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1 hour ago, brylonscamel said:

... tell me more. What is the "angels share"?

Anywhere near a whisky distillery the first thing you notice is the smell, then you might notice everything is covered in what looks like black soot, it's on the trees, lamp posts, buildings, anything that doesn't move, this is the angels share. When whisky is put in a barrel and then placed in a bonded warehouse to be aged, some of the liquid evaporates and this seeps out of the barrel into the sky(hence the name angels share), it is sticky and sticks to everything, somebody is trying to sue a company because they claim it's damaged their property, could have serious consequences if they win.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-49330943

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Hi, just came across your latest pic of the signal box based on Dyce, Aberdeen. Its fantastic, would like to see the other side of the box, if possible?

 

How did you go about model sizing the signal box. Did you have a drawing to work from?

 

Thanks, Alastair.

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17 hours ago, G&A Track said:

Hi, just came across your latest pic of the signal box based on Dyce, Aberdeen. Its fantastic, would like to see the other side of the box, if possible?

 

How did you go about model sizing the signal box. Did you have a drawing to work from?

 

Thanks, Alastair.

 

In answer to the question about sizing the model, I had to rely on counting the bricks on photos I found online. As Dyce is 600 miles away, I though this best although I could have contacted the GNoSR society as these groups often have access to all sorts of interesting archives. I believe  the museum at Alford now holds the archive of material from  Inverurie works.  I spoke to a volunteer from the old Inverurie site who said they all sort of drawings  that survived from the drawing offices of the old GNoSR works.

If it's helpful, here are a couple of photos I took, showing  the  drawing I made and construction method for another signal box (this example is a large Caledonian box from Camperdown near Dundee)  ..

 

large-caledonian-signal-box-04.jpg

large-caledonian-signal-box-08.jpg

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The weathered brickwork is just exquisite mate. I'm reasonably good at scratch building buildings, even if I say so myself. No one has ever laughed anyway, but that shames me! 

Regards Lez.  

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Hi again,

 

Thanks for the additional pics, what can I say just excellent. I/we are working on a similar theme but don’t think will come anywhere close to be as good your models. Might have to ask you to construct ours…………..haha!!!.

 

Cheers, Alastair

 

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1 hour ago, lezz01 said:

The weathered brickwork is just exquisite mate. I'm reasonably good at scratch building buildings, even if I say so myself. No one has ever laughed anyway, but that shames me! 

Regards Lez.  

 

.. I also regard 'no one has ever laughed' as a good sign!! .. although some of my early work attracted some unkind feedback

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47 minutes ago, G&A Track said:

Hi again,

 

Thanks for the additional pics, what can I say just excellent. I/we are working on a similar theme but don’t think will come anywhere close to be as good your models. Might have to ask you to construct ours…………..haha!!!.

 

Cheers, Alastair

 

 

.. I'll supply you with an hourly rate if needed 

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Yeh I feel you brother. It's hard to take when you find yourself explaining what it's supposed to be. Or "it was looking fab until you put those awful windows in it". That one stings a bit too!

Regards Lez.

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19 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

Yeh I feel you brother. It's hard to take when you find yourself explaining what it's supposed to be. Or "it was looking fab until you put those awful windows in it". That one stings a bit too!

Regards Lez.

 

Haha! .. yup - I think we've all been through the same growing-pains whilst model making! 

You like to to think you're the biggest critic of your own work .. and then you find out that no, someone else is much more harsh!!

Edited by brylonscamel
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A short update on the component buildings that I'm making to create the distillery for  'Braeside'.

I must admit that my knowledge of whisky distilleries was rubbish and was limited to a single day out at Tallisker on the Isle of Skye whilst hill walking in the highlands in the 1980s.

This visit and a few photos gleaned online wasn't sufficient to go about making anything even slightly representative in a model!

There has been a lot more reading and digging about in recent weeks and it has been fascinating to learn how water and barley are made into one of the world's most highly regarded beverages.
I bought a couple of great reference books and set about reading the process and what the various bits of the distillery did.

There are a lot of process and each one had it's own room, from the maltings to the spirit stills and bnded warehouses. It turns out that the Aberdeenshire distilleries I was looking to reproduce at (like the Ardmore at Kennethmont) were a late-Victorian design that really turned them into a sort of single-site whisky factory. There is a lot of variation from site-to-site, each distillery has it's own arrangement of buildings and external treatments but most have common elements (like the iconic 'kiln building' with it's pagoda-roofed vent).

I'm choosing to make ours based on the 'Charles Doig' design of Tamdhu and Ardmor. Despite the current white clay / styrene finish, it will be finished in a dressed granite.

braeside-distillery-11a.jpg

braeside-distillery-11b.jpg

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Some super structural scratchbuilt modelling here. And a great thread title. It certainly endorses my feelings about the excessive and inappropriate use of Metcalfe kits on layouts that haven't been detailed or amended to suit the location.

