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Braeside Models: The Scratchbuild Commissions of Brian McCulloch


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8 hours ago, David Bell said:

Hi Brian, you have come a long way in a month. Those casts look first rate.

Thanks David - it was a big leap forward, never having made a mould or cast any resin until this month.  I was very fortunate to find experienced friends - firstly in Scotland last year and then more recently here in Bristol to answer my noddy questions.

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15 hours ago, brylonscamel said:

My old mentor in Scotland has been replaced by a dog-walking friend who turns out to have loads of experience in casting things from resin. He has worked in the film and TV industries making all manner of props and puppetry from cast materials.

 

Sounds like exactly the kind of constellation that makes a success! It looks great already, Brian :good:

 

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7 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

 

Sounds like exactly the kind of constellation that makes a success! It looks great already, Brian :good:

 

Cheers - I've been lucky to find a willing source of local knowledge. I managed to return the favour by fixing his son's road bike - a satisfying trade of skills.

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Cottage Industries cont..

The new resin parts are casting nicely and I'm getting clean pieces with no blemishes. Now that I have all the additional parts, it's the big push to get these cottages finished!

 

Extra parts also give me a few options on the basic single-storey 'But & Ben' layout. What you see here are two detail variations on the basic cottage.

(1) A slate roof with dormer windows, representing a very common development of these buildings.

(2) A slate roof with dormers and a small porch. I imagine these porches offered a welcome refuge to peel off wet clothes on a "dreich' day. 

 

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Just an observation.

 

Two pots on each chimney stack would suggest two fireplaces. Given the end walls have windows,  only one fireplace can be downstairs, meaning the other has to be upstairs.

But if the dormers were a 'common development' then the original stack would only have one pot.

To me it would seem unlikely a 2nd fireplace would be added upstairs and a 2nd flue added within the same stack.

 

Stu

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1 hour ago, Stubby47 said:

Just an observation.

 

Two pots on each chimney stack would suggest two fireplaces. Given the end walls have windows,  only one fireplace can be downstairs, meaning the other has to be upstairs.

But if the dormers were a 'common development' then the original stack would only have one pot.

To me it would seem unlikely a 2nd fireplace would be added upstairs and a 2nd flue added within the same stack.

 

Stu

 

Thanks Stu, that's a great observation - I'll have a look at photos of these cottages 'in the wild'. When I say 'development' - I think these dormers were not added to an existing single storey croft but were built as cottages with dormers. Would that suggest a second fireplace and flue? At this stage only a couple of these cottages have double chimneys and I have loads of single chimneys set into flaunching so I might play it safe!

 

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Edited by brylonscamel
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Clearly both your photos above have two pots per stack, but neither cottage appears to have windows in the end wall.

Yes, of course if the cottages were built with the dormers then upstairs fireplaces would be included.

 

Edited by Stubby47
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3 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Clearly both your photos above have two pots per stack, but neither cottage appears to have windows in the end wall.

Yes, of course if the cottages were built with the dormers then upstairs fireplaces would be included.

 

 

I must admit, the window in the end walls were a feature of my original single storey 'but and ben' model. I added the dormers as an additional feature after requests came in from a couple of modellers to provide them.  The original master was based on a specific building but this 'mission creep' may demand an authentic reason for multiple pots!

I did find this example on the isle of Harris with a (very small) window in the end wall.

 

 

but-and-ben-harris-RESIZE.jpg

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14 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

..  neither cottage appears to have windows in the end wall.

 

 

Stu - wait until I do some Scottish tenement buildings - typically they have the preposterous arrangement of chimney stacks directly above windows!

 

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13 minutes ago, brylonscamel said:

Stu - wait until I do some Scottish tenement buildings - typically they have the preposterous arrangement of chimney stacks directly above windows!

 

 

Yes, I've seen those and the late, great Alan Downes pointed out the absurdity until he was shown the prototype photos.

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1 minute ago, Stubby47 said:

 

Yes, I've seen those and the late, great Alan Downes pointed out the absurdity until he was shown the prototype photos.

It might well have been a conversation I had with him within this very forum? He really was delightful - he gave me some very encouraging feedback which helped me think about taking this model-making lark more seriously. I didn't get to meet him in the real world - only within these pages - but he came across as a generous man, hugely talented and good humoured right up to the end.

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16 minutes ago, Eddie R v2.0 said:

Tenement buildings you say? Oh yes please. As a wise man once said, “I’ve got an idea!” 
 

 

Cheers

Tenements will definitely happen - probably in low or half-relief. As another wise man once said "Watch this space!"

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8 minutes ago, Eddie R v2.0 said:

Low relief would be perfect. Just need a manufacturer to produce a RTR class 303 unit in 00 now....

Now that would be good! Are you contemplating a model based on the Cathcart Circle?

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I like your progress so far brylonscamel, and I note that you are doing a lot of research. 

 

The lum over the windows to the front suggests to me an eastern influence, not many had that feature to the west. Perhaps two different models ? 

