Maid’s Morton

[DavidMcKenzie]

(following on from the previous page due to picture size)

 

Then a final going over with a different shade of brown to the first coat, again thinned to make a light coat. 

 

And a few photos with a loco posing to see how it looks both close up and with a longer shot. 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2019 by DavidMcKenzie

[Duncan.]

34 minutes ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

The next job was especially time consuming a before and after shot below of picking out the little 'spring clips' that hold the track to the sleepers. Only a tiny detail, but adds a tiny bit to the over all feel. Maybe more noticeable in real life than the before and after photos below.

 

So how do you feel about it Dave? The photos look a lot less 'stark'. I would work it a little more, but have a really good look at a prototype photo of a section of line that you want to recreate and add colour to match, perhaps even do a little piece off the layout, a 6inch section of ballasted track on a piece of card or wood so you don't spoil your actual model.

Cheers

Duncan

[DavidMcKenzie]

So far I am pretty happy with it. It's a considerable improvement on how it was before. I have some photos of the track inside Tring cutting taken from above as a good reference for a model due to the viewing angle (they were taken from the most southerly bridge in the cutting). it could probably do with one more wash in a darker tone of brown. But I am not going to rush it and come back to it in a few days, because I definitely don't want to over do the weathering on this section. I want it to remain as simple as possible and be a section of track where the trains come to the fore and everything else is 'background'. 

 

I like the idea of a test section. Good idea. 

 

All the best

Dave

[Timmy84]

Not been on for a while but great progress! Also noted the pan down on the 90 but I'm jealous of the loco.

 

As a kid I demanded a RfD Class 90 and made my dad run it on his OO steam layout! 

[DavidMcKenzie]

After one very light coat of dark brown the rails got a clean and a few trains got a run. 

 

A class 90 heading north with the parcels. 

 

A 37 a bit out of place on the fast line. Heading an engineers working to rugby.

 

A class 86 pushing on South to London passes a class 87 heading north. I should really remember to check the pantographs before taking photos . 

 

 

I think one of the next things to do is to dull down the fence in the foreground and take the 'shine' off it. Another little thing I've been meaning to do for a while and never really got around to. It stands out in the first two photos.

 

If anyone notices anything else out of place feel free to comment. I am always trying to make the models more realistic and even if changing something on this section is too late or impossible, there is another half of the layout to go yet and I am trying to learn from my mistakes along the way.  

 

All the best.

Dave

Edited October 12, 2019 by DavidMcKenzie

[Duncan.]

H Dave, I like the photographs. The line is developing a character. It's a great location for siting by the line just watching the trains go by.  Remember that wood weathers to a grey colour. I had a long running discussion with one of my operating team about the colour of wood, he maintained it should be brown, but after exhaustive research (trawling the internet) he had to agree  that  grey is the colour. Some fences around estates or houses are temporarily brown if they have been painted with a preservative but that weathers away , and certainly railway fencing is not treated with cuprinol or whatever make you prefer...

One thing about the photos though (perhaps I'm being too nerdy)  when you say such a loco heads a north bound service but I always feel that the train is south bound. I had to think why I felt that way, then it struck me, if the train was heading north, the sun would be behind the train so why is the front of the train fully lit as if the sun is in the north, even the trees look like they are illuminated from the north. It is something I consider when taking photos on Shirebrook, the joy with that is we are in winter with dull  overcast skies so light is less directional! Perhaps you could repeat one of the photos above but reduce the light behind the camera? 

PS That ballast looks good

Cheers

Duncan

Edited October 12, 2019 by Duncan.
PS That ballast looks good

[DavidMcKenzie]

3 hours ago, Duncan. said:

H Dave, I like the photographs. The line is developing a character. It's a great location for siting by the line just watching the trains go by.  Remember that wood weathers to a grey colour. I had a long running discussion with one of my operating team about the colour of wood, he maintained it should be brown, but after exhaustive research (trawling the internet) he had to agree  that  grey is the colour. Some fences around estates or houses are temporarily brown if they have been painted with a preservative but that weathers away , and certainly railway fencing is not treated with cuprinol or whatever make you prefer...

One thing about the photos though (perhaps I'm being too nerdy)  when you say such a loco heads a north bound service but I always feel that the train is south bound. I had to think why I felt that way, then it struck me, if the train was heading north, the sun would be behind the train so why is the front of the train fully lit as if the sun is in the north, even the trees look like they are illuminated from the north. It is something I consider when taking photos on Shirebrook, the joy with that is we are in winter with dull  overcast skies so light is less directional! Perhaps you could repeat one of the photos above but reduce the light behind the camera? 

