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I could just buy a backscene... but...


Dave John

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I could just buy a backscene. Lots of companies offer them but the thing is none of them say “west end of Glasgow”. Or for that matter any real part of Edwardian Glasgow. Anyway where is the fun in just buying stuff?

So I have an idea in my head, long rows of traditional tenements interspersed with some industrial buildings. Maybe some older houses tucked in there too. Well, quite a few buildings, I am going to need about 18 feet of backscene in total.

Easy then, its what I did on Kelvinbank 1. Well, yes and no. Photography and printing have moved on since then. Just go off, take a lot of photographs of tenements, spend a few weeks in a photographic program, print it out and stick it together. In theory. I live in the west end of Glasgow, I can walk about and take pictures of tenements all day long. Thing is though its much harder than it seems, particularly if you want a straight on front view. Thousands of places I can can pics from ground level at an angle but straight on ? Or even fairly straight on? It has taken a while but I’m getting to grips with it.

The basic method is simple. Get a pic , put it into Affinity or other program, square it off. Fix the stonework, slate the roof, sort the chimneys, replace the window and doors, get rid of all the modern bits, shift the lampposts. Scale it to size, print it out. Squint at it from various angles, go back to square 1, have another go. Ad Nauseam.

Somewhere under all those bits of paper is a railway…..

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Edited by Dave John

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  • RMweb Premium

Contemporary Glasgow tenements are that lovely red colour. In the 60s/70s they were black. What colour were they back at the beginning of the 20th century, when maybe 30 - 40 years old rather than 90 - 100?

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Its a moot point Compound.

 

Judging as best I can from photos the answer is a mixture of depth of weathering, coupled with a natural variation in colour of both the blonde and red sandstones. The city grew west from the 1850s onward, but it wasn't a continuous wave. Blocks went up at various times, really all the way up to 1914. Both demand and economic slumps affected the rate. Similarly older property tended to be demolished and redeveloped as the railways and industrial sites moved roads out of the way. The earliest building in my street would be about 1880, the latest 1898 ish. Looking at the os maps it is clear that some of the buildings local to the railways of the west end would be 40 years old but some would be new build or even under construction in the early 1900s.

 

An excellent reference work on the subject is "Along Great Western Road" by Gordon Urquhart. 

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I recognize the challenge Dave. For our period there understandably isn't much choice when it comes to urban photo backscenes.

 

I do like your solution. I wonder if it would work if some of the buildings were given a very slight relief (just a mm or two, using e.g. card) in order to  break up the flat look from the side?

 

 

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Hmm, I might well have a play with that Mikkel. 

 

On the plus side it is actually a fairly inexpensive thing to play about with. If I make a mess of part of it all I have wasted is time and a few bits of paper. 

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  • RMweb Gold

Just noticed the various panels mounted at the front. Very neat. I like the solution for hanging the handheld controllers :-)

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