Hemyock - Down on the farm...

[aberdare]

Thank you all for the likes and further comments'

 

The river is nearing completion but will probably be left for the winter as I will spend more time in and around the house, so a quick couple of pictures to show how it will remain until the spring when more weed growth and higher water levels occur.

 

A lone walker watches a driverless loco rumble over the bridge, is this the so called 'Ghost train' he had heard talk of?

 

 

 

As he stood dazed and motionless he realised it must have been a figment of his imagination, how long he stood there he can't remember but a number of trees seem to have grown rather quickly.

 

 

 

A slightly wider shot showing the whole scene to date.

 

 

 

With modelling moving indoors I had to decide on a project so I chose to get the Butter factory built, this can be seen in the background of this picture and is one of a couple I have to work from for the original building, I do have much better quality pictures though .http://blackdownarchives.org.uk/category/trades/milk-factory/page/3/

 

 

I started off with the walls scribed out on my portrait cutter as this was the best way to form the brickwork and windows, which took a fair bit of time, it was just then a case of cutting out the parts and windows.

 

 

The painting has been started but is far from finished, the unpainted parts are the bays for milk delivery and shipping of butter at the end of the siding, the far end is the corn mill which was still in use at the time.

 

 

 

Finally a view of my winter work station which I hope to put to good use over the coming months, fingers crossed.

 

 

Jim

 

 

[Andrew P]

Hi Jim, Just love that Stream, superb, and as for the Butter Factory, I'm looking forward to seeing that complete.

[Mikkel]

Very nice Jim, and suitable for the season.

 

The vegetation is superb, but the way you have designed and modelled the path is what really "makes" the scene for me. The figure is also very well positioned, often one person is all that is needed.

[ChrisN]

Brilliant modelling Jim, I do like it and the stream is just brilliant.

 

I see that your workbench is, er, tidy, unlike mine, and that you are not able to afford the high tech gadgets like, old shoe box lids, coffee jar lids etc.  

 

All the best.

[Alister_G]

Hi Jim,

 

Love the stream with the footpath beside it, and I now understand the revised title of the thread - the butter factory!

 

When I saw "A portrait in Butter" I thought you'd had another accident like the "Great Varnish Flood of 16" only with a more edible substance

 

Al.

[aberdare]

Hi Jim, Just love that Stream, superb, and as for the Butter Factory, I'm looking forward to seeing that complete.

Hi Andy, thanks, the River is one of the main features as it will be around 14ft long when finished so it deserved some special attention so I'm pleased that it is looking the part. The Butter factory will take me most of the winter as it is around 400mm long 100/120mm deep but I hope to complete it, only the goods shed to go then.

 

Very nice Jim, and suitable for the season.

 

The vegetation is superb, but the way you have designed and modelled the path is what really "makes" the scene for me. The figure is also very well positioned, often one person is all that is needed.

Hi Mikkel, there is a path in real life coming to a bend and pool in the river- albeit in the other direction - so it was always going to be there, I do like to try and get a number of things to look at in each view without overdoing it, another reason for the lone figure, enough to break the scene but not crowd it. Interestingly his walking stick is a panel pin that I hammered in to hold him up, looks OK though.

 

Brilliant modelling Jim, I do like it and the stream is just brilliant.

 

I see that your workbench is, er, tidy, unlike mine, and that you are not able to afford the high tech gadgets like, old shoe box lids, coffee jar lids etc.  

 

All the best.

Hi Chris, your comment made me smile as you should see my proper modelling bench outside, at least 6 shoe boxes, loads of coffee jars and any number of lids, pots and containers everywhere. The one you see is the concession made to allow me to model on the Dining Table.

 

Hi Jim,

 

Love the stream with the footpath beside it, and I now understand the revised title of the thread - the butter factory!

 

When I saw "A portrait in Butter" I thought you'd had another accident like the "Great Varnish Flood of 16" only with a more edible substance

 

Al.

Hi Al, Thanks but no accident this time, I can't think of what could have happened with 1/2lb 250g of butter though,

The title as you guess is the fact that the building has been cut on the Portrait cutter, the very fine mortar lines make it difficult to paint though.

 

 

 

I have had a few busy days so have not achieved as much as I had hoped so progress will be slow until nearer the end of the week. I did manage to get some doors made and fitted to the Mill end and get some paint on it.

 

The doors do open and close as I like them to do that so I can model inside should I get the time.

Another reason for a pause is to think about the two loading bays, I can't tell from the photos what the finish is as there is no sign of brickwork and the only planking appears to be a canopy over the left hand door. It could be a rendered finish over stone/brick, this got me thinking then as a lot of the industry and farm buildings were nearly all stone and as I don't really know what the mill was built of it is possible that this was stone. Being an early building I think that may have been the case so I need to make my mind up so I can change it before I build the rest, I wouldn't mind that as I want it to stand out against the new (1897) factory.