 

Oh , and a chimney pot factory. This is the tenement block across the road from me, there would have been two more stacks with 4 pots each to the rear, though a lot have been removed in recent years. 1921234507_tenementpotsglasgow.JPG.f1b4b9da4cea95c45b92064214309c1b.JPG

 

 

 

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55 minutes ago, Dave John said:

The lum over the windows to the front suggests to me an eastern influence, not many had that feature to the west. Perhaps two different models ? 

 

Definitely and eastern influence as most of my inspiration over the years has come from the north-east of Scotland. However, I have experimented with the broader Scottish scene. My little layout 'Caledonian Basin' was inspired by Bowling Harbour and more recently I won a commission from David Bell to help him model Glasgow Queen Street so I am deep into some Glasgow architecture. Two (or three) models might be in order - to represent the tenement styles of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Edited by brylonscamel
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1 hour ago, Dave John said:

Oh , and a chimney pot factory. This is the tenement block across the road from me, there would have been two more stacks with 4 pots each to the rear, though a lot have been removed in recent years. 

 

I have successfully made a chimney mould with multiple pots. I just need to produce one that groups them into greater rows.

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24 minutes ago, brylonscamel said:

 

Definitely and eastern influence as most of my inspiration over the years has come from the north-east of Scotland. However, I have experimented with the broader Scottish scene. My little layout 'Caledonian Basin' was inspired by Bowling Harbour and more recently I won a commission from David Bell to help him model Glasgow Queen Street so I am deep into some Glasgow architecture. Two (or three) models might be in order - to represent the tenement styles of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Yes both the general arrangement and of course the stone used varied between the cities.

Malcolm

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10 minutes ago, dunwurken said:

Yes both the general arrangement and of course the stone used varied between the cities.

Malcolm

 

.. and then there's Dundee! Mind you, from the ones I've seene you could get away with using any of the aforementioned  styles!

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On your complete property the end walls with barge boards and a tiny bit of ridge outside the chimney stack looks a bit odd, but perhaps that is my eye more used to the end of roofs often having skew stones here in south-west Scotland!  Your ruin with the chimney as an integral part of the wall seems more in line with this.  (See as an example: https://www.instantstreetview.com/@54.97593,-3.865407,169.49h,2.71p,1z,vIYtw31-KDnbCWYIEdqLRw ).  
 

My comments are not meant as criticism, rather to try and encourage more representative models, appreciating that your inspiration is more north-east Scotland and perhaps with an eye to the highlands.  No doubt there are prototypes out there which have the layout you have made!

 

Your use of a modular approach will allow variations within a theme, rather than collections of identical models, like housing estates.  Perhaps further future variations in the dormer windows and porches, perhaps the latter with slightly steeper pitch to the roofs?  The attached link might also suggest allowing for multiples combined in short terraces?  And perhaps also different stone finishes?

 

I hope these comments are helpful.

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9 hours ago, 26power said:

I hope these comments are helpful.

 

I absolutely welcome comments - the more critical the better! I'm rapidly trying to get better at understanding my subject and realise that there is a lot of building and architectural practice to understand. 

 

I was inspired to reproduce my first cottage from one I saw on my travels in Pitlochry. I soon realised that I got in a bit of a muddle with the gable end but a little too late. My friend in Dunfermline made the initial set of moulds and I cast the walls from these and had enough to get started. Only later did I start to agonise over the gable. I think the projection of the roof in the original is unusual and I've rendered it too shallow - the original has a pronounced overhang with deep soffit and narrow board. 

 

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Two things have happened since

  1. I've read more on the subject and found a great book 'Buildings of the Scottish Countryside' that is a Bible for students of Scottish vernacular architecture.
  2. I have taken over the production of mould-making from my friend so I can prototype more easily. As a result, I'm inclined to produce more product variations. I am beginning to understand the originals better and this should produce more accurate models.

So please feel free to pitch in with comments on these or any future projects!

Edited by brylonscamel
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Hi.  Thanks for your positive response.  Good to hear that you are open to feedback.  Also that things have moved on, particularly with your willingness to understand and research the subject more.  More power to your elbow!

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11 hours ago, 26power said:

Hi.  Thanks for your positive response.  Good to hear that you are open to feedback.  Also that things have moved on, particularly with your willingness to understand and research the subject more.  More power to your elbow!

I'm genuinely up for feedback and comments and dead keen to learn and improve. There's a lot of competition in our hobby and I want to be up there with the best offerings.

 

Some constructive criticism came my (from this forum) whilst starting on the little 'Caledonian Basin' layout a few years ago.  The criticism got me out of a spot of bother, when 'freelancing' an embankment. I hadn't really looked at enough real-world examples and plonked a building into a recess in the embankment. It looked awkward and another modeller said as much! I went back to the drawing board and took my cues from the very site I was using as inspiration - Bowling Harbour. After that, it all came good and I'm so glad someone felt able to criticise what I was doing. He was also pleased that I took it 'on the chin' as few people set out to upset other hobbyists!

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