Layout photos
Entry posted by wombatofludham
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If you managed to stay with the introduction to the layout, here are some photos of the overall work in progress currently underway.
The "Town Tunnel" showing the Old Courthouse Square, which largely survived the blitz of March 1941 which destroyed the rest of the town. A mix of RTP buildings from Hornby, Bachmann and SD Mouldings together with a kit built American IHC "Colonial Courthouse" bought s/h off TatBay
"Phoenix Square" rebuilt in the 1960s on land flattened by a heavy blitz in 1941. DHSS building and shopping parade with flats over. Mix of German Kibri, Vollmer and Faller 1960s kits, nominally HO but typical of 1960s German building kits, closer to TT. However, kept together, their underscale appearance is disguised.
1960s housing estate, a mix of Vau-Pe, Faller and Jouef-Lima kits. all nominally HO. The typical Chav's "estate boozer" in the foreground is a Vau-Pe/Pola Quick kit that has variously been a school or a post office, but to me looked like the typical 1960s estate boozer sadly now being knocked down or changed into convenience stores and in the process losing a lot of quite nice 1960s décor. The outdoor benches are 3d prints. The 9 storey block, "Euneda House" named after the Saxon princess who founded Wednesford, is a modified Faller kit, and the two smaller blocks, "Cylencyn Court" (pronounced Kullenkin although the local yam-yams always refer to it as "silenceincourt") and "Crowne Court" are Jouef-Lima kits. The one is without a back for now as I intend to use it to design an insert for the block so I can internally illuminate it, printed on the 3d printer
New Civic Square and the amazing self levitating AC Electrics factory behind. On the left, Shaw Taylor House is home to Wednesford's House of Plod, and is a Kibri kitbash involving their 1970s "Postamt Badenweiler" as a reception/public area and their 1970s "Hochaus" with a 3d printed roof. The name sign is a 3d print, as is the large Staffs police emblem, which uses a badge bought off Tatbay for the emblem. Next door is the new Law Courts building, built in anticipation of the change from the assize courts to the new Crown Courts that Dr Beeching (yes, that Dr Beeching) headed up a commission advising on. Wednesford was never due to be a Tier 1 Crown Court but did become a Tier 2 court. It's a Vollmer "New Ulm" kit with a 3d printed planter and name, and a 3d printed entrance canopy. The "Brenda's Badge" royal coat of arms is something I bought off Tatbay for a few quid mounted on a suitably marble-esque offcut of plastic. All courts are Royal Palaces which is why they have the full lion and unicorn badge, as opposed to other Government buildings of the Crown Estate, such as post offices or DHSS offices which post war would have had the Royal "EIIR" cypher, or prior to that, the Cypher of George VI.
The lower level station entrance. The station is split level, and when the station was rebuilt a new vehicular access was provided on the site of the old goods shed which was destroyed in 1941, as the upper level access was off a narrow road that was planned to become one-way and largely bus only. The station building is a combination of the Pola/Playcraft "Bletchley" BR station, a very nice, little known model of a BR London Midland "Mod-X" design station typical of the designs used on some Styal Line rebuilds, and similar in style to the buildings at Hemel Hempstead, Runcorn, Congleton and the like. The new public entrance on the left is a 3d print I designed to the same dimensions but with a raised "clerestory" and feature roof to give a bit more presence. The station nameboard is a 3d print, as is the water tower on the station and the stainless steel totem in the front which will be in the middle of a planted roundabout when I start the landscaping. On the left, the public entrance to the Wednesford Borough Council Civic Centre, a combination of two Vollmer 1970s station buildings and a Kibri 1970s office block.
Market Street Conservation Area and the reason why Wednesford Tunnel couldn't be opened up to allow twin overhead line installation. A mix of RTP buildings from Hornby (the shop, and their "Merchant Bank" which will become the George Hotel), SD Mouldings plaster cast Tudor buildings, a Hornby "Bramble Cottage" his hidden behind the two plaster castings, and a low relief "Moriah-Carey" chapel in the corner fronts onto Nanny Goat Passage which runs off into the garden. I'll be paving the space with MDF cobblestone sheets to give a suitably Conservation Area look. The market stalls are of course Bachmann.