PS That ballast looks good

Cheers

Duncan

I never noticed the grey colour that wood goes when weathered, but you are right (see picture below). A grey wash will be applied at the same time as dulling down the wires in the fence. Great spot as usual.

 

 

I never thought about the light direction needing to come from the south (although it is obviously correct). It might get complicated as a permanent feature because the layout goes through 180deg and In the sections directly opposite north and south are inverted. 

 

For a specific photo session I will see what I can do though. My wife's considerably better at photography than the photos I have posted here to date which have been taken on my mobile phone. She's been promising to come down and take a few once the first section is finished, maybe I can get something sorted for that. 

 

Your point is again seen in the photo above where the northbound 87101 has shadow on the cab. 

 

Thanks for your comments again, great tips as always.

 

All the best.

Dave

[Duncan.]

1 hour ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

I never noticed the grey colour that wood goes when weathered, but you are right (see picture below). A grey wash will be applied at the same time as dulling down the wires in the fence. Great spot as usual.

 

 

I never thought about the light direction needing to come from the south (although it is obviously correct). It might get complicated as a permanent feature because the layout goes through 180deg and In the sections directly opposite north and south are inverted. 

 

For a specific photo session I will see what I can do though. My wife's considerably better at photography than the photos I have posted here to date which have been taken on my mobile phone. She's been promising to come down and take a few once the first section is finished, maybe I can get something sorted for that. 

 

Your point is again seen in the photo above where the northbound 87101 has shadow on the cab. 

 

Thanks for your comments again, great tips as always.

 

All the best.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I think the photo of 87101 may show concrete posts.... however the one below shows grey weathered wooden fence posts... Photo Credit John Webb

[DavidMcKenzie]

Ah well that'd be why they are grey then. Looking more closely I think you are right, I need to go through a few more photos to see if I am even doing the right thing with wooden posts or if concrete was more often used along the 4track sections of the WCML.

 

Thanks for posting a picture of wood rather than concrete. Occasionally I seem to need saving from myself .

 

All the best

Dave

[Duncan.]

I wouldn't worry whether the posts are concrete or wooden, I bet they were wooden before they were concrete! In all cases they were shades of grey... and with your lovely long grass they fence is not overly obvious, but it would be so notable if it were absent.

Cheers

Duncan

[porkie]

On 12/10/2019 at 08:31, DavidMcKenzie said:

After one very light coat of dark brown the rails got a clean and a few trains got a run. 

 

A class 90 heading north with the parcels. 

 

A 37 a bit out of place on the fast line. Heading an engineers working to rugby.

 

A class 86 pushing on South to London passes a class 87 heading north. I should really remember to check the pantographs before taking photos . 

 

 

I think one of the next things to do is to dull down the fence in the foreground and take the 'shine' off it. Another little thing I've been meaning to do for a while and never really got around to. It stands out in the first two photos.

 

If anyone notices anything else out of place feel free to comment. I am always trying to make the models more realistic and even if changing something on this section is too late or impossible, there is another half of the layout to go yet and I am trying to learn from my mistakes along the way.  

 

All the best.

Dave

Absolutely stunning workmanship Dave. This layout is becoming top notch modelling on another level with all the little details you are adding to the layout and rolling stock 

 

Well done fella 

 

Phil 

[DavidMcKenzie]

15 hours ago, porkie said:

Absolutely stunning workmanship Dave. This layout is becoming top notch modelling on another level with all the little details you are adding to the layout and rolling stock 

 

Well done fella 

 

Phil 

Thanks for the kind coments Phil, I've been realy enjoying modelling again now the weather is slowly turning and it has been nice to be slowly progressing and getting close to the WCML feel I wanted to achieve on this section. Still plenty to work on though  .

 

All the best

Dave  

[DavidMcKenzie]

Had a go at the fence this evening. 

 

It started like this which reflected the lights and drew too much attention to the fence, as well as looking a bit out of place.

 

 

The first step was an undercoat for the wires. I went for a rust colour which will hopefully not show too much after the top coats applied.

 

 

The the posts were given a coat of light grey. You can choose if that's for weathered wood or concrete .

 

 

Then a top coat for the wires to make them a more suitable colour.

 

 

And lastly a green wash over everything to stop the fence posts standing out so much and to blend the fence into the background a little.

