Frankland: N gauge Southern Railway

[Southernboy]

Thankyou BROADTRAIN1979 and L49, I'm much encouraged by your positive feedback.

 

And I'm glad you're enjoying the links to period clips too - they're as much part of the 'scene-setting' as any scenic work I do :-)

[Donw]

As someone who travelled quite a lot on the electrics from Reading to Waterloo when small (early fifties) I find these very appealing. The buildings are really good. There are some interesting buildings around. I like the use of mock-ups to get the feel right.

Don

[Tom Matthews]

An excellent piece of work. What more can I say?... And the link to Paul Whiteman's Orchestra was the icing on the cake!

[number6]

Excellent stuff - a lot better than just bog standard modelling.

 

G.

 

I can't believe that Grahame's excellent gag went unremarked! I'm loving the standard of bog modelling. Splendid stuff Southernboy - thank you for all the effort spent on your posts!

[Bartb]

I just love this layout, and the gents toilets are brilliant.

John

[Southernboy]

Hello Don,

I too can remember the older electrics (but only just) in the green to blue transition era. Thanks for your comment.

 

Thanks also Tom and Bartb.

 

number6,

"I can't believe that Grahame's excellent gag went unremarked!"

 

Me neither. I can't believe I missed that!

[Modelling Mike]

I've just finished working my way through this thread and have enjoyed every minute of it. Mark, your modelling is fantastic. In any scale, this is fantastic stuff, but the fact it's 2mm makes it even more inspiring. I love the atmosphere you're managing to evoke, both through the model and your very enjoyable updates. Living in South London myself, I have often marvelled at some of the fantastic 20s and 30s architecture there is dotted around (Peckham being a surprisingly rich treasure trove of hidden gems, believe it or not).

 

I'll be following this one with much interest. Keep up the good work! Can't wait to see what you'll tackle next.

 

Mike

[bcnPete]

First I took a small 85x55mm sheet of plastic. This was inserted into a 'Chip n Pin' machine at the 4D Model Shop and then they let me have two exquisite trees.

 

 

Brilliant! I walked right down the garden path on that one!

 

Me too

 

Another enjoyable update Mark - Think I am going to follow suit on the tree purchases...they look rather good.

[Southernboy]

Thanks gents,

 

Strictly speaking this is N gauge rather than 2mm, although I like to think I keep a 'fine-scale' hat on with much of what I do.

 

The trees are rather nice and I recommend them.

It's one of those funny things that I'll happily labour for hours over many details - but there are a couple of things I really can't bring myself to do: One is make trees. The other is make roof tiles from slithers of overlapped paper.

 

Thanks again.

 

Mark

[Neil]

I've just caught up with this thread, brilliant stuff. Inspired choice of subject, exquisite model making and hugely entertaining bulletins. Just love it.

[Southernboy]

Thank you very much Neil, glad you like it

 

Well my next project is underway so expect an update in a few weeks,

[grahame]

Funny, but whenever someone mentions my 'toilets' I get a fusty smell in my nose

 

Sounds like you're getting flushed with success.

 

G.

[Oldddudders]

Sounds like you're getting flushed with success.

Hopefully he won't go right round the bend!

[grahame]

Hmmm, two months since the last post. It must be time for an update on this super layout.

 

G.

[Southernboy]

My apologies. Work has been unbelievably busy - but we mustn't complain considering economic circumstances.

I hope to have an update in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, I do have

to fill the gap whilst you are waiting

[MrSimon]

Haha I love that!

[Southernboy]

Wonderful, isn't it Mr Simon

[Flying Pig]

Very nice, but isn't

more your period?

[Oldddudders]

Loved the potter's wheel. Looked electric to me - most suitable for up-to-the-minute Frankland! - while real potters used a kick-wheel. My father had a couple of them in his time, the second being ordered from a works in Newton Poppleford in 1963. Even I could turn out a bowl of sorts, although it was very easy to get over-confident in the latter stages, when your perfectly round bowl might suddenly resemble a wc! We didn't have any sort of kiln, so Dad used to take them to a kiln in Putney Bridge. In the '50s, all our breakfast bowls and mugs had been made by him. All smashed long ago, natch.

[Southernboy]

Thank you Mr Flying Pig, It is indeed my period

By coincidence I was watching some similar clips the other day with a view to including one with my next update.

 

Olddudders: well that's another coincidence. My father also had a potters wheel (and a kiln at one point). I remember as a child making some very wobbly things, less 'mug' and more 'lump' probably.

[Southernboy]

Frankland update No. 7

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone and welcome to another in our series of occasional broadcasts from Frankland ...

 

 

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Firstly we follow on from the previous programme featuring the old Tram Shelter on Frankland Hill.

A thread about Photoshop on NRM prompted the following:

(with apologies to those who have already seen this).

