One person's rubbish is someone elses...

[Old Tom]

...signal box

I rescued these sheets from a skip that was outside a school which was closing down:

I found out that I could peel off the shiny coating:

And was left with a sheet of soft plastic type stuff which was very easy to cut. I tested various ways to glue it together. They all worked! The PVA was slowest to dry while Plastic Weld was almost instantaneous, so I went for the Poly cement which seemed to strike the best balance.

After a bit of work with my steel rule and craft knife, it's started to take shape already. It's also very easy to scribe panel lines to represent the planking:

The windows are spare ones left over from my Jackson 'Small station' build and the roof slates will also come from the same source. So this is going to be a 'no cost build'.

I don't think this plastic is weather proof (but perhaps someone with more experience might say different??) so it'll have to be a 'take outside when needed'.

I'll keep you posted with progress...

 

[Bram]

Looking good matey

 

[Steve]

Brilliant work Tom

 

[yb281]

That's brilliant Bob. How thick is the plastic? If it's thick enough to hold it's shape without bowing, it should be OK outside. Having said that, probably better to be safe than sorry. I've got a couple of buildings that only go out when the weather is good and I don't find it too much of a bind personally.

 

[3Valve]

Like it, and at no cost too. Brilliant.

 

[Gizzy]

Good work Tom....

 

[stockers]

Very nice build. Is the plastic the foam cored type - this should live outside pretty well.

 

[Old Tom]

Very nice build. Is the plastic the foam cored type - this should live outside pretty well.

Well, that's the thing Mr S... it's not really foam cored, it's more like lots and lots of layers of thin plastic. Is that the same thing?
I'm sure it's an 'industry standard' product but I haven't a clue what it's called. If I did know what it was, I'd recommend it for all scratchbuilt buildings (mainly because it's very easy to work with).
Oh, and while I am here... I want to do a minimal amount of interior detail - just enough to make it a bit interesting - and was thinking of a simple 4 lever frame. Anyone got a photo I could use as a guide?

Thanks

 

[stockers]

No Sorry - dont know what that is.
Steve Warrington at Back2Bay6 does signal box interiors. Alternatively, pop rivets have been used as point levers.

 

[Doug]

Very nice build. Is the plastic the foam cored type - this should live outside pretty well.

Well, that's the thing Mr S... it's not really foam cored, it's more like lots and lots of layers of thin plastic. Is that the same thing?
I'm sure it's an 'industry standard' product but I haven't a clue what it's called. If I did know what it was, I'd recommend it for all scratchbuilt buildings (mainly because it's very easy to work with).
Oh, and while I am here... I want to do a minimal amount of interior detail - just enough to make it a bit interesting - and was thinking of a simple 4 lever frame. Anyone got a photo I could use as a guide?

Thanks

 

[Old Tom]

Excellent! Cheers Doug

 

[Old Tom]

And thanks Alan... I've actually got some pop rivets that I use for my Corgi/Dinky diecast restorations so this project might well end up a real 'no cost' build!

 

[flyingsignalman]

Doug beat me to it!
Here's my go anyway.
I used 2 of Steve Warrington's lever frame kits to make a 10 lever frame. I think he sells a pack of 10 levers now though.

The lever colours are
Red, stop signals
Black, points
Blue, facing point locks
Green, distant signal (nowadays painted yellow)

 

[royale]

Excellant work - looks really good.

 

[Old Tom]

A bit further on with the build:

The Sation Master popped in to see how the work is all going - and of course there's always a rubber-necker who wanders into shot!

 

[owlpool]

excellent - looks really effective
like the tilting window too

 

[Shawn]

Wow that looks great. Great idea

 

[Bram]

That's a first class job, I like the stove

 

[Old Tom]

Borrowing ideas from Doug and Alan (cheers lads! ), this is how it's looking:

The frame is just a bit of painted wood which although is not accurate, it does the job.

 

[yb281]

Fan-bloomin-tastic Tom!