The coal merchants
Entry posted by wiggoforgold
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Scenic work at Diddington progresses, with the addition of a small coal merchants premises in the goods yard.
I spent some time thinking about the buildings, and finally decided on a small coal office, with a disused container as a store, and a set of coal cells.
The office building was made from the Wills kit. After assembly, the brickwork was painted with red-brown Tamiya acrylic, and some individual bricks were picked out with different shades of Tamiya acrylic. Once dry, the brick areas were given a wash of very runny Artex( I think any plaster would do, I happen to have a bag or Artex to hand) The mixture was quickly wiped off with a damp cotton bud, leaving the mixture in the courses which when dry represented the cement pointing. This was then given a wash of dilute black Indian ink. The use of Indian ink in this way was a technique I discovered on this forum and have found very useful. Finally the building was dry brushed with Tamiya matt medium green and dark earth.
The "A" type container is from a Cambrian kit, assembled straight out of the packet, and sprayed Railmatch LNER oxide (I'm out of BR Bauxite) with a Tamiya Dark Grey roof. Transfers are from an old Woodhead sheet . Weathering was more dilute indian ink, and dry brushed dark earth.
The coal cells are from a mixture of Wills and homemade parts. The cells were assembled on a piece of styrene sheet. They were sprayed with Tamiya NATO black, and dry brushed with various shades of black, dark grey, medium green and dark earth. At this stage the assembly was blended into the layout using a plaster/pva mix.. The coal cells were partly filled with plaster, which was painted flat black, and covered with real coal.
The office and container were fitted to a card base which was blended in to the layout. It was painted dark earth, and the road areas were treated with fine ash sprinkled on to dilute pva to match the rest of the yard. Grass areas were covered with a mixture of hanging basket liner and static grass. A weighbridge was set into the road. There's a moulded one in the Wills kit, but I had an old etched one that a friend gave to me when they were clearing out their loft for a move of house. (He also gave me a Lima siphon G, but that's another story)
Bushes ware added , made from theatrical hair, sprayed with hairspray and sprinkled with Carr's foliage, before being fixed in place from pva. Tools, coal sacks, scales and weights are from Coopercraft and Ratio, superglued in place.
There's a few details still to add. I want to have a couple of coalmen, and a coal merchant's lorry. Having built the model, I am slightly wondering how the site would operate. The backs of the coal cells are slightly high for a wagon door to be opened to discharge directly into the cells. Would the wagon be discharged adjacent to the cells, and the cells used just for sorting and storage? Also, should I have allowed more clearance between the backs of the cells and the track? I measured the clearance using the steps on a BR 20t brake van, and wonder if I should have allowed a little more?
The next episode will look at developments by the river.
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