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Caledonian Basin - railway-in-a-box diorama


brylonscamel
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1 hour ago, HillsideDepot said:

Having a lazy morning, going from one film to another, I came across this one, in colour, from 1959 http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/rotherham-seaport-town which might have some relevant scenes, albeit of Yorkshire.

 

I'm enjoying the background research that everyone is doing for me (whilst I work in the day job!)

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On 08/05/2019 at 12:50, HillsideDepot said:

Having a lazy morning, going from one film to another, I came across this one, in colour, from 1959 http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/rotherham-seaport-town which might have some relevant scenes, albeit of Yorkshire.

 

What a find! .. and in colour. That's a fascinating film for all sorts of reasons but the waterways scenes are rich with interest. Am I alone in coming away from these sort of vintage things with a hundred ideas for a model railway!?

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12 minutes ago, brylonscamel said:

 

What a find! .. and in colour. That's a fascinating film for all sorts of reasons but the waterways scenes are rich with interest. Am I alone in coming away from these sort of vintage things with a hundred ideas for a model railway!?

You are not alone!  I would need to win the lottery, buy a mansion with a suite of outbuildings then find a way of living longer to build all the layout ideas I get from watching films such as this!

 

Roja

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Here's a couple of photo updates on the weathering-and-tinkering stage of the model. My focus is going to have to shift to my Father's home-based layout next, with a view to making it more scenic and more obviously set in the North East of Scotland. I have given myself a 'Christmas or bust' deadline.

Firstly, I took people's advice and reverted the girder bridge to grey and will weather it differently, based on the great collection of photos that were submitted.

 



 

caledonia-basin-wharf-view.jpg

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I do so dislike offering a criticism but against the far canal wall, does the water curve up? My eye is telling me it does but that could be just a trick with the image.

 

Otherwise, so far, weathering things down is going well, it all seems to be very much connected, with nothing standing out.

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I have to say that it looks superb in your photo's.  The one thing I would say is that having an overcast background, rather than blue sky, would give it more atmosphere (sorry for stereotyping Scotland) but that really is me just being picky.

 

Colin

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On 12/05/2019 at 23:48, brylonscamel said:

 

.. and here's the 'long view' of Caledonia Basin - it's only three foot wide but I've got 5 five different levels, a canal lock, two factories, a canal cottage, workshop, crane, a five-arch viaduct and a girder bridge!  Phew! Overkill? You decide ...

 

So just one more level for a road bridge to put a bus on and you've cracked it?! :blink:

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I may be wrong but in essence when making a diorama or anything else which is trying to portray real life, you have to empathise certain aspects, just as an artist would in a painting or those who build theatre sets. If you stuck to the hues and shades of real life the model would look very washed out. In my opinion you have carefully trod the road like a well trained artist and made a little masterpiece which captures the atmosphere exceptionally well. 

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22 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

I do so dislike offering a criticism but against the far canal wall, does the water curve up? My eye is telling me it does but that could be just a trick with the image.

 

Otherwise, so far, weathering things down is going well, it all seems to be very much connected, with nothing standing out.

Your eyes do not deceive!  The canal bank curves up at the right hand side and is currently painted the same colour as the water bed. I've got to paint it and add some texture before planting with reeds and vegetation (maybe the odd barrel or bit of scrap) .. I'm going to practice on a short length of baseboard before I make a mess of this !!

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13 hours ago, ColinW said:

I have to say that it looks superb in your photo's.  The one thing I would say is that having an overcast background, rather than blue sky, would give it more atmosphere (sorry for stereotyping Scotland) but that really is me just being picky.

 

Colin

 

I'm thinking eventually of blustery with grey clouds. What you see in my photos are clouds added in Photoshop to see what might work best ...

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11 hours ago, hayfield said:

I may be wrong but in essence when making a diorama or anything else which is trying to portray real life, you have to empathise certain aspects, just as an artist would in a painting or those who build theatre sets. If you stuck to the hues and shades of real life the model would look very washed out. In my opinion you have carefully trod the road like a well trained artist and made a little masterpiece which captures the atmosphere exceptionally well. 

 

You're right of course, I have tried to choose colours that serve the theatrical as much as the real. I'm more keen to create an atmosphere .. but that might be my inability to be truly realistic!!

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I've collected a few pieces of "cargo" and now have somewhere to display them. All proprietary pieces from Knightwing, Anyscale Models and Skytrex. A little bit of colour really shows the quality of the mouldings.

 

caledonia-basin-02.jpg

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Greenery is not my strong point but I've been keen to introduce a shrub or tree by the back of the canal house and its yard.

To ease myself into tree building I've used some plastic tree armatures and pre-packaged foliage. 

A bit of weathering to a car from the Oxford Diecast range and it's starting to become a pleasing little scene (which was the hope!)

caledonian-basin-trees-02.jpg

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Here's my take on it......hope you don't mind. 

 

Rob. 

caledonia-basin-wharf-view.jpg.5b9872ad73478cfeee71126899abed3e-03-01.jpeg

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13 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

Here's my take on it......hope you don't mind .. 

 

Hi Rob - of course I don't mind! I'm very happy to get this sort of feedback and ideas. I love the way visual design software has opened up a whole new way of fiddling with these models, to get ideas, trying them out and sharing the results.

I took your idea and lightened it a bit and played with the colour a bit more as I like the way it's heading.

I don't think I could get away with lighting the model in quite such a 'threatening gloom' as your image .. I could imagine punters running away to get their umbrellas and raincoats!

 

 

rmweb-bg.jpeg

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