Overview showing how the railway will be tucked behind the buildings. The amazing self levitating factory is of course destined to be sat on top of a retaining wall! It's a 3d printed ultra-low relief gable end which will house the AC Electrics Factory, which was rebuilt after it was destroyed in the 1941 blitz. Their phone number will resonate with fans of locos with coathangers on the roof - Wednesford 81-85-86. Next to AC electrics will be the flat roofed confectionery factory New Penrhyn Works, home of Aunty Edna's Minty Koffs. Any similarity with Uncle Joe's minty balls is purely intentional.
the building next to the courthouse is the Central Library, and is a kit bought off the Chinese eBay looky-liky AliExpress. It was a right mare to put together and ended up a mix of original kit parts and 3d additions. The modern sculpture in the foreground is "Circular Arguments" by renowned jewellery artist Patricia Butcher, famous for her ear-rings. Fronting as it does the entrance to the Borough Council chamber and Courts complex, "Circular Arguments" seemed an apt title. In reality, a pair of 99p cheap Chinese ear-rings from Tatbay in a 3d printed planter with some clumping keeping the iece in place.
Staircase and lift tower down from the upper level entrance of the station. Upper entrance is another Pola/Playcraft "Bletchley" station, unmodified apart from painting, whilst the staircase is a kit of parts 3d printed from my own design based on those at Tamworth, and the lift tower is likewise a 3d print. The stylish but useless roof is a roof from another, badly damaged Pola station I bought for spares off tatbay.
Station St, congested with time travelling Midlands buses. The white cleaner's store on the left is a lift tower module I designed for a previous plan but which is now surplus, the public bogs are Bachmann, the "Citibank" is an American RTP building although there are identical European kit versions available from Faller-Hobby and MKD, in fact I used the Faller "Komputercentrum" kit as the base for the Val-U supermarket on Kings Oak. The horrible paper signs will be replaced by nice 3d printed versions when it will be rebranded the "AST bank". "AST" in our fictional scenario stands for Allied Savings Trust, but in reality Ast is also Welsh for "Bitch" and the "Bank of Bitch" is an in-joke with a friend. The bus shelters are 3d prints of the ubiquitous but so far never modelled Abacus cantilever bus shelter. It doesn't have glazing, so is fully accurate. The panel at the end will have bus top information, but helps to keep it propped up!
St Florians Church and the ruins of St Florian's chapel, the only structure left standing after the firestorm which raged through the low town in 1941 as the incendiaries caught hold of the mix of Tudor, Georgian and Victorian mixed uses of workshops, offices, houses and shops. After the war it was decided to keep the old St Flo's ruins next to it's modern replacement. The ruined chapel is a Scottish ruined kirk made out of resin bought off eBay, the church is of course the Faller 1970s kit but with the Godlight roof replaced by something less cheesy and more British, the office block is a Vau-Pe kit and the shops are part of the Faller Hotel Stadt-Prag kit,
The simple track plan. On the right a bi-di platform road and on the left, a single six car bay platform, with an island platform in between. To the right of the main platform track there will be a 25-35mm batten onto which will be placed a retaining wall, I'm thinking rather than a 3d print I'll buy plaster castings off an eBay site as I think it'll be broadly similar in cost. The building in the corner is "Wentec", Wednesford Technical College. It began life as a kitbashed Faller 1960s Hochhaus" kit which someone had turned into a low relief background building. The kit is seriously underscale for HO let alone OO, but I bought it on spec and after some modification, painting and adding 3d printed bits, looks passable as a background building and fills the corner nicely. The trendy fascia panels, a collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Art and Graphic Design are 3d prints.
The congested Station Road.
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