Jump to content
 

Braeside Models: The Scratchbuild Commissions of Brian McCulloch


Recommended Posts

That house reminds me a lot of the houses along the beach road near the power station at Dungeness at least as far as my memories as a sub 10 year old child go, I remember there being very flat shingle everywhere which the front garden of your model reminds me of. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, DGO said:

That house reminds me a lot of the houses along the beach road near the power station at Dungeness at least as far as my memories as a sub 10 year old child go, I remember there being very flat shingle everywhere which the front garden of your model reminds me of. 

 

Your memories have survived well from childhood - the house is indeed out along the beach at Dungeness!

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, brylonscamel said:

Your memories have survived well from childhood - the house is indeed out along the beach at Dungeness!

 

Funny how some things stay in the mind, I vaguely remember riding the RH&D railway that day, but not the scenery we passed through,  but my abiding memory was a hum in the air near the power station and a tall black lighthouse on the beach. We had family friends who lived one row back from the seafront near Clacton who we had visited many times, I was so used to sandy beaches that the pebble beach at Dungeness must have made quite an impression.

Link to post
Share on other sites

You scratch my back

This lovely little O gauge building is from Philip at Intentio. I'm doing the odd kit for Philip and he is rewarding me with stuff in return. 

 

There are  a couple of scratch-built details, like the padlocked door and the boarded windows. 

 

I devoted time to getting the brickwork patterns to work nicely and added a painted wall sign. Here it is assembled, with a primer coat of rattle-can primer ..

 

bm-7mm-canal-building-01.jpg

bm-7mm-canal-building-02.jpg

 

Edited by brylonscamel
  • Like 9
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
8 hours ago, brylonscamel said:

And to cap things off I painted a classic logo onto the largest wall.

 

Congratulations, you've passed the signwriters exam with flying colours!

 

I'd be interested to know how you managed to make the mask, assuming you airbrushed it.

 

David

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 29/01/2021 at 09:02, Kylestrome said:

Congratulations, you've passed the signwriters exam with flying colours!

 

Hi David  ... "with flying colours" would be the appropriate way to pass! I'll also let you in on a secret. I have a City & Guilds qualification in signwork.

 

But you're right about this sign - masking and airbrushing were my friends. I have a desktop hobby plotter/cutter and it's ace at cutting low tack masking film.

 

Theres a bit of hand-finishing to get the weathered look but the tricky bit is done with the mask.

 

I hope that helps.

Edited by brylonscamel
  • Like 3
  • Informative/Useful 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

On 29/01/2021 at 09:02, Kylestrome said:

I'd be interested to know how you managed to make the mask, assuming you airbrushed 

Here's a set of step by step photos on another model sign

 

1. Basic brick: Some embossed brick with a base coat of rattle-can red oxide primer and some lightweight filler smeared into the mortar course.

20210104_210625(0)_resize_1.jpg.40ad396bb92caa7e9bb1a4b9e221ce85.jpg

 

2. Realistic Brick: A combination of dry-brushing and highlighting individual bricks gives them that all important 'pattern' of shades. The base for the sign is made with some cheapo decorators masking tape and brush painting

20210104_185622_resize_72.jpg.eeae795af99004b434980ea72c744ef9.jpg

 

3. Mask and Paint The mask is a low-tack self adhesive film that's been cut on a hobby plotter/cutter. Acrylic paint (dark grey) applied via airbrush.

20210104_202723_resize_10.jpg.0804a3fa4d4503b8c93eaba59c875129.jpg

 

5. Est voila! The finishing touch is just a wee bit of dry-brushing to give the feeling of wear and tear

20210104_205755_resize_86.jpg.de24f599a9cb4e9c934d1fa1cc840d56.jpg

Edited by brylonscamel
  • Like 8
  • Craftsmanship/clever 11
Link to post
Share on other sites

Big, beautiful and Scottish.

My latest commission is a beauty but I've only just started on it.

 

A model-maker - from this parish - recently approached me with a fantastic opportunity to build some grand, iconic buildings that are linked to Glasgow Queen Street.

 

Thrilled and nervous

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be given this opportunity. It has everything a chap like me could wish for; beautiful railway architecture, fancy stonework, a famous Scottish location and buildings on a grand scale. The excitement of setting out your stall and taking on work sits with a nervous awareness that you can no longer just satisfy yourself. I put all this stuff up online to share the adventure and am braced for 'constructive criticism'. We've looked hard for info on the various buildings and have taken some educated guesses on features that are hard to see and have also clearly changed over time.

My 'patron' is recreating the station in the transition days between steam & diesel and I'm helping roll back the years with some buildings that have either disappeared from the scene or lost their original function.


I won't reveal the whole plan but introduce each building as it's being made.

 

Rising first from the ashes is the fine office that used to greet visitors at the main entrance.

 

I was provided with a great start point, hand-drawn, scale elevations of the key faces of the office (south and east facing).

 

The west and north elevations proved a little more mysterious but yielded their detail after we searched for more info online.

 

bm-queen-street-building-02a.jpg

Edited by brylonscamel
  • Like 8
Link to post
Share on other sites

Since my 'patron' David has gone public about the fact we are working together, I've been free to update progress on my contributions to his ambitious layout Glasgow Queen Street.

 

Whilst researching the site, we found lots of photography online and in books. The images reveal an iconic cluster of buildings and signs around the entrance. A huge - and frankly  quirky - sign greeted arrivals in the 50s and 60s before the corporate styles changed and Gill Sans was replaced by a bespoke BR typeface in 1965.

 

I knocked up this bit of artwork for David as a bit of fun. This was partly because I was intrigued by the letter spacing on the sign. The huge gap on the centred letters could easily by read as "British Queen, Railways Street"!

 

bm-queen-street-entrance-sign-02-01.png.fcff72980cb2c21bd3b6ab04b2f788fe.png

 

 

 

Edited by brylonscamel
  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...