Castle Aching

[ChrisN]

Edwardian,

Saw the picture of the village on Sunday but have had no time to post.  Looking very good.  Will the railway be fenced off or run down the middle of the road?  It is surprising how quickly you can put things together when you are not trying to build the interiors and make the furniture.

[Edwardian]

Fenced, I think, Chris

[Edwardian]

Work has resumed today on Bailey Street.  Reason for the photograph? Well the brick cottage to the right is full size, whereas the left-hand end is to about HO/3.5mm scale.  Hopefully  the transition will work tolerably well.

[cornamuse]

Love the look of this village - and the forced perspective is anything but - really good modelling!

[Nearholmer]

I agree - very subtle, and very effective.

 

For my education, do you photograph a building-front, re-size/re-align, then print, and use that as the basis of your "skin" for the model?

 

There are clearly 3D build-ups too,mbut it's the basics I'm trying to get a grip of.

 

Kevin

[Edwardian]

Andy, Kevin, thanks.

 

Well, I am a duffer with computers.  I believe that with Photoshop I could correct distortions, stitch in textures etc.  I have to balance modelling time with faffing about with software time, so, so far, it's all been done with Word.  In Word I can resize, crop and flip.  Cutting and pasting beyond that tends to be of the literal variety, with scalpel and glue.

 

Below is the photograph used to make the bay window cottage.  I flipped it to make a mirror image. .  

[Edwardian]

Progress has been frustratingly slow over the last few weeks due to family visits and, for the last week, an inundation of paying (eventually) work, which goodness knows we need.

 

Enthusiasm remains undimmed, however.  I looked at my first full-sized cottage and its large windows and thought I had better put something inside. If I subsequently open up the interiors for LED lighting, I will make more of an effort, but for now I am content with giving a suggestion of an interior through the darkened panes.

Edited February 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[ChrisN]

Progress has been frustratingly slow over the last few weeks due to family visits and, for the last week, an inundation of paying (eventually) work, which goodness knows we need.

 

Enthusiasm remains undimmed, however.  I looked at my first full-sized cottage and its large windows and thought I had better put something inside. If I subsequently open up the interiors for LED lighting, I will make more of an effort, but for now I am content with giving a suggestion of an interior through the darkened panes.

 

That is really clever, and quick too by the look of it, so it should not slow you down too much with the building.  I think insides make all the difference.

[Edwardian]

Fretting about perspective:

Edited February 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[ChrisN]

Fretting about perspective:

 

To be fair it is difficult to tell from photos but, the curved road does give the appearance of distance.  The houses will be of different heights and sizes so the steps in height are not a problem.  Staden figures near the front, Preiser figures at the back, TT Preiser figures the other side of the arch.

[Nearholmer]

If there is a problem, I can't see it. All continues to look very good indeed to me.

 

K

[Mad Carew]

Honestly, it looks fine.  When you have the layout set up, things may depend upon how controlled the viewpoints are, but if the photographs are representative of them, I think you will pull it off.

 

I am toying with the idea 2mm scale barracks and cantonments at the rear of a 3mm scale scene, but I am going to separate that from the foreground with a wall.  I won't have a line of buildings running front to rear in diminishing scale, which I think is quite a clever thing to have done.

 

PS -thanks for the use of your photo of the Spanish Electrotren 0-6-0T and coach.  Paul Lunn is quite right to identify this as a close match to the loco in the film, and the coach is uncannily similar. 

Edited March 12, 2016 by Mad Carew

[Edwardian]

Brick cottage is complete.  This is the first full-size building and the railway will run, I imagine, along the front of this and the next couple of buildings in the street.

 

The façade, including the windows, are taken from the photograph posted earlier.  Roof is slate, for the sake of variety and to break-up the pantiles.  The slates are Scalescenes, as is the chimney brick and the lead flashing.  Chimney pots are paper, guttering is paper, downpipe is florist's wire, glazing from packaging, wisteria is from tea leaves (used).  Budget modelling!

 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[Southernboy]

Quite delightful. I say well done that man!

 

In particular I note the degree of detail, it really makes for a most convincing model.

 

Not wishing to detract from the excellent modelling - I have just two minor questions if I may: Where does the postman deliver the letters, and how does a guest knock on the door?  

