Canute Road Quay

[Graham_Muz]

I am pretty certain they never ventured to such dock side locations in real life but this latest Hornby Adams Radial arrived in the post this morning I couldn't resist a couple of shots on Canute Road Quay...

 

 

 

[Graham_Muz]

Time for a bit of an update.

 

The final layer of cork sheeting has been put in place in the areas where the track is inset and last weekend I made a start on the other terrain areas such as the areas just off the inset track, roadways and also to represent the basic earth / ash style unkempt ballast (rather than stone chips) of the non inset track areas, using air drying modelling clay.
To apply the clay I first apply a thin layer of PVA glue to the baseboard surface to assist with the clay keying to the baseboard top.  I then simply mold the clay in place using fingers and where required smoothing down with a little water, it’s a bit messy but the inner child in me finds it fun.

To give a few further points of interest I have created a few puddles in the lower lying areas between the loop tracks and also around the water crane on the shed road. These are simply small pieces of 20 thou clear plasticard painted black in the underside and fixed in place before shaping the puddle edges with the modelling clay.

The inset track areas will now be painted using textured paint from Green Scenes to represent concrete. In addition to their concrete textured paint I also intend to use their tarmac version for the roadway in front of the public house going off to the rear of the layout and also their ‘yard filth’ and ‘general muck’ for some of the other terrain areas, once painted these areas will also receive undergrowth and static grass to complete the scene.  The coaling area in front of the small locomotive shed will also see real coal (as nothing looks more like coal than coal) and ash (real ash from my word burning stove) used to give further texture and colour.

​And a front on view

 

​This an extract of my latest blog post at https://grahammuz.com/ the full post with additional information can be found here https://grahammuz.com/2017/02/20/ground-cover-taking-shape-on-canute-road-quay-now-that-the-wiring-is-complete/

 

 

 

[Brinkly]

Lovely work mate. Keep it up.

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

[Tony Teague]

Looking good Graham!

[Graham_Muz]

A few pictures as an udate to progress, ground cover now awaits foliage and static grass. A small amount of ballasting has been carried in and around the points and also on the headshunt.

And an overall view as it stands at the moment.

 

Keep and eye on my blog here https://grahammuz.com/category/canute-road-quay/ for more updates and soon to be published information on the backscene and also layout lighting.

[Graham_Muz]

I have spoken before about on my blog in a view from the line post about my views on the need for a backscene on a layout. Even simple a plain blue or grey painted back board is better that nothing.
The style of presentation, on Canute Road Quay as I have utilised an excellent laser cut Tim Horn baseboard, the back and sides are an integral part of the overall baseboard module.
On Canute Road Quay, being a bit of an industrial dockside scene, I thought an grayish overcast sky would give a simple effect and not draw the eye too much from the layout itself. I therefore opted to use a photographic overcast grey sky from Photo ID backscene from Art Printers

I opted for their Premium range of Photo ID backscenes that are printed on tough Polypropylene that are stated as being waterproof,  scratch and tear resistant. They are self-adhesive, which is how I have affixed them to the primed plywood rear and sides of the layout;  but can be used without removing the backing film and applied using a non-aqueous glue if required. 
Although the Photo ID Sky backscene itself is just I was looking for above the mix of low relief buildings (mainly Bachman Scenecraft) , that are also positioned to form part of the backscene, it would not look right on its own in the gap between the buildings where the roadway supposedly heads off the scene.
This is due to the fact that in reality at such a location you would not simply see the sky finishing at the near horizon. I therefore initially wanted to fill the gap with a scene of a suitable warehouse style building in the near distance.
However, I was not able to find a suitable photograph of any warehouses that were taken in the right period, most images I was able find were of old warehouse as they appear now, either  to dilapidated, renovated, changed use such as apartments and or with modern items in the scene such as street furniture etc.
I did manage instead to locate an old black and white image of a row of terrace houses that I could manipulate within Adobe Photoshop to fill the gap and meet my needs, in fact since the addition of the low relief public house a row of terraced houses fit into the overall scene quite nicely.

The first step was to reshape slightly to both fill the gap and give the perspective I wanted; and secondly to re-colour the image including the brickwork, slates, chimney pots and windows but leaving the colours slightly muted as if being viewed from a distance.

The path and roadway have been matched as close as possible to be the same colours as applied to pathway and road on the layout itself. This was then printed onto art quality paper and carefully cut out before it will be finally affixed (as I have not yet permanently affixed it yet whilst I finish some of the scenic groundwork) to in the gap directly onto the sky backscene.
Once again the overall effect can be seen in this image, repeated here to illustrate this post

The post is an extract from my blag at www.grahammuz.com
The full post with additional information and images can be read here https://grahammuz.com/2017/03/05/making-a-scene-on-the-back-of-canute-road-quay-or-simply-how-i-have-done-the-backscene/

[westerner]

I've just come across this Graham. I'll now have to read the previous pages. I do like your presentation ala Rice.

