the inner bracing walls, then I wall have enough parts to glue up the basic structure.

Martin

 

[paulc]

Hi Martin , as this project started in 2017 how has the sub base and the track work held up . Do you still get nocturnal visitors undermining the ballast etc ?

 

[Greengiant]

Hi Martin , as this project started in 2017 how has the sub base and the track work held up . Do you still get nocturnal visitors undermining the ballast etc ?

Hi Paul,
The sub base is still fine and as level and true as when first installed. The ballast however has changed to a new method. It will be apparent as I catch up with the thread I had a lot of trouble with cats and foxes. They basically saw it as a giant litter tray! My new method has been down a year now, fingers crossed it is holding up fine.
Martin