How I constructed Beeston Brewery from PVC foamboard

Rationale

As you may have read elsewhere on my blog, goods traffic on the PLR is one of my priorities and so I have made sure that I have plenty of plausible lineside industries to provide reasons for loaded freight wagons to travel up and down the line.

Although, in real life, there was never a brewery in Beeston, I decided that, with the success of the railway, there would have been a strong likelihood that one would have been built alongside the railway to satisfy the thirsts of the local inhabitants. The goods siding at Beeston Castle station provided the perfect location as the building would nestle into the hedge behind the siding thereby overcoming the need to construct the further buildings which a brewery such as this would require.

Planning

As there was no actual prototype on which to base my brewery I searched the internet for brewery buildings which could be adapted to suit my location. Finding no real buildings which were suitable, I stumbled across the Metcalfe range of card models which, with some modification, I felt would be ideal.

As the site was an awkward shape, I started by making a rough structure from corrugated card and masking tape which I hacked about until it fitted the tight space between the siding and the hedge.

This was then used as the basis for the construction of the actual model.

Construction

Marking-out

A3 sheets of white 5mm thick PVC foamboard were purchased from SimplyPlastics.com. 

I decided to start with the tallest section of the building first. The outline of the building was drawn and then the horizontal mortar courses were drawn at 4mm intervals (3" in 16mm scale). The windows were also drawn, this making sure the base of each window coincided with a mortar course.

As the windows were arched, I used a pair of compasses to produce two concentric curves - one for the top of the window an the second, 12mm beyond it for the brick arch.

The lower curve was marked as 4mm intervals ......

..... and radiating lines were drawn for the brick arch mortar courses.

Once all the horizontal courses and window arches had been drawn, the stone quoins on the corners of the walls were marked-out either 12 or 24mm wide and 8mm deep (ie two horizontal mortar courses).

The vertical mortar course for the brickwork were pencilled-in at 12mm intervals (6mm divisions were marked across the bottom and top courses to allow for the courses to be staggered - Flemish-Bond style).

NOTE: I could have scored the horizontal courses rather than pencilling them but, from experience, I know it's so easy to make a mistake when marking-out the horizontal courses and it's easier to erase a pencil line than to correct a wrongly scored line.

Scoring and embossing the mortar courses

Although it can be tedious it can also be somewhat therapeutic scoring and embossing the mortar courses. 

The horizontal courses were scored first, by dragging a flat bladed screwdriver across the mortar course with a modicum of pressure applied.

The vertical courses were created by positioning the blade of the screwdriver on one of the divisions at an angle.....

..... and then moving the blade to a vertical position while applying downward pressure.

Once the brickwork and quoins had been embossed for the taller part of the building .......

.... the procedure was repeated for the lower section.

The various sections were then cut out.

The side walls for the loading platform were also embossed and cut out.

Assembly

The walls were then glued together using thick (Tool Station High Viscosity) Superglue. I also use a superglue activator spray to speed-up the bonding process.

Lucams

The lucams were tackled next. Lucams are the prominent white painted enclosed sack hoists on the outside of the building. 

The frames were made from 5mm thick PVC foamboard.

10mm wide planks were cut from 1.5mm thick plasticard.

The planks were glued to the outsides of the lucams with superglue - with 5mm wide edging strips on the corners and frames around the windows.

The planks overlapped by 4mm to give a weatherboarding effect.

Rooves

The rooves were tackled next. The sub-structures for the rooves were made from 3mm thick PVC foamboard, These were tailormade by measuring the relevant spaces and cutting each part to fit.

Once the roof components were in place the tiles were formed from 20mm wide strips of 1mm thick plasticard. These were then marked at 10mm intervals for the individual slates and a further line 12mm from the lower edge was marked for the overlap.

The divisions between each slate was then snipped with a couple of cuts from a pair of scissors. Although slates fit very snugly against each other, I've found that a couple of snips are necessary to clearly demarcate the gaps between each slate. A single snip easily becomes clogged with paint and so all too easily disappears.

