Camden Shed

[92220]

I've made a bit of progress with the buildings. Thanks to many on here, but especially Jason (Sandside) for their freely given help and inspiration. I also had a squint at Geoff Taylor's Right Track DVD on making plasticard buildings, which helped a lot. No photos of the first effort, which was to buildings what Enron was to accounting.

 

Some pics of the building in various stages of construction with the scenic board removed from the back of the layout.

 

 

 

Don't worry about the black milliput. It's better in real life and as close as I can get to the real thing, given

1. My incompetence

2. Lack of really detailed photos from the early 60's, and

3. The fact that I had to change the dimensions and arrangement slightly in order to fit into the overall plan.

 

Here are a couple of photos of it a bit further on:

 

 

 

 

Iain

[92220]

I live in hope that the last shot (of an as yet unmodified City of Leeds) looks a bit like this:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/5957789982/lightbox/

 

which I've referenced before.

 

Iain

Edited February 10, 2013 by 92220

[Jason T]

Your building is looking absolutely lovely Iain; don't know where you get the idea of incompetence from as there is none visible from what I can see.

[jukebox]

I agree with Sandside -  you are bringing the signature elements of that photo together very nicely.

 

Well done!

 

Scott

[92220]

Thanks Jason and Scott. I guess what I really mean is "my very slowly developing competence". It's fortunate that I don't have a wide angle lens - it would require one to frame the mountain of discarded bits of plasticard on my work bench.....

 

I'm quite pleased with how it is at the moment. It is a fiddly building, I'm doing only an angled cross-section of it, and it has a load of seemingly pointless rooms or offices attached. They do at least give a scenic barrier behind the mainlines. It is a difficult corner of the layout to get right but will be visible in loads of views. Hopefully I'm getting there.

 

I really need to get the basic shell, plus the bridge supports and the retaining wall on the other side, painted. Practice on some off cuts sounds like a good idea. If I mess this up after I don't know how many hours building it......?

 

So I am thinking:

 

Base mortar colour

Wipe off the brick surfaces

Various layers of dry brushing (station building is brown/yellow brick, bridge piers are blue)

Some weathering (ok, a lot....I've got one picture of part of the shed area entitled "was there ever a blacker girder?"

 

Does that sound ok?

 

Iain

[92220]

A recent pic of the real thing

 

 

And this by Tony Harden from 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p/primrose_hill/index.shtml

 

 

Hopefully show what I'm trying to achieve.

 

Iain

[fishytrains]

I like the progress you are making with the building. It is something I keep thinking of trying myself, but that is as far as I get!

 

Mike.

Edited February 11, 2013 by fishytrains

[Jon Gwinnett]

Iain, you're making superb progress. I wish I could find a smiley that accurately expresses my admiration, Primrose Hill and Camden is a place of happy family memories and you are capturing it brilliantly.

[Jason T]

I am not the best at brickwork painting but the method that has worked ok for me was on the BCB cart shed. I painted it in brick colour first and then took some emulsion paint (cream, mixed with a bit of brown acrylic), watered it din to the consistency of milk, wet the brickwork with clear water(not soaked, but enough to allow it to wet the mortar courses). I then took a fine brush, dipped it in the emulsion and tapped it so there wasn't too much on there, and then put the point into the mortar courses, allowing capillary action to take it down them. It does leave some residue on some of the bricks but is quite consistent. After that, I tidied up the brickwork and painted some bricks in a slightly different shade. My dabbing rag method also works as long as you leave a bare minimum of paint on it (I wipe the rag on an old bit of card first.

 

I tried the method you mentioned above but found that it left the mortar courses looking too wide as only the surfaces of the bricks were brick coloured so painted over it and started again. That was on the Skaledale Challenge house I built last Christmas.

[92220]

Mike, Jon,

 

Thanks very much for your interest and kind words. Much appreciated.

 

Jason,

That makes a lot of sense, thanks. I'll try on a few off cuts and discarded bits - I've got enough of the bloody things. Someone somewhere suggested sanding the faces of the brickwork down beforehand to reduce the depth and width of the mortar courses. But I can't remember who.

 

Oh, I nearly forgot. I put some rivets on the bridge. Slaters sheet, worked quite well on the top surfaces I think.

 

 

Iain

[emt_911]

Iain

 

I do my brickwork the same as you mentioned above. I found that it works quite well, but then again I might just be lucky.

 

Duncan

[Jason T]

Hi Iain,

 

Paul (Worsell Forever) and a few others sand down the face of the brick, but that is for SEF and not Slaters, as the SEF has a slightly bulbous profile. Thy do it before painting though.

 

I paint stonework in stone colour first and then weather it, but it does seem to have a slightly deeper and wider mortar course so suits my dab/wipe method, and also allows variation of the colouring (weathering) which is more prominent with the stone used in Bacup.

