Tetbury

[Chris Chewter]

In between painting figures to go into my 14xx to serve the layout, the first fence has gone in.

 

 

Still need to touch up the sprue marks and put on the top wire, and paint the road in its final colour, but it's heading in the right direction.

[Chris Chewter]

In between erecting fences on the layout, I've been busy painting up my last batch of Modelu figures. There is something a little strange to see miniature effigies of yourself laid in a tupperware tub!

 

 

However both 14xx locos are now crewed and fitted with lamps. I normally use Springside but I thought I'd fit Modelu lamps for these two locos.  They look good but fitting the lenses is a right pain!

 

 

I also recently took delivery of some Modelu Pendon figures to dot around the layout, and I've been trying out a few positions.

 

The lady in lilac was always going to end up on the platform, although its likely she will be accompanied by a stationmaster in due course. I have no idea how that grey mark got on the brickwork, but it does show how the Springside lamp is a little crude compared to the Modelu versions.

 

 

The elderly couple make a great cameo stood together by the cottage.  They may end up further out in the garden when I get around to detailing this section of the layout.  I think she's telling him that those reeds need a trim!

 

 

This couple were originally intended to be in the cottage garden.  At the moment they are stood by the pre-fab, although their final position may change. However the photograph shows the grass to be a bit hairy for my liking, and the surface of the road just looks wrong. Gah!  Its just goes to show that taking photos as you progress is a very useful benchmark to check the quality of your work. According to one of my Wild Swan books, it looks like I need to invest in some chinchilla powder.

 

 

In case you were wondering, the fence is making its way down the line, however has come to a slight halt due to running out of static grass to fill a few holes. However I think there are plenty of other jobs to get on with whilst waiting for the postman!

 

Edited June 25, 2017 by Captainalbino

[Chris Chewter]

Now I've purchased some odd things to do scenic modelling but this one is a little strange. I stood and the checkout hoping no one would ask me about my imaginary chinchilla! However if it's good enough to be suggested in a wild swan book, it's got to be worth a go!

 

Approved by leading chinchilla breeders and railway modellers.

Edited June 30, 2017 by Captainalbino

[Chris Chewter]

I've given the chinchilla dust a go, and I think the road to the prefab looks vastly better!  I've applied it on top of a layer of PVA, so we'll see if that gives it enough grab to stick, otherwise it'll have to receive a layer of diluted PVA over. I'm just waiting for the glue to set.

 

 

Whilst waiting, I remembered that In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that the Modelu lamps looked a lot finer than the Springsides.  In case anyone wanted a comparison, I've lined up two locos to compare Springside and Modelu lamps next to each other.

 

 

As you can see in the background, I've been laying static grass to patch up any bare bits before I start laying fences to the lower part of the layout.  I'll post some photos as things progress, but currently I've had to call things to a halt whilst the glue cures!

[Chris Chewter]

Progress always slows at this time of year.  Family holidays always slows progress down.  In addition, I've had a few moments when I'm overwhelmed by all the jobs that still need doing.

 

Fencing has been steadily making its way down the layout.  Laid a bit of static grass to cover the bare bits under the fencing, and stupidly thought I'd check my reference books after.

 

 

I based the fencing on one of the images in Randolphs book which seems to show a short section of GWR spear headed fencing before the brick wall.

 

 

Pleased with my achievement, I looked through the B&R video, and to my horror, found this:

 

 

Erm, thats not GWR spear fencing but concrete posts and a single metal rail!  I did think that I would just live with it, but I'm always going to know its wrong, so looks like I'm going to have to do that section again!

 

I also found a few photos on the internet which showed there is a stone wall next to the pre-fab access road..  

 

 

So a few more sections of Harburn Hamlet walling was purchased and fitted.

 

 

I've also made a start on the loading dock.  This appears to be a bodged up affair on the platform ramp.

 

 

I just need to mix up a bit of plaster to create the top of the loading dock, and put a black wash over the brickwork to tone everything down.

Edited August 6, 2017 by Captainalbino

[The Great Bear]

 In addition, I've had a few moments when I'm overwhelmed by all the jobs that still need doing.