 

My concern you see is for the inhabitant: If they can never receive callers, and letters cannot be delivered, through no fault of their own, they may feel they have been somehow ostracised by the outside world. And that would never do.

 

So may I suggest a letterbox and door knocker (or even a new-fangled electric bell) would make this picture-perfect

 

Yours faithfully (etc & etc)

Edited March 13, 2016 by Southernboy

[Andrew Young]

You do have a knack with buildings! Very nice.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[Edwardian]

Southernboy, you are quite right.  I am, as you may have realised, a lazy modeller, but I see door furniture is a corner I cannot cut!

 

In the meantime, I thought I ought to try my hand at figure painting, having not done any for some time, and then only little soldiers.  These are too big and too 1880s, but by way of a practice run, here are two Eminent Victorians (apologies for bad lighting): 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[Shadow]

I'm working up that way next week, just down from Castle Rising.

If there's any photos that you may want I'll see if I can get out and take some for you.

(Weather / work permitting!!!)

[Nearholmer]

The village of Castle Aching is a small, and very ancient cluster of flint cottages, huddled about the crumbling remnants of a Norman Bailey, deep in the most isolated part of Norfolk. It was at this curious old place, peaceful in the autumn sunshine, that Holmes and I alighted from the train, for it was here that Colonel Flint-Knapped-Outhouse lived, spending his time between his passion for golf, and his superintendence of the near-bankrupt local railway company. Such quiet obscurity we knew concealed a past as mysterious as it was colourful, and the task before us was to persuade him to break the covenant of silence by which we knew him to be bound .........

 

(A fragment from "The Case of The Fresh Water Mermaid")

[Removed a/c]

The cottage is simply splendid ! 

[joppyuk1]

Who do your Holmes and Watson?

Years ago I read a Colin Watson book about detective stories, and he envisioned a village called 'Mayhem Parva', populated by murderers and visiting detectives. I've often thought that would make an entertaining layout, where spectatorse are given to spot crimes rather than the number of badgers, or birds.

[Edwardian]

Bravo, Kevin, thank you.

 

Shadow, that is generous.  Any façade of a Norfolk house is welcome, but, in Castle Rising, there are some cottages that I failed to capture adequately.  I have some poor Google Earth Screen Shots, that is all:

Edited February 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[Edwardian]

Joppyuk1 - Presumably it's even worse in Mayhem Magna!

 

EDIT:  sorry, forgot to mention, Holmes & Watson are from the Mike Pett Supercast range.  He has since produced a Moriarty, so, when in funds I might have to acquire the Napoleon of Crime.

 

They are a little too big.  They dwarf Andrew Stadden's figures.  Stadden's are, I suspect, closer to 1/76 than most of us are used to and, in quality, they are unrivalled (IMHO).

 

I will have to dig out some 1/72 war-games figures, as I suspect the Pett figures are close to that scale.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Edwardian

[Neilgue]

I didn't know Holmes played the saxophone...

[ChrisN]

Who do your Holmes and Watson?

Years ago I read a Colin Watson book about detective stories, and he envisioned a village called 'Mayhem Parva', populated by murderers and visiting detectives. I've often thought that would make an entertaining layout, where spectatorse are given to spot crimes rather than the number of badgers, or birds.

 

They made a TV series about that place but changed the name to Midsommer...........

[ChrisN]

Joppyuk1 - Presumably it's even worse in Mayhem Magna!

 

EDIT:  sorry, forgot to mention, Holmes & Watson are from the Mike Pett Supercast range.  He has since produced a Moriarty, so, when in funds I might have to acquire the Napoleon of Crime.

 

They are a little too big.  They dwarf Andrew Stadden's figures.  Stadden's are, I suspect, closer to 1/76 than most of us are used to and, in quality, they are unrivalled (IMHO).

 

I will have to dig out some 1/72 war-games figures, as I suspect the Pett figures are close to that scale.

 

I have some Mike Pett figures and unfortunately, most, well all I think except the newspaper seller are far too big.  I understand that 1/72 scale war-game figures vary.  When Plastic Soldier Review do a review they state the average size of the set and it varies quite a bit.  The soldiers I have used or bought to use have not been too big.