Braeside Models: The Scratchbuild Commissions of Brian McCulloch

[brylonscamel]

On 14/06/2021 at 21:03, Theakerr said:

As a matter of interest I live in Canada near Ottawa and there are a few cottages so similar to these you wouldn't believe it.

I wonder if Scottish emigres have taken their building style to Canada?

 

[brylonscamel]

In amongst other commissions and the cottagey stuff are a couple of kit builds for laser-cut manufacturers.

The first of these was a canal-side warehouse in 4mm for JS Models.

My job was to assemble the kit and paint it to give customers an idea of how a finished model might look - the signwork was added in paint using a machine cut stencil.

 

Here it is, mostly assembled with stonework painted and just doors, winch canopies and tiling left ..

 

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by brylonscamel
Caption added

[brylonscamel]

Next up was this small assembly and paint job for Philip at Intentio Models - pretty much the same brief, assemble it as an example of a finished kit.

 

[brylonscamel]

Some minor fettling but this is the finished model ...

 

[David Bell]

That is lovely work Brian,

Cheers

David

[brylonscamel]

15 hours ago, David Bell said:

That is lovely work Brian,

Would be ideal brick material for a 7mm signal box!

Edited June 29, 2021 by brylonscamel
missing text

[Enterprisingwestern]

On 26/06/2021 at 16:01, brylonscamel said:

In amongst other commissions and the cottagey stuff are a couple of kit builds for laser-cut manufacturers.

The first of these was a canal-side warehouse in 4mm for JS Models.

My job was to assemble the kit and paint it to give customers an idea of how a finished model might look - the signwork was added in paint using a machine cut stencil.

 

Here it is, mostly assembled with stonework painted and just doors, winch canopies and tiling left ..

 

 

 

Well, that's mine in the bin!

 

Mike.

[brylonscamel]

5 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

Well, that's mine in the bin!

Oh no Mike! That's not what was intended at all .. inspiration not despair! I genuinely hope you are joking.

[Enterprisingwestern]

3 hours ago, brylonscamel said:

Oh no Mike! That's not what was intended at all .. inspiration not despair! I genuinely hope you are joking.

 

Partially tongue in cheek, but I won't be displaying my results hereabouts!

 

Mike.

[Theakerr]

Sometimes it is hard to believe the quality improvements in kits that have taken place over the last 10 years or less.  I do sometimes think should I replace my detailed but generic signal box with one of the new ones that is a) far superior in detail and b) is much more location specific

[brylonscamel]

On 29/06/2021 at 20:36, Theakerr said:

Sometimes it is hard to believe the quality improvements in kits that have taken place over the last 10 years or less. 

I agree, the pace of change has been phenomenally rapid, as much around the information explosion as advances in materials. We  are able to research techniques and tool like never before as well as cut, cast and print at levels of accuracy normally only available in factories and foundries!

 

[brylonscamel]

I've been trying recently to achieve the art of parallel model-making with mixed results. My instinct seems to bury my head in one activity to the exclusion of others. Maybe this is inevitable with model-making requiring lots of concentration and tripping you up if you fail to check on your work.

 

How many times have you assembled something in a daft order, severed a miniature part or guessed at something because you weren't really on the job?

Edited July 15, 2021 by brylonscamel

[brylonscamel]

Adventures in Finescale

 

One of the things that consumed me recently is the move to modelling the railway to P4 standards. A commission client works to P4 so I am embracing the challenge and having fun with it.

 

The first thing was to make a test track that put OO alongside P4 so that I had a parallel comparison. Here we have a BRCW type 2 that was going to get a wheel swap alongside an SLW 24 already shod with a P4 wheelset:

 

[brylonscamel]

The same test track with P4 in the foreground and the angle starts to highlight the difference.

[billywhizz]

P4….. you know it makes sense Brian! Why compromise when you can have accurate, detailed trackwork to match your superb buildings. Don’t be put off with all those that say stock falls off all the time, problems re-wheeling, too much effort etc. if I can manage to get P4 to work, anyone can!!

Cheers. 
Bill. 

