This Month in British Railway Modelling; Repurposed Signal Box in 00

Another double-month in British Railway Modelling, and a pair of projects in 00 scale. First-up, a laser-cut signal box kit. This was actually one of the first batch of kits I did for BRM, and I was on a bit of a mission to do projects that stood out; something a bit unusual. I don't know if the Editor expected what I went with, a signal box repurposed as a birdwatching hide.

Wait, what? That sounds a bit unusual Ben, surely you've not seen a real place that you used as inspiration for such a thing have you?

Why yes I have, rambling monologue, here in Penmaenpool, near Barmouth, West Wales, where the old Cambrian Railways/GWR route to Barmouth along the Afon Mawddach, closed in the 60's, has a repurposed 'box doing duty for the bird watchers.

Or at least, it did, though vexxingly it was closed for refurbishment when we visited last year.

Still, I was able to potter around and get some shots around the site for inspiration.

...such as this highly inspiring loo block.

The toll bridge was rather more interesting. A bit long to incorporate into the model mindyou.

So, here's the kit. A rather nice laser-cut affair, with with some very detailed windows. The real 'box this is based on is now holiday accommodation up in Scotch-Land, but I'd just come off the back of doing a summer/beach themed project and was a bit sick of holiday stuff, and decided to go down the Wildlife Preserve route instead.

Test-fitting the components. It had some spare sections, which was good as it provided fodder for modifying and scratch building. But at the same time, that roof was a little disappointing, and would need some modifications.

The roof panels were re-clad in some embossed plasticard; also not the spare parts used to make a locking-room (converted into another bird hide) on the end.

A bit of an experiment; using plasticard channel to make a large, picture window. I thought it would allow me to slide-in the glazing after painting, and it would let me show off the interior a bit.

Primed, needing some fettling and filling.

The glazing was the most involved bit; the kit design provides for various fidelity options, from no glass to pretty much flush-glazed. I used packing materials cut down for the glass in the windows.

In goes the picture window. The paint was dry brushed Citadel acrylics, with some washes afterwards to pick out the plank lines.

A suitably animal-themed name for the crossing.

Also, some custom-made signaege.

For the scenic diorama, it was time, again, to raid the scrap box for something a bit like Penmaenpool. Here, the signal box would (as with the real location) sit adjacent to an abandoned level crossing, and a toll bridge.

For the toll bridge itself, I turned to the venerable Airfix Pontoon Bridge kit, picked up spares/repairs off eBay.

A bit of extra plasticard, and the supports from a Hornby Elevated Track set, did the job.

The rest of the scenics involved some static grass and grass sheets, and lots, and lots, of bits of odd greenery and bushes.

And there's the set; about 30cm by 45cm, a bit bigger than I'd planned but it came out looking ok in the end. 

My favourite view, from the viewpoint of someone getting their feet wet, admittedly. 

The overgrown level crossing, and toll hut (the old Permanent Way shed).

View off the bridge; note the platform of the old station behind.

Trackbed converted into a footpath, with cafe and loo block in a portacabin.

I absolutely loved how this one turned out; something a bit different. I have a thing for derelict and repurposed railways (which are far more common in the UK than active railway lines and infrastructure in most of the places I've lived), and this allowed me to channel some of that enthusiasm into a project. I could have just done a straightforward build, and to be honest, probably should have, but this one really got my imagination going.

And here it is in the mag; the wet-feet view headlining the piece.

 

Garden Rail Saturday; Ice Creeeeeeeeam

This build is mostly Amy's, and it's another Coach and Wagon Works kit. We love these models, they're cheap, very well designed, and great lunch-break projects we can do at work. 

Amy was experimenting a bit with this one, colouring with paint-pens and markers rather than paints.

For a relatively simple kit, there were some interesting build features, like the frames (to hide the slot and tab construction) and the very finely-cut lattice.

One mint-green and cream barrow; perfect for our summer-holidays set layout.

The photoshoot was delegated to me, and was a bit tricky. To start with, the layout isn't quite finished, and needed the station area fettling to serve as a backdrop. Then there was the business of waiting for the weather to get sunny enough to shoot (bearing in mind just how unpleasant and wet the winter was). I think you can tell looking at the pics, it's a pretty cold day I shot these. Then there's the figures... yeah, we need some more for the layout. I ended up raiding some of the G-scale figures from the Seaside Miniature Railway build for kids/teens queuing for the ice cream.

As usual though, the Garden Rail team made it look great on the page.

And nice to do a project that somewhat heralds the arrival of better weather!

 

Medical Monday; Agony of the Feet (infected plantar wart)

Time for another Medical Monday! And the obligatory trigger warning:

So this is Sim Man (well, ALS Man), one of our high-fidelity patient simulators. Or Slightly Sinister Robot-Man, if you prefer. We've started doing regular monthly Insitu training on Surgical post-op with this chap, and one of the scenarios we were asked to help with was dealing with an older patient with an infected foot wound. Essentially, a Plantar Wart (verruca, for you non-medical types) which had become infected and turned into an open, ulcerated wound.

Here's one I prepared earlier; this one on the heel of the foot. Used a spare foot from the odds and ends box, and a hole cut into the skin, an extra layer added on the inside, and then a soldering iron and hot-glue to mank-up the layer for some texture. The layer on the inside was quite thick (but it didn't matter, as it was going on a custom-designed mannequin). For this new model, apart from the fact the wound needed to be on the toe, the inner layer would need to be thinner to go over the plastic inner foot of the robot. 

Yeah, that thing in the bottom of the picture. It's curiously disturbing, isn't it? I don't think Sim Man is going to be getting much trade on his OnlyFans page with those toes.

The plan was to cut a hole in the base of the toe, then have an inner layer to use as the foundation for the wound. I initially tried using some spare 3mm-thick neck skins for the inner, but these were still a bit too thick for the foot to go over that plastic former...

...but I then found, in the materials cupboard, some more bits of a popped beach ball (having previously used the transparent red vinyl for making some simulated pooled blood). I was having trouble working it into the toe though, and pulling it into place from the inside. If only I had some sort of long forcep-like tool to pull it through from the inside...

Oh wait, that's right, I work in a lab full of more instruments than I can count.

The edge of the wound was chamfered and cut with a size-22 scalpel, then the vinyl was fitted in place, and the whole lot washed over with superglue and left to set.

Hot glue was used to make a border around the wound (to represent peeling flesh around the wound), and some slivers of the spare latex skin from the removed patch glued inside for texture . Once again, Warhammer paints used to colour it all...

...and fake blood washed over the wound, to give it a glossy look.

Raiding the make-up kit for reddening around the wound, and we also had some simulated pus to mix in before the wound was dressed.

Yeah, all it's missing is the rank smell (and we did indeed try to simulate that too).

And here he is, ready for the Sim. The wound was wrapped up and bandaged (as if the patient himself had done it), so it was a bit sticky and gunky when the examining candidate peeled the dressing off. Lovely stuff- and best of all, it's re-usable for future sims.