 

 

Happens to all of us. A bit of a break normally re-ignites the interest.

 

Your layout is really coming together well.

 

All the best

 

Jon

[Chris Chewter]

Unfortunately not a lot to report since August.  However I decided that I needed to get going again.

 

Using EZ line, I've been working steadily on the fencing down the layout.

 

 

I've also been studying some of the photos, and there appears to be a couple of stone sheds next to the pre-fab access road.  After trying a couple of Wills grotty huts for size, I've started painting them up.

 

 

However studying photos can be a dangerous thing!  What I thought was scrub land between the goods shed and the cattle dock, now appears to be a coal storage area.  Looks like I'll have to strip that section back.

 

 

I've also filled over the top of the cattle dock and leaving it to dry before applying textured paint to the surface.

 

 

The gates are now affixed to the cattle dock.  I just need to apply some weeds and a lamp.  The railings also need a bit of paint.

 

 

I just need to rid my fear of trees and wind a few more wire armatures together.  I worked out that this is the main reason why the layout has temporarily halted.  I've always modelled fairly urban treeless environments.  Tetbury however has quite a lot of trees, and I need to get winding that florists wire!

[Chris Chewter]

What to do whilst the wife watches strictly, well how about sorting out some parts of the railway that need a bit of design work.  Both the cottage and the pre-fab are areas of the layout where the ready to plonk buildings are not quite up to scratch.  Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful representations of  buildings, but they aren't correct to this location, and try as I might, it annoys me that they are wrong.

 

I've tried tonight to get my head around Sketchup, but I decided to fall back on AutoCAD.  The work laptop was fired up, and after an hour and a half of frantic clicking, I've ended up with this:

 

 

The pre-fab is particularly interesting as the only photo in Randolphs book indicates that it doesn't match any pre-fab I've ever come across.  I've assumed dimensions and I think I've come up with something that works. 

 

 

As there are no images of the rear elevation, I've worked from memory from a similar building I measured about 10 years ago in Oxford to put the rear elevation windows in a vaguely sensible position.  I've assumed a kitchen to the left, and bathroom to the middle, and a bedroom to the right.  If anyone knows where a set of plans and elevations for this pre-fab can be obtained from, then I'd be very interested in hearing from you!

 

I now need to separate out the various components to make up a card mockup to see how the buildings fit into position, but I'll leave that for another day!

 

 

[Chris Chewter]

This afternoon I've had an educational afternoon of sticking and gluing.  The idea was to print out the CAD images, affix to card and try the models out for size.  The final idea is to send the CAD files to a laser cutter to turn into a more robust model, as I don't want to commission something that is horribly wrong. As you can see, getting the roof right is a bit more tricky than I thought.

 

The cottage seems to fit the space fairly well.  However without the eaves and chimneys, it does look a little odd.  With some adjustments to the design, I don't think its a million miles away.

 

 

The pre-fab however is a different thing altogether.  After measuring a pre-fab off google earth, it seemed to suggest that the gables were around 8.5m.  Once printed, this is far too big.  

 

 

Back to the digital drawing board!

 

 

[billy_anorak59]

 

... If anyone knows where a set of plans and elevations for this pre-fab can be obtained from, then I'd be very interested in hearing from you!

 

 

I don't know I'm afraid, but perhaps these people may be able to help?:  http://www.prefabmuseum.uk/

 

Nice layout BTW - enjoying this one - keep going!

[Karhedron]

Great watching this progress. Don't know if you have seen this shot before but that looks like a Gresley coach in the mix. Something to add a dash of variety.

 

[DaveF]

Great watching this progress. Don't know if you have seen this shot before but that looks like a Gresley coach in the mix. Something to add a dash of variety.

 

 

 

It's one of my (well Dad's) photos.

 

It was a Gresley coach.  If you look carefully at it you will notice it is rather close to the point.

 

A few seconds later the pannier hit the edge of the coach and very neatly removed a great deal of beading.

 

Everyone looked very embarrassed so Dad didn't take a photo of the resulting mess.