 

 

I don't seem to be able to remove the last picture. Sorry for this. It's the fence in original state. 

Edited October 17, 2019 by DavidMcKenzie
Failed attempt to remove the last picture

[DavidMcKenzie]

Then after spending a lot of the evening trying to stop something standing out (and almost trying to hide it), I thought I'd give my favorite loco a run and get a few pictures to see how it looked with a train going by. It's definitely lost it's shine and distracts less from the train itself which was the goal.

 

 

 

All the best

Dave

 

[MarshLane]

Very nice Dave,

You've done a stunning job with whole section, but the fence really does look superb.  Just acquired my first Farish 87 and 90 for a new 2FS North West WCML layout ... partly inspired by Maid's Morton

 

Rich

[njee20]

Superb! Amazing how much better the Farish 90 looks with some modification and weathering. 

[Duncan.]

Looking good Dave, still looks like that 90 is southbound!

[DavidMcKenzie]

7 hours ago, MarshLane said:

Very nice Dave,

You've done a stunning job with whole section, but the fence really does look superb.  Just acquired my first Farish 87 and 90 for a new 2FS North West WCML layout ... partly inspired by Maid's Morton

 

Rich

Sounds great Rich, will you start a post on here so we can follow your progress? 

Edited October 18, 2019 by DavidMcKenzie

[DavidMcKenzie]

7 hours ago, njee20 said:

Superb! Amazing how much better the Farish 90 looks with some modification and weathering. 

Yeah I agree, just moving the air dam from the bogies onto the body is already a huge improvement and then a bit of weathering to hide the big shinny wheels . 

 

Still hoping that Bachmann bring out the shrink gun one day on the OO class 90 though. 

[DavidMcKenzie]

7 hours ago, Duncan. said:

Looking good Dave, still looks like that 90 is southbound!

I was thinking that as I took the pictures . I will have a play with the lighting one day, but last night I used all the modelling time on the fence. 

[Duncan.]

and quite right too, seriously your stretch of the WCML is looking really good. We are exhibiting at the Leeds Show in a weeks time, looking forward to it.

Cheers

Duncan

[DavidMcKenzie]

1 hour ago, Duncan. said:

and quite right too, seriously your stretch of the WCML is looking really good. We are exhibiting at the Leeds Show in a weeks time, looking forward to it.

Cheers

Duncan

It's one of the hard parts of living outside the UK for me, it'd be great to just pop over for an hour or two and see a few other British N gauge layouts and get some tips and ideas. I hope the show goes really well for you and I will be hoping someone takes a few pictures of your cracking layout. 

 

All the best

Dave

[MarshLane]

5 hours ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

Sounds great Rich, will you start a post on here so we can follow your progress? 

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the interest! Yes I am planning to - we will be a similar time period too, as mine will be set in 1990/1991 to get different liveries and the last days of Speedlink. Once the first couple of points are in and working and there is some movement then I’ll open a thread.
 

Your layout, Duncan’s Shirebrook and Simon’s Dallam Sidings have all provided much of the inspiration for me, so thanks for sharing what your doing. What’s next on the agenda for Maid’s Morton?

 

Rich

[DavidMcKenzie]

1 hour ago, MarshLane said:

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the interest! Yes I am planning to - we will be a similar time period too, as mine will be set in 1990/1991 to get different liveries and the last days of Speedlink. Once the first couple of points are in and working and there is some movement then I’ll open a thread.
 

Your layout, Duncan’s Shirebrook and Simon’s Dallam Sidings have all provided much of the inspiration for me, so thanks for sharing what your doing. What’s next on the agenda for Maid’s Morton?

 

Rich

 

That sounds great. 90/91 was another very interesting period with the liveries changing over and lot's of options from the BR blue into the Intercity and railfrieght sectors. It'll be one that I will be following with interest. 

 

Next on the agenda is a small tidy up of details on the ohle and to re do a section of grass that's bugging me and doesn't look great. After this I think I will attack the right hand corner in the old picture below and try to get this countryside section finished before turning my attentions back to the yard and the town scene on the other half of the layout. 

 

All the best

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

[DavidMcKenzie]

Just a little modelling session this evening. On the right of the gantry is the tidied up grass between the fence and the track, on the left of the gantry is how it originally was. 

 

 

Not a huge change by any means, but the grass stands up a bit more now and the over spray from weathering the gravel is tidied up. Hopefully all of these little details add up together in the end, even though alone they are almost not noticeable.  

 

All the best

Dave