The structures on Monsal Dale to Millers Dale
The tunnel portals are resin castings. I ordered these from a shop in England to get the right style for the Midland Railway that I'm depicting. The portals were not wide enough for my track spacing, so I cut them in the middle and glued each half in place as needed. The gap was then filled with plaster.
Once dry the plaster patch was shaped and carved to match the surrounding stonework. A craft knife, sandpaper, and a broken hacksaw blade did the job. The single engine shed at Millers Dale is built from an old Airfix kit. I like to buy old kits on eBay where I find there are lots of British parts available here in the USA. The shed was painted with Testors enamels. The weathering was achieved with a little black spray paint around the base, and dry brush work picks out the details.
This coal sales shed and the coal staithes are both from the same Wills kit, again from England. The staithes are cut down in length by a few boards to fit the space available. I used a different weathering technique on these items. The shed was originally grey and green plastic (green door, window frame, and roof). I built the structure first and then sprayed it overall with Krylon grey primer, but lightly enough to still see the green through the paint. The bottom edges of the building were then sprayed very lightly with flat black. I then drew soft artist pastels lightly across the surface and smudged it with a finger. Using a couple of different greys and a light earth colour created a very nice effect VERY quickly. The coal staithes were sprayed flat black and all of the colour that you see on the weathered boards is soft pastel. I applied the pastels and finger smudged from the top down.
The platform at Millers Dale is made from two layers of 3/8" balsa. With the track mounted on 3/32" cork, this gives the correct height for the platform top. After gluing the two layers together and constructing the slope at one end, I skimmed the balsa surface with the same smooth filler as used on the tunnel portals. After that, the platform was sprayed with Krylon grey primer. The stonework sides you see in the right hand photo are sections downloaded and printed onto thin card stock. I used the "Daisy Platform" sections from the excellent website here. I only used the edge pieces and cut my own end slope to match the shape of the platform.
I then used two different greys and an earthy green pastel to make the platform look patchy and add some visual interest. I rubbed and smudged soft pastel greys over the printed stonework sides of the platform too. I like to tone down all of my colours.
I needed a way for the passengers to get to the island platform. Small stations often had a boardwalk instead of an overbridge, so that's what I've made for now. I may add a bridge later if space allows. The boardwalk is made from sections of 1/16" balsa wood cut to shape and scored with the back of a craft knife. The wood was then weathered with pastels.
This small station building will sit on the Millers Dale platform. It's a resin casting from the Scaledale range made by Hornby. As supplied it has a little weathering done, but I'll do more to it.
This water tower will sit in the yard area. It is a simple snap together kit by Peco. On the left it's seen after an overall spray coat of red oxide primer, and the right photo shows how it looks after being weathered with pastels. I used a dark and a light grey along with a terra cotta colour to accentuate the "rust" shade of the red oxide spray. The base was sprayed black and then lightened and coloured with pastels. I cut away a section of the 3/32" cork to set the base of the tower into the ground. The base will be partially hidden with ground cover so only the round part is visible.
home | introduction | layout design | basic construction | structures | news