 

I love things like old faded postcards, like you see in the windows of sea-side shops where they've been in the sun for far too long, or pictures you discover in a box in some dusty corner of a junk shop ... each holds a personal history and long-forgotten memories about which you can only guess.

 

Equally I like early colour photographs and film, whether hand-tinted or over-saturated colour or similar: The common denominator is simply the colours are 'out' or not quite 'real' for one reason or another.

 

So anyway, here's an old postcard and a frame from an early colour film, both depicting the old Frankland Tram Shelter in the 1930s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The house is a machine for living:

Le Corbusier, 1923

 

 

The architects of Frankland embrace such modern thinking and were much inspired by http://www.hartingto...t.com/news.html.

 

 

Designs were drawn up and construction commenced on a block of modern flats...

 

 

 

 

First the base for the building.

 

 

 

 

 

It's on a hill so the first step was to build a level 'foundation' for it to sit on.

 

 

 

Then the main 'tower' of the building was made...

 

 

 

Followed by the two 'large' and 'small' blocks that sit each side of the tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut slots in the base ...

 

 

 

... and lugs(?) in the bottom of the units so that hopefully everything would sit neatly together and add some strength to the assembly.

 

 

This is the first 'large' building seen in Frankland, and as such was an opportunity to experiment with methods of construction.

For the left-hand side 'slots and lugs' were cut so the smaller section 'plugged into' the larger section... plus some basic bracing. I thought this method would be handy as it allowed the two sections to be separated for painting and detailing as I went along.

 

 

 

For the right-hand side a I used the traditional method of an inner layer of Plasticard to add strength, without cutting any slots/lugs, giving me two solid units.

 

 

 

 

Overall I prefered the latter method. I found no real advantage to having separate units (the first method), and it felt less robust.

 

So anyway, next the blocks were glued in place.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, I started building up the landscape around the flats using foam-board topped with plaster.

 

 

 

 

Here are the roof sections. Despite close scrutiny of the original building using various satellite views, I could find no evidence of obvious roof features, so modeled them flat and plain. To get the effect of roofing-felt I used a mini-roller, which leaves a slightly 'stippled' surface. This was repeated three times, each with a slightly different mix of paint to give some colour variation.

 

 

I was very pleased with the fine texture this gave me.

 

 

At this point I also added window sills and the bands of concrete that run around the building.

 

 

 

The balconies ...

 

 

... and the path up to the tradesman's entrance at the rear of the flats ...

 

 

... and here are the steps up to the front entrance. The scene is starting to come together now

 

 

So next onto some details:

 

Firstly hedges: Some kitchen sponge cut to size and painted dark green.

 

 

The 'leaves' are ground olive stones (from the 4D Model Shop).

 

 

 

 

Some while ago a fellow modeller commented that whilst many of us make great effort to get the integrity of our track right, take pains to have reasonable looking foliage, and make a point of ensuring the flashing around the base of chimney breasts is evident - few people pay attention to representing with reasonable accuracy telecommunications. So henceforth I am putting that right by ensuring the GPO telephone system is proudly represented in the street furniture of Frankland. So here we have a Telephone Junction Box.

 

 

Next detail: Pavements.

 

Initially I made the pavements up as one large 'drop-over' section as I thought this was a clever idea, but it wasn't.

Trying to 'drop' one, large, single assembly, around such a big area was just plain messy, with glue in places in shouldn't have been.

Quite frankly it was a mistake and an embarrassment.

 

So I started again making components ...

 

 

 

 

 

Having re-made the pavement in sections, I glued them down, filled the gaps, filed them level and painted over the joins.

You may wonder why I pre-painted the sections, despite the fact I later rubbed/filed between them. The reason for this was that to try and later paint accurately around the manholes whilst leaning over the layout would have been impossible with anyone's eyesight. So I thought it better to 'block in' the main areas of paint from the outset, then touch-up the joins later.

 

 

 

Next, doors:

On the left are the front doors to the individual flats. These were pre-scribed on the back so I could snap them off as required. Top right are the two columns of doors which go each side of the tower, and lower right are the main front and rear entrance doors.

 

 

 

Now then, the next detail started off as something I thought would be 'nice to have', but proved more difficult to make than I imagined, so evolved into a 'Have To Have' feature. It took me a couple of weeks of failed experiments to work out how to make something which in theory should really be quite straightforward :shock:

 

So what do we do with the sleeve that contains cigarette filters, a length of plastic rod, and the ink tube of a ball point pen?

 

 

 

Ornamental Palms...

 

I painted the sleeve green and cut across the width following the natural curve of the plastic. The Plastic rod was narrowed at the top, and 'nicked' with a scalpel lower down to give it the correct texture.