 

Another thing is as I only know what part of the front and rear elevations look like I have no idea where an office door or main entrance would have been as I can see none apart from the bays, so I could assume that the business is still ran mainly from the original one in the Village or maybe from the large cottage I built which I have assumed was the original mill owners property.

 

As you can see this isn't exactly a well detailed and planned project but I'm sure it will all turn out OK in the end.

[ChrisN]

Jim,

Neil, (Newcastle Emlyn), had fairly early aerial pictures of his station.  It would not be as early as 1905 but could something like that give you the information you need? 

[aberdare]

Hi Chris

 

Thanks Chris but I think I have found out most of what I need to know now.

 

I gathered together everything I have and had a good close look at it all, the bays are actually wooden and they or something similar were there before the new factory was built in 1897. I noticed also that they had pantiles on the roof not slates as I first thought but I may go for the latter as it is quicker and easier, I don't think I could face making tiles for a roof that size but you never know as I am prone to changing my mind if I get need to 'do it right'.

 

I've chosen to do the mill in stone as I feel that is right and the new frontage I have made already looks better, some materials just suit a building and it will add to the general scene in that corner of the layout.

 

Still not sure of the office or its doors yet but I have been comparing the OS maps of 1888 and 1903 to highlight where new building has taken place so I have a few options now.

 

Having just got all appointments and other things out of the way I hope to make good progress over the coming days, fingers crossed that that is the case.

 

 

Jim

[Andrew P]

Hi Chris

 

Thanks Chris but I think I have found out most of what I need to know now.

 

I gathered together everything I have and had a good close look at it all, the bays are actually wooden and they or something similar were there before the new factory was built in 1897. I noticed also that they had pantiles on the roof not slates as I first thought but I may go for the latter as it is quicker and easier, I don't think I could face making tiles for a roof that size but you never know as I am prone to changing my mind if I get need to 'do it right'.

 

I've chosen to do the mill in stone as I feel that is right and the new frontage I have made already looks better, some materials just suit a building and it will add to the general scene in that corner of the layout.

 

Still not sure of the office or its doors yet but I have been comparing the OS maps of 1888 and 1903 to highlight where new building has taken place so I have a few options now.

 

Having just got all appointments and other things out of the way I hope to make good progress over the coming days, fingers crossed that that is the case.

 

 

Jim

Such information and detail Jim, really impressive, I really admire modellers like yourself and others on here who actually model a prototype to such accuracy,

[Anotheran]

Neil, (Newcastle Emlyn), had fairly early aerial pictures of his station.  It would not be as early as 1905 but could something like that give you the information you need? 

Thanks Chris but I think I have found out most of what I need to know now.

 

Although Jim said he had enough I did have a quick look on the britainfromabove site, but sadly there's nothing close to Hemyock on there. I think I just struck it lucky that there happened to be a shot that showed my door and window positions! But being in awe of Jim's creations on Hemyock I don't think that any amount of correct position of apertures on my part will get me anywhere near the quality of workmanship from Jim!

 

Kind regards, Neil

[aberdare]

Although Jim said he had enough I did have a quick look on the britainfromabove site, but sadly there's nothing close to Hemyock on there. I think I just struck it lucky that there happened to be a shot that showed my door and window positions! But being in awe of Jim's creations on Hemyock I don't think that any amount of correct position of apertures on my part will get me anywhere near the quality of workmanship from Jim!

 

Kind regards, Neil

 

Gosh! Thanks Neil but all I try to do is my best in whatever way I can, it can take a few attempts sometimes though.

 

 

Right a bit of modelling has continued and I have a structure for the old mill now built in stone, the frontage of the rest of the building is almost complete with the exception of the loading bay and canopy, once I have the full building footprint complete it will be the windows next.

 

A few pics to show progress.

 

 

 

 

 

I will make the rear walls out of plain card painted brick colour as I will be the only one who will see them in that far corner of the layout. If the build keeps going at this pace then I may just have a go at the tiles on the roof later but whichever style I choose I know it will be one of the longest jobs bar the final colouring which will get done loads of times before I will be content with the finished building.

 

As long as I can get it looking something like the original and reproduce some of those early pictures in miniature I will be very happy.

 

Jim

[Andrew P]

Gosh! Thanks Neil but all I try to do is my best in whatever way I can, it can take a few attempts sometimes though.

 

 

Right a bit of modelling has continued and I have a structure for the old mill now built in stone, the frontage of the rest of the building is almost complete with the exception of the loading bay and canopy, once I have the full building footprint complete it will be the windows next.

 

A few pics to show progress.

