Modeling Slate RoofsAn

EduTRAIN™ Clinic

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This is an EduTRAIN™ Clinic

EduTRAIN™Copyright © 2014, National Model Railroad Association, Inc.

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Clinic Originally Prepared by:

Bruce De YoungNMRA’s Education Department

Manager

Garden State Division Member

bdeyoung@optonline.net

All Photos Taken by Author

Shouldn’t there be metal flashing on the outer edges of that hip roof?

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By the end of this clinic, you will be familiar with how slate roofs are installed in the real world,

and will be able to simulate those techniques on your

models.

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Clinic Overview

• Prototype Practices

• Modeling Techniques

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Real World (Prototype) View

• Where do you find slate roofs?• What kinds of structures had/have slate roofs?• Facts about slate & slate roofs• Slate roof artistry• A look at slate roof practices

– Ridges– Valleys– Hips (outside corners)– Snow Guards

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Where do you find slate roofs?

• The main slate beds ranged from Virginia up to the Provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland.

• The closer you are to the source, the more common slate roofs are and the wider the variety of slate roofed structures you will find.

• Grand structures (churches, government buildings, schools/colleges, museums, etc.) can be found with slate roofs throughout the US and Canada

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What kinds of structures had/have slate roofs?

• ‘Grand Structures’ – as mentioned

• Railroad Structures (Stations, Towers, Sheds, etc.)

• Houses - both large and small

• Barns

• Garages

• Sheds

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Facts about Slate & Slate Roofs

• The way slate was formed made it so useful – cleavage planes

• Slate colors: black, gray, green, purple, red

• Roofing slate dimensions– 3/16” to ¼” thick– 6” to 12” (or more) in width– 10” to 16” (or more) in length

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This slide shows a fairly thin slate

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This roof has much thicker slates

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An example of a wide slate

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A medium width slate

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A fairly narrow slate (fish scale)

Head Lap and the ‘reveal’

• Generally a slate 10” long will have about a 3.5” reveal.

• For every inch longer a slate gets, you increase the reveal by about ½”– an 11” slate would have a 4” reveal– a 12” slate wouldhave a 4.5” reveal, etc.

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Head Lap

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Slates can be added over a solid sub-roof or horizontal battens

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One of the distinctive characteristics of a slate roof is the

variation in colors from slate to slate.

This is something we need to capture when we move to the

modeling phase.

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Slate Roof Artistry

• Patterns with fish scale slates

• Fun with colors

• Other

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A look at slate roof practices

– Ridges– Valleys– Hips (outside corners)– Snow Guards

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Ridges

• All slate– Slate saddle ridge– Strip saddle ridge– Combing ridge

• Metal ridge cap– Flat ridge cap– ‘Rolled” ridge cap

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Slate Saddle Ridge(Overlapping slates at ridge)

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Strip Saddle Ridge(Slates butt at ridge)

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Combing Ridge(Slates from one side extend above the

roof line)

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Flat Metal Ridge Cap

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Ridge Roll

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This gives a better view of a ridge roll.

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Valleys

• Open

• Closed (mitered)

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Open Valley

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Closed (Mitered) Valley

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Hips (Outside Corners)

• Slate covered– Saddle Hip– Mitered Hip

• Metal Covered– Flat Metal– Rolled Metal

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Slate Covered Hips

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Metal Covered Hips

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Snow Guards

• Pad Style

• Rod/Pipe Style

• Misc

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Pad Style Snow Guards

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This is an example of a rod/pipe style snow guard.

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Misc. Snow Guards

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Is It Prototypical?

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Wood Trimmed Slate Roofs

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Clay Tile Ridge and Hip Caps

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Time To Model

• Sub-roofs

• Slate Shingle Material

• Techniques

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Sub-Roofs

• Styrene

• Wood

• Cardstock

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Preparing the Roof

• Adding guide lines

• Taking Care of Valleys– Closed– Bright Copper– Weathered Metal

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For Weathered Metal Use Paper or Index Cards

• Paint paper before installing on roof• Paint dark gray or your favorite rust color• Paint verdigris color (green patina of

weathered copper)• My recipe:

– Paint first with Model Master Brass Paint– When dry, go over with a thin 50/50 mix of

PolyScale Rust and PolyScale Rail Tie Brown– Finally add a wash of PolyScale Jade Green

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Slate Shingle Material

• Printed paper

• Photo Etched Brass– Micron Art (Z-Scale)

• Styrene (Partial List)– Kibri– Model Builders Supply– Tichy Train Group– Volmer

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Slate Shingle Material, Con’t.

• Laser-Cut Paper (Partial List)– Bollinger Edgerly Scale Trains– Northeastern Scale Models– Rusty Stumps Scale Models

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Printed Paper

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The remaining model photos feature Laser-Cut Paper Slate

Shingles

All the samples shown use slate shingles from Rusty Stumps Scale

Models – as mentioned before, many other vendors produce

similar materials

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Rusty Stumps Slate Shingles

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Adding Shingles to the Sub-Roof

• Self-Stick

• Glue

• Transfer Tape

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3M Transfer Tape (#465)

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Achieving Color Variation

Prismacolor Markers

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Prismacolor Markers

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• Take the Cool Grey 20% marker and color random slates using the fine tipped end

• Take the Warm Grey 30% and do the same with other random slates

• Finally take the Cool Grey 40% and color a few more random slates.

• At the end, I find that I have colored about 2/3rds of the slates – the rest I leave the original color

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Modeling Ridges & Hips – Flat Metal

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Flat Metal – Note use of fish scale shingles

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Rolled Ridge Cap

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Making the Ridge Roll (HO)

• .047” diameter styrene rod• Prime then paint the color of your flashing• Cut to length and color the cut end(s)• Use a few dabs of gel type ACC and glue

rod to the exact peak of the roof.• Cut pre-painted lengths of index card a

scale 6” or 8” wide• Glue these ‘legs’ of the ridge roll flat to the

roof and up under the styrene rod.

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Slate Saddle Ridge or Strip Saddle Ridge

• Cut pieces from the shingle sheets

• Use Shortline Chopper

• Add a little white glue to the back

• Start from one end

• Overlap each by about 1/3rd for Saddle Ridge or Saddle Hip

• Glue adjacent to each other for a Strip Saddle

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Mitered Hip Roof

• Use brand new single edged razor blade

• Glue slate shingles to the roof on one side of the hip and let them extend over the edge.

• Using the other roof of the hip, slide the razor blade along the edge cutting the excess off

• Repeat for other side(s)

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This brings us back to where it all began

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