Many of us at some point in our railway modelling lives, have used those plastic OO scale platform sections from Hornby/Tri-Ang that have been around for decades. But as our railway modelling skills improve, we move on to scratch building our own platforms or moving on to more advanced kits that give a more realistic finish such as our mix & match platform system. However, as we're in a more environmentally aware society these days, is it not better to make use of those old plastic platforms if we can, to save them ending up in landfill? Well, with a few clever, low-cost upgrades, those basic grey Hornby & Tri-ang platforms can be given a new lease life. With the wide range of platform textures available they can be totally transformed by simply wrapping them in high-quality texture sheets.
Here's one of the basic platform sections… as you can see it looks a little dated and lacks any detail…
However, with careful selection of the right textures from our comprehensive range of photo-realistic platform texture sheets, which range from the steam era right up to today's modern railway, you can easily work a little magic on them in very little time at all.
Alan Schofield has done exactly that with his Hornby plastic station platform sections for his layout. As you can see from the image below, Alan has completely transformed the island platform on his station with our TX233-OO Asphalt Platform Sheets With Network Rail Coping & Yellow Line. Don't forget the platform walls either… These can be upgraded with our platform wall sheets too.
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What we also like about Alan's station scene is that he's also used various other scenic items to complete the modern look. These items include modern glass-style waiting shelters, platform end anti-tresspass grids, station name running in signboards, modern style platform seating, a ticket machine, platform monitors & cameras. Alan has also added the next train indicators to help keep the passengers informed when their train is due
You may have noticed that Alan in the previous photo, was still to yet add the modern style platform end fencing. In this latest, he's fitted the platform end fencing which combined with the anti-trespass grids should prevent the model folk from straying off the platform onto the tracks. Note also that the platform ramp surfaces have yet to be wrapped in the modern textures.
So is it easy to use the platform texture sheets?
Yes, all that's needed is a craft knife (or scissors), a cutting mat & a steel ruler. Then follow these steps:
- Mark out the length & width of the platform section to be wrapped on the platform texture sheet. Then cut out the platform texture.
- Apply a suitable glue: we use UHU here… (the yellow tubed smelly stuff), Pritt Stick, or Deluxe Materials View Glue to the non-printed side of the platform texture.
- Align the weathered marking on the white section of the wrap with the platform edge, & stick on to the platform.
- It should look like in the photo above with part of the white section of the wrap overhanging the platform edge.
- Then fold & stick down the remaining part of the white platform edge around the end of the platform overhang as shown in the photo opposite right. Like Alan has done, you can trim back the excess white edge so that it doesn't cover the top row of brickwork on the platform wall. You'll see in Alan's photo that he has painted his side walls on his platforms.
- Trim the excess from the side without the platform coping, then cut out the separate coping strip. Use that to cover the remaining edge of the platform in the same way.
- If you don't fancy painting the platform side walls, you can use brick sheets or our platform side wall sheets to cover the side walls of the platform. In our photo opposite above, we've used our TX105-OO English Bond Blue Engineering Brick which we've cut to size & glued in place.
The plastic platform in the photo above, after being wrapped, shows what a transformation this simple upgrade makes. Using nothing but a little time and this simple wrapping method you can save yourselves a few pounds and make those basic grey platforms look spot-on for many years to come.
Hopefully, Alan's photos have inspired you to give it a go. If you decide to get stuck in, we'd love to see your photos of your platform upgrading projects. Please send your photos to our help desk email: help@scalemodelscenery.co.uk
We hope you'll enjoy having a go at upgrading your platforms.
Happy modelling