PaternosterRow

Magical scene. I genuinely thought it was the real thing. Beautiful, breathtaking piece of work. Mike.

Wow. Brilliant work 5&9 - you and Mikkel seem to be in a class of your own regarding the observation of and modeling the Victorian world. It’s just pure Dickens come to life with that man in the snow along the bridge. Breathtaking stuff. Mike.

Fantastic as usual. The Load just looks so realistic!

Wow, what a great shot! Nothing ever stays the same forever. I’ve been away for 16 years now and the area has changed so much in that time. Nice to see the railway hasn’t though. Thanks for the link too - I’ve had a quick look and the layout looks fantastic. Loved the attention to detail especially with the bridge, arch and walls. Brilliant job.

Cheers Phil, I was looking at Google Earth today and noticed that the car lot is now a car park. I think they were called Selly Oak Motors and the still operate out of the area - a little further up from Heeley Road on the other side. They had this ruddy great dog they’d let out at night. He frightened the crap out of me when I first saw him, but he turned out to be a big softy with me in the end. They’d let me park up the cars that had been out on demo runs during the day - that was a real treat! The dog would growl if anyone came near the fence and saved me an awful lot of footwork during the night. Funny how life twists and turns though - I got a permanent job at a fantastic place called The Bond in Digbeth shortly afterward (through the same security firm). During my ten years there I went back to Birmingham Uni and did an adult Degree so I found myself on the other side of that fence for a while as so to speak! Mike.

Another superb issue guys. Best one on the shelfs this month by far. Really enjoyed Andy's take on a Kings Cross throat and also Phil's look at Bridge Building. Always wanted to have a go at that particular view of a railway line and remember many a time going up that side road whilst going to work up the Bristol Road by bike. When the building trade went tits up during the early nineties I could only find work as a security guard for a while. I used to do the weekend shift on a car sales site the other side of the bridge on the left hand side. I can't remember what it was called, but they used to sell second hand Jaguars and the like. They were having trouble from drunk students at the time!

Brilliant! What a treat for a rainy afternoon over here. Your figure painting and posing is second to none. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful, seamless piece of work. Love those shots under the bridge. A master class in how to extend beyond the scenic break - a personal bug bear of mine. Really is a well worth exercise doing this to enhance what is an already beautiful layout. Mike.

Cheers, Mikkel I went back over your blog and caught up a bit and looked at how you made that brilliant cobbled surface (giving me ideas again!). You must have been a bit fraught when you had to downsize the boards for your house move! I recoiled in horror when stumbling across the picture of the saw half way through Farthing. However, it seems to have turned out well - a bit like watching a magician sawing someone in half, no real damage just a clever trick! I shall read the stuff about the cutter with interest - thanks again for the info. Mike.

Beautiful little piece of workmanship. I had no idea about Silhouette cutters, are they easy to operate and how much are they etc? Whatever it is, it’s done a brilliant job on those windows and tiles. The prototype pictures are wonderful, but that image of yours of the two wagons beyond the weight bridge is just so enticing of what is yet to come. Lastly, how have you created those brilliant cobbles for the yard? Meticulously executed as per usual. Mike.

Another great issue. Although an old fuddy duddy when it comes to reading from a computer screen I’m really starting to enjoy the digital version (although still an ardent fan of print!). Loved seeing the Kingstorre article again - a superb masterpiece of a layout. Another fantastic offering overall guys and also, oddly, loved the long Modelu advert at the back - the diorama pictures showing their products were simply stunning.

My copy of MRJ arrived yesterday and I have had several enjoyable hours poring over the pictures and article. This is a fantastic layout and I have watched its development with great interest over the past 12 years (only the time I’ve been into railway modeling myself). No small wonder it has taken since 1983 to get it to where it is now. I love to see a book commissioned on CF, one that details its construction from start to current state. Try as I might, I can’t see the baseboard joints and I love to know how it all goes together. It must have taken a lot of precise planning from the start and has taken an enormous amount of resolve on behalf of the builders to see it to the end; did you all swear some sort of oath of loyalty at the beginning?! It should end up in a museum one day as a type of Pendon exhibit as the quality of the historical modeling is outstanding. The aerial views are brilliant and I can’t believe that you have gone as far as to model the Metropolitan Market so accurately. It all captures the time and place so perfectly. I’m also totally impressed by the running qualities in 2FS - in all the videos I’ve seen there isn’t one stagger or stall, it’s just totally smooth. A lovely layout that I’d love to come and see one day. Hat is off to you guys, what a truly breathtaking piece of railway art. Mike.

Pete, just seen a beautiful picture of Kyle in Model Rail August issue. Still can’t believe it’s 2FS. You can see the reflections of the pier stanchions and what looks like clouds in the water effect! Always be one of my favorite layouts. Really loved the way you seamlessly integrated the magnificent backdrop into the layout - a real work of art. Mike.

Beautiful as per usual. The attention to detail on those roof panels is fantastic - just what I’d expect from you, Pete, even the randomness is carefully planned. Brilliant stuff. Mike.

