Whitesands Quay from SimonCox.com

Goods Shed and Ticket Office

Simon Cox — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 13:44:49 GMT

The original plans Reinier drew included a building at the front of the layout that had track going through it. He wrote in October 1992's OO9 News "In front of the warehouse is the railway building, an engine shed combined with a goods shed and even a small station.".

First Building - Sennan Cove cottage

I built a foam-board building without the track running though, based on a building at Sennan Cove in Cornwall that I gad taken photographs of. Its thick stone whitewashed walls and heavy sky blue shutters suggested all you needed to know about the cornish coastline.

But it wasn't quite what Reinier had described and whilst it fitted the vernacular of the village, it did not provide the role or focal point intended. Great looking building, but perhaps for another layout.

Brick booking office and goods hall

I then set about constructing a building that was to the exact dimensions in the plan with an enclosed goods shed line with platform going through. Details included a ticket office window with canopy and office door, good shed doors and the wall opposite the Warehouse had tall arched windows - mostly to aid in shunting when operating from the rear of the layout. This was cut from 2mm mdf from my drawing and glued together.

The building was covered in a brick wrapper. After sitting on the layout for a few months I decided that the wall next to the quay needed to be in the local Cornish stone so created a wrap in 0.5mm laser-board and etched the stonework. I was quite pleased with that.

Then a friend remarked that the stonework was a little on the large size - which it was of course and now I couldn't unsee it. So I spent an evening carving out more stones from the surface.

I got as far as creating the front canopy protecting the ticket office and cutting out the roof template, but I still wasn't entirely happy with it. So it sat on the layout for a year untouched while I focused on other parts hoping for some inspiration on how to rescue this area.

Stone Office with adjoining open canopy and platform

In the end I decided to go for a complete rebuild. This time I would halve the size of the stone building and build an open canopy covering the goods shed part where the track ran through. Inspiration for this was looking at some photographs of old buildings, including the covered station at Corris.

I realised I would have to design the roof over the goods shed as two parts to to allow it to reach across the span required and also fit against the rear wall of the booking office. The smaller canopy arch bring the supporting legs down on the good platform, whilst the larger part of the canopy is over the track-work.

In my mind this would have been cheaper to construct than a full building - light railways were always looking for ways to save operating costs and thinking through reasons for elements to exist on a model railway enhances the realism and adds background! From a visual point of view the aesthetics are much more pleasing, there is more to look at and consider. All in all I am much happier with the third version of this building and I hope that Reinier would have found it suitable.

I drew up the plans in Affinity Designer, converted then to .svg files and imported them in to LightBurn so that I could send them to my diode laser cutter. I used 2mm basswood for this for the first time, I had used 2mm MDF and a Kraftboard in the past but this model has exposed parts that would show the basswood texture - the rest being wrapped.

The basswood turned out well - though I did need to do some additional cutting to removed the pieces from the sheet – I can probably fix that with some laser setting adjustments on future items.

The building was wrapped in Cornish Stone paper from Scale Model Scenery that most of Whitesands Quay uses.

Doors and windows were drawn up and laser cut from 0.5mm Kraftplex CL board

The woodwork was painted - I have gone for a light green intending to tone it down a little as it get weathered.

The small canopy over the booking office window and office door I kept from the second building but had to create a new one as the original was too wide. I completely redrew this version based on some ironwork on the Great Northern Railway buildings - only because I found an appropriate drawing to work from. Three pieces make up each of the three canopy struts.

Classic railway canopy boarding was also drawn and laser cut to complete the structure.

Completion of the Goods Shed and Ticket Office

A lot of painting and a bit of weathering then took place until I was happy with progress ont he building. Final details were added including the Ogee gutters and drainpipes, from Modelu but I needed rainwater hoppers for the roof gullies to drain into. These I created and 3D resin printed myself.

I'm very pleased with this building now. It fits the vernacular of the village and is quirky and interesting which will give viewers a lot to look at.

