At the end of the year it’s good to have a good look at what you have done and how to go on in the new modelling year. When I started with my Bridge Street project 7 years ago, I just wanted to try out card building. And because it was my first project I also wanted to see if it was possible for me to create a believable English scene. Just to fresh up your mind a picture of my first build card building: John Grantham’s grocery shop.
In this stage I also created a station called Northall. M
I have almost finished the terraced house. Before I show you the result first my personal review of the kit from In the Greenwood. I have enjoyed building it, but just for this diorama. The 3 mm MDF I personally find too thick for the terraced house. 2 mm would have been better, but I don’t know if it possible to do the laser cut. The kit is easy to build. There are no windows supplied, so you have to make your own choice here. Painting The doors I have painted using just a black wash from
Before I started I read some articles about brick painting. I have read the chapter of brick painting in that excellent book “Cottage Modelling for Pendon”, some chapters in a book called “Create exterior finishes” from Bea Broadwood. Is also very useful for railway modellers, especially for those who do 7mm. And last but not least an article from Emmanuel Nouaillier in an Eisenbahn Journal. I will mostly follow the steps described in the last article. For my colour choice I used all three.
For the pavement I also use the sheets from In the Greenwood. Made the pavement to the right size using a craft knife. Then I cleaned them first with an MDF cleaning pad. I gave it a coat with Gesso. Next step was painting the granite kerbs. As base colour I used AK Dry Light Mud. I gave it several layers. The side used a lot of paint. After that I took a little piece of natural sponge with some Petite properties ‘Mucky’ paint. With just a little paint on the sponge I dabbed the granite kerbs
I still have to finish the Hansom cab…. But I think I will use something else on the diorama. Believe that the Hansom cab will be to large for this diorama. Thinking of using a handcart and a boy delivering a Christmas gift. In that time, it was already possible to buy things from a mail order company, for instance from the Empire Stores, which then were send to the costumer by rail as a parcel. Only the way we order, and deliver is changed ….
But first there must be a cobbled road to put th
I still have to finish the Hansom cab…. But I think I will use something else on the diorama. Believe that the Hansom cab will be to large for this diorama. Thinking of using a handcart and a boy delivering a Christmas gift. In that time, it was already possible to buy things from a mail order company, for instance from the Empire Stores, which then were send to the costumer by rail as a parcel. Only the way we order, and deliver is changed ….
But first there must be a cobbled road to put th
After my experiment with pastels I now I used mainly acrylic paints and in the end some pastels. This time I painted the horse that came with the Langley kit of the Hansom Cab. I did also some additional search on internet about the background of the Hansom Cab. Doing this I came along this interesting website http://www.gail-thornton.co.uk/index.php . A lot of information about wagons and carts used in the past.
The starting point: the horse from the Langley kit. This time I also found a ni
I have learned to do the hardest things first. For me that is painting figures. After the excellent blog entries in Wenlock’s Blog (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-20957-coal-part-2/ ) and Mikkel’s The Farthing’s layout (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/75/entry-21161-gwr-large-flat-dray/) about horses and carts I decided to do some horse painting. In the past I found an excellent tutorial about painting horses using pastels. So let’s give it a try.
Some days ago, a received my order from “In the Greenwood”. Some laser cut products to create a Christmas diorama for my wife. Of coarse I tried to give it a place between my Northall diorama’s. The diorama is situated in High Street. The Northall Society helped me out to find some more information. We are going back in time. Prior’s tailor shop is established in the beginning of the Edwardian times, when the shop and terraced houses were built. I have bought the following items: A kit with two
Today I got an email from Ghost Signs. I follow his website, Facebook page and blog for a while now. Some time ago he asked for some modelled signs and I send him some picture of Nice Street. He asked me to write something about it. Now he wrote an article about Nice Street featuring some ghost and shop signs I used. I’m very pleased with the way he wrote about my modelling.
Never thought my modelling would be published outside the RMweb. You can find the article here: http://www.ghostsigns
I have finally finished my diorama of Station Road I have added a Reliant van. The van got some weathering for a better appearance. I used paint from several model paint suppliers.
This time I uploaded a picture of the diorama with the visual underground. Then I saw that a piece of brickwork of a chimney was lose. I repaired that immediately. I also took a picture of the diorama with my British Railway delivery van. I will use these pictures for my delivery story of Arthur Page.
Beca
I have finished the roof. I have used a roof texture from Scalescenes printed on 100 gsm Rice paper from Hahnemühle. You can still see on the picture some white lines. I have already coloured them in with a dark grey pastel. Weathering is done using a dark slate pigment from Vallejo.
Northall has 'real living' persons. Here is the story behind the diorama:
"Margaret Gates is looking through the window of the pet shop. She wanted to buy some Spratt biscuits for her dog, but th
e love
I have finished the gent’s hair saloon. I have used textures from Scalescenes. The shop signs I designed using Publisher with an example I found on Internet. I save the result as JPEG file and with the photo program in Windows 10 I cut the designed sign out. I copy past the cut-out picture to Word and resize it to make it fit. The Brylcreem sign for the shop I found on Internet and resized it to fit in the window.