 

Have a look at Flavio's (Il Ditorre) trials and tribulations with painting the brickwork on his BCB buildings; he ended up painting each brick individually in the end!

[92220]

Thanks Jason, that's helpful. I'll have a go at it when I can get back to the workbench later in the week and see what I can do.

 

Iain

[LNER4479]

Hi Iain,

 

Missed this posting whilst I was away so just to add the thumbs up for your efforts. I've only so far attempted one painting of a plasticard brick surface (on a previous layout) and used the method Jason describes; it didn't work out too bad.

 

But what really got me excited was the sight of that lovely maroon beastie in the last pic of #126! Even though not yet touched from r-t-r condition, a tantalising glimpse of what you're creating methinks!

[Xerces Fobe2]

Nice to chat with at Watford on Saturday -  3rd/4th rail  looks good - you got to have an Oerlikon EMU too!

 

XF

[southern42]

Fantastic start on your buildings, Iain. There's an amazing amount of detail on the photo to take it to the next stage, too.  Though I'm guessing the vegetation up in the gods eaves wouldn't have been on your building in the time of that lovely Duchess of Norfolk (#127), but I guess it was still a battle to keep growth down on these buildings - a job the cleaners did?

 

Keep posting your progress.  You're doing great.

Polly

[silverlink]

Iain,

Your layout is coming on really well, keep up the good work I look forward to seeing it running.

Ian H

( Haymarket Cross)

[92220]

Thanks everyone.

LNER4479 - I'm planning to finish the track and much of the scenery at the north end and then modify and weather a couple more locos so I can get more of a feel for how it is turning out. 46248 will probably be the first, and will probably become 46245 City of London. The first efforts with painting are not too bad and will be weathered further. I was intrigued by looking at some of GravyTrain's remarkable station buildings on Peterborough North - they seem to have a dark mortar course with the brickwork varied shades lighter, as if they've been drybrushed. The effect is good even if it doesn't spring to mind as a method. I guess that's why he's good!

 

Nigel - likewise, good to chat at Watford. I could have something in the background on the line through and under the station building, for photographic purposes only as it isn't wired and simply runs into the backscene! I may need your advice as to what would be best. If I do take the plunge and add the DC electrification to the up and down slow lines as well, I'll need to do so soon..... (actually, come to think of it, I could have the station line acting as a terminus from the FY section......)

 

Polly - thanks, there certainly seems to be no growth like that in the early 60's. I'm planning on it being sootier and grimier but not sprinkled with rubbish and certainly no bushes growing out of gutters!

 

Ian - thanks, I love what you've done with Haymarket Cross. I tried to have a quick chat at one of the shows, Warley maybe, but the gallery was large and the queue long!

 

I'll have a bit more progress to photograph later I hope. In the meantime, does everyone's bench look like this?

 

 

Iain

[queensquare]

 

I'll have a bit more progress to photograph later I hope. In the meantime, does everyone's bench look like this?

 

 

Iain

Great stuff. Yes, its called a modellers bench. Anyone who never made a mess, never made anything!

 

Jerry

[emt_911]

In the meantime, does everyone's bench look like this?

 

image.jpg

 

Iain

 No. Mine looks a lot worse. In fact I can't see as much of my cutting mat as you can.

 

Duncan

[Jason T]

The girlfriend asked me last night how I manage to fill so many bags of rubbish in the attic and it got me thinking about just how much plastikard and mounting board scraps I have discarded over the past 18 months.

[92220]

Mmmmm, had a bit of a clear up first thing and it's surprisingly easier to work!

 

Here are some painting efforts. These two are painted a base coat of humbrol chocolate 98 to represent brown brick, then mortar colour added. I did also try to pick out one or two bricks in different shades on the facing side. Now sure how successful that was...

 

 

 

I think they need a bit more "yellow" to the brick colour, and maybe another application of mortar colour as well. But they have some potential.

 

This is the back side of the "staircase to nowhere" nearest the mainlines, which will never be seen except when the layout is dismantled. As far as I can make out from a lot of research, it was built of a lighter brick than the station, then painted a light grey or even whitewashed (?) sometime after the period I'm modelling. So I experimented with a base coat of another colour. Can't remember the number. Then dry brushed some 98 over the top. No mortar colour yet.

 

 

Iain

Edited February 21, 2013 by 92220

[92220]

And a couple more of progress up to yesterday:

 

 

 

 

I've done a bit more this morning, including beginning to paint the bridge.

 

Iain

[LNER4479]

Doesn't it just get to you when someone is disgustingly good at something the first time they try it!!

 

Iain - the mortar effect on the first picture of #147 is excellent  I don't think you need worry at all over your technique. Building looks great in situ already... just needs the big red 'un in the picture, would set it off a treat!

Edited February 21, 2013 by LNER4479

[fishytrains]

I also like the work you have done on the building and agree that it looks great in situ.

 

Mike