Resin printed figures for Whitesands Quay

Simon Cox — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 09:36:12 GMT

I signed up for the Modelu. Patreon plan last year and pay a small amount each month and in return I receive a zip file of five or six figures on a theme for the month. These files are the .stl files for 3D printing. The downloads are only available for a short time and I missed March and Aprils this year - completely forgot to download them!

For the June release we had a pack of Sea Workers - men in oilskins, and these will be great for Whitesands Quay.. I had to look up the history of oilskins to ensure they are ok for the era I am modelling, they are, so I downloaded the files for printing.

3D printing

My Elegoo Mars 3 Pro printer has not been printing out well the last few times I used it - months ago. It put me off trying anything more for a while. After some online reading I realised that the problem was probably the FEP - the clear sheet at the bottom of the resin tank. I emptied the tank and cleaned it - the sheet was no longer clear but had an opaqueness to it. Also it was scratched in a few places and had a few odd lumps. A replacement was needed. I purchased a pack of 5 PFA Release Liner Film sheets. Replacing the sheet involved unscrewing 28 screws from the tank and plate, replacing the film and then replacing the 28 screws.

New resin

The Elegoo Water-washable Resin I have is nearly out of date and I discovered they now also produce a new version called 8K Water-washable Resin which some people are suggesting is just a marketing gimmick. It comes in three shades of grey and I chose the darkest - called space grey, just like the Apple products and about the same colour... So yes perhaps a marketing gimmick! However the combination of the 8K resin and the new FEP has produced an excellent set of prints!

I printed 40 figures from the Modelu files I had - many for the first time - in one batch costing me 18p in materials. I will still purchase Modelu figures though as their quality is better than I can print, less brittle and they have figures for sale that have not been made available as files. Having cleaned then and hardened them using UV light I set about painting.

Cleaning up the prints means cutting off the supports which are necessary to support the delicate part of the models. This resin is very brittle and I lost a few hands and feet in this process - some of which I was able to superglue back on but it is a delicate part of the process.

Figure painting techniques

I mounted 10 figures onto double sided tape on a block of wood. This tape might be a bit too strong but I am going to cut the figures off their printing support sprues anyway. I airbrushed the figures with Ammo by Mig One Shot Black primer. I then followed up using One Shot White primer only from the top. This will give a subtle shading when painted.

The first thing to paint that I do is always the flesh. This immediately brings them to life!

Then I work around the figures mixing and adding colours. There is so much detail on these figures that they are hard but a joy to paint.

I will update when I have completed these.

Whitesands Quay Customs House rocks

Simon Cox — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 01:00:00 GMT

Whilst most of the Whitesands Quay layout has been planned for many years the details don't actually get sorted out until I turn my attention to them. An example is the area behind the Customs House. It is in the curved corner on the right of the layout and will not be seen that well - but that is not an excuse for me to neglect it.

Using fir tree bark to model a rock face on Whitesands Quay

This week I had a small epiphany whilst out putting rubbish in the bins.. When I made the log store. I had to move a pile of larger trunk logs and put them next to what was to become the bin store (and had to move a couple again when I built the bin store...). These fir logs have an interesting bark on them and I could see they might make a good rock face. I have no idea what type of fir tree it was, before you ask.

I removed a chunk of the fir bark and took it inside to my modelling bench. After a bit of sawing and cutting I was able to fashion several pieces together to make a reasonably convincing rock race on the end of the section with the four back cottages. I had to cut back the foam a little, undercoated it and then I glued the pieces in.

A few more pieces were fashioned and glued to the Customs House base to fill some gaps and more pieces were added to the right hand side of the module.

I also added a different type of bark, this time from pieces that had been shed by a nearby Douglas Fir. They are much thinner and look like shale rock strata and were placed behind and to the side of the Customs House.

Small walls

I constructed a couple of small walls using 3mm foam card and Scale Model Scenery TX220-OO Old Stone Wall Texture Paper. and added one at the end of the back cottage row and one to the small bluff to the right of the Customs House.

