It Doesn't look quite like this...BUT ITS FINISHED!!

Re:It won't look quite like this...........

What a brilliant thread , loads of good tips .:thumbup:
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

Miamigo259 said:
Has anyone got any advice on what the best way of forming plasticard into the curved shape for a roof. I've recently made an IP engineering coach kit and they reccomended using a rolling pin - assuming you have one, that is!

Ideally a tube that is slightly smaller diameter than the finished article. try a length of drain pipe. Tie the styrene sheet to it at quite close centres, then put it in a hot bath for half an hour. You won't get the strings absolutely tight, but it will spring back to about the right curvature for your needs. I've done it with .040"
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Re:It won't look quite like this...........

Chuggsys method is definitely the best way, but heres a simpler alternative I tried this evening - basically parallel lines scored into 60 thou plastikard at 5 mm centres with a stanley knife. The roof assumes a natural arc - the closer the cuts or the deeper the cuts, the tighter the radius. The downside is that you have to sand off the burr and ideally laminate on an outer layer to get a smooth finish. This is for a funicular carriage so i'm quite happy with the 'planked' look.
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Re:It won't look quite like this...........

Dtsteam said:
Chuggsys method is definitely the best way, but heres a simpler alternative I tried this evening - basically parallel lines scored into 60 thou plastikard at 5 mm centres with a stanley knife. The roof assumes a natural arc - the closer the cuts or the deeper the cuts, the tighter the radius. The downside is that you have to sand off the burr and ideally laminate on an outer layer to get a smooth finish. This is for a funicular carriage so i'm quite happy with the 'planked' look.

Many thanks for the suggestions. I actually had some time today to do some work on the coach roof and have decided to go down the "scored/planked" road which at least breaks up what is quite a large roof surface.
Will see how it turns out, and if I don't like it, then I can just stick another layer of plasticard over the top!
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

As mentioned in the previous post, I decided to score the roof to obtain a curved profile, but with the length of the coach, the roof had to be made from two sections of plasticard. The first of these is seen below, with the scores made with a 1/4" seperation.
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The plasticard used is only 1mm thick, so it requires some strengthening along the edges. I actually used 4mm scale flat-bottom rail for this, a method previously used on the brake van that I scratchbuilt.
The roof is not going to be fixed in place on the coach, as a possible future option is to install interior lighting.
The two roof sections are seen below stuck to the edging.
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An idea of what the completed item will look like is shown below, though the roof still requires ventillators and various items of trim to be fitted, together with a coat of paint.
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Re:It won't look quite like this...........

What did you use to stick the rail section to the plasticard?

Thanks, J.
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

JonathanJ said:
What did you use to stick the rail section to the plasticard?

Thanks, J.
Just normal Evo Stick, which appears to do the job quite nicely.
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

that is another amazing peice from you....wow is the only response i can muster at this point in time... :D
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

The roof is now finished and ready for painting.

I added some strengthening pieces to the underside to form the roof exactly to the curvature as I wanted it .
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Some plastic strip sections were added to the top and some ventilators were constructed and glued in place. I was wondering what to make them out of, but a sudden flash of inspiration resulted in the use of some cup washers and those slightly domed caps you can get to cover up screw heads. They could do with being a bit larger, but I used some spare ones that I had in the toolbox!
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Re:It won't look quite like this...........

The coach is now finished at last - just needs some fleetnames and numbers, which I'll get round to eventually, though most probably when the other coach is completed!

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At least it fits in well with the Piko 218 conversion.
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

That looks great now it's finished - different and bright for sure! How many are you going to make?
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

jameshilton said:
That looks great now it's finished - different and bright for sure! How many are you going to make?
Just one more - a passenger/brake, for which the parts are already to hand - though I have got another NQ coach "spare" at the moment for possible conversion into something else...........

Won't be starting on the brake one yet until I've finished off an IP Engineering VoR coach that I started work on at the weekend!
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

Brilliant thread :thumbup:
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

Miamigo259 said:
The coach is now finished at last - just needs some fleetnames and numbers, which I'll get round to eventually, though most probably when the other coach is completed!

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At least it fits in well with the Piko 218 conversion.
Nice one mate!

Looks the part with the 'Henshel' diesel....
 
Re:It won't look quite like this...........

Andy Worsfold said:
Wow brilliant!

Will it go round R1?
Doubt it...........but I haven't actually got any R1's to worry about (other than whatever radius the short Aristocraft points are and it won't be venturing over the branches off the main line either!).

I specifically planned my main circuit with 4' radius curves, and this was actually changed to 5' radius before I laid the track as I didn't want to be caught out in the future if I bought a large loco (or item of rolling stock) of some sort.
 
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