First of all, my apologies for keeping you all out there hanging on for updates on my Muttama Layout Project. This was mainly due to several other priorities outside of my hobby getting in the way of some decent progress over the last few months.
For the first couple of weeks of October I decided to take some long overdue holiday time and spent most of that time catching up with my family down the Far South East Coast of NSW. I also did an additional trip to Ulladulla in November to burn up some more built up Holiday time that has been put on hold.
I was considering packing up a fold up work bench and taking down some model rail items to work on whilst I was down there, but decided in the end not to do so as Im sure I would have left something behind which would have resulted in taking on extra luggage with a defeated purpose. Either way, both breaks were good and has helped clear my mind which has got me rebooted and ready to try and power through the outstanding items that remain to be completed on Muttama.
Furthermore, back in November, as a recommendation from one my model rail friends, I decided to do another Garage clean up but introducing a new work bench that I purchased recently that contains a set of draws to help with a better work place and better storage and access of my tools that I need to use which will result in better productivity.
I have not worked on the Goods Shed for Muttama for the last few months before October as I was faced with the a few challenges on how to construct the Goods Shed. But finally managed to gradually make small steps at a time to the point of almost completing this build.
The Goods Shed that was once based at Muttama is believed to be only one of two of its type that contains the rounded roof. The other rounded roof variation was based at Brawlin which is the next station north from Muttama.
The design of Muttama Good Shed was very different compared to other Goods Sheds on the NSWGR Network, hence one of the justifications in choosing to model Muttama.
Retro fitting of the 3d Printouts and the styrene platform of Muttama Goods Shed
Work On Muttama Good Shed Previous to October 2020
It would be several months ago that I started to draw up Muttama Goods Shed as I decided it would be a better result to do 3D Printouts on several parts of the Good Shed. This is due to the complexity involved in doing a structure with the rounded roof. In saying that, it was a complex Model to draw up. I decided to go for the scratched build option of the doors and platform as I know within myself that I would deliver a better result in these areas.
For the Roof Section and the ends of the Good Shed were printed in Shapways Black Natural Versatile Plastic. Priming for this particular material needed to be done with an Automotive Primer as it does not soak into the printout compared to the other modelling primers. I did the priming not long after I received the printouts.
For the other printouts, they were printed in Shapeways Smooth Fine Detail Plastic. Priming for these printouts were done with Tamiya Primer.
Below are the progressive pictures of the work that was done
Getting Back to Work on Muttama Goods Shed
The doors for this type of Goods Shed seem to have been hinged and not sliding doors that were typically used in most Goods Shed on the NSWGR Network. This could have been a reason that this type of design was not rolled out in greater numbers as the hinged doors have demonstrated to me clearly how impractical they were just from this model build. The construction of the doors ended up to become a not so easy task. But persistence payed off in the end.
The Doors that did not work out and ended up becoming scrape styrene
First set of Doors completed
The Difficulty in the doors came with the angle of the cut and the width of the doors. I found later on it (as I was doing the last set of doors) it was better to cut the width of the doors slightly wider, build up the frame work behind the doors and then trim off the excess to get the desired outcome.
Unfortunately, I did not take too many progressive photo shots during this period of time, here is what was done over the month of October.
Building up the doors for Muttama
Building and Detailing the Goods Shed Platform and Ramp
From here pictures will best detail the various stages of this build. This platform and ramp up to the platform was scratched built from Evergreen Styrene stuck together using MEK. When the platform was completed, it was primed and coloured up with Tamiya weathering master powders. The 3D Printed items where gluded together with superglue as well as 3D Printed Items to Styrene.
Other than the guttering, weathering and final fixing the Goods Shed to the layout is just about completed. As stated earlier one would think this should have been an easy build, but the reality it was one that has tested my pertinence out the most compared to my other model builds.
Its That Time Of Year Again
It is almost the end of the year. Well 2020 has been a year of a a lot challenges and I along with may others out there could say that 2020 is a year I think we want to put behind us. I would like to be optimistic that the year 2021 is going to be a year heading in to better circumstances for us all.
I would like to wish you all a Merry and Safe Christmas and all the best for 2021.
