Progress at the station

This post is 50% about the prototype and 50% about a model.  The prototype is Dubbo station and the model is not Elle McPherson.  There goes 50% of the readership.

The prototype is this:

I had always planned to scratch-build this station, but its size, lack of plans, whacky round windows, stonework and Willy Wonka roof-line had been too much to contemplate.  In an earlier iteration of my model of the Coonamble line, a paper cut-out sat forlornly on the station platform for about 10 years.

The station is somewhat more complex than necessary as it possesses a breezeway and signal box at its eastern end, and a full length awning to its west. In days past, an out-of shed was half tucked in under the platform awning, just to the west of the main buildings. 

But it is one of those things that marks Dubbo as Dubbo, so I knew it had to be attempted one day.  Thanks to Covid-19, that day arrived. A few weeks ago I thought I could spend the next 6 months upgrading BWH wheat hoppers, or I could really do something with my life.

Instead of scratch building, I took a punt with the laser kit produced by Walker Models.  Perhaps my best decision this year.  I rate myself as an average and very slow modeller, and have had some choice things to say about backyard timber kits in the past.  But my faith in model making is restored!  After 45 minutes with a sharp knife and cutting mat, for once I was not using the knife on my wrists.  I had the internal skeleton of the building.  The following photo is everything just pressed together, without a drip of glue.

I am not on a retainer here but this kit is fun building! Not just the progress but the way it cobbles together into a sturdy and 'square' model.  It is almost impossible to make a mistake - though I certainly tried.

Another couple of hours today has got the building 90% there.

Apologies for the quality of this second photo.  It was being finished as last light hit.  

Such rapid progress has been made that I decided mid-afternoon to detour into making the (18' x 12') signal box, which still sits at the eastern end of the station (though now with metric measurements).  Here is a 2005 shot of the box.

 

Armed with my usual source's plans and volume 3 of Bob Taafe's highly recommended Signal Boxes book, and a pile of scrap styrene, a semi-passable resemblance has been achieved.

A coat of paint on the box and a corrugated iron roof will improve its appearance.  And this brings us to painting.  The manufacturer recommends painting the stonework to achieve a grey-ish hue not unlike that shown in this photo from 2011.

But that is not the Dubbo I remember - and I spent a fair bit of time on that platform in the late 1960s, dumped by Dad when he was off down the yard chasing 30Ts.  I remember the dirty dark yellow, made filthy with black soot and grime. I don't have a photo of the grime from 1969 but I did find some of the unaltered sandstone in 2011.  I never thought I would have a use for this photo, but here it is - adultered sandstone in the late afternoon winter sun: 

And here is another part of the same building, taken about six months later.  It shows a cleaner wall, and a clean bottom quarter of the wall.

So all of this says to me - pick the colour you would like it to be.  And I pick - au naturalle, out of the box. Yep, just saved myself another hour or so. Yep, there is a need to paint the doors and windows, the roof when complete, facias, awning posts and this gate, but its close.  Probably another hour and I will be ready to plonk it down.

So, thank you Mr Walker Models, its been a very good weekend.  And a weekend I will remember when, on another weekend, I spend 17 hours building the tiniest of gatekeeper's cabins.

Cheers,
Don