What is the best way to populate this corner?

[AyJay]

 

The context: 

I have built a town-scene on a corner of my layout and next to one end of my fiddle-yard.  Some of you may have seen my previous discussions on this.  This is where the scenery ends.  It also has a mirror-twin at the other end, which I have not started on because I have not decided what to do.  The buildings are all diagonal to the layout and this has meant that two buildings have their corners cut off where they meet the wall/outside edge; but these face away from me so don’t really notice.  

 

This does however, leave a small bare corner that is crying out for something. So I constructed a mock-up, to see what adding an extra pair of houses would look like and I made it with the corner facing me cut off, so that it neatly lines up with the join with the fiddle-yard.  Then, wondering what the complete building would look like, I build the missing corner.  See first two photos.  The gap between the buildings is intentional and will be an alleyway, leading to a path beside the track. 

 

The options: 

Showing this to a trusted friend, he said, “Having it overhanging a void looks stupid.”  It does!  He went on to suggest some options. 

1. The safe option.  Extend the scenic ridge into the back of the fiddle-yard and make it a complete building. 

2. The better option. Leave the demarcation where it is and build the piece as a ruin. 

3. The best and most creative option. Build it as if it had been cut open along the line of the board join (as I had made the mock-up), but do so with the exposed side open, showing the populated rooms within. 

 

I think that option 2 would be too great a challenge for my skills at this time and suspect that I’d do a poor job of it. 

As for option3. I believe that there is a precedent for this on ‘Copenhagen Fields’ and it does appeal to me.  I have a book filled with colour prints of Persian rugs that would make wonderful wallpaper and carpets, I can buy some furniture. 

 

Then I thought of a variant to these options.  Suppose I reinforced the separation from the fiddle-yard, by covering the track on this corner with a removable panel and extending the estate over it with more houses, or perhaps a Church?  This would turn the bridge into a tunnel mouth.  The downside of this is that the points would now be covered.  It may also look like ‘too much’ and upset the overall balance of the layout appearance.  I would also need lockdowns for the rest of the year to get it done!!! 

 

So, critical reviewers, which is the best option?  The safe complete house, or the exposed interior?  And do I extend the estate, or leave it as it is? 

Whatever I do here, also sets the pattern for what I do with its mirror-twin, which will be green space / trees / fields / or a folly. 

 

Your comments please. 

 

Thank you,  Alan

[Pete the Elaner]

There are ruins of an old castle right next to the WCML in Berkhamsted, just East of the station.

Maybe this would provide some inspiration?

 

Don't be scared of scratchbuilding if you want to create something unique, but be prepared to build your first items more than once!

My first efforts were ok but using them as a template to build something better second time around has been a very rewarding experience.

[AyJay]

The terrace in the foreground of the first picture, is constructed from several kits from Freestone Model Accessories.  All the rest are entirely scratch built by myself over the past year, copying the same style.  Built with card from Hobbycraft, brick paper & chimney pots from Freestone and glazing poached from abandoned Metcalfe kits.  The pub is, loosely, based on 'The Queen Vic' and named 'The Prince Albert'.  The row of shops, to the left in the third picture, are based on real shop fronts found on the internet.  One of them, the bike shop, reproduces a bike shop that I used to frequent as a youngster;  I have yet to model Mr Morris and his tandem, see photo.

 

 

As for the kits standing on the card over the track in the 3rd picture..... they were all built a long time ago and are merely there to give an impression of what it might look like.  They will not be putting in an appearance on the finished product.  As for inspiration,  I have long admired the look of this church in Goring and would love to model it sometime.

 

https://www.instantstreetview.com/@51.522703,-1.138157,132.13h,8.88p,1z,FbSkR-4LsDroqx5DNjl_-w

[cypherman]

Hi all,

To me it looks like the perfect site for a dump. You do not say at what time period you are modelling. If it is 60's and early 70's it could be a bombsite. For those of a younger age a bombsite was where houses and buildings were bombed out in WW2, and the land had not been rebuilt on yet. I spent hours playing with my mates in the 60's on our local one. So it could be filled with a crater and ruined buildings.

Edited March 27, 2021 by cypherman

[MrWolf]

If you lived in the Midlands, particularly Coventry, Birmingham or Leicester, there were bomb sites that still hadn't been built on by the 1980s, cellars full of rubble and stinging nettles, surrounded by advertising hoardings. Add to that the death of the engineering and hosiery industries in the 70s, there were plenty of derelict sites.

[phil_sutters]

How about the back of another small pub? It amazes me how many pubs there were in terraced streets. The back could have barrels and crates and a small beer garden to watch trains from. Pub back areas are often a jumble of extensions and outhouses.

This is the only photo I can find of a pub back. It is in the now very expensive and tourist-ridden area to the south of Tower Bridge.

 

Edited March 30, 2021 by phil_sutters
Reduced size of photo

[AyJay]

Thank you for your comments all.

I have now decided that I am going to have a church in this corner and there is one that I see regularly, that is particularly attractive and I would like to model it.  Because of the positioning in the available space, I will be displaying the rear and end of the building (the side way from the main street).  It also won't be a complete model, with a line diagonally through the middle.

 

One big problem....    I cannot find a close match for the leaded glazing that it uses.  A search on this website has returned the name 'York Modelmaking',  but they don't seem to have anything close.  Any suggestions on how I can do this?  The high level window in the mock-tudor end has coloured glass,  all the rest appear to be plain.  There also appears to be an ornate rose window, but a tree is blocking the Google camera.

 

It is beginning to look like this thread should be in the 'scratchbuilding' section...

 

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[phil_sutters]

Try Langley Models - search stained glass

Edited March 30, 2021 by phil_sutters
Misspelt word