Barry’s been in touch with his model railway power station scratch build:
“Hi Alistair,
As an avid reader of your e-mails, I thought it was about time I added some material.
I have a high detailed sub station with transmission towers but nothing to feed it power, so I decided to build a power station, and what more iconic than the Battersea power station.
Couldn’t find any suitable kits, so I decided to scratch build one.
I got hold of a set of the original plans and proceeded to scale them.
After wasting a couple of days building the towers, I realised they they were way too flimsy even with reinforcing, so second attempt I used stiffer brick card and machined timber formers for the top of the towers to save all the cutting.
Then I started of the laborious task for marking the windows and cutting them out.
Then it came to glazing them all with some nice windows I managed to scam off Metcalfe Models. Dressing the top of the towers and gluing the front and rear walls to the towers. Then came to side walls completing the main building.
For the smoke stacks I used a suitable wooded dowel and tightly would and glued regular reflex paper.
I then found a suitable striped cement pattern on the web and printed that and glued onto the paper tube. Next I had to figure out how to make the conical bases for the chimneys. I tried making the out of stiff card, but a dismal failure, I really needed a lathe, so I went and bought one! I had all my old lathe tools from my engineering days, so turning them was easy.
Next was the final assembly and all went well. You can see all the progress photos in the photos along with the final finished model. It just needs some weathering on some of the edges.
It’s a large model, but pretty well to scale, and 400mm wide and over 400mm deep.
Just waiting on a couple of Heng Long smoke generators to connect to tubes going up the chimneys.
Enjoy the photos.
Regards
Barry”
A huge thanks to Barry – can’t wait to see the weatherd version of his model railway power station.
It’s wonderful seeing what you all get up to and how you overcome the issues of your layouts.
That’s all for today.
Please don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to get going on your own model railway adventure.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
Al, please overlook those narrow minded individuals that send negative emails. Some people have nothing better to do than cast negativity and tear down the work of others in order to make themselves seem superior or important. Personally, I feel sorry for them.
Regarding Barry’s scratch build of the Battersea power station: are you kidding me?? What a yeoman’s effort he put forth! The results speak volumes. Weathering awaits, and hopefully more pics.
Wow that power station turned out absolutely awesome! Great work!
Barry, you have done an excellent job of scratch building the power station. The final product looks fantastic. Well done and cannot wait to see the weathered product in its surroundings.
Brian – the HOn3 guy – Knysna RSA
I agree with DJ about the negative remarks made on this sight by a few individuals. We don’t need the negativity here.
Brian – the HOn3 guy- Knysna RSA
Who are you referring to you Jerseyite ?
RBfromNY
Great job Now all you need is a pig in scale tethered to the chimney to recreate the filming of Pink Floyd animals !
Awesome work, I hope mine turns out that good.
Oh wow! What a build! Nicely done!
I purchased an n scale power station kit from Walthers. Barry’s scratch built looks far superior. Looking forward to seeing the completed project.
Great job Barry- thanks for sharing your process! Looking forward to seeing the building installed- and more of your projects.
WOW, Barry. Great Job! Rather labor intensive but that’s what its all about. It takes me back to yesteryear when my Dad built 84 smoke stacks at power stations and factories across the US. Going out a buying a lathe…Now that’s dedication to a project.
Terry in PA
Wow. What a building. Kudos to Barry. Until the smoke generator comes you could stick some whisy cotton in the stacks. Well done!
Actually today, while my wife attends a meeting. I will be working on building #1.
MN Dan
Excellent quality on power station. Only needs a flying pig (tiny) floating around the stacks lol
Love your site and info!
If a person has nothing nice to say they should say nothing at all! Dad beat that into our heads lol.
great scratchbuild. But i do agree that you need a pink pig.
At 90+ I wish I had that much imagination to build something like that, from blocks of wood to the finished product is amazing workmanship. Congratulations.