Bit by bit I am getting on with with the backscene. I think I have set myself a difficult task, trying to get a feel of depth and perspective in 2d. If I was a skilled artist it might be easier just to paint it, but I am not so the only thing I can do is the collage of photos method. I have played around with the panorama tools in Affinity. They work well with stitching a set of nice countryside photos together but can’t really cope with the complexity of a row of slightly different tenements.
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
Odd how you sometimes think you are going to tackle some part of layout building and then you end up spending a few weeks doing something totally different. I had been thinking about backscenes, but somehow I just fancied doing something a bit scenic. Generally scenery isn’t my strength but I keep seeing so may layouts on here with wonderful rural scenes which tempted me into having a play about. So I had a go at the harbour scene. Which by the nature of harbours requires some water. I have t
It's ok, I haven’t suddenly decided to start a revolution, tempting though the idea is. I am of course referring to the figures for the layout. These are a mix, mostly from Andy Stadden with some from Prieser and a few older ones in places they can only be glimpsed at. The men are the problem. Most of the Edwardian ladies have wide skirts and so stand up without too much of a problem, though the ones with the hemline daringly 3 inches off the floor do tend to tip up. The men will too but the sm
It has taken a while but I now feel that the overall scene is looking a bit more like a busy urban coal yard. Details and carts are from langley or dart, most figures are Andy Staddens. Anyway, pictures speak louder than words so I’ll shut up.
Something missing though……. Oh yes, the stock. So just for fun.
Perhaps a lot of pictures, as ever helps me to see stuff this way.
I have been thinking about urban coal. Victorian cities consumed huge amounts of coal and of course Glasgow was no exception. Statistics for the quantities mined and moved are available, but staggering though they are do not actually make me think about coal. So instead I started to look at chimneys. I live in a normal west end two bedroom tenement flat which as built had three fireplaces and a kitchen range for cooking and hot water. So thats 32 fires in this block of 8. 14 closes and 2 churche
There we are, the D63 in service after its 30 year refurbishment. I’m not sure that I’m completely happy with it but perhaps we are all getting a bit harsh on ourselves since close up photography shows up all sorts of things that are just invisible from normal viewing distances. You never know, one of the rtr manufacturers might bring out a very nice version. Probably by the time this one has been in service for another 30 years……
So a close up pic; Aye, well. In practice these vans wo
Kelvinbank has two brake vans, and really it could do with a couple more. This one has been sitting in store for a long time. It is a CR D63 20 Ton six wheeler. I built it in 1988 from a DJH kit ( no, really they used to do some wagon kits ) and it is very much a child of its time, compounded by the fact that I didn’t have access to the prototype information that I do now. ( Actually the original kit might have been meant to represent the later type outside framed D63 as preserved at Boness, b
I was getting a bit worried. Sooner or later someone with a valid ticket and a train to catch was going to try and jump out of the station building and land with a bit of a splat on the platform. It has taken a bit of time but thats the stairs in a fairly completed state. Might need a bit of adjustment where it meets the station and platform buildings but I won’t be fitting magnets into the platform till I decide exactly where the canopy sits, and I would prefer to be able to see it from both
Having got the sides to a shape I am happy with progress has been reasonable. Being stuck in the house for a day waiting for a parcel to turn up has a silver lining. Anyway its about ready for some paintwork and then a roof . Fiddliest bit was the gutters, I think these would have been cast ogee section rather than half round and I’m going to have to fit some downpipes. Mind you its always the same , the small projects do tend to take up much more time than you ever thought they would.
This is one of those things that I thought might be straightforward, but which tripped me up a bit. This is the third go at making the sides up for the stairs from the station building to the platform. The first two attempts somehow didn't have the right proportions and I wasn't happy with the angles somehow.
I don't have any sort of drawing to work with so I have been taking drawings and photos from similar CR stairs and condensing the design taking into consideration features which tended
This is another CR Diagram 3 wagon. I made it way back in 1988 from a John Boyle etch, and although I was reasonably good at working with etched brass I didn’t have access to all the drawings and photos that are now available. The result was a decent body, but rather wrong from the solebars down. It got displaced by newer stock, but I thought I’d dig it out and have a go at bringing it up to standard. This particular example is one of the 1891 build converted for perishable goods traffic. It w
Ah, thats better, a bit of wagon building. Nice relaxing stuff. In this case its a pair of D59 wagons from the “true line models” kit, available from the CRA. Many thanks to Tony Brenchley for making the range available. Resin body, my usual type of chassis. As ever full history in “Caledonian Railway Wagons’ by Mike Williams. These two have the later 1905 style end door. Thought I would have a go at weathering them a bit, that coal dust gets everywhere.