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On 31/08/2019 at 22:20, tigerburnie said:

Anywhere near a whisky distillery the first thing you notice is the smell, then you might notice everything is covered in what looks like black soot, it's on the trees, lamp posts, buildings, anything that doesn't move, this is the angels share. When whisky is put in a barrel and then placed in a bonded warehouse to be aged, some of the liquid evaporates and this seeps out of the barrel into the sky(hence the name angels share), it is sticky and sticks to everything, somebody is trying to sue a company because they claim it's damaged their property, could have serious consequences if they win.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-49330943

.. I wonder if the neighbours strategy is to be bribed into silence with free bottles of 12 year old malt?

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Lovely work you are doing; I can see the attraction of modelling a Distillery, just wish I had the space to add one! I have seen some super distillery themed layouts, but I can only think of one where the buildings are modelled in full relief, as opposed to low relief against the backscene.

 

Excellent stuff.

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11 hours ago, grahame said:

Some super structural scratchbuilt modelling here. And a great thread title. It certainly endorses my feelings about the excessive and inappropriate use of Metcalfe kits on layouts that haven't been detailed or amended to suit the location.

 

Thanks Graeme - the ubiquity of Metcalfe's models shows how well designed they are and easy to make. 

 

But the real fun starts when you try making unique buildings. They help so much to create a feel of 'place' .. 
 

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2 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

Lovely work you are doing; I can see the attraction of modelling a Distillery, just wish I had the space to add one! I have seen some super distillery themed layouts, but I can only think of one where the buildings are modelled in full relief, as opposed to low relief against the backscene.

 

Cheers - always happy to hear your thoughts! Having mapped out the distillery,

Having mapped out the footprint of a real distillery (even a small one) - I can see why the 'low relief' is a popular option!

Mine is already a cut-down version to fit a space that Dad and I cleared on his layout. The malting building is truncated and we don't have space to accommodate the big warehouses that store maturing whisky.

I did think of modelling the fronts of the warehouses in low relief! 

In researching this model, I bought a couple of cheap (but really interesting) guides to the distilleries of Scotland. There are some small 'farm distilleries' that would be easier to model and the grouping of buildings are very attractive.

If I was doing a distillery diorama, I would pick one of those - although I don't think in reality that any were rail served. Hey ho! .. artists licence??

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1 hour ago, brylonscamel said:

 

Thanks Graeme - the ubiquity of Metcalfe's models shows how well designed they are and easy to make. 

 

But the real fun starts when you try making unique buildings. They help so much to create a feel of 'place' .. 
 

 

Yep, sometimes because they are easy to build I wonder if it is just laziness (or rather perhaps a lack of thought or consideration) to use them. Especially when they are not individualised: the open corners disguised; the glossy finish knocked back with matt varnish; and details (like gutters, drain pipes, window sills and relief features) added.

 

Certainly making unique buildings is fun and rewarding, and not necessarily or inherently difficult. And not only do they create the feel, but reflect and help identify the location, add atmosphere, set the scene and establish the period.

 

I much prefer to see scratchbuilt structures and buildings on layouts rather than another batch of 'me too' commercial types that can also be seen on the layout next door.

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10 minutes ago, grahame said:

 

Yep, sometimes because they are easy to build I wonder if it is just laziness (or rather perhaps a lack of thought or consideration) to use them. Especially when they are not individualised: the open corners disguised; the glossy finish knocked back with matt varnish; and details (like gutters, drain pipes, window sills and relief features) added.

 

Certainly making unique buildings is fun and rewarding, and not necessarily or inherently difficult. And not only do they create the feel, but reflect and help identify the location, add atmosphere, set the scene and establish the period.

 

I much prefer to see scratchbuilt structures and buildings on layouts rather than another batch of 'me too' commercial types that can also be seen on the layout next door.

 

I agree - it's not that difficult and you learn so much more along the way!

This little distillery has me digging through books and looking at info online - I've learned about whisky making, the history of distilleries in Scotland and feel like I can start to read the architecture; the styles, different types of stone and  architectural details. I had no idea that one architect in Elgin had such an influence on the  development of the style of distilleries or that whisky making has been though so many ups-and-downs.

You get to chat to fellow modellers in more depth and they are great for informing what you are doing - plus I also had a great chat with my Dad about it last night - so it has been really valuable.

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1 hour ago, brylonscamel said:

 

.. on that note: I did have a crack at using a donated Metcalfe factory kit for a low reliefe factory on my canal-scene diorama. I think I did all the things you suggested:

  • covered the exposed corners
  • knocked back the glossiness
  • added sills and relief features

Se what you think ...

 

metcalfe-01.jpg

 

Nice, a big improvement. It's a shame that a lot of layouts don't have the same effort invested in the Metcalfe kit buildings on them.

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