Hello All
I'm newly registered to this wonderful site and I would like to open by thanking all the fabulous contributors who have already given me invaluable help and assistance. I had a small collection of Marklin in the fifties when I was a kid and a whole bunch of Faller kits I constructed. Yet it was never set up due to the family constantly moving house. And I've dutifully carted it around from house to house throughout my life so far.
Two weeks ago I went up into the loft and brought down the dusty boxes. I had no idea what to expect after sixty years. What I found was a treasure trove - stunning model railway - boxes and their contents in mint condition. The kits had survived without a break. Rewired the transformer, light oil, connected up and off it all went. Remarkable.
Inspired and excited I bought a mountain of M track from a delightful guy in Somerset - signals. accessories, extra locos, coaches and rolling stock, crane, turntable (the works). So I'm setting about fulfilling a childhood dream like many others do - and you can see why I appreciate the superb content on this site.
I love Faller kits. Yes, I know the scale is a little amiss but back in the fifties, Marklin, Faller and Wiking were inseparable. I love the kits but not the price of them! Thrifty scenic modelling is my passion so I seek out broken, unloved kits - lots of bits missing and glue everywhere. I like to collect and use throwaway materials for all sorts of things. So my first, nervous contribution to this site shows how I've used them to restore and create buildings.
This is Zindelstein Station which I bought for a couple of pounds - no platform canopy, supports and fencing, chimney missing, station sign torn, broken roof snapped at the rear, no eaves, no side door - barely recognisable as a station. First photo shows it. Downloaded a picture of the box on the web which shows what it should look like so I'll post that and some of the packaging materials I used to restore it - and other materials I have used for projects (for glazing, roofing and inner shells). Then a few views of Zindelstein Station (if I can - my first post so hoping for the best). If there's room on the post I'll add some photos of buildings made for my English layout, a chapel and some huts and stores made ENTIRELY from food packaging. The basic ideas may be of interest.
ZINDELSTEIN STATION: -
- The see-through platform canopy was made of sandwich packaging and the supports from split lollipop sticks.
- The fencing - some unused Wills kit I had knocking around.
- The eaves were cut from food packaging and mounted on sections of matchstick glued underneath the roof.
- The broken roof corner was repaired with a piece of chilled food tray, modelling putty applied on top of it, then modelling moss glued to it - dabs of red paint. Additional moss to the wall to simulate a climbing plant.
- The ornamentation for the eaves (the cross) is cut from a piece of disused Hornby plastic sleeper, painted to match the eaves.
- The waiting room side door is simply a piece of plastic packaging glued behind the aperture.
- Removed the existing chimney and split it and used half for the missing chimney on the main building. Added flashing to hide the holes at the bases.
- Created 'ZINDELSTEIN' station sign on the computer - mounted on a small section of food tray.
- Benches - simple affairs made with small pieces of discarded plastic (I save all kinds of throwaway plastic with interesting shapes and mouldings).
- A few little people and Bingo!
Hopefully there's a few ideas here of interest. Many thanks again, everyone - oh, and by the way, LIDL food packaging is better than TESCO and ASDA - thicker and stronger. My German friends are not surprised !
PLEASE SEE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS OF THE FINISHED MODEL IN THE REPLIES - BELOW ON YUM'S MAIL. HE VERY KINDLY DOWNSIZED THEM FOR ME.Edited by user 06 June 2013 18:37:41(UTC)
| Reason: Please bear with me - having difficulty attaching photos
rogerabbit attached the following image(s):