Painting the rock faces

I redid the undercoat, as I was not terribly happy with it, using black Mig One Shot primer applied with the airbrush. I then brush painted a medium grey followed with a sponge application of light grey. Then I applied an enamel dark wash over all areas to bring out details. Lastly I worked over certain areas with a variety of AK weathering pencils to add a few highlights and a small amount of lichen.

Adding to the Whitesands Quay backscene

I like to add depth to certain views on this model and there are several gaps and alleyways between buildings leading to parts of the village further back. To provide a hint of what could be back there I have used vintage images of Cornwall. I go for the older ones so as not to date them which means they are in black and white. However with modern technologies now available I am able to colourise these4 quite quickly - though I also do a bit of retouching where needed.

This gives tantalising glimpses between the buildings in certain viewing positions.

What next on Whitesands Quay?

Good question! No idea what part I am going to work on next. There is still some work to do in this area but for now I am pleased with progress.

Whitesands Quay replacement row of cottages

Simon Cox — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 01:00:00 GMT

A new model of a row of cottages

The baseboard of Whitesands Quay is bigger then the original plan by Reinier Hendrickson and so I had to introduce additional features which includes a back row of buildings. This started off with a row of four cottages which I had built from a kit by Scale Model Scenery and it fitted the part well. Having recently completed the Methodist Chapel. I was more than happy with progress. Then Scale Model Scenery announced that they were going to be releasing a new kit of a row of Terraced Cottages. based loosley on those in the village of Tresillian in Cornwall. They looked perfect for the spot and the kit was about the same site footprint as the original cottages. So I placed the order.

Cottage research

Whilst waiting fo the kit to arrive I did some research and found the right hand cottage in the row was actually a workshop until it was converted only a few years ago.

Cottages at Tresillian 2011 ©Google Maps

A dig through the Francis Frith collection of images of Tresillian revealed a photo of the row of cottages in 1955. Most noticeable is that the left hand cottage was at that time a shop.

Cottages at Tresillian 1955 ©Francis Frith Collection.

I really like the shop and workshop but wanted to build the kit as it came rather than try and scratch build all the features of the original. Whilst it is Cornish it isn't anywhere near where the fictitious Whitesands Quay is located!

The build

This kit is involved but not that complex and it is really well thought out, as I have come to expect now with the SMS kits. It comes complete with rear single story extensions for the kitchens and conveniences but because this is going to be up against the backscene on Whitesands Quay, and there isn't the room I left those off the build. Also I have not made up the rear windows and doors as they will also cannot be seen.

The shell of the cottages is all 3mm mdf and is constructed around a 1st floor base with tabs that slot into the walls. io am more used to building up from a ground floor base but this makes far more sense as it gives the building a lot of strength and rigidity. I dry fitted the floor, front and back and finally then end walls and held it together with a small amount of tape, not that it needed it. I then ran Super 'Phatic glue, which is very thin and high penetrating, along the joints an a moments it was all stuck together. Internal walls were then fitted, I painted the inside with a non reflective black paint and the building was left to dry.

Windows

The windows with this kit are 16 pane sash windows and really look the part. There is a frame plus the upper and lower window and I found holding them together and touching each side with Super 'Phatic glue has them assembled and square in no time. The windows were then glazed with cellophane.

A quick rub on some wet and dry paper took of the tabs from the laser cut and the windows fitted perfectly in the openings.

I covered each rear window with an opaque sheet to diffuse any light reflecting in from the backscene.

Opaque sheeting across the rear window apertures

The doors

I did some more research on door colours for these six panelled Georgian, apparently Victorian doors were more often four panelled as was the fashion, though I did go for a lighter green for one of them. These also fitted perfectly.