 

IMG_2915.JPG

 

IMG_2916.JPG

 

IMG_2920.JPG

 

 

I will make the rear walls out of plain card painted brick colour as I will be the only one who will see them in that far corner of the layout. If the build keeps going at this pace then I may just have a go at the tiles on the roof later but whichever style I choose I know it will be one of the longest jobs bar the final colouring which will get done loads of times before I will be content with the finished building.

 

As long as I can get it looking something like the original and reproduce some of those early pictures in miniature I will be very happy.

 

Jim

Just amazing Jim, real quality workmanship. thanks for sharing with us.

[ChrisN]

Jim,

As always looking good, and at a pace.

 

Did you see Langley have (re-)issued their machine tool models?  They have scythes and things as well.

[Mikkel]

That looks great Jim, I like the three differently sized apertures for the doors next to each other, full of character.

 

Is it Slaters plastikard you are using for the skin?

 

Edit: Or from the Portrait cutter?

Edited October 22, 2016 by Mikkel

[aberdare]

Thanks Andy, I like to share when I can as I remember very well how I was inspired by others sharing their work when I first joined, with a bit of luck I should keep doing this for a while yet.

 

Chris - Yes I have and I am hoping to get to York next year so I can buy a few bits for the detailing. As for the pace that is because this is the quick bit - building a framework - it will slow up a bit for some of the work to come.

 

Mikkel, the carcass and brickwork are cut out on the portrait cutter, the stone on the mill are Slaters with the front being an overlay on the brick that I thought looked wrong, like you I like the changes in size as well as the materials as it seems to show the history of an expanding business over the years. The larger bay on the right is the one that had the first line extended across the road from the station into the building, that may help why it is larger than the others.

 

The rest of the building is under construction so then I'll have a much more stable structure to handle, I have also selected a base to build it on now to keep it all square and eventually to have a surface for cobbles or sets that were in the yard.

 

 

Jim

Edited October 27, 2016 by aberdare

[aberdare]

I have now completed building the rest of the walls to give me some stronger box sections for handling and then placed this on a board with some corner blocks inside to keep the whole structure square, a necessity to allow me to form the roof shapes.

 

These have also now been fitted and I can start to fit the windows and secure them before roofing commences, the windows are some etched ones from the early 80s that I had and the fineness of them seemed to suit the factory well as will be seen in the pictures. This one is not fixed yet as I just wanted to see how it looked, as this will be the office I do have another with opening lights at the top that could be more suitable and may be chosen instead although the window aperture will need widening by about a millimetre.

 

Here are a few photos to show progress to date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I only have to decide on how I am going to have the glazing bars in the curved sections above the main windows, the picture I have seems to show a fan pattern but that may just be a step too far for a building that will sit near the back of the layout, but we'll see.

 

Catch you all later with more progress, hopefully next week.

 

Thanks for dropping in.

 

Jim

[BWsTrains]

Hi,

 

Great Blog, I can see there'll be lots of interest for me here amongst your scratch builds. Your wire trees really work well in the setting you have them, most atmospheric and amazing stuff.

 

Colin

[aberdare]

Thanks Colin,

 

I'm glad that you have found a few things to interest you on here, progress is a little slow at the moment as care duties and car issues became the priority for a while and the former still has a way to go yet.

 

However none of that stops the old brain working and a bit more research has been carried out when possible. One of the things that bothered me was the tall chimney that can be seen on most photographs of the factory as to its actual position and attached boiler house, this can be seen here http://blackdownarchives.org.uk/category/trades/milk-factory/page/3/  fifth picture down. So you can imagine how confused I was by this next picture - second down http://blackdownarchives.org.uk/category/trades/milk-factory/, as can be seen that is not a nice brick boiler house, cue more research.

 

By using aerial photographs and OS maps I was able to determine that the new chimney was built in front of my factory on the end of a much larger building, I am assuming that this was between 1916 and 1920 when United Dairies expanded the business after buying out the Culm Valley Dairy, my building would seem to have been destroyed in a large fire in 1923 and the corn mill probably went in 1916 at the take over, so I will be making the ramshackle boiler house and will also try to replicate the boilerman, he looks a great character and can't be ignored, but that's a job for later.

 

Now that is clear in my mind I am going to get on with the rooves for each part, the older mill in slate and the factory in tiles, I just like the idea of seeing different textures as they cover a large area. Once these are sitting in place (not fixed) I will assess what can be seen through the windows in case I have to make some representations of De Laval Separators https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6c/2b/8d/6c2b8dab6ae014975964d561b1bd5a78.jpg.

 

Just to finish a picture to show current state of play with windows, office door, canopy and line into one loading bay.

 

 

Hopefully progress will continue to be made albeit slowly.

 

Jim

[Andrew P]

Superb work Jim, it's coming on so well mate, well done.

[37409]

Lovely layout, and one of particular interest as I was born and brought up in Hemyock.