 

 

 

 

I have to say I was particularly chuffed with the final results

 

 

Later, the top of the ball-pen ink tube was sliced into narrow sections to make flower pots - pictures further down the page

 

 

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The windows took ages - I reckon there's 124 of them.

Because there are so many I had to work out some sort of 'production-line' method, and came up with the following:

 

I made a jig with the window frames marked out, laid strips of clear plastic over the top and scribed the horizontals along the length of the strip. Then, starting at one end of the strip I scribed the verticals for one frame, moved the strip along and scribed another frame next to the first, and so on ...

 

 

 

Next I roughly painted the 'bars' of the windows,

 

 

 

Then rubbed off the surplus paint.

 

 

 

The inner edges of the frames were relatively easy to keep straight - I kept the paint fairly dilute so that the scribed edges of the inner frames drew the paint in by capillary action, thus forming a natural line just where I wanted it.

 

 

 

So this gave me a strip of window frames ready to snap-off and use as required.

Btw - the pictures show my first attempt and the scoring is less than consistent, but I got better with practice :-)

 

 

 

Finally, I needed some mottled glass for the windows of the main central tower. To create this I used clear plastic sheet, painted it with a slightly dilute PVA, then as it started to become tacky, stippled it with a tooth brush. I did this twice to get the right degree of opaqueness.

 

 

 

 

 

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The servant problem solved!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well it's another fine Spring morning here in Frankland and everyone is out in their Sunday best to witness the opening of this prestigious new building.

 

 

Let's take a tour

 

Here we are looking down the hill ...

 

 

 

The flats are all-electric, and each has it's own telephone - so on the corner we have the Telephone Junction Box.

 

 

 

And here's the grand entrance, with it's ornamental potted palms ...

 

 

 

 

An aerial view ...

 

 

 

Just over the road is the tram stop ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we see the little path that leads around to the tradesman's entrance at the rear of the flats.

To the right will be some Victorian shops, with their goods and wares piled high on the pavement.

 

 

 

Where the trees shade the lawn the grass has become a little scrubby and bare.

 

 

Ultimately I'd like to see a few saplings sprouting from around the tree trunks, but that's a project for another day.

 

 

 

And here's the back of the flats. It looks a little too clean at present because until I've put in the viaduct walls (to the right), I shan't do any weathering here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that's that little project put to bed.

 

 

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I thought it would be fun to stitch together a few photos giving a view of Frankland Hill as seen from the train window...

 

 

The distance from left to right is around 40" - for some reason it looks quite compressed here.

 

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And finally we have a couple of little gems that recently arrived in the post.

 

 

I've been eying the Scale Link website for some while, and could no longer resist a couple of sample purchases in order to find out what their products are like.

So recently I received a 1925 Morris Cowley Saloon...

 

 

 

... and some 'Ornate Shop Pilasters'. I love the fine detail and they'll save me a lot of work when I come to the Victorian shops at the bottom of the hill.

 

 

 

 

So that's a couple of things for the 'Future Projects' Box

 

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And that concludes today's broadcast.

 

 

 

But that doesn't mean an end to our entertainment ... there's a little compilation of films on at the Picturehouse which you may find amusing.

With the number of cars on the road fast approaching one million, no Highway Code, and the advent of proper pedestrian crossings some 35 years in the future, pedestrians take their life in their hands each time they venture to cross the road. So here's a little dance from Jack Hylton to help you all to remember to 'look left and right' before stepping off the kerb.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you

(watch out for the 'stomp') Edited September 11, 2011 by Southernboy

[carlwooduk]

Outstanding modelling Mark, for me you have raised your own high bar to another level, inspiring me for sure to press on with "scratch building " prototype buildings on my own layout. You have shared so many techniques that I will borrow.

 

When I laminated the inner layer of Plasticard to the embossed 2mm brick sheet I used for the first time double sided sticky tape from Rymans rather than "Mekpak". I was initially unsure if it would be strong enough but, it worked supremely well and was less messy.

 

Like you, I have an eye for greenery being as good as the "Railway" modelling, well done on the look of your "Clipped " hedges and all based from something we have in our homes - a Kitchen cleaning pad.!

Carl

Carl

[Guest oldlugger]

A very atmospheric layout you're making Southernboy; it's original and full of period charm and character. You wouldn't happen to be an architect by any chance?

 

Great stuff

Simon

[Southernboy]

Thank you gents, you are very kind

 

Carl:

The double-sided Rymans tape sounds interesting and something I'm sure I'll use in the future. Thanks for that.

 

Simon:

I'm not an architect, but do enjoy looking at buildings, especially those of pre-war vintage.

Edited September 11, 2011 by Southernboy

[grahame]

...... it's beyond accolades.

 

Fabulous model making, super story telling and what will be a fantastic layout. And N gauge to boot.

 

It's got character, atmosphere, presence and period.

 

G.

Edited September 11, 2011 by grahame