Post by Doug on Dec 9, 2013 10:40:40 GMT 1
Building Isfield Signal Box – an ABM Railcraft model
Alun Mansfield’s pre-cut card kits introduced in the April 2013 RM features Southern Railway, LBSCR and SECR structures including a platform canopy, a variety of signal boxes and station buildings in both LBSCR deep red/light cream and SR/BR (S) green and cream. The SR/BR(S) Saxby and Farmer Type 5 signal box modelled is on that at the Lavender Line at Isfield. Builders of other kits may find the 0.4 mm [16/1000 inch] card on which the model is printed rather thin, however this allows details such as the roof brackets to be made to an appropriate scale thickness. A thin blade is needed to cut the securing tabs holding the crisply pre-cut components in their sheets; I chose a Swann and Morton No.11 blade instead of my usual Stanley ‘Snap-off’ knife.
The four walls and window frames are made up from three layers of card before being folded into a rectangle and glued over a base card. With care the mating ends of the wall assembly can be ‘stepped’ together to minimise the joint thickness before the fitting of the exterior wooden framework. As each layer is added any excess glue on the inside of the frames should be removed with a matchstick. Despite recommendations to use spirit-based glues to avoid warping, I used thick ‘Anita’s Tacky PVA Glue’, applying it easily along the thin glazing bars with my ‘Finetip’ applicator and sparingly elsewhere. At each corner I found it necessary to score and pinch the fold very firmly between thumb and forefinger at the window frame bending point to avoid separating the layers.
The two stair sides are each laminated from three layers. To ensure straightness and minimise distortion whilst drying I removed one side lamination and glued it over a side still fixed into the card by its tabs. When thoroughly dry I cut both free and added the third layer, ensuring a coloured face faced outward on each side.
The single thickness roof rests on folded supports glued to a three-layer laminated base section. I found that the small tabs on the roof hip-line interfered with the diagonal supports and so cut them off, and butt-glued the hip-lines using super-glue. I smeared the exposed edges of the roof base layers with neat PVA, and after it had dried used a fine sandpaper block to smooth the whole perimeter to remove tab-marks, then painted the edges with matching acrylic paint. The instructions suggest folding the fifteen roof support brackets in half before gluing them into pre-cut slots in the underside of the roof base. In practise this was difficult to achieve neatly and I achieved a cleaner result by gluing pairs of brackets back-to-back prior to cutting them in half along the fold line.
I coloured all exposed raw card edges with matching crayons or acrylic paint, mitre-cut the corners of the plinth around the lower brick wall and cut out two small steps to sit the chimney assembly neatly over the rear plinth. An enjoyable kit to build, I recommend ‘Southern’ enthusiasts to have a good look at ABMRailcraft.
Links
ABM Railcraft abmrailcraft.weebly.com
Finetip Glue Applicator www.finetip.co.uk
Anita’s Tacky PVA Glue www.anitas-craft.co.uk
Hope this will interest you in card modelling,
Doug
