My means of replicating the distinctive diamond pattern is to patiently cut and stick rows of very thin card which, with the aid of a scalpel blade, has been shaped into regular pointed slates.
To make this a little - just a little - easier, I have a photocopied template which gives me around 20 rows on an A4 sheet.
It stems from a project a number of years ago - another favour - to make a 7mm scale model of the 'Bobby Hut' replica which stood at the station throat at Porthmadog Harbour before the return of the WHR and the extension of the Cob.
This also had a diamond pattern slate roof, although being a much smaller building there weren't so many of them, and being a larger scale the rows weren't quite so fiddly to cut.
It was for this project that I drew up the template, and when I came to make the previous weigh house model (for Fred Howes' retirement) I could easily reduce it in scale on a photocopier.
It's taken around a week to get one side of the roof completed.
I can manage about 4 or 5 rows a night before I begin getting cross-eyed or just plain bored with it!
Earlier today I took it over to Himself's place for a quick trial run on the layout to check it fits in the intended space.
(Yes, it might have been an idea to have tried this before I began doing all the really fiddly bits....)
The good news is that it slots in perfectly.
The not so good news - although we knew this all along - is that hardly anyone will notice all the pretty detailing on the front because most people watching the layout at shows will see it from this side.
Oh well, the important thing is that the operators get the best view, don't you agree?
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