Once the snips had been made along the full width of the strip, it was laid on the roof - each strip being staggered to overlap the previous strip - as shown.

Occasionally, a slate was detached from the strip to give the appearance of a slipped slate.

Eventually, after painstaking snipping and gluing, the whole roof was covered in slates.

Painting

The walls were initially given a coat of red oxide primer ......

...... and then a coat of 'deep red' acrylic. Once this had dried, some cream mortar colour was smeared over, making sure it penetrated the mortar courses.

This was then wiped off while still wet in a diagonal direction to try and ensure the colour remained in the indentations.

This process was repeated across the whole of the walls.

Inevitably, there were some places where either the mortar colour didn't penetrate or the wiping process accidentally removed it ......

..... and so these areas were touched-up with more mortar colour .....

..... and the excess wiped off.

The lucams and roofs were given a couple of coats of grey primer.

And then the roofs were given a thin wash of black acrylic paint which was wiped off to leave the residue in the gaps between the tiles.

The surface of the loading platform was treated in a similar way.

The lucams were painted white and then the walls, roofs and lucams were glued together.

The canopy

The supports for the canopy were cut-out first from 3mm thick foamboard. These were 90mm along the base, 30mm at the longer end and 10mm at the narrower end.

The canopy edging was then marked-out on 3mm thick foamboard, ....

..... with divisions 5mm apart.

These were then bisected diagonally......

.... and the diagonals were cut to provide the sawtooth valance for the canopy/

The canopies were then assembled, with 3mm foamboard for their roofs.

3mm wide strips of plasticard were stuck to the upper surfaces of the rooves as battens.

And then the canopies were given a couple of coats of grey primer from a Halford's rattle can.

1.5mm diameter holes were drilled into the uprights of the supports and cocktail sticks glued into them.

The cocktail sticks were then inserted into holes drilled in the walls of the building .....

... and the canopies glued into place.

Barge boards

Barge boards were cut from 1.5mm thick plasticard, painted black and fixed into place using thick superglue.

Window frames and doors

Bespoke 3D printed window frames were bought from a chap advertising on eBay. I sent off the dimensions and received them (plus a couple of spares) within a week.

They were glued on to a sheet of 1mm thick clear acetate with UHU glue and then the glazing was cut to the right size with a sharp craft knife.

The windows were then glued into the apertures with more UHU (I avoid getting superglue anywhere near glazing as it tends to fog any nearby transparent sheets - even if it isn't actually applied to it).

Doors were cut from 1.5mm thick plasticard. They were scribed to represent planking and scored with the blade of a razor saw to provide a wood grain effect.

Cambrian Models bolt heads were glued on to simulate fastenings for the hinges .....

.... and door handles were the heads of mapping pins, inserted into 1mm diameter holes.

The doors were then given a couple of coats of Halford's grey primer from a rattle can .....

.... followed by a coat of black acrylics. They were then glued in place behind the door apertures using UHU glue.

Gutters and downspouts

Horrified by the cost of U-section brass, I discovered similar 4mm brass channel available from stained glass window suppliers for edging panes of glass (eg - https://tempsfordstainedglass.co.uk/product/4mm-brass-channel-full-length/)

To make the end caps of the gutters, a couple of slots were sawn into the end (about 4mm deep) ......

.... which were then folded over and soldered.

Bends in the gutters were similarly made. A vee was filed into the base of the gutter ......

.... which was then folded .......

..... and soldered.

Brass nails with heads removed were then soldered to the underside of the gutters to act as support brackets.

The downspouts were made from 3mm diameter copper tube. The lower ends were filed through with a vee shaped file .......

.... then folded and soldered.

Similarly, bends in the downspouts were filed, folded .......

..... and soldered.

The brackets to hold the downspouts to the wall were made from copper wire, extracted from a length of twin and earth cable .....

hammered flat .......

..... wrapped around the pipe ......

.... and soldered.

The downspouts were then soldered into 3mm holes drilled in the bottom of the gutters.

Once all the sections of gutter and downspouts were assembled, .....

