Crinan

[Marcus 37]

Great work on those Class 29s Martyn. No mean feat considering that the base model is so Toy like. Fully deserving of the Craftsmanship/ Clever button. Brilliant.

Cheers

Marcus

[Signaller69]

Great work on those Class 29s Martyn. No mean feat considering that the base model is so Toy like. Fully deserving of the Craftsmanship/ Clever button. Brilliant.

Cheers

Marcus

Thanks Marcus, most kind of you. I'm very happy with how they have turned out, but having done 3 it may be a while before a planned fourth one happens!

 

There are other areas which I considered altering such as the cab side doors which should sit slightly further in from the body sides, and the lower body fairing which should be slightly more angled inward but frankly, life is too short!

 

Also due to the time and effort expended on doing them, not to mention cost grounds, I'm unlikely to replace them with new Dapol versions any time soon!

 

Martyn.

[Signaller69]

Today a proper start was made on the long planned small (2'6") extension beyond the station, a nice afternoon saw the baseboard take shape. This board will feature the Crinan Canal Locks into Loch Crinan, the small Lighthouse and a part of the Crinan Hotel in low relief at the new "end" of the layout. It will also allow a small extension to the longer platform and the station frontage and approach road to be modelled. Excuse poor photos:

 

There will of course be some selective compression over the prototype, hopefully this link shows what I am trying to achieve (photo taken from the Hotel roof it seems): http://moblog.net/media/s/e/a/seadogrose/tarbert-to-ardrishaig-and-the-crinan-canal-4.jpg

It is assumed the (fictional) Crinan Station was built on the fairly cramped land beyond the locks (one of which is permanently blocked at the sea end to provide extra mooring). It can be seen that the canal passes through a basin before entering more locks and then rounding the headland in the distance (where in my version the swing bridge carries the line over the canal, past a house and through an imagined cutting or tunnel through the headland).

 

More soon!

[Signaller69]

With the new extension in mind I have been looking at the Crinan Hotel, thankfully there are plenty of online images as well as the Hotel's own website etc. I'm fairly sure I read somewhere that it is "Art Deco" style, and this style looks apparent in contemporary photos, such as this one: https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0a/5b/f5/03/the-crinan-hotel.jpg taken in the 1980s I believe.

 

"Surely can't be much different to how it was in 1970 if its an old Art Deco building" I thought, maybe the balconies and top storey added since then?

 

How wrong I was!

 

Further historical searches found an old Newspaper Article about a major fire in 1971, which caused severe damage to the roof, and another fire in 1978. I then found an earlier black & white photo of the hotel which shows something almost Gothic rather than Art Deco: https://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/d/SC01334517.jpg . After pondering how the new structure didn't resemble the old one I realised it is in fact the same building but heavily rebuilt and enlarged (following one or other of the fires presumably); certain key features remain such as the angled front corners and the chimney but the hipped roof and gabled frontages have gone, an extra floor added, the single storey extension in the left corner has had floors added, the castelated roof edging removed etc etc, apart from the Car park walling which retains this.

 

Going off door & window sizes I have guesstimated a sketch to 4mm scale of the end elevation shown in the links above, to get an idea for space needed and use as a template for cutting when construction starts.

 

Study of the B&W photo shows the centre portion of the building is extended outward on the lower 2 floors, with castellations above, the top floor having a "bay window" style projection with the chimney directly above and flush with the wall/castellations, yet having a window directly under it, presumably the chimney flues passing in the wall either side of the window?

 

This should be "fun", I'm quite glad I'm only doing this in low relief!

[Signaller69]

I have made a start on the low relief "Crinan Hotel", which will be a card shell overlaid with embossed plasticard, and using windows, doors and other parts from an old Scalerama plastic house kit. Window and door appertures have been cut out using the kit parts for reference, the castellations were a pain, especially as I then realised they need overlaying with another layer as they stand proud on the real building (see second link in post above). The build is currently in 3 parts to ease assembly viz: main flat wall, front "tower" and the single storey outbuilding.

