Spittal......Progress Update
Entry posted by IanLister
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Hi
In an earlier entry in this blog I raised the dilemma caused by having boards of a width that makes the back unreachable when they are in place in the layout’s permanent location, particularly in corners. Make them narrower? All well and good, but when you’re modelling a real location, and two tracks diverge from each other as they progress round the end of a U-shaped layout, it’s just not possible, particularly when the tracks are on raised embankments with a road in between and at a lower level. So of necessity, the end boards are 900mm wide, and much deeper into the corners. And my arms aren’t long enough.
As explained in the earlier entry, my answer is to create all the landscape outside the line of the Berwick – Spittal branch before moving the boards back into their rightful place in the end of the workshop. As this is my first attempt at 4mm modelling, an additional advantage is that I get to develop all the necessary techniques to complete the project. My previous attempt was 2mm FS, where, if you keep VERY quiet about it, you can get away with a lack of detail in certain things because it’s so small. But don’t tell anyone………….
So an early worry for me on becoming a 4mm modeller was to get my head round the level of detail needed to make acceptable landscape and building models, and to establish whether I would be able to achieve it using methods used earlier or whether I’d need to learn some new tricks. I have to say it’s been an interesting experience so far, and I’m really enjoying it.
Please excuse the temporary backscene in the following photos; I needed an edge to work to, but if I put the proper full height one on I couldn't reach to do anything!
Spittal Forge is now finished, including the adjacent rather ramshackle stableyard and paddock (both still awaiting some further detailing), and as you can see, Mrs Sparrow is rather keen on her gardening, even if she does make the flower heads from grated oil pastel. The area between the lane and the railway has its ground cover and some of the detail, though there is a lot more gorse, bramble, hawthorn, cranesbill, meadowsweet, poppy, nettle etc to add, along with a large quantity of native biological gibberish of the I-don’t-know-what-it-is-but-it’s-green variety. You know, the stuff that the dog gets tangled up in.
Two further pics show the forge’s location relative to the direction of the line, and allow it to be visualised.
The first, taken over the top of the Forge yard from the top of an adjacent tree by a child who obviously had no regard for the danger of heights, shows the branch descending towards Spittal. In the distance can be seen the Brandywell Bridge (no, it’s not ‘The Hobbit’); just beyond here is the entrance to Spittal station and the start of the dock branch which returns along the river bank almost parallel to the Berwick line but diverging gradually away and falling to dock level.
The second shows the view towards Berwick.
The track continues to climb and curve fairly gently before entering a fiddle yard conveniently screened by some very large industrial buildings, including this one:
There are some detailed parts of this first attempt at scenery I’m particularly pleased with.
Gorse:
The footpath down to the wooden footbridge over the track; for obvious reasons the bridge isn’t in place yet, so the buttress is currently a favourite spot for local trainspotters and those feeling suicidal (not many of those in such a beautiful part of the world):
The wall for the low-relief factory end that will be behind it on the backscene. It’s not sloping, honest; it’s just that the retaining wall in front diveges on a curve. I particularly like the brambles:
And finally, my first ever rock face (sorry about the colour; for some reason the flash fired on the camera):
Conveniently, there are strata of blue craft foam which reach the surface here, formed millions of years ago by some confusingly complicated geological process and thrown up to the surface of the world to be mined and sold very expensively on Ebay. Or you can buy it from the manufacturer, as I did, and save a lot of money.
So, some more detailing on the embankment, and then this bit can be sent to stand in the corner while I get on with some proper stuff: track building, signals, trains etc. Only about another 70 feet or so of baseboard to go…………………………………
Regards
Ian
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