... painted black and fixed into place by drilling 2mm (for the gutter brackets) and 3mm (for the downspout brackets) holes in the walls and gluing the brackets into place with thick superglue.

Roof ridge tiles

The finishing touch was adding ridge tiles. These were made from two 10mm wide strips of 1.5mm thick plasticard glued along each side of the ridge ......

.... with 3mm wide strips of 1mm thick plasticard folded over the ridge at 12mm intervals.

The ridge tiles were then painted brick red with acrylics.

Lettering

Laser-cut plywood lettering was bought from The Works bookshop, 

..... painted white and glued into place on the end wall of the building with thick superglue

Siting

The brewery was then placed in its designated position, behind the siding at Beeston Castle station ......

 ... and a few additional details were added to make it look at home

Conclusion

I feel the building looks quite at home in its corner of the station. There wasn't room to model any more than the main building façade - we have to imagine the other buildings which would have been needed to turn this into a viable business.

I have become a great fan of PVC foamboard. It's a very versatile material which lends itself to all sorts of applications - eg see How I constructed a boiler house and water tower - How I constructed the water mill - How I constructed the Bone Mill.

The great advantage of foamboard is that any style of brickwork or stonework and be scribed on and various other finishes can readily be represented (eg half-timbered, rendered or even clapperboard). All that is required is a bit of time and effort to scribe and emboss them. With skill, hard work and imagination almost anything is possible - eg see - http://www.009.cd2.com/members/how_to/nouaillier_a.htm

 

Yes - this is a model - made with foamboard!

I could leave my foamboard buildings outdoors throughout the year. PVC foamboard is weather resistant and durable. However, I only bring them out for running sessions. It doesn't take long to deploy them and the advantage is that they do not require painting and maintenance quite as often than if they were outside in all weathers - this part of the UK does tend to get more than its fair share of wet weather!

Progress Report 98

 The summer period is usually when I run the railway most often, but the weather through July this year has been awful - the few days of sunshine have been interspersed with many days of showers or heavy rain - not the sort of weather which is conducive to running trains outdoors. I did, however, manage to film the last two episodes of my Year-Long Videos and have uploaded them to YouTube.

I have spent some time in the workshop and in that time I have completely revamped the cardboard Hunslet loco described in my last progress report. I have also started the rationalisation of my goods rolling stock largely because I was running short of storage space. I have now almost finished constructing the rake of Glyn Valley coaches, just two more on the workbench awaiting assembly.

Rolling stock

Hughie Hunslet v2

Although the cardboard loco which I constructed from a Rail-Road kit looked reasonable with its lined livery, I was disappointed with how susceptible the loco was to damage. Even minimal handling led to scuffs which exposed the white edges of the card. Whilst these could be touched-up periodically, my concern was that the loco would quickly become tatty.

I had already 3D printed some enhancements to the loco and so it seemed feasible to print a few more. In the end the vast majority of the loco was 3D printed.

I had hoped to retain the body of the cardboard loco but the only way to extract the lead flashing weights was to dismantle the loco completely. By then, it was in no fit state to be reconstructed and so it was despatched to the bin.

Because the new bodywork was based on scale drawings of the original three foot gauge Hughie loco, there was a lot less room inside for the weights and so I had to be quite creative in positioning the them.

I'm pleased with the appearance and, to some extent, the performance of the new loco and anticipate that it will feature quite prominently and frequently in future running sessions and videos.

After a couple of running sessions, I remembered why I had put this motor block on the shelf - the worm wheels had worn down. I have now purchased replacement work wheels and am awaiting delivery of a new motor complete with worm gears. Once these have been replaced, I am hoping the loco will enter service fully.

GVT coaches

The GVT coaching stock has now expanded to five - two of each style of coach (1896 Third, 1902 Third) plus the Director's Saloon described in the previous Progress Report.

They have featured in one running session so far and I aim to try and include them in more, when/if the weather improves.

Two more Third class coaches are presently on the workbench awaiting final assembly and should be available for when running sessions start again in the Spring.