The roof

There is a ceiling, with guttering, which I had painted up, and this slips over the internal walls and was glued down to the external walls. The edge protrudes as the gutter and looks great! Before this was fitted I needed to make sure everything I wanted in the upper floors rooms was complete - no going back later once the ceiling is glued down. After that comes the roof piece which is pre-marked with lines for the slates. I used UHI Stick for putting the slates on and it took no time at all.

The chimneys

in the rest of the village I have used Modelu chimney pots but thought I'd try the rolled up printed pots that come with the kit and they were fiddly but look great. I have weathered them in with some matt black paint.

Chimneys on the roof of the cottages

Summary

This is a very good kit, well made and goes together well. It could be converted easily for anything you need but for me it was released serendipitously at the right time as I am about to build up the landscape it will sit on. I really like the Cornish providence as well.

Scale Model Scenery KX080-00 Terraced Cottages.

Whitesands Quay Chapel

Simon Cox — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 24:00:00 GMT

The old cottages

Originally my extended layout design had two old single story cottages at the back between the shop and the boat builders. When I set out all the buildings on the plan and added some height to the back row I realised the flow of the buildings wasn't quite to my liking. In front of the old cottages is the very low workshop and the two new cottages. It all jarred a bit with me so I considered replacing the old cottages.

Whitesands Quay original cottages

The spirit of the Whitesands Quay fishermen

I thought about what the locals would require, and coming from the East Kent coast myself am well aware of historic local fishing industrys. The sea is bountiful but can be very cruel. I considered a Seamans Mission but Whitesands Quay isn't big enough for one. The local folk are in need of some spiritual sustenance however, other than the pub of course. The other end of the line, Moors End, has a church so I thought something along those lines but a little different would suit. I found that Cornwall has an abundance of small Chapels of different faiths. My research led me to a lovely example of a Methodist Chapel in Fraddon, south of Indian Queens. It was recently converted into a home but Google Street View gave me a couple of excellent views to work from.

Street View of Methodist Chapel at Fraddon, Cornwall

Whitesands Quay paper mock up of chapel

Drawing up the wrap

I have used commercial wrap textures on most of the Whitesands Quay buildings but for this model I wanted to try and reproduce the exact stonework. I use Affinity Designer for my drawing and all the items I cut with the laser as it is accurate and quick to use. First I drew the quoins around the doors, windows, built in 1877 round recess and the corners. Then I drew up each stone in the front elevation as near as I could get it within reason. I have not counted the stones but there is a lot. Each has a very subtle 3D effect added and then the layer has a texture layer added to it to add some subtle variance.

Once complete I printed this out in high quality on matt photo paper and cut it out.

Whitesands Quay chapel wrap

Laser cutting the walls and details

For this project I have used 1.5mm Kraftplex board. I wasn't going to use this as it has a textured surface but as I had decided to wrap it that did not matter. I drew up Front, sides, back and floor, cut them out with the laser and glued them together. The back I put in later to allow access when fitting the windows and door.

I used 0.5mm Kraftplex for the door and windows. This is a thin smooth board that I can cut down almost to 0.5mm width allowing very fine detailing on the window frames. Abouve the door is also a fine window light. All these parts were then painted with the nearest shade I had to the maroon in the images of the Methodist Chapel. I did also make a parish notice board.

Whitesands Quay chapel laser cut parts assembled

Finishing the Chapel

The wrap was carefully glued to the building wrapping the window and door appertures around and onto the inside. I then glued the door and windows in place and glazed the windows. The engraved building stone was printed out and gled behine the recess for it. I then glued a peice of board behind this as light was showing through the paper and it is meant to be stone!

The barge board is 0.5 board laser cut and painted. The roof is card with Scale Model Scenery LX410-OO Pre-Weathered Laser Cut Roof Slates..

Whitesands Quay chapel right side view

Whitesands Quay chapel left side view

Whitesands Quay chapel front view - with added parish notice board and weathering

I also added the parish notice board and some weathering to the front elevation.

And thats about it. I am very pleased with the result and it fits in well with the rest of the layout.