Whilst awaiting a Slaters Plastikard order to arrive I have a quandry, I'm not sure if this building is of brick or stone construction? As the only images I've found of the pre-rebuild building are black & white and not of sufficiently high resolution to be sure; there are a couple of areas which hint at brick and others that look more like stone. The fairly remote area suggests traditionally stone would have been used and I feel this would look better on the model, in the absence of any conclusive proof emerging, although iirc there are (newer?) brick buildings in the area too.

[EnglishElectricFan]

Hi Martyn

I'm looking forwards to seeing the development of this extension. The hotel looks fab.

Regards

Simon.

[Signaller69]

Hi Martyn

I'm looking forwards to seeing the development of this extension. The hotel looks fab.

Regards

Simon.

Thanks Simon, hopefully it should give the scenic end of the layout a slightly more "open" feel beyond the station, after fighting the temptation to add more track! :-)

[Marcus 37]

Top work Martyn. The hotel looks superb. Can't wait to see that develop further.

Cheers

Marcus

[Alister_G]

I recognised the Crinan locks straight away when I saw the new baseboard extension. I like how you've got the blocked off one at canal level, and the other one at sea level, just how I remember it!

 

Will you be modelling the actual basin as well?

 

The hotel is looking good, as well, very Scottish Baronial in looks.

 

Nice work Martyn,

 

Al.

[Signaller69]

Top work Martyn. The hotel looks superb. Can't wait to see that develop further.

Cheers

Marcus

Thanks Marcus, hopefully further research will uncover whether it is brick or stone (in true fashion I will probably find its whichever one I don't go with)!

 

Cheers,

Martyn.

[Signaller69]

I recognised the Crinan locks straight away when I saw the new baseboard extension. I like how you've got the blocked off one at canal level, and the other one at sea level, just how I remember it!

 

Will you be modelling the actual basin as well?

 

The hotel is looking good, as well, very Scottish Baronial in looks.

 

Nice work Martyn,

 

Al.

Thanks for your kind comments Al, yes the blocked lock seems to be permanently full, presumably there being no way to drain it any more. The locks are slightly closer together than scale which is giving me a dilemma as the lock beams (the ones you push to open/close the lock) will overlap, however I think the real ones must have removable beams for the same reason, as at least one Google Images photo shows a spare(?) beam resting on stands at the sea end; another photo shows a beam sticking right across the hotel access road, which would be very inconvenient if not removable? Unfortunately I don't have space to model the basin but I'm hoping to represent it on the backscene.

 

Martyn.

[Alister_G]

I know this is by no means definitive, Martyn, but a quick Google image search for "Scottish Baronial Architecture" seems to suggest more stone built than brick built, apart from in Edinburgh.

 

There are some real "Hammer House of Horror" examples, the Victorian builders really seemed to like turrets and embrasures!

 

Cheers

 

Al. 

[Signaller69]

I know this is by no means definitive, Martyn, but a quick Google image search for "Scottish Baronial Architecture" seems to suggest more stone built than brick built, apart from in Edinburgh.

 

There are some real "Hammer House of Horror" examples, the Victorian builders really seemed to like turrets and embrasures!

 

Cheers

 

Al.

Yes that's true, stone does seem more common. I thought I had a eureka moment when I found a video online of a choir singing outside the Crinan Hotel entrance, showing dressed stone walling; unfortunately those same walls weren't there in the period I'm modelling!

[The Ghost of IKB]

Thanks Simon, hopefully it should give the scenic end of the layout a slightly more "open" feel beyond the station, after fighting the temptation to add more track! :-)

Why fight It? Add more Track!

Any chance of some more pictures of trains Running?

[Signaller69]

Why fight It? Add more Track!

Any chance of some more pictures of trains Running?

There will be a few inches of track added with the aim of allowing up to 5 coach trains to be run once the fiddle yard is suitably modified.

 

And yes, I feel a running session is long overdue!