Rationalising stock

Because I am aiming to replace some of my early goods stock with more realistic 3D printed models, I have started culling stock which I no longer need and for which I have insufficient storage space. These were sold through eBay and the funds accrued used to purchase a couple of soundcards and some geared motors for future loco builds.

In addition, I have sold off the GVT coaches which I had accidentally constructed to 16mm scale - forgetting that I am now aiming to focus on 15mm scale in all my future builds. 

Operation

Running sessions

As indicated above, the adverse weather has precluded opportunities to run trains - until a spell of relatively fine weather in September when - at last - I could get out into the garden and complete a full running session (which took very nearly three days to complete).

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Year Long Videos

I also managed to complete the final two episodes (July and August) of the Year Long videos - Down and back Up the line.

These sessions required a fair amount of planning to ensure continuity was maintained from one shot to another. Needless to say, there are a couple of continuity gaffes which the eagle-eyed among you will no doubt spot. I won't say what they are as I'd be interested to see if anyone else notices them. Of course, you may see other errors which I've missed. However, this was an interesting project which I enjoyed putting together - even the March filming of the Up train which was carried out in a blizzard.

ONE MILLION VISITORS

If you look at the counter at the bottom of the list on the right of the window you will see that the blog has just passed one million hits. In fact, it will be well over a million as I didn't start logging hits for the first six years of the railway's existence. 

The railway has come a long way since I laid my first piece of track in 2005

To mark this milestone. I will shortly be creating a post showing significant stages of the railway's development and summarising them in my annual video charting the history of the railway.

How I used a cheap recordable sound module as a loco sound card - Part 2

In Part 1, I described how I added a simple recordable sound module to my double-diesel loco to give it the basic sound effect of a diesel engine in action. However, there was no way of adding a horn sound to this set-up so I decided to add another sound card to the circuitry to provide a horn sound effect.

A suitable horn sound was tracked down on the freesound.org website and downloaded. It was then edited in Audacity to tidy up the sound and lengthen the sound of the second horn blast slightly (using the 'Tempo" tool).

It was then exported as a WAV file and uploaded to the new soundcard.

The wiring inside the main diesel loco was modified - basically, adding a second set of positive and negative leads to power the new card.  A speaker was fitted into the cab roof of the other diesel loco ....

.... and a new micro JST connector wired in to link the speaker to the output from the second sound card. This was wired-up in reverse to the first connector so it would be impossible to connect the two systems incorrectly.

To create space for the second sound card, the underside of the bonnet lid was hollowed-out. As it was 3D printed, this was a relatively easy job - the inside of the domed bonnet was already hollow but with the 3D default infill structure.

The cards were shrouded in insulation tape to avoid accidental short circuits.

The second sound card was wired up to one of the channel 5 output pads (Pad 6) from the Deltang Rx61b so the horn would sound when the bind button was pressed on the transmitter.

The loco was then given a test run to check all was well.

Using these sound modules is a relatively straightforward process but as only one track can be played on the card it is not very versatile. Being able to select different tracks stored on the card would enable a series of sounds to be played in sequence (eg engine start, idling, accelerating, running, decelerating, stopping, etc.). However, this requires a more sophisticated control system such as an MP3 player or  a micro-processors such as Picaxe or Arduino. For more information on using an Arduino-based sound system see - How I added sound to my Bluetooth controlled loco.

How I used a cheap recordable sound module as a loco sound card - Part 1

In the past I have used a greetings card sound module to provide low coast sound for my IP Engineering plate frame Simplex ( see How I used a greetings card module as a sound card). It was cheap (c£1.50 GBP) but quite limited in scope. The sound file was restricted to around 20 seconds, it had to be recorded via a microphone so the quality was poor and the volume wasn't great.

When I saw another recordable module on eBay for a reasonable price (£12.00 GBP), I thought if give it a try, particularly as it was also available on AliExpress for less than £3.00 GBP. They are also available on the UK Amazon website for £13.99 (including a battery box and a suitable USB lead).

There was no documentation but one of the photos accompanying the listing indicated the module could be programmed to operate in different modes. 