 

David

[Chris Chewter]

Well the wife decided to watch the apprentice tonight, so I decided to do something more fulfilling and disappeared into the railway room.  Sadly not the most photogenic bit of progress, but I've been busy fencing... again. Will it ever end!

 

 

The cattle dock has been filled and the surface coated.

 

 

The photos seem to suggest that, like the far end of the platform, it was allowed to grass over, so it looks like this area will get a liberal coating of static grass.

 

 

Also, thanks for the photo Karhedron.  I had found DaveF's photo during a Google search, and have a Gresley coach ready.  I just need to make some trees!  I'm now the proud owner of five reels of florist wire, so I have no excuse now!

 

 

 

[Chris Chewter]

I managed to get a couple of hours working on the layout today, and managed to string up the fence between the road and the splash, and glued down the fence posts between the road and the railway.

 

 

I've also been winding a few more tree armatures together.  The plan is to twist a batch up before moving onto the next stage, however when each armature takes between 1-2 hours to twist together, I only have three to show for my efforts this week!

 

 

Looking back through Randolphs book, there are quite a few more scots pines than I first appreciated.  I should try to make some, however I'm thinking of commissioning 4D modelshop to make a batch for me. Perhaps I'll try one and see how it goes.

[Chris Chewter]

Earlier today, work sent me to Luton, which is several hours drive in each direction, so I've mostly been thinking of scots pines.  I decided that given i still have four reels of florist wire left, I should at least give making a pine a go, at least it will keep all the trees of a similar style rather than having trees from different origins.

 

What I wanted to understand was how the branches supported the characteristic clumps of needles. Passing a plethora of examples, including a cluster in the middle of a roundabout near Luton itself, and a forest load near Tubney, I decided that when I found a good example that was safe to park up and photograph, I would take a few reference photographs.  In the end I settled for an example in Wolvercote.  Perhaps a little morbid to stride through a cemetery to photograph a pine tree, but nevermind. 

 

 

So armed with a wild swan book to act as a reference, tonight I have twisted together what hopefully resembles a Scots Pine armature.

 

 

Lets see how it looks when I've coated the trunk and added the pine needles!

 

You may wonder why I don't use the photographs of the pines at Tetbury.  Well, one thing that has become apparent is that the pines have at some point been "pruned", and now left, so in the years since closure, they have now grown to some weird and wonderful shapes. They were never like that in the 1960's!

 

 

A pine only a mother could love!

 

 

Lets see if I can get the pines to look a bit more like the B&R video capture!

[Chris Chewter]

Well things have been quiet on the Tetbury project for the last few weeks.  I've been surveying in London so I've been working out of a hotel last week.  I didn't think housekeeping would appreciate wire cuttings all over the floor, so twisted up as many scots pine armatures as I could before I left.

 

 

When I got back, there were three DHL delivery cards.  I explained that I had been away and agreed to work from home today to wait for the parcel to arrive.  The delivery was the laser cutting for the cottage and prefab.

 

 

Lets hope it goes together like it did on CAD!

[Chris Chewter]

After twisting together 15 pine trees, they are currently in a process of receiving layers of latex.  To make sure this process works, I have 6 of the worst examples of tree twisting receiving various layers of latex to see whether they need to receive all 8 coats as advised on the bottle, or whether a lesser amount will suffice. Fingers crossed for 4 layers!

 

 

Gungy!

 

Whilst the trees are drying, as it takes 8 hours between coats, I've made a start on my home made laser cut kit.

 

 

I now have a new found appreciation on the complications of designing a laser cut kit!  However if I pull this off, I will have a pair of buildings which are more realistic than the make-do ready-to-plonk buildings they will eventually replace.

[Tim Dubya]

from Farceboosch:

 

Culkerton on the Kemble - Tetbury line
.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Tim Dubya

[Chris Chewter]

Still having a bit of a tree crisis, so I'd be grateful to know what people think.

 

The Scots Pines consist of a wire armature twisted and coated with latex, sprayed with grey and brown, and static grass applied to the branch tips.  Perhaps I'm being fussy but it doesn't seem quite right.

 

 

My other option is to coat the trunk with plaster rather than latex and see what the final tree looks like.

 

The final alternative would be to commission some pine trees from 4D modelshop.

