Slates

[berryr99]

Hi all,

I'm sure this topic must have been covered before but I can't find it anywhere

As my layout is set in North Wales I would like to make some slates, stacked for transportation down to the docks at Porthmadog.

I was just wondering if anyone knew of information about how to make individual dressed slates and then a stack of them ?

many thanks !

Bob

[rhobat bryn]

I was just wondering if anyone knew of information about how to make individual dressed slates and then a stack of them ?

Would Plastikard be the place to start?

[Sven]

Best to cut pieces from plastic and use styrene plastic solvent to put them together, as with any other material you will needs so much superglue, you're going to be high.

[membership]

could a real slate be split into thin enough slivers?

[JulienW]

Chris Veitch (apologies to Chirs if I have spelt that wrong) sells (or sold) cast resin slate loads for wagons, specifically the Dundas FR ones (I think).  It may be possible to use these as slates stacked on a wharfe ready to be loaded.

I doubt if slate can be split thinly enough as the physical structure of the slate will not scale down.  Remember that roofing slates are only a 1/4 inch or so thick, say about 6 mm, and by the time you have reduce that to 4 mm scale (devide by 76.2) you get something less than 0.1mm.  So to get a 'scale' slate something like paper may be in order, though 5 thou plastic sheet may do the job.

Contrary to what Sven suggests I'd be a little wary of using a solvent as with so much solvent and so little plastic there is a danger of your 'slates' warping!  Careful use of superglue* will do the job but if you were prepared to wait for it to go off properly the slate stacks could be held together with PVA.



*Getting 'high' on Superglue fumes is a new one on me.  I have had issues from superglue making me cough, especially if I'm using a soldering iron near a glued joint because the superglue, especially when heated, produces cyanide fumes.  That's not to say that using Butanone or any of the other solvents used to 'weld' the plastics usually used by railway modellers (styrene and ABS) will not cause problems if used to excess in a confined non-ventilated space.

[Tigger]

I've produced loads (literally!) of slates by adapting something Richard Wyatt did years ago on his Dovey Valley to represent the Talyllyn and Corris slate fencing.  Richard used 15 thou black styrene but for dressed slates in wagons I used 20 thou black styrene which I lightly sanded on both sides to kill the shine, give a dark grey shade and a grain to the styrene.  scoring and then breaking the styrene stresses it and gives a grey shade to the edges.  Rectangular sections were cut to fit lengthwise in the wagons; once a wagonload had been produced they were placed en masse, on edge in an engineer's square and lightly sawn on the top edges with a fine saw to represent individual slates.  The outside two sections were scored on their exposed faces to match.  For slate slabs as per the Rodney Stenning Corris 'A' frame wagons I used thicker styrene.  I'm sure one or other of these methods could provide inspiration.  20 thou is quite stable and I've always used a PVA to glue them - Resin W or similar; it's water based and won't attack or warp the styrene.  Try these two links for photos of my wagon loads:
http://www.buccabury.co.uk/ltr/s02.jpg
http://www.buccabury.co.uk/ltr/s03.jpg
Good luck!

[invercloy]

I have been considering producing a rubber mould to sell that would enable people to cast slate walls from plaster.  If anyone is interested please email me at tomdauben@hotmail.com

I can't promise it will arrive quickly, but I want one, so additional requests will spur me on!

[Sven]

I was assuming big slates, like 2 or 2 mm thick. Not thin ones, they would warp indeed. I assumed it was for a wall.

"high" was a matter of speech. I don't expect someone to trip on glue at home. You're all adults now, you know where to get the real stuff I you do want to get high.

[JulienW]

<snipped>

"high" was a matter of speech. I don't expect someone to trip on glue at home. You're all adults now, you know where to get the real stuff I you do want to get high.

:laugh:
Don't worry Sven, I'll stick (pun intended) with the solvents for now

[Sven]

Alright. :police:

...the real stuff I you do want to get high.

@