Further research on t'internet revealed the modes were fairly limited but it was possible to loop the sound file, which is what I needed for a basic soundcard.

This chart may at first look baffling but, with help from a YouTube video, I managed to interpret it - see below for more info.

I had already tracked down a suitable sound file of a noisy diesel tractor on the Soundsnap website (see How I added sound to my Bluetooth controlled diesel loco), and so my first job was to edit a suitable clip from the file to upload to the sound module. 

Since I downloaded this file, there has been a price increase on SoundSnap so you might want to seek out alternative tractor sounds from one of the free online sound libraries - eg https://freesound.org/people/aUREa/sounds/268779/ 

I used the free audio editing program Audacity to create a clip of the running engine lasting about two and a half minutes ( clips of up to four minutes can be uploaded dependent on sound quality).

For more information on using Audacity see How I used Audacity to create sounds for my railbus

The file was exported as a WAV. Unlike MP3 files, WAV files don't suffer from that annoying half-second break in sound when the file loops back to the beginning.

The module was connected to the computer with a micro USB connector, bearing in mind that some USB leads are not fully wired. The first lead I tried must have been wired only for charging a device as it failed to show the module's memory store.

With the right lead, the module's memory opens like any other USB drive.

The MP3 file which comes with the module was deleted....

.... and my edited tractor WAV file was dragged and dropped on to the module's memory (files up to 8Mb can be uploaded).

At first, I tested the sound was OK by connecting the two power leads to a 4.5v battery box. 

I then got to grips with changing the playback mode using the above chart. It was a lot simpler than I expected. The zeros and ones indicate which of the three resistors labelled A B and C needed to be retained or removed to change the mode.

For example, 0 0 1 means keep resistors  A and B and remove resistor C. This will make the module play the sound file when the button is pressed and continue until the the button is released (or the sound file ends).

The mode I was interested in was the penultimate one - press the button to play and then cycle or loop the file being played until the button is pressed again. This was coded 1 0 1 which meant I needed to remove resistors A and C but retain resistor B.

To remove the resistors, I applied heat from a soldering iron to one end of the resistor and gave a small amount of pressure on the iron towards the opposite end of the resistor. As soon as the solder melted, the resistor slid off. 

The process was repeated for resistor A.

A quick test play showed the operation was successful. 

I now had to fit the unit into the loco. Fortunately, the loco in question is powered by two li-ion cells wired in parallel to give 3.7v output to the Deltang Rx60b receiver. In addition to the 5v input terminal, the sound module has 3.7v input pads.....

... so the wires on the 5v input pads were removed and two wires were soldered to the 3.7v terminals.

These were then connected to the 3,7v input to the Deltang Rx60b so the sound module would be powered up when the loco was switched on.

I removed the leads to the push-button. At first I simply soldered across the terminals to the push button so the sound module would start playing immediately the loco was turned on. 

However, as the sound file I used was of the engine running at speed rather than ticking over, I decided I wanted some way of turning the sound on and off from the transmitter.

The designers of this module have fortunately anticipated this requirement as the push button connects the trigger for turning on the sounds to ground (0v). Fortunately, they also include a trigger which is activated when it is connect to V+. The Rx60b is a very early Deltang receiver, with outputs which give only 3.2v rather than the 0v of later models and so, via a 1k resistor, I could connect the output pad from the Rx60b to the V+ trigger pad (labelled PH - P High) on the sound module - the other pad is PL (P Low)

The small speaker which is supplied with the module was housed in an enclosure which I designed in Tinkercad and 3D printed. 

This was mounted, as is my usual practice, on the underside of the cab roof using double sided sticky pads.

The loco was then given a few test runs

This soundcard solution is not the most sophisticated - it plays only one sound which is independent of the speed at which the loco is running. There is also no horn or whistle. It is akin to the sound cards which used to be marketed by Acme (no longer in production). However, as the modules can be bought for under £3.00GBP which includes the speaker, it is a cheap and reasonably effective way of providing small internal combustion-engined models with a sound system.

Update: How I added a second card to provide a horn sound