Chandwell - N Gauge 1990s city viaduct

[Chandwell]

Quick update. I am almost finished working on Chandwell river. I’ll post more pictures once it’s all finished, but I am really pleased with how well it turned out. This is just card, toilet paper, sand, glue, paint, and varnish. 
 

Thank you for all of your positive comments and suggestions on my works building... I think it has bedded into the landscape quite nicely!

 

[Revolution Ben]

 

Hi Michael,

 

Interesting - have never noticed problems with the ink blurring, though I have usually been printing fairly bog standard brickwork, and nothing too ornate...

 

One additional step I take is, once the print has dried, to give a quick spray with Krylon Krystal Clear or a similar matt artists' varnish - this is intended to give a degree of UV protection.

 

And the river is looking fabulous!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

Edited December 8, 2020 by Ben A

[Chandwell]

I have finally finished the river, and I am really very pleased with how it has come out.  I made all of this without buying anything which was a bonus!

 

I made the river itself just with 2mm card covered in Scalescenes Coursed Rubble texture. I used a sharp curve in a kind of forced-perspective way which means that the river curves away into the distance rather than hit the backscene with a sudden jolt.

 

 

The deep riverbed is just a card base painted with a selection of muddy green and brown acrylic paint. Some of these paints had been sitting in my drawer for about 8 years, so it was good to finally put them to use. Because I was not pouring resin, I needed to remember that it was the SURFACE of the river that I was painting, and not the bottom. 
 

 

I made the weir from card triangles and a cereal packet top. I painted this the same dark brown. I made the white water by drawing very fine lines with thick PVA glue from a fine tip applicator. I then sprinkled sand onto the wet glue and let it dry. It was then just a case of dry brushing grey and white paint onto it. 
 

 

I found a twig to represent a fallen tree that has got stuck on the weir. I painted the glue around this and left a bit of the stonework of the weir showing. I hoped this would represent the water flowing around the tip of the trunk lying in the water, and the water bubbling around it. I am pleased that this seems to have worked to a greater or lesser degree.

 

 

I had a 7mm diameter cardboard cylinder kicking around from a roll of dog poo bags. I thought that this would make a brilliant storm drain, and it has also worked out quite nicely. The effect seems to work. 
 

 

The islands of stones are simply little piles of cat litter which I painted various shades of brown and grey once the glue had set. 
 

 

The surface of the shallow water was simply a sheet of toilet paper brushed with 50/50 PVA/water mix. The brush strokes cause the toilet paper to crinkle into the exact shapes that represent the crests of little waves. I dry brushed some of these with the white paint but left many of them normal brown, and the effect seems to work. 
 

 

The whole thing was varnished with some acrylic Ronseal interior gloss varnish.  I found half a tin in the garage. I have no idea how old it was. It took 13 coats to get the upper river as reflective as I wanted. I wanted it to look like a calm, slow-moving, deep river. The reflections are great and will be even better once there are lit-up industrial buildings either side of the water. 

 

I used only three coats of varnish on the lower river as I did not want to soften the look of the ripples too much. 
 

 

On the whole, I am really pleased with the outcome of this little project and it really suits the rest of the viaduct. 
 

 

As usual, I made a video of the process, and this is linked below. 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by Chandwell

[acg5324]

It looks fantastic.

[millerhillboy]

Looks great and I enjoyed the video as well. I like when things don't quite go to plan, like the rocks in the river, and the point activation rod going through the pavement and you just wing it and it always works out perfectly for you!!

[bridgiesimon]

This scene is looking great, especially like the inclusion of the long tree trunk, it makes the scene really realistic!

 

best wishes 

Simon

[montyburns56]

Wow, that weir is amazing, although I do feel like it's missing a shopping trolley.

[Kris]

That's the most wonderful bit of modelling of water.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Kris

[rob D2]

Yes, that’s brilliant 

[Chandwell]

14 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

Wow, that weir is amazing, although I do feel like it's missing a shopping trolley.

 

Ha ha! Thank you so much! I tried to find an N scale trolley, but didn't manage it. I did, however, order bikes, traffic cones, oil drums, and tyres from PD Marsh, but they've not arrived yet. I don't want to overdo it, but there definitely needs to be some rubbish in there!

[Chandwell]

12 hours ago, Kris said:

That's the most wonderful bit of modelling of water.

 

Thank you!

[Chandwell]

18 hours ago, millerhillboy said:

Looks great and I enjoyed the video as well. I like when things don't quite go to plan, like the rocks in the river, and the point activation rod going through the pavement and you just wing it and it always works out perfectly for you!!

 

Much of the layout has been built based around mistakes!

[Mark Pelham]

Michael,

 

Fantastic modelling!

 

What gets me is that I can 'hear' the water just looking at the photos. 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[lyneux]

That river is some of the best modelling that I've seen this year. I'm not surprised that you're very pleased with it!

 

Well done.

 

Guy

[grahame]

1 hour ago, Chandwell said:

 

Ha ha! Thank you so much! I tried to find an N scale trolley, 

 

Gold Medal Models do etched shopping trolleys in N/2mm, or as they call them grocery store shopping carts. Snag is they come from the USA but it is possible to order from them, especially as I managed it.

 

 

 

 

[Douglas G]

Loving this, especially the river!

[Steven B]

The river's stunning, but I wouldn't want to be downstream of that tree!

 

The pictures with the Pacer on the bridge are very evocative, just a shame it's spoilt by Dapol's model being misshapen.

 

Steven B.

[njee20]

Stunning bit of modelling. The river is absolutely superb!

[Chandwell]

Thank you so much to everyone who has commented, your comments are really encouraging. That's it for Chandwell this year, but I will be back in January all being well. I am just about to start a scratch-build of a Yorkshire stone and brick pub based on The New Beehive in Bradford to go between the weir and the viaduct. I have some grand ideas on how to make it look great. Let's see how it goes!

[Chandwell]

The Weir pub is coming on. The white rectangle will be a billboard ad. It is surprisingly hard to find billboard ads from the 1990s online. I was thinking of a cigarette ad or one for John Smiths/Boddingtons/Castlemine XXXX /Holstein Pills. But I am struggling to find much. I have a good one for Felix Cat food which does kind of fit the Chandwell naffness quite well. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. 
 

I hope Christmas was good for everyone and that 2021 is better for us all. 

[Kris]

Have you looked here https://www.hatads.org.uk ?

[Chandwell]

Thanks Kris. That looks useful. I will have a look. 

[grahame]

B&HE do/did a range of pre-printed 80s/90s style 48 sheet posters in N gauge scale.

 

HTH.

 

[acg5324]

Looks good.

I have three billboard photos taken many years ago....maybe useful.

https://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/p726940309/h3a7e494d#h3a7e494d

https://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/p726940309/h2d99ca21#h2d99ca21

https://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/p726940309/h33ba14af#h33ba14af

 

Otherwise 48 sheet billboard or poster in Google with a year brings up some examples.

[BernardTPM]

I've got some photos of a few advertising hoardings I photographed around May 1991 for a layout project that never happrned. I can scan them for you if they might be suitable.