Whitesands Quay first outing

Simon Cox — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 01:00:00 GMT

Work in progress gets out the house

Recently I realised that it was five years ago that I had built the baseboard framework after Richard Glover gave me the plans for Whitesands Quay. Yes, I have moved house since and yes I have a lot more room in which to model but blah blah blah excuse excuse etc. So in an effort of mightly finger pulling out I asked if I might take Whitesands Quay to an annual private show at Chailey and was given the nod.

This gave me a target to get some things done on the layout and I did the track rebuild, the cottage enhancements and finished the build stage of the La Meuse — so that is a pretty effective motivation technique! As it was I rushed a few things the night before including the cutting out of the holes to the fiddle yard — measured with perfection except that I forgot to add the height of the track and 3mm MDF it sits on so only my diminutive A class Japanese diesel would go through.

The day was mostly about chat anyway so there wasn’t much running on the layout but having the deadline has helped progress.

In the image below I had pinched one of Chris O’Donoghues boats from his in-progress Compass point — which was looking fantastic — and that has given me a few detailing ideas for later.

Whitesands Quay Chailey 2014

Whitesands Quay - Row of cottages - chimney pots

Simon Cox — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 01:00:00 GMT

Replacing the chimney pots on the row of cottages

Having built the row of cottages kit from Scalescenes I had added small pieces of styrene tube as chimney pots with the intention of painting them terra cotta. However I noticed that the chimney pots in the photos on the Scalescenes web site seem to be the white metal cast ones from Langley.

I purchased a couple of packets at the Chatham model rail show, I was there operating Pagham Harbour (009) on one of its last ever outings, and I have now painted them and stuck them on the chimney stacks and weathered them in.

While I was at it I added bird mess on the roofs as I will be perching some seagulls, Dart Castings and currently being painted, on the roof line — though I might wait till the cottages are mounted in the scenery to make sure nothing gets knocked off.

Finishing touch - chimney pots

Update

These cottages have been retired in favour of a new kit..

Whitesands Quay trackwork

Simon Cox — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 01:00:00 GMT

Hand-built track and point controls

The track work on Whitesands Quay consists of four points providing a runaround and two sidings. This provides enough scope for interesting operations and operating sequences when exhibiting the layout. I built the track the traditional way using code 65 rail on copper clad sleepers. The most difficult part was the point work especially as this was my first attempt. I had some good advice and tips from fellow members of the GDNGRS. and so tested the track and points as I built. I thought I had cracked it — a few areas of improvement were obvious but altogether I was quite pleased with the result.

Then I discovered that several of my wagons didn’t run the points. I had only tested with one Ninelines wagon and that had worked great but in retrospect, I should have used a range of stock to test. So I put the track to one side and moved house. (Not because of this!)

A while back my friend Richard Glover tried to set up one of his layouts with servos operating the points using a MERG circuit board.. He had some serious issues and didn’t use them in the end. More recently though Peco. brought out a point motoring set called Smart Switch. I thought those issues would have been solved so I purchased a set along with some new OO9 mainline flexitrack and points. It took a weekend to recreate the track work plan of Whitesands Quay and wire it all up. The servos worked perfectly and the throw and speed can be adjusted using the built-in controls. I ran a locomotive over the track and all worked without any issues. Then I tried a second loco and things went to pot.

This loco had an open frame motor and the interference from it sent the servos wild — all four switching from side to side at random. Friends have suggested screening the wires (a bit of a pain) or buying more expensive motors.

So I am back at a bit of an impasse again. I now have two sets of track work for the layout. One isn’t quite good enough for smooth operation and the other is only going to behave if I use core-less motored locos.

Whitesands Quay trackwork Gallery

Whitesands pink foam trackbed

Whitesands hand-built track-work

Whitesands Quay points — servos motors

Whitesands Quay trackwork points switches testing servos motors

And there is more...

May 2015
In the end I rebuilt the whole basboard including the trackwork. I still have this set of track spare and may attempt to use it in another project.