[Alister_G]

Hi Martyn,

 

I mentioned your layout to my Dad the other day, and we were discussing the hotel, and he said he thought he'd got a photo of it somewhere taken in the 60s.

 

Well he found it:

 

 

It's not clear enough to answer the stone versus brick question, but it does show how the rooflines looked on the old building.

 

Hope it's of some use,

 

Al.

[Signaller69]

Hi Martyn,

 

I mentioned your layout to my Dad the other day, and we were discussing the hotel, and he said he thought he'd got a photo of it somewhere taken in the 60s.

 

Well he found it:

 

Crinan_Basin_064_crop.JPG

 

It's not clear enough to answer the stone versus brick question, but it does show how the rooflines looked on the old building.

 

Hope it's of some use,

 

Al.

Hi Al, that is a great photo from a perspective I've not seen before, very many thanks for posting.

 

As I'm only doing a low relief version of the end in the photo I don't need to worry about the roofline beyond the first apex thankfully! It also shows the unusual chimney position, with a window below it, which I'm sure will raise some comments at shows! There seems to be a lot of Ivy over the walls which is another idea to throw into the stone v brick mix. And usefully it shows the layout of nearby buildings (one of which may be modelled, low relief again probably) and the access road.

 

Great stuff! Please pass on my gratitude to your Father too.

 

Thanks,

Martyn.

[Signaller69]

The shell of the hotel is complete now, ready for overlaying with embossed plastikard, windows and further detailing, once the milliput around the crenellations has been tidied. Roof tiles are the tried and tested cereal box card, embossed with a sharp marking punch.

Last photo shows the interior floors and bracing, and the use of slot and tab construction for rigidity in certain locations.

[Signaller69]

The "Crinan Hotel" walls have now been clad in Dressed Stone plasticard and gaps filled with Milliput. The "stepped" front corner (a prominent feature of the prototype then and now) was achieved using a section of discarded Airfix Footbridge steps and more Milliput. The windows are being test fitted, although I shall probably paint them before fitting to the painted building.

[Signaller69]

The layout is currently under dust covers at the Clubrooms owing to building and renovation work to make better use of space, so running and working on the layout is difficult to say the least. However tonight I did manage to lift the covers enough to take a few more phone snaps of the station area including the station building frontage, which has previously been hidden by the end backscene, but the extension will allow it to be visible and extra detail/signage added, along with a forecourt area, Bus Stop etc.

 

[Signaller69]

A few hours this afternoon has seen good progress on the hotel. After a quick clean up the shell and all the windows were primed in white with a car aerosol. After an hour the building was dry brushed with my usual cheap acrylics, mixed to a light grey/brown colour and applied with a fairly stiff flat brush. A second pass introduced slightly darker colours and streaking, the stiff brush when pressed selectively into the semi dry paint takes off some of the earlier covering from the "face" of the stones leaving a lighter colour, with the darker paint ending up in the mortar courses.

 

The window frames were then touched in with a slightly different mix of stone colour round the edges and once dry were fitted to the building. Still a little more work to do paintwise, touching up window frames etc, and an old style Hotel "double half doors" (to coin a phrase; those old style narrow doors where you could squeeze through one, or open both to get luggage through, where a single standard door would be too narrow) made for the main entrance.

 

After that a "glass" sloping canopy will be added over the main entrance, with some ballustrades provided from the same kit the windows and chimney top were taken from.

[Waverley West]

I love the textures and weathering on that hotel. It's going to look right at home on the layout.

 

Superb.

[Alister_G]

That's just brilliant mate, superb colouring absolutely nails the look of such buildings, and so clever the way you've done the stepped corner.

 

Fantastic.

 

Al.

[Signaller69]

Drainpipes (Wills) and canopy done. Glazing on the canopy is not fixed in place as I may replace it with with another piece, using fine white lining tape instead of plasticard support beams, which I feel look a little chunky. The valencing is another part from an old house kit. The flat roofed areas will probably get fine chippings added, or a representation of felt roofing.

[Nick G]

Looking good Martyn.