You can see Leonard, the barber, standing in his shop. Today’s costumer i
I have finished the pet shop. I have used textures from Scalescenes and from Internet, the curtains from Smart Models. The shop name I designed using Publisher. I save the result as JPEG file and with the photo program in Windows 10 I cut it out. I copy past the cut-out picture to Word and resize it to make it fit. Signs for the shop I found on Internet and resized them. For the inside of the shop I used texture from several sources.
Shop window In the shop window there are some rabbits for
Station Road Part one I started a new project. Another street-scene with three shops using three kits of Petite Properties “Low relief (front) no. 12 Station Road; 1:76th. I will use textures from Scalescenes, Smart Models (just the curtains) and signs and textures from internet. The name-signs I create using Publisher. The shops are situated on Station Road in Northall, just around the corner of the Station Inn on Church Street. Opposite are some shops under railway arches. The first shop I
I have finished my Church Street diorama. Another street in my fictive town of Northall. I started to create a base. The base is build up with 3cm high card strips on a MDF base. First, I finished the Assurance Agency. I used textures from several Scalescenes kits. To finish my diorama, I had to add some pavement in front of the Assurance office. There were also some minor gaps, between the building and the street, I had to fill in. I used some Woodland scenic earth to fill it and gave it some
A quick update I start with a quote of Pablo Picasso: “I always do things that I cannot do to learn how I have to do it” I have finished the front of my Georgian building. I used Marshalswick House from Petite Properties as a base. I used again textures from Scalescenes printed on a textures Hahnemühle photo paper. (Un)fortunately something went wrong when I tried to give the building some weathering the first time. Here it is where I remembered the quote of Picasso. I knew that the printed text
The starting point
Now I have finished the pub.
I added the roof using the slate roof textures from Scalescenes. They are printed on 100 gsm Rice Paper from Hahnemühle. This paper has a fine nice texture. Chimneys are from the kit of Petite Properties. They have the brick paper I used for the pub. Roof flashing is from Scalescenes. The chimney pots from Dart Castings, painted using Vallejo and AK modelling paints.
I also added a small yard entrance at the right side of the pub.
I had more time to model this week. So here is an update. The starting point.
The kit from Petite Properties is easy to build when you follow the instructions. Especially when you want to create a shop. The shopfront gives great opportunities.
For my pub, I had to make some additional changes. I searched for some usable pub windows on internet. I resized the windows I found and give them an additional text using Publisher. The door is from the pub-kit of Smart models.
Th
I have started a new project. My cataract surgery was successful. I could start modelling again.
I got some low relief 1:76th buildings from Petite Properties for my birthday.
So, for my new project I will use them to create a scene for Church Street. One of the kits “No. 2 Station Road” will be used to create a pub.
The kits of Petite Properties are laser cut and look good. “No. 2 Station Road” can also be used for a shop. There is also advice how to finish the building.
For th
The starting point
A shop overview.
Third shop wall
I had now created two shop walls. For the third one I had to create a new back ground. First I made a texture with a colour that fits with the background colour of the other walls. Than I did some research on the internet and found a nice picture with 1950’s washing soaps. I also found some nice shop posters. Two of them I added to the shop wall. See the result below.
Interior lighting
For my shops on Station Road
Shops I like those old English shops. And a lot of nice pictures can be found on the internet. There is also a lot of information to find to create a believable shop front. Untill now I have created several shops for my Northall diorama’s. all with a different character. This was my second shop. Built for my Bridge Street project. Just using shop signs from Scalescenes. And one of my favourite scenes. The girl with the red dress. In this case a created the shop sign my self using Publ
Information A couple of months ago, I was searching the internet for information about painting a car. My OO-scale diecast models of course don’t need to paint completely. On the website of AK-interactive, I found some interesting information. I can advise everyone to download their catalogue: http://ak-interactive.com/v2/downloads-2/catalogue/ . It contains a lot of useful information. I also bought Tracks & wheels from AK-interactive. Although written for military modellers, it also contai
Modelling I still wait for the right modelling solution for my eye problems. But this also give me the opportunity to do some research to create my fictive Northall. I hope you also will enjoy reading about my journey in creating Northall.
Creating a believable town. Working on my diorama’s I have always trouble to keep things together to a consistent overall picture. So I looked at our main source for information and found a usable template on one of the fantasy sides. See: https://randyel
Thinking… again
I have some serious eye problems due my allergic constitution. I see much less in bright light. The problem I have can be solved with medication or surgery or hospitalization. But after I have had some examinations and I know there is a way to help me see better. There are some good devices available for the problems I experience. For now I keep doing some modelling.
Modelling aspects: I also have different aspects to keep occupied with my Northall diorama’s Creating