[Stubby47]

Probably too late to suggest this now, but the nearer end of the terrace could have been slightly stronger in colour, to match the 3D building, then gradually fading the colours to the far (right-hand) end.

[Graham_Muz]

Hi Stu

 

Not to late in fact as the printed terranced houses are not yet fixed to the backscene itself, I did in fact at one stage try to do a simialr effet to what youy suggested but I did not manage to make it look quite right on the screen in photoshop (also not helped by the colours printing slightly differently as well) I may still give it another go.

[St. Simon]

Hi Muz,

 

Looking good, looking forward to operating it at Taunton (which reminds me, I must book the hotel!)

 

Simon

[Brinkly]

Hi Muz,

 

Looking good, looking forward to operating it at Taunton (which reminds me, I must book the hotel!)

 

Simon

 

Otherwise you will be sleeping under the car!

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick

[Graham_Muz]

This morning has seen a start on the ground cover with a couple of intial layers of static grass. I use the excellent static grass applicator and fibres from WWSecnics

 

Other layers and also additional textures using some Woodland Scenics materials will also be added in due course.

[Graham_Muz]

Last update for today, is the addition of the expansion joints in the concrete at approximately 15ft intervals which is typical for a 8" think concrete roadway slab.

 

I initially scribed the joint lines into the surface of the concrete with the edge of a small screwdriver blade before running a soft pencil down the scribed line to give the weathered grayish look to the jointing bitumen. As a reminder the concrete surface was formed using Greenscenes Textured paint applied over the cork layers that I used to build up the thickness of the slabs around the inset track.

 

Some of the joints towards the edges of the slabs, ie those areas not seeing much vehicular traffic, will also get some fine turf Woodland Scenic material added in due course too.

[gwrrob]

 

Some of the joints towards the edges of the slabs, ie those areas not seeing much vehicular traffic, will also get some fine turf Woodland Scenic material added in due course too.

 

Mininatur do some very nice blister packs of weeds with leaves that might be of use here too.

[DLT]

Looking good Graham, see you at Taunton if not before.

Cheers, Dave.

[Graham_Muz]

Thanks Dave

 

I look forward to seeing you there as well.

[Graham_Muz]

Another visitor to the Quay today, I could not resist a couple of shots...

 

 

More details on 21C3 can be found here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/96518-Hornby-merchant-navy-announced-formerly-facebook-leak/page-47&do=findComment&comment=2653969

[Adams442T]

Wow!   The words 'squeaky clean' come to mind!  Beautifully done loco though!

[Graham_Muz]

There is nothing like a few deadlines to focus the mind and modelling a bit. Canute Road Quay is making its 'public' debut at the the RMweb SWAG members day in Taunton at the end of this month, see here for details http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/120694-swag-2017-lineup-details-catering-all-you-need-to-know/ Also my other other train set Fisherton Sarum https://grahammuz.com/category/fisherton-sarum/ making an appearance at the Epsom and Ewell show the week before.

So despite the lovely weather, I have spent this weekend breaking the back of the main outstanding work which has included: finishing the main front buildings with their initial painting and roofs fitted (I also hope to add a other details such as lead flashing, guttering and downpipes and some brickwork pointing and weathering before Taunton as well), completing the engine shed, although it still awaits a few internal details, adding drains, gas lamps (still to be wired in) and adding a few people to complete the scene.   

 

Firstly an overall view

 

And a few closer shots, moving left to right

[The Bigbee Line]

I like your tip of replicating the track layout under the board. Shows where wires come from. Really useful.

[sb67]

Cracking layout Graham, I really like the way the terraced houses dissapear into the backscene. One question, how did you do the check rails? that's something I've tried but not had a lot of sucess with.

Steve.

[Graham_Muz]

The check rails were lengths of code 75 rail from C & L cut to length / shaped and superglued directly to the sleepers of the inset track being careful to leave a suitable gap which in most cases buffering up against the side of the chair moulding on the Peco code 75 track. I took a little while but I think it was worth it in the end (although not quite up to Baron Von Harrap standards)

[Graham_Muz]

With respect tot he check rails, I also tried painting them a rust colour (Precision Paints Track colour rusty rails)  although in places this tends to get worn off when cleaning the running rails. I did think of chemically colouring but could only find either black or blue colouring neither of which would be approprtiate for a dirty rust colour.

Unless anyone has any other suggestions?

[Stubby47]

You could make up a little tool which has two lugs which run in the gap between the rail & check rail, but only has a track rubber on the outside of each lug.

 

[The Bigbee Line]

Graham,

 

What is your opinion of the concrete? Always interested of what modellers think of their own work.