Cheers Andy and brilliant work on getting rid of the shadow. I don't think the camera can be trained, but it does have an auto setting and I'll try to see if that sets a datum as you've suggested. I'm off to work now, but had a quick look a the other topic - I'll study it in detail later. Thanks for comment also. I'll contact you soon. Mike

Thanks KH1. I just wish I could afford a better camera. Under manual control it will only stop up to about F11 and then only with longer shutter speeds. It's limited but okay for something I won in a photo competition. I love your blog by the way and must sit down later and have a good long look at it. I'd really like to have a go at image stacking as it seems the way to go now for layout photography. Andy Y has explained it in principle to me, but it just seems like yet another skill that will take hours and hours to master. It will also mean spending money on equipment and programs and to be quite frank I'd rather spend my limited funds on trains! I agree about the democratic digital camera, I used to have a go a long exposure photography with 35mm film years ago. I got some interesting results but it was expensive and you had no way of knowing what you got until the pics came back from the developer. Photography really is a bit of a 'dark art' in my opinion and I really admire those who can grasp it. Thanks again for the advice and I'll be in touch. Mike

A few more pictures. I've shot these using the white balance feature that has been set to Tungsten. They are all ISO 100, F8 with variable shutter speed set automatically by the camera. This is the same scene as the one in the first shot above. Personally, I like the other shot with the more afternoon sun glow feel to it. It'd be interesting to know which one people prefer out of the two. Under zoom from about 1 meter away. The camera is quite good at these zoom in shots under manual control and has picked up some amazing detail. I can quite get my head around the beautifully rendered valves. Hornby has done a brilliant job with the Q1. Also note how the camera has picked up the hairs and odd bristle of the glass fibre pen used in the weathering process. I quite like this 'across the tracks' shot. My Third Rail insulators aren't the best though. Another light and shade shot. A lot of modellers don't like 2D textures, but I love that Scalescenes brick texture used on the Theatre building. The last shot demonstrates the mirror trick under the station roof. Under operation the layout makes use of a three foot 'black box' extension.

Cheers, Metr0Land. Yes, I never really liked this camera until I started to get to know it and always preferred my smaller point and shoot Panasonic. The Fuji Bridge will stop up further if allowed to shoot automatically but results are always uncertain and you certainly get less focus over the whole subject. Photography really is an art form that take years to master and I really admire those who decide to try and fully understand it.

Thanks very much for the advice and the compliment, Richard. I’ll certainly have a go at your suggestion with the net curtain. Mike.

Cheers for the compliment, Lantavian. I’m trying to aim for much better focus as well as shadow effect. Photography is really hard and I have a lot of respect for the professionals. It really must take years to master the art.

Cheers for the advice. I have tried long exposure with light trickery before. Below is one I did a few years ago. It was a small shadow box layout (a quarter of a roundhouse scene with a mirror at one side) using car headlight bulbs positioned above pinholes in the roof. There is a few more pics somewhere in my blog. I have read about DOF and F Stop settings, but it’s difficult to understand if you are an amateur like me. I tried out the white balance thing today and will post tomorrow. I do have a true zoom on the bridge and will also be sure to have a go to see if it improves the focus.

I agree, for now. But you can bet long exposure along with some sort of steady cam program is on the cards for the future. I still can’t get my head around all the things you can do on a modern phone. It seems like magic that such a small device can pack in the enormous computing power traditionally associated with the PC - the average battery life is also impressive. I love taking long exposure shots with my cameras and you can get some really interesting results with low level lighting and smoke.

Thanks very much, David. I spent the last few hours looking at the menu and finally found the WB button staring me in the face! It has the options to shoot under tungsten and 3 settings for fluorescent lights. I’m going to have a go tomorrow. That’s what I love about RMweb - the free advice. You also don’t have go through reams of words to get to the point. Thanks again. Mike.

Cheers. My wife got a smart phone a couple of years ago and the snaps she takes on our walks are amazing. I saw an advert for the new Waway phone and its camera capability is unbelievable. I’d wager that smart phones will make most traditional cameras obsolete within a few more years. Photoshop and programs like it totally befuddle me - one day, I hope, you’ll be able to just load a pic and just type in what you want the PC to do with it! I’d just love to be able to add smoke/steam effects but simply haven’t a clue.

I really love photographing my layouts and my ultimate aim is to make the locos and settings as realistic as its possible in 00 Gauge. Getting as much as possible in focus has always been a bug bear of mine. The relationship between F-Stop, shutter speed and ISO is complex to understand and I should imagine professional photographers spend a long time to master it. I haven't quite managed this and have always found that the higher the F-Stop then the yellower the image simply because the more depth of field (or more in focus you want) then the smaller the aperture. In addition, my camera will only stop up to F8. A medium aperture but one that still restricts the amount of light you need. This always spoils the photo and no matter how long you keep open the shutter you can never get rid of the yellowing effect. Camera's therefore love loads of light where this is concerned so I decided to cobble together my own powerful lighting rig. It had to be on the cheap because professional lighting rigs are an astronomical cost. The above shot under the rig. F8 at ISO 400. The camera sets the shutter speed itself and I set a two second timer delay to defeat any camera shake. The 'Heath Robinson' style lighting rig. I found an old overhead projector at my local tip and took it apart. I put the fan and bulb assembly into a wooden box, created a reflective direction device out of hangers and mounting card and put the whole thing on top of a stand that I bought secondhand from a builder for a fiver. It was really cheap to construct and it works quite well. Mind you, despite the fan it gets very hot so I don't leave it on too long in case the whole thing falls apart! The rig is about as good as it gets in creating artificial sunlight. It's either that or lug the layout down from the loft and wait for the sun to come out and you could wait a long time over here for that! Now to get rid of those pesky shadows on the backdrop! This is my take on a smashing prototype picture in Hornby's latest mag regarding coloured light signalling on the Southern. The picture was of a Class 33 double heading with a BR Standard 5MT out of Waterloo in 1966. A summer afternoon at Folgate Street. Note how the light rig casts realistic shadows under the signal box gantry. Light and shade. Notice how the focus drops away and yet this is the best my Fuji Bridge can do. It's a lot better than my other smaller 'snap' Panasonic Lumix which has a much narrower field of focus. The only other route is photo stacking, but this seems like a magic trick far beyond my capabilities. I guess I'll always be an analogue fuddy duddy!