Saturday 25 December 2021

Tumbarumba Goods Shed - revisited

 Tumbarumba Goods Shed - Take 2

Shortly after I had finished my construction of a goods shed for Tumbarumba around 3 years ago, it was correctly pointed out that I had made a big goof - I had used the wrong kit.  I had used a Bergs  G1b kit, but I should have used the smaller G1a kit.

One of the reasons for writing this blog, was for information exchange.  And I have been rewarded with contacts from knowledgable people, a large number of photographs.   Fortunately, there have been a few published in the "Tumba Rail" booklets, although images on the internet are rare.  



Still my only picture of the goods shed - I took this one in 1980.

The goods shed I had made (described on the earlier blog-post),

   https://buildingwagga.blogspot.com/2017/09/tumbarumba-goods-shed.html

was not right, so in some ways, I welcomed the opportunity to make a new shed

My initial build - probably closer to the Bergs instructions than I should have done.  Still an acceptable model, but it isn't Tumbarumba.  I plan to reuse this shed at Humula - the Railways track plan there shows a goods shed of the same size as a G1b, and good enough for me, although I have never seen a picture, and may not have been constructed at all

The new build

A few months after realising my mistake,  I acquired a Bergs G1a goods shed from ebay, and made a start on construction.





The techniques are similar to the ones used on the original build, although I did use a micromark magnetic clamp system for the basic shed. 

However, my desire was to make new models, and the partially made kit was placed into a plastic storage tray, and moved to one side.

A long time (a few years) later

Whilst I should be powering ahead with Wagga station, I was getting far too many interuptions for a concerted effort to complete (read kitten, gardening, lawn mowing, etc), the goods shed was something smaller, and taking up space on the workbench - mocking me to complete.

So, its time had come.

The build resumes

All of the metal corrugated sheets were attached to the wood the same way

Some foam added to the roof.  The foam block is a gentle way of providing a clamping grip over a large area.  I used white glue, rather than contact adhesive, for the metal, on wood join, as the latter does not provide any ability to reposition if you have not quite got the metal located correctly

A suitable weight on top of the foam block plus gravity is all the force needed




After the glue had dried, the metal roof is secure

One of subtle differences in the two sheds, was the supports.  The bergs kit assumes wooden piers, the Tumbarumba shed actually has brick piers.  I had made brick piers before for the Ladysmith goods shed - by wrapping superquick brick papers around square wooden pegs.  This time, try a new technique.

I cut 20 piers from Evergreen styrene using my mains powered 400 watt table saw.  This saw was a covid lockdown purchase from a company in Melbourne.  I think the saw is actually made in Australia.  The beauty of this saw is that it allows me to get a 90 degree cut on the styrene, something that I found near impossible to do just with hand tools

I cut a strip from the Slaters brick sheet styrene

Positioning the evergreen pier on the back of the slaters styrene strip shows me the material I have to bevel.

The pieces needed to make just one pier

Piers in position.  The set of steps was scratchbuilt from styrene strip, to be a clone of my original steps made from wood.  And in a departure from other small models I have made, I used a 0.040 thou styrene base for the shed.  After the piers had dried, the steps (just there for the photo) will be removed, and the whole lot turned upside down, and sanded to a uniform height on a sheet of glass paper.




The as yet unfinised shed on the base to test the positioning of the steps (held in position with a dab of blue-tac).  It will later be secured with styrene cement

Finishing


Downpipe made from sytrene rod, cut and reglued to get the angles.  Secured to the wall with white glue


All parts now painted, awaiting weathering, positioning on the layout, and blending in the scenery.  The shed has been tacked to the piers with 4 dabs of white glue - to enable easy removal for the future scenery work


I have had a lot of fun finishing this model.  I tried out some new techniques, and happy with the end result.  Whilst, I may now prefer to build in just styrene, rather than a composite materials, it is good to not loose those skills.


Conclusion

Looking around my workbench, I note quite a number of unfinished projects - (eg. silo for Ladysmith, water tank for Borambola, lamp building for Bomen, DJH D50), and as a new years resloution, finishing these will be the goal.  I will let you know how I go via the blog.


And finally, a couple of extra pictures.

*

Bomen lever frame - under construction, by Tony, of Mackenzie in HOland. Tony visited me last week to show off his progress.


Trouble kitten on her Xmas present.  Assembling the Cat Tree was a bit more of a challenge, as the Chinese made kit, contained just a colour picture, the parts, and an inventory of parts.  Still, Trouble was happy with the end result.

All the best for the festive season, and the upcoming year.  

Until next time

Saturday 4 December 2021

Wagga Station - Front entrance awning

 Wagga station - Awnings continued (Front Entrance)

I was overly optimistic after the first awning was installed, that the experimentation had finished, and it was smooth sailing ahead.  Well, it didn't turn out that easy.


Wagga station - front roadside entrance, as it appeared in 2019, after the latest heritage makeover. 


Doors.

Prior to the awnings going in, it was time to make some doors to fit the doorways.  There are a lot of doors, but the techique is the same


West roadside veranda - concrete floor made in a similar way to the eastern side. The doorway is on the gable wall

Here is how the door appears today.  The dark brown colour now, is not the tan/buff colour of the Red heritage paint scheme

The door built on clear styrene. The yellow post-it-note has the tracing of the doorway opening. I covered this in an earlier blogpost. I used Tamiya Buff for the door colour - close 

Fitted, in position.  

Inclined ramp

Wheelchair access, means no steps. 

I don't have a blow-by-blow on this one.  Essentially, it is 2 sheets of 0.040 thou styrene, with wedges to maintain the curve.  But there is a trick.  The uppermost styrene sheet has been pre-bent, using a technique I think is called knurling - a series of parallel knife cuts on the underside forces the styrene to bend gracefully.  It is a technique I have used to bend planks for ship modelling.

The ramp positioned to extend from the bottom of the doorways, to the curb of the future road.



Ironwork and roof

Take the front entrance etches from the fret, and bend, whittle, and make it fit the 9.6cm wide opening

Position the column bases, using the etch tabs, on the styrene base. 

Add the columns. These were made using the technique I described in a previous blogpost. Check the height - the side "stonework" blocks

Start making the decoration for the awning roof.  The white plank above the doorways is the roofline positioning mark.  It is secured with small screws, for later removal prior to painting

All those little corbels are fiddly at best

After gluing in the corrugated roof, the awning can be removed for the next stage, which fortunately, occurs on the workbench

Relocated back after fitting the missing sections of the awning roof. This is my third attempt at cutting out these triangle shapes. The first time, the peak of the roof was not horizontal, the second attempt, the peak of the roof was off at an angle to the walls. The third attempt was better, and good enough for me


Post-it notes make good templates.  To get the angle right for the reinforcing styrene, I ensured the post-it-note fitted without gaps.  The template also good for the gable end

Making the gable end for the front entrance was tricky, with lots of custom cut pieces of styrene, for the trim.  However, looking at this picture, and comparing it to the prototype at the front of this blogpost, I might have to make some adjustments to the triangle feature.  Still, it is good to see how visible the entrance doors are.

Another minor issue, was that the roof capping "melted" in spots, as I might have flooded too much styrene cement. Unsure if I fill with putty, or simply lift the melted strips, and replace.



Progress is a bit slow, but one has to work at ones own pace, and priorities.  Again, much thanks to Ross Balderson for the etch artwork, and Badger Bits for arranging the etching.

Until next time.


 
Trouble, the now 2 month old kitten, has taken an interest in my typing on the keyboard - and is another reason, why progress has been slower than I would hope.