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Miller's Coal Merchants


Liam
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After reading the 'Rules of the cakebox challenge' thread and just so happening to notice that Hobbycraft are selling 8" by 6" cake boxes at £2.50 each, I have decided to take the plunge and enter the competition.

 

My diorama will be set in a coal merchant's yard, and will include the following:

 

A small siding (with bufferstops)

A 16T mineral wagon with door open

At least one small hut, as the merchant's office (and maybe another as a stores building)

A small low bed truck (maybe Bedford) used for deliveries

Various workers emptying the wagon, shovelling the coal into sacks and loading the sacks onto the lorry

And maybe a bit of flora and fauna.

 

Should make an interesting diorama!

Edited by SVRlad
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Thanks Stu for the encouragement and everyone else that liked my post. This is going to be a fun competition!

 

I've added a weighbridge to the diorama as a Ratio kit I spotted is of a hut and weighbridge, and I'm sure many coal merchants also had weighbridges in their yards to measure the loads.

 

I've got a few Bachmann 16 tonners, does anyone know how I can 'open' the door of one to portray the coal being unloaded?

 

So here I've drawn a plan of my cake box. That's the first time I've used the notes app on iPad for layout designing and it's not as bad as I thought it would be! :)

post-31351-0-56739900-1507582281_thumb.png

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  • 2 weeks later...

So a visit to The Range yesterday resulted in the purchase of the 'baseboards', shown here with the lid on:

 

post-31351-0-29389700-1508488167_thumb.jpg

 

And if the lid is taken off you'll see my plan for the diorama drawn in sharpie. Only trouble is I didn't check which way the box is positioned so now when one of the sides is taken down everything is rotated 90 degrees!

 

post-31351-0-82314500-1508488481_thumb.jpg

 

Hopefully most things I haven't got already that are needed will be purchased at a show a week tomorrow.

 

And finally I have an important question; what would make a better base for the diorama to sit on while it is in the cakebox, cork tiles or man-made wood e.g. plywood?

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The Range in Kiddy had none last weekend. Might have to nip down tomorrow now. I could do with another piece of foamboard anyway.

No I got mine from a different branch, but the Kiddy store might have restocked. Failing that there's Hobbycraft of Wychbold.

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I thought the rules were that it needs to fit within the judges 8"x8"x6" cake box,  not that you need to bring one.

Can't trust the judges cakebox to be free of cake residue.  I don't want jam/cream/crumbs over my monsterpiece!  :jester:

 

Drat - another idea just squirreled its way into my consciousness... 

Edited by Hroth
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Not quite as I read it, the rules state

 

"The rules are simple enough. Entrants must build a diorama that can fit in a standard 8-inch square cardboard cake box – the sort available from shops that sell cookery items. You don't display the model in the box (unless you want to) it's simply a guide to the maximum size, a bit like the cages you find at airports to show how large your suitcase can be."

 

So it can be displayed within its own box, as long as the diorama fits within a standard box, which it will do.

 

Peter

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  • 3 weeks later...

A bit of progress to report on. A Ratio coal depot kit has been acquired, and this will be one of the main features of the diorama. Once I get some adhesive of some sort (maybe Humbrol polycement?) it will be built and weathered.

 

post-31351-0-24069100-1510069634_thumb.jpg

 

Some Phoenix Precision sleeper grime paint has also been acquired and this I will paint the track with to achieve that 'dirty siding' look.

 

I'll also need to have a trawl through some scenic boxes underneath the layout to see what grass, hedges and other foliage I can use up.

 

Good luck to all my fellow cake box competition entrants!

Edited by SVRlad
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a quick update, this afternoon a small section of Hornby track was painted with Phoenix Precision sleeper grime. Hmm, how can I disguise that part where I've been a bit careless and painted the rails?

 

I think I might buy one of Scale Model Scenery's diorama baseboards (as reviewed in this month's BRM) to fit in my cakebox. And talking of buying things, there's a 1960s truck to be bought for the coal merchant's deliveries.

 

post-31351-0-66289800-1511278193_thumb.jpg

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A bit of progress to report on. A Ratio coal depot kit has been acquired, and this will be one of the main features of the diorama. Once I get some adhesive of some sort (maybe Humbrol polycement?) it will be built and weathered.

 

IMG_0197.JPG

 

Some Phoenix Precision sleeper grime paint has also been acquired and this I will paint the track with to achieve that 'dirty siding' look.

 

I'll also need to have a trawl through some scenic boxes underneath the layout to see what grass, hedges and other foliage I can use up.

 

Good luck to all my fellow cake box competition entrants!

Try using games workshop citadel plastic glue. I use it for all my modelling.
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If theres a Hobbycraft near you , often on your nearest retail park , nip in and get some Tamiya extra thin cement from the model kit section , brilliant stuff for plastic kits.

There's one near me that I might try and pop into. You've used the Tamiya glue for Ratio kits then?

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Well the baseboard query from earlier has now been rectified. As reviewed in this month's BRM, I bought an 8 inch by 8 inch laser cut diorama baseboard from Scale Model Scenery. I was amazed by the service! £6 seems very reasonable for one, and standard delivery costs £2.50 (which again isn't very much considering Amazon usually charge a minimum of £4.99). Little did I expect that it arrived almost exactly 24 hours after it was ordered!

 

However, the one slight issue that I had was that it didn't say on the product page that wood glue was needed, but the instructions said that I did. That confused me a bit, but it might work without glue.

 

So the diorama baseboard will be constructed in due course, and after that the fun can really begin!

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  • 2 weeks later...

So the baseboards will be constructed shortly, the siding is complete (apart from weathering the buffer stops) but I've got a query about the merchant's lorry. I'm thinking of using a Scamell mechanical horse, or a vehicle similar to this:

 

https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/bedford-ox-trailer-gwr-76bd008

 

But how would I go about repainting it into a coal merchant's company colours?

 

TIA

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So the diorama baseboard from Scale Model Scenery has been assembled, but just slotted in and not yet secured with glue. Personally I don't think glue is needed, but already the backscene board has fallen off a few times, so maybe I should follow the instructions!

 

I've also pinned down the siding. I'll probably do the ballasting before I attach the Hornby buffer stop (which needs to be heavily weathered - they come in a shade of black that would look a bit out of place in a coal merchant's yard).

 

post-31351-0-10560500-1513350626_thumb.jpg

 

The whole place will probably also get a good coating of Greenscenes yard filth, bar a few areas where nature manages to survive.

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