Whitesands Quay - row of cottages

Simon Cox — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 01:00:00 GMT

Using a Scalescenes card kit

Originally I had intended to construct the buildings for Whitesands Quay. using Pendon. methods but I really don’t have the hundreds of hours required to find, measure, photograph, draw, emboss, watercolour and construct suitable buildings for this layout. That way madness can occur. However I was set on that route until Scalescenes introduced a new kit — Row of cottages which I was immediately inspired by.

The kit is particularly cheap as it is a PDF download. You have to print the PDF sheets out and stick them to suitable weights of card as detailed in the kit instructions. Some of the thicker card components can be hard work to cut out and a good Stanley knife is a must have, else I used my usual scalpels for cutting.

This kit comes with several variations and although I had opted for the flint and brick finish it came with an optional rendered version for two of the four cottages which I have extended for all four as it would be appropriate for cottages next to a quay.

One of the advantages of these kits is that you only pay once for the PDF and then you can print out as many times as you want — so any mistakes and you can start again. Of course cost of a new really good photo printer needs to be considered as well as consumables (but we needed a new printer anyway…).

The key construction method is wrapping the paper layers around card walls — including an ingenuous method of creating drainpipes that also conceal the gap between the end and side walls. Detailed floors and full interiors are included — not that I think anyone will ever see them on Whitesands Quay but I know they are there.

The only think I now have left to do on the cottages is source and put some proper chimney pots on.

I am very pleased with the overall look and finish of the kit. This then left me with a small dilemma. To get the rest of the model to be balanced I really need to construct the remaining buildings using other Scalescenes kits but there are none available that suit the location.

However the methods can be replicated and that exactly what I have done for the large cottage in front of the row of cottages. I used a picture of a cottage at Sennan on the West Cornish coast at White Sands bay, where Whitesands Quay is fictitiously located, as the basis for the plans which I drew up in Adobe Illustrator then added suitable textures and printed the results out on matte photo paper.
To get the thick stone cottage wall effect with deep set windows and doors I used polyboard for the walls instead of card and you can see the resulting effect in the photos.

Whitesands Quay - row of cottages Gallery

Scalescenes row of cottages under construction

Whitesands Quay cottages from above

Whitesands Quay cottages from the end

Whitesands Quay cottages close up of upstairs windows

Whitesands Quay cottages door and window details

Whitesands Quay cottages close up of rear from end

Whitesands Quay cottages front view

Whitesands Quay cottages on the layout

Whitesands Quay cottages on the layout with the harbour cottage

Whitesands Quay harbour cottage

Whitesands Quay progress

Simon Cox — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 24:00:00 GMT

The baseboard structure is now mainly complete

I took a few days off to concentrate on moving the White Sands Quay project forward. This is a 4mm scale 9mm gauge railway based in Cornwall and originally from a plan by the late Reinier Hendrickson.

I wanted to build a self-contained but light exhibition display for White Sands Quay as I very much enjoy the speed with which both Loxley Barton Falls. and Withywindle Mill. can be set up and taken down. At the end of a long exhibition, the last thing you want is an hour or two of breakdown.

I have built a light wooden frame with 3mm MDF carcass in a square S shape with the smaller return being the hidden fiddle yard and stock shelves. A lightbox containing the all-important lighting rig (vital for good presentation at an exhibition) will be added to the top giving more strength.

Whilst this construction method will not take much abuse I am not expecting to be in any situations where it needs to! “Fight breaks out at Narrow Gauge Exhibition — layout destroyed” are not likely headlines. (Famous last words…) the base of the scenic is pink insulation foam and one this is fixed in place will also add to the strength and lightness of the carcass.

In the past, other layout builders have used rodding cut into the surface of the foam, which makes repairs difficult, but I have sunk a 3mm MDF track bed into the top of the foam and will excavate holes underneath so that I can attach point motors and wiring allowing plenty of access.