brylonscamel Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 I managed to grab four days at my parent's place and home of Dad's layout 'Braeside' to try and work a bit of magic with the engine shed trackwork. Here are the results of a couple of days spent with clay and a paintbrush to give the sort of smooth ballast and ash surfaces that seemed common at steam-era sheds. A slightly blurred close-up of the clay surface once painted. Whilst smoothing it with my fingers I realised that a tiny ridge is sometimes visible at the base of the chairs. As usual, digital photography has a cruel eye! 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post brylonscamel Posted October 22, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 22, 2020 Here is a set of photos showing the overall effect on a corner of the layout that has been crying out for texture and paint. Hopefully I can add that 'piles of ash everywhere' feeling that seems to feature in steam era sheds. I'll also try piling up the oil barrels, shovels, barrows and random wooden that seems to proliferate! My scratchbuilt 'Caledonian' style coal stage finally gets some rough grass and a clay bas to bed it in. 21 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post brylonscamel Posted October 22, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 22, 2020 The other area that got my attention is the distillery - well it does rather dominate that corner of dad's layout. The bit I've been keen to do is to add a rough base for the whole thing to sit on. Using DAS clay, a ball-point pen and some grit I created a rough cobble that blends into a sort of hard-packed ground to form the distillery entrance and the area at the back of the stills. 20 8 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted October 22, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 22, 2020 That distillery is your tour de force mate. It has to be one of the most outstanding 4mm scale building complexes I've ever seen. I don't say this lightly but your buildings are giving Pendon a serious run for its money. I'm gonna have to really up my game now to come anywhere near your standard. I'm hoping to start my own thread soon now that I have the koi pond done. I only have one or two things to do to it now and I can get on with some modeling myself. Regards Lez. 3 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted October 23, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 23, 2020 A truly inspiring thread. The standard of the buildings in particular are just jaw dropping. A great read and a must follow. Rob. 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PMP Posted October 23, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) 10 hours ago, brylonscamel said: A slightly blurred close-up of the clay surface once painted. Whilst smoothing it with my fingers I realised that a tiny ridge is sometimes visible at the base of the chairs. As usual, digital photography has a cruel eye! A good way to remove that ridge is to use a stiff bristled brush and vertically stipple the clay whilst still wet. This pushes most of the ridges down and leaves others. It gives a fine grain texture too. Edited October 23, 2020 by PMP Predicting phone garbage 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, PMP said: A good way to remove that ridge is to use a stiff bristled brush and vertically stipple the clay whilst still wet. This pushes most of the ridges down and leaves others. It gives a fine grain texture too. Thanks - I'm normally good with clay but I failed to get the desired texture on this section of the layout. As always, I'm tucking your recommendation away for future use - there are some other sections of sidings where the textured appearance would be very desirable. Unfortunately the engine shed area is dry and painted but I'm tempted to do some work with a scraper just to get rid of the ridges as the smooth surface is OK for an area which is piled up with ash. PS I love the Peckett and the scene in your photos Edited October 23, 2020 by brylonscamel 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 11 hours ago, lezz01 said: That distillery is your tour de force mate. It has to be one of the most outstanding 4mm scale building complexes I've ever seen. I don't say this lightly but your buildings are giving Pendon a serious run for its money. I'm gonna have to really up my game now to come anywhere near your standard. I'm hoping to start my own thread soon now that I have the koi pond done. I only have one or two things to do to it now and I can get on with some modeling myself. Regards Lez. Thanks for your comments as always - I know I haven't got the Pendon levels of accuracy yet but I'm always aiming to get better! I'll obviously be following your own progress now the fish have a nice home! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 7 hours ago, NHY 581 said: A great read and a must follow Cheers Rob - as you know I'm always keen to update the thread with my nonsense. It's proving to be a great way to record all my model-making shenanigans! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 (edited) A bump on the road to Braeside Without going into all the details, I recently went on this journey employed > furloughed > redundant. In this career trajectory, I suspect I am not alone! I have decided to give model-making my full attention and picked up the odd bit of work painting figures, assembling & painting laser-cut kits and making bespoke buildings. The intention is to produce buildings as reproducible products and take on commissions. I guess I'll need to start a separate thread to document this on RMWeb. I've also been busy on Facebook over recent years and am encouraged by people's feedback on the models so it doesn't seem like a bad idea! The planning around this, conversations with friends, getting on the NEA scheme, setting up as a sole trader, designing the identity and buying in kit have taken up a lot of time. Then there were the small commissions and the shifts at my friends bicycle workshop! Edited December 10, 2020 by brylonscamel text correction 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted December 10, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 10, 2020 Good luck mate. Although given the quality of your work you don't need it. You know what they say, "if you do something you love to do for a living, you'll never work another day in your life"! Regards Lez. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 Braeside will get a station (amongst other things) Expect a flurry of activity on Braeside as I still want to honour my commitment to Dad's layout. To this end I have secured a fantastic resource - scanned copies from the Scottish Records office in Edinburgh of the original drawings for the station at Aboyne - on the old Great North of Scotland route to Ballater. Updates as-and-when, frankly this was a great find and very helpful in speeding up the process of scaling it and drawing it out - it has both plan and elevations with a separate sheet showing the roof details. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 The friends bicycle workshop sounds familiar! Seriously, welcome to the club of the self employed and just remember when you have to get up at 6am on a freezing cold morning: You're no longer using your skills time and energy to make someone else a millionaire. Good luck and keep faith in yourself. Rob 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 4 minutes ago, lezz01 said: Good luck mate. Although given the quality of your work you don't need it. You know what they say, "if you do something you love to do for a living, you'll never work another day in your life"! Regards Lez. Cheers Lez! I trained to be a signwriter in my late 20s and never really managed to commit fully (at the time) to something I loved. I was a bit hedonistic and worked during the summer season crewing hotel narrow boats, so the sign painting was confined to the hardest winter months. I was both disillusioned and distracted, finally taking work online when the internet boomed. I just feel now is the time to embrace this second opportunity and - like you said - do something I love. Let's see what I can make of it! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 5 minutes ago, MrWolf said: The friends bicycle workshop sounds familiar! Hi Rob - That's an intriguing response - how familiar!? PS the comments about the club of the self-employed are very welcome. I have drawn a great deal of encouragement from friends who work for themselves. Thanks for adding to the pile! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 Clueless about Coaches Of the small projects that I've been able to progress is this 'Alexander's' Y Type coach. An EFE model, I gave it a respray, made up some decals and did the wobbly hand lining on the trim. I know next-to-nothing about buses and coaches but the online experts helped me identify the type of coach from a photograph. I understand there are some discrepancies with this being a coach rather than bus design but it is pretty close to the originals and certainly looks Scottish > Northern Photographed on one of my little dioramas, it appears to have taken an odd route and has taken to bumping along a rough coastal lane! 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemonkey presents.... Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Sorry to hear about employment but congratulations on your new adventure. Your model making skills are fantastic as soon as word gets around I am sure you'll have more commissions than you can handle. Best of luck. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 3 minutes ago, Bluemonkey presents.... said: Best of luck. Thanks! .. all very positive responses but I have found model-making circles to be reliably supportive. I also know that - once people are parting with money - to be told in frank terms about sub-standard work or bad service!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 1 hour ago, brylonscamel said: Hi Rob - That's an intriguing response - how familiar!? PS the comments about the club of the self-employed are very welcome. I have drawn a great deal of encouragement from friends who work for themselves. Thanks for adding to the pile! A friend of mine has a business overhauling and selling used bicycles, since the lockdown, demand has gone mad and I have been helping him to keep up with repairing enough bikes to sell in a day. Apparently the purveyors of new bicycles ran out of stock and were struggling to replace it. It's been good not to see scrap men's lorries piled high with perfectly salvageable bicycles for a change. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 The bus looks great (for a bus....) It reminded me immediately of the ancient coaches that we had for school buses thirty years ago. Freezing cold and stunk of old oil and cigarettes, like a bus should! I do like the roof on the building behind too, it looks like it's been going rusty for a very long time. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 2 hours ago, MrWolf said: It's been good not to see scrap men's lorries piled high with perfectly salvageable bicycles for a change. That makes sense - you and I have both been helping out in a similar capacity - I worked some incredibly busy shifts at Dan's repair shop during the height of lockdown. I honestly wonder if there was a bicycle left in Bristol that hadn't been pressed into use (maybe one or two at the bottom of the harbour!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thompclass37 Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 good luck with your new venture, based on your work I'm sure you will have no difficulty in securing commissions 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 28 minutes ago, thompclass37 said: good luck with your new venture Thanks, it's genuinely appreciated encouragement - and as far as the business is concerned, I'll be going on about it for months, I'm sure! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylonscamel Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 (edited) .. and on the subject of the station at Braeside, this is quite literally 'the plan' ... Edited December 11, 2020 by brylonscamel 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Beautiful. A grand example of what we peasants saw as Queen Victoria's Scotland. I look forward to seeing it develop. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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