And just a bit of a pano
At last, a platform building with a roof on it. I’m reasonably pleased with the way it has turned out. Close up photos show the odd bit that needs a touch of paint, that always tends to be the case these days. The final position will depend on how the stairs from the upper building work out but thats pretty much in the right place. I have learned a lot along the way, particularly with regard to messing about with photographic textures and some of the finer points of using the silhouette. I wil
Well, been a while but I’m getting there. As promised a few shots of the platform building with the roof off. Useful, they show me where I need to tidy up and adjust the squareness of things. I can add more interior details as the bits become available ( or I make them ) The signage is on bit of copper wire, easy to adjust. Given that it will normally be viewed from a couple of feet away I think it will be ok.
The devil is in the detail so they say. During the last two weeks I have been making various detail parts for the platform building, but it seems to be going rather slowly.
If you look at period pictures of CR stations one thing stands out. Poster boards. The CR fitted a lot of them, and some of the posters have become collectors items. Really, have a look at ;
https://www.1stdibs.co.uk/art/prints-works-on-paper/more-prints-works-on-paper/unknown-original-c1910-caledonian-railway-pos
I decided to move the roof on a bit, seems like a good idea to get the lighting in at this stage. Very simple really , just 3 copper wires with LEDs via fine wire and suitable protection resistors. The internal and canopy lights will be separately dimmable. Easier to show a couple of pics than describe it all.
Fairly fine wire, I think I’ll get away with it looking like gas pipe.
A good week, thats the basic structure put together. Simple really, just put some plasticard on a nice flat surface and make sure it all goes together square. I was concerned about the top edge and so decided to strengthen it with some brass strip. A thought struck me, why not use the strip to feed power to the fireplace LEDS? Now I wouldn’t want a soldering iron too close to the walls, so I soldered some sockets from a turned pin IC socket to the strip in the right places before glueing the s
Things are progressing slowly. Winter tends to slow modelling down, paints and glues take ages to dry, the light is bad, there is a tendency to sneeze all over what you are trying to build. Must be a lot worse for folk who model in lofts and sheds. Really a case of watching paint not drying. Anyway, thats the major sections of the platform building ready to form into a structure. All still delicate, I think I am going to have to add a top internal rail to prevent it warping over time. A coup
It has taken a while, but I am now reasonably happy with the tiling. So here is a completed bit of wall, nothing like harsh close up photos to show all the errors. The tiles are printed on photo paper then given a coat of a photo matte uv resistant sealing spray. I have no idea how stable these things are long term. Time will tell I suppose.
I think they will look ok from normal viewing distances.
So I have been making some bay windows. A few false starts but I think the ones I have ended up with have come out all right. Looking at the way the platform building was constructed; it is essentially a set of regularly spaced lateral girders holding up the roof supported by brick pillars. Th bits in between can be thought of as curtain walls , and the most symmetrical bits are the bay windows, hence the reason for starting with them is that defines the areas in between. Anyway , first thing
I have had another go at the valence, new blade and a revised set of cutting curves. The elements still need cleaning up, but overall a bit of an improvement. So that let me push on a bit with the roof. Just some snapshots to give an idea of what it will look like in position. Still a long way to go.
Having got to that stage I think its time to have a think about the building itself
I have been looking at valences. Why ? Well, I have got on a bit with constructing the platform buildings. The roof would have ended about an inch or so over the ogee cast gutter. Between the gutter and the end of the roof supporting girders would be the valence. So in order to get the roof overhang right I need to know how thick the valences are going to be. Which more or less means I have to know how I’m going to make them. Well thats simple then, get on with making the valences Dave. ( harum
I have made a start on parts for the canopy and building that sits on the long island platform. Basically the original was a narrow set of waiting rooms covered by an overall roof and cantilevered canopy. So, how to build it? Well, styrene would be my obvious choice since I have a silhouette cutter. Might be stiffer in brass, but that would probably mean a lot of custom etching or lots of soldering of brass strip. Like a lot of things in modelling you don’t know until you have tried, here is a
I have been asked why I model the CR in urban Glasgow. Simple really, its on my doorstep. Of course large amounts of it have gone, but if you walk the pathways you can still find traces of what used to be there. Its also interesting to see how nature reclaims these areas, and although perhaps not strictly about model railways it is a blog about the study of the prototype. Anyway, first of all, a bit of a map. Dawsholm sheds, and all the associated industrial lines in the locality. Plenty of g