[brylonscamel]

19 hours ago, billywhizz said:

P4….. you know it makes sense Brian! Why compromise when you can have accurate, detailed trackwork to match your superb buildings. Don’t be put off with all those that say stock falls off all the time, problems re-wheeling, too much effort etc. if I can manage to get P4 to work, anyone can!!

Cheers. 
Bill. 

 

Thanks for the reassurance Bill. I seem to be getting the hang of it and had also listened to all the horror stories.

PS I joined the Scalefour Society which seemed a smart move. Lots of resources!

Brian

[brylonscamel]

It is a 'kit', so I know it's the easy route in but I'm still pleased that it looks and functions as a turnout .. 

[brylonscamel]

I have also been playing about with P4 rolling stock - again, taking the easy route with a chassis swap and a kit-build. Both based on Cambrian Models kits. Rolling stock is not my forte but as with all other aspects of model-making, I feel obliged to get stuck in. Just waiting for drawbar hooks and couplings ...

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by brylonscamel

[Portchullin Tatty]

On 27/07/2021 at 17:23, brylonscamel said:

PS I joined the Scalefour Society which seemed a smart move. Lots of resources!

Brian

 

And a very helpful forum if you have not already found it..................

 

 

[brylonscamel]

2 hours ago, Portchullin Tatty said:

 

And a very helpful forum if you have not already found it

 

 

 

Yes - it's an impressive society!

[brylonscamel]

Me and Braeside Models rather 'derailed' in August!

 

Trying desperately to recover from putting my back out in time to represent my family at a funeral in Aberdeenshire wasn't my finest moment.

Progress has still been made and more commission work & product ideas are slowly coming to life. Expect projects as various as iconic railway architecture from the Highlands, a little piece of the Calder Valley and a corner of the old Somerset & Dorset - a location so local that I can visit it from my house on a bike ride!

One of the 'slow burners' has been David's ambitious Glasgow Queen Street project which involves a neo-classical hotel, known for most of its life as 'The North British Hotel'.
Here's a bit of the main façade that I've been working on. The architectural details have been fun to reproduce.

 

Here's an early view on part of the south-facing wall, which contains much of the decorative stonework. It's an impressive building that will look fantastic when it forms the eastern flank of the entrance to Glasgow Queen Street.

 

[brylonscamel]

Plans, Drawings, Photos, Old Maps - you name it, we looked at it!

To get started on this latest model, my client David handed over his hand-drawn elevations for the North British Hotel. They were lovely drawings but were based principally on studying photographs. Even with street view and photographs it can be tricky to get the ratios and proportions right. I had reason to question the scale of the footprint so David kindly agreed to making adjustments.

With neither of us being near enough to Glasgow for 'tape measure and notebook' research, we tried to find as much information as we could. I eventually unearthed some architect elevations from the public records. Amazingly, a 'friend of Braeside Models', the stonemason Dean Hamilton agreed to make a couple of 'tape measure and notebook' measurements of ground-level features whilst heading into GQS for work. This enabled me to double-check the scale when I resized the drawings.

 

You can see the changes between drawings. Although David's drawings would have produced a lovely looking building, with architect's elevations we should get something more true to life.

 

You can follow David's Glasgow Queen Street layout in RMWeb

[David Bell]

Wow that looks fantastic. It is amazing how far out i was. Still if anyone wants to build GQS in TT scale, i am your man!  

Thanks for all your good work

Cheers

David

[brylonscamel]

Distractions, distractions ... 

I had a great weekend with Dan Evason ('Tunnel Lane Model Railways'), at GETS in Milton Keynes helping operate the beautiful O gauge layout he made for a customer.

 

It's the first time I have been that side of a stand so it was all a fresh experience! We got into a good rhythm and learned to watch out for the odd *ahem* idiosyncrasy with track junctions at the traversers.  I can honestly say the weekend flew by and we were able to chat to lots of visitors.

 

It was a crowd pleaser and I got to see a lot of beaming smiles the other side of the barrier. The biggest smiles were from old boys reminiscing about the GWR and young boys excited by the puffing Terrier.

 

Hopefully it is a trigger for ambitious exhibition organisers to commit to next years schedule of shows.

[brylonscamel]

Whilst at GETS I cheekily brought a few painted casting samples along of the croft cottages. In the gaps whilst operating there were a few conversations about the kits and they drew some very positive feedback.