Project 20 - 0 Gauge Layout - Part 17A

Time for another building. It is the Paper Mill, inspired by the large building in this photograph of Hollins paper mill in Darwin (now demolished).

A lot of work is involved in making the model so, it is presented across two Postings.

The shell of the building is made of corrugated cardboard. This is proving an ideal material for 0 gauge buildings, as it is 'free' and makes a robust large model.

Unlike the Hollins building there is a covered walkway from the large hole on the right across two railway tracks to an imagined building off the layout.

Decorative papers of brick and rendered cement were applied to the shell. Interior decoration is also provided. The model is of the low relief variety, meaning it is assumed to be much longer than shown with the rest of it being off layout. Even so it is quite large for a low relief model, which are usually not much more than a wall against a backscene.

The back interior wall is covered in perspective views of real mill interiors, one for each floor, giving the impression of the building being much longer, although it is barely visible through the windows. May be more noticeable if the inside was lit.

The window frames are DIY 3D printed in plastic.

I wanted to include machinery on each floor and pondered on this for some time concerned about the difficulty of making 3D models of complex machinery.

I had a eureka moment when I saw a photograph that was taken from an angle that was ideal when seen through a window from the normal viewpoint of the model on the layout.

The idea was to cut out the machinery from the photograph, stick it to board and simply fix this two dimensional scene inside the building.

However, a three dimensional element was introduced by cutting out the roll of paper and table from the photograph and mounting it about 5 mm in front of the machine.

The scene was replicated to fill the ground floor of the building.

I found another ideal photograph to treat similarly for the first floor.

This is the view throught the ground floor windows of the machinery shown above.

I may not get away with this trick for the second floor, as the flat machinery will be more obvious viewed through skylights in the roof.

To Part 17B.

To Part 1. 

Project 20 - 0 Gauge Layout - Part 16

I liked the use of railings on Arun Quay. I 3D printed some for my layout and what a pain that was!

Initially, I designed each 6 foot panel as one part. The horizontal bars extend slightly either side of the poles. When the panel is printed laid down there is a small gap between the poles and the print bed, which was enough to cause malformation of the poles in places. The solution was to make each panel from two parts such that the poles are in contact with the print bed and a separate horizontal bar side extension is glued in place afterwards

That was not the end of the story because each panel is glued to the next using Superglue and that was more successful at sticking my fingers than the plastic!

The ivy is teased out hairy string covered in real, minced dead tree leaves and then sprayed with green acrylic paint.

The spiky 'weed' is petrified lavender leaves from a bush that had died, sprayed with green acrylic paint.

To Part 17A.

To Part 1.

Project 20 - 0 Gauge Layout - Part 15

For those of us who mostly scratch build, especially trackwork, it can take weeks or even months working on the foundations of a layout. During this long period it looks nothing like a real railway and can result in enthusiasm waning. It is not until landscaping is underway that the scene comes to life, lifting the spirits and spurring us on with construction.

The two buildings previously presented are in place, albeit much closer to the branch line track than would be allowed in the real world. Between them is a privy (barely visible) being a scaled up version of the Wills plastic kit. In my case it is made from balsa wood 'planks'.

The grass is old fashioned hairy carpet underlay glued to the baseboard and peeled off when dry to leave a multitude of hairs that are trimmed with scissors to the desirable height.. Once painted with acrylics (by sweeping the paint brush to and fro) it takes on a grass like appearance. This method can give longer grass length and be clumpier in places than static grass.

The ivy is teased out hairy string covered in real minced dead tree leaves and then sprayed with acrylic paint.

The bush is the dead, bristly flower head of  Ceratostigma willmottianum covered in real minced dead tree leaves and sprayed green.

To Part 16.

To Part 1.