 

So the question is, do I run with the latex trees, or do I give up and commission the trees?

[Blandford1969]

would a plaster bandage help that you could cut and wrap round and then apply some thick plaster on top? You have done much better than I could ever hope to achieve and the layout is great. 

[Chris Chewter]

Thanks for the suggestion.  I have four wire armatures which I'm experimenting on so I might try a bit of mod-roc to see what happens.  Given that I have another 15 wire armatures ready to go, it seems a waste to simply bin them!  In addition, after looking on the 4D website, I don't think their pines look any better really, and I'd like to spend my cash on sound decoders rather than trees!

[Mulgabill]

Still having a bit of a tree crisis, so I'd be grateful to know what people think.

 

The Scots Pines consist of a wire armature twisted and coated with latex, sprayed with grey and brown, and static grass applied to the branch tips.  Perhaps I'm being fussy but it doesn't seem quite right.

 

IMG_9503.JPG

 

My other option is to coat the trunk with plaster rather than latex and see what the final tree looks like.

 

The final alternative would be to commission some pine trees from 4D modelshop.

 

So the question is, do I run with the latex trees, or do I give up and commission the trees?

I'd say you are not far away.

 

Might I suggest a mix of exterior filler (I use Wilko own brand), with PVA/water to mix, to a

double cream consitency. (or a tad thicker). The PVA gives a slightly more plastic mix, which fills

the wire grooves that can be seen in your pic. A 2nd coat may be required, but it is possible

to get a good finish, the exterior grade gives more texture than a normal plaster. We don't

generally bother, but it should be possible to induce vertical grooves to replicate bark

if you feel thats important. Then paint with acrylic washes.

 

The static for "leaves" may benefit from something to fill out in place of the small

branches just to get the clumps a bit bigger, which is all thats lacking. The effect you

have is good, just needs to be a little more substantial.

 

All the best

[57xx]

When I did some trees way back, the article I was following said to use Das modelling clay. It comes out very well and the wire armature gets completely hidden. 

[Chris Chewter]

Well no doubt many woke up today to a covering of snow.

 

 

After my kids excitement of the snow wore off when they found out that it is actually very cold outside, I decided to escape the bickering over what they were going to watch next on the telly, and decided to try rescuing the pines.

 

Attempt 2: Apply some filler!

 

The only filler I had was some Woodland Scenics lightweight hydrocal left over from making rocks, so some was mixed up and slapped onto the trunks.  The trunks were then sprayed to tone them down and a pine was put into place to see how it looked.

 

 

Certainly an improvement, although it does look a bit on the knobbly side and far too thick! Probably because the trunk has had four coats of latex and some filler slapped on!  Also any flex in the trunk let to cracking and bits of trunk falling off!

 

 

I hope this is because the latex is underneath these experimental pines leading to too much flex.  So I need to select another armature to apply filler to in its entirety. Thankfully I have a few to choose from!

 

 

I just need to purchase some more filler as I've used my last carton of Hydrocal up!  I think I'll also try to pick up some DAS clay and I'll give that a go on another pine.  However I think the latex pines have had their day, and will need to unfortunately go in the bin!

Edited December 11, 2017 by Captainalbino

[Chris Chewter]

Another carton of Woodland Scenics lightweight hydrocal plaster arrived arrived earlier today, so after the kids went to bed, I spent some time trying out coating two tree armatures to see what they look like.  I just need to let them set before spraying them, so I'll post progress once they've received a coat of grey and a light mist of brown. I've also got some polyfibre to try to bulk out the branches, so i'll also give that a trial.

 

Whilst the plaster trees cure, I decided to continue with the cottages.  These have received a thin coat of plaster, which has been sanded to remove any high spots.  I've then set about scribing in a random stone patten into the plaster. Hopefully this will give a stone effect once sprayed up in Cotswold colours.

 

I've noticed that the white undercoat has resulted in some of the door detail being lost.  Next time I think I may need to cut a little wider.  I'll see what they look like once painted up, but I may need to 3D print a few doors on Shapeways to sit over the top.

 

Fingers crossed but to me its coming together.