 

However, as I was only 3 when the branch closed I'm afraid I'll be of little use to you regarding the history and finer details given the time period you're modelling, although I do remember seeing trains on the branch and my earliest memory is that of watching a class25 shunt the tanks.

 

One thing that does occur to me, although I've no idea if it is of any use, is that just to the east of the road bridge in the River Culm itself was a large hole about 20' deep. there was much talk in the village about its existence as no-one knew it was there. It was only discovered when a local driving home one night in the late '70's suffered an error of judgement that saw him driving off the road and into the river. He managed to get out straight away, but his car slowly sank out of view. As the river was only a few feet deep (unless the spring floodwater was present) through the area no-one believed his story and it was only finally proved correct when a diver was sent down by his insurance firm. The hole was about 6' wide by 5' across and the perfect size to hide his car completely - it was pure chance that he managed to crash into the only part of the river that would hide his car. I'll have a word with my parents to see if they remember any further details.

[aberdare]

What a great post, I love little tales like this as it helps to build a story around the whole layout and though it is out of period to model I'm sure I can use the mystery of the 'Hole of Hemyock' somewhere.

Thanks very much for that post and feel free to add anything else about the Village and its characters as it helps to build a picture, when I get around to completing it I intend to write a fictional story of the Station and its area and it would be great to include these little gems in some way.

 

During my research I also found that one of the first motor cars in the area was owned by a doctor in Willand (Tiverton Junction) from Sept 1907 and I have a book of his diaries of car driving at that time, a great thing to have and maybe just an excuse for a slight diversion from everything being horsedrawn.

 

Finally it just leaves me to wish everyone who reads this thread a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

As do a few of the locals

 

(the chap 5th from left is getting an ear bashing for pinching the young lady on the behind - honestly those Edwardians, tut tut)

 

 

All the best

Jim

[Andrew P]

What a great post, I love little tales like this as it helps to build a story around the whole layout and though it is out of period to model I'm sure I can use the mystery of the 'Hole of Hemyock' somewhere.

Thanks very much for that post and feel free to add anything else about the Village and its characters as it helps to build a picture, when I get around to completing it I intend to write a fictional story of the Station and its area and it would be great to include these little gems in some way.

 

During my research I also found that one of the first motor cars in the area was owned by a doctor in Willand (Tiverton Junction) from Sept 1907 and I have a book of his diaries of car driving at that time, a great thing to have and maybe just an excuse for a slight diversion from everything being horsedrawn.

 

Finally it just leaves me to wish everyone who reads this thread a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

As do a few of the locals

 

xmas.JPG

(the chap 5th from left is getting an ear bashing for pinching the young lady on the behind - honestly those Edwardians, tut tut)

 

 

All the best

Jim

What a crackin card Jim, Thanks for the Christmas wishes, and the same from me to your and Your Family.

[Alister_G]

That's a lovely Christmas card view Jim, realy evokes the Edwardian period, just great!

 

Al.

[BlueLightning]

Hi Jim,

 

Although I haven't commented before I follow your thread with great interest and have always been inspired by the quality of your work. Just wanted to pop-in and say Merry Christmas and keep up the inspirational modelling!

 

Gary

[aberdare]

After a long spell of inactivity (double tennis elbow) I have managed to get back into some modelling and managed to get some work done on the rooves of the buildings.

 

The first was quite easy - the slates - as it was just a case of fitting strips of them across the roof until complete, the tiles however proved a little different.

I thought it was quite a big area to cover with hand-made ones having done it before so looked at the plastic alternatives but I just didn't like the look of them, too big so overscale for my needs and either too uniform or repetitive, so it was back to making my own. As I had used paper for the slates it was only logical to use the same medium for the tiles.

 

So time for a few photographs and explanations.

 

 

 

This shows the cardboard formers that make up the roof shape with the slates complete on the mill and loading bay, some string can be seen on the factory roof which forms part of the tiles.

 

 

 

The string being fixed around 3mm apart, there could be a few differences in gap size but hopefully will add to the character rather than look wrong.

 

 

 

A closer look at the string that is going to form the ridge in the tiles, this is simply fixed with PVA and gives a firm grip to the card and more than adequate for my needs.

 

 

 

The tiles being formed and glued over the string, each one needs to be held as the next is shaped and fixed beofre moving on again, a time consuming job but one that looks as if it will be worth the time and effort.

 

 

A comparison of the homemade against the plastic ready made ones, what is noticeable is how much larger the latter are which was far too big to my eyes and given a tile around 18" x 12" in real life when I wanted 13.5 x 9.5, it also had the effect of making the building look smaller than it is because we look down on the roof once modelled.

 

It's going to take a while to complete this and even then the building is still only just over half finished as I have the loading bay bases, doors and cobbled yard to do as well as an additional mill office, boiler and engine house, plenty to keep me occupied yet then.

 

All the best

 

Jim