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Stockrington - Mojo ignited. Thanks, Heljan!


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Looking good Scott.

The colouring on the church was well worth the effort and looks just right. 

I had the same problems with Woodland Scenics, they fade too. I found some carefully mixed acrylic thinned with water in the airbrush worked wonders! 

To boost that rake of coal hoppers you could remove the coke rails from an old Hornby coke wagon and replace the chassis with a Cambrian wooden under frame. Also the Slaters kit is back on the market!

 

Regards Shaun. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 21/08/2019 at 23:39, Sasquatch said:

Looking good Scott.

The colouring on the church was well worth the effort and looks just right. 

I had the same problems with Woodland Scenics, they fade too. I found some carefully mixed acrylic thinned with water in the airbrush worked wonders! 

To boost that rake of coal hoppers you could remove the coke rails from an old Hornby coke wagon and replace the chassis with a Cambrian wooden under frame. Also the Slaters kit is back on the market!

 

Regards Shaun. 

 

Thanks Shaun - yes, it's a nice cameo and good to have another corner finished.  

 

I have so much to do, rolling stock wise.  At least once I get to that phase, I can do things in small steps, and mix it up between painting, weathering and loco kit building.

 

Still a ways away yet....

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

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Wye aye man;  Terrace houses coming along...

 

1409a.jpg.577f48cb55ac5869a489f81fde03a8cf.jpg

 

Because I'm not making the full interiors, I needed to go off piste with the Scalescenes plans - fitting some false part-ceiling/gutter pieces painted black to the perimeter of the shells.

 

I also added some internal braces as the long buildings lacked the designed wall supports.

 

1409abjpg.jpg.35bb3f944b1f89d1bf503bf88c40d9c6.jpg

 

I added the card roofs, then laminated the slate laying guides to them...

 

1409c.jpg.889bb6b4b184feae88df764c864cd5c6.jpg

 

As you can see, the wet glue was disfigured the rooflines.  Possibly not unprototypically so!  Once they dry - they were wet when I took this - I'll see if I cant glue the eaves down tight to reduce the bowing.

 

1409d.jpg.f3f9e8052e96d048bd00c7c2e4e5d1f9.jpg

 

I still have a handful of low-relief backs to install along the backdrop, that will run up along the left.  The far end of the streets will get some flat terrace fronts stuck on the backscene.

 

So far, so good.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

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On 14/09/2019 at 16:31, Rowsley17D said:

Wouldn't worry too much about the wavy roofs, anybody remember the roof scenes from the opening and closing credits of Coronation Street in black & white?

 

Hi Jonathan

 

Agree - but it's funny how if we recreate imperfect real life in model form, sometimes it looks "wrong".  I'm going to apply the shingle strips and see how it looks - but won't lose too much sleep if it's a bit bowed.

 

 

On 14/09/2019 at 19:18, runs as required said:

I agree about the signs of settlement in the wavy rooflines (after about 80 years ?)

The straight verges to the gables (without bargeboards) look good too - and I do so love that impressionistic sky backdrop.

dh

 

Thanks dh - the views up the rows is starting to look like what I was trying to portray.  And the backscene, whilst something of an acquired taste, also has stood the test of time for me - it is easy to clone in Photoshop, and is busy but still abstract.  

 

 

19 hours ago, Brian D said:

Hi Scott,

Compared to mine, your layout is massive.  You have already completed an enormous amount of work for which you deserve huge credit.  Keep up the great work my friend.

Regards,

Brian.

 

With Tetley Mills long gone, and Jeff's Kirkby III some way from starting, I take a lot of inspiration from the work you do on Deneside, Brian.  I appreciate your kind words.  You've managed to capture some really distinctive NE essence in your work.  I envy the way you knock up structures so quickly!  I have not been terribly disciplined with devoting time to my layout - life becomes a serious of choice show you spend precious spare time, and there's still a fair bit of pull and distraction away form railway modelling for me.  But I am trying to be better at spending an hour or so every few days getting *something* done. 

 

The other thing I have to do is subvert my perfectionist tendencies (!) - the bad habit of not doing anything for fear it won't be good enough. I have to keep reminding myself that all the work I am doing now is literally on the far side of the tracks, and is the backdrop to the running of trains. The station, MPD and Monkwearmouth Bridge span are all much more important int he scheme of things, as they will get more attention and scrutiny when complete.

 

***

 

You'll be pleased to know that temptation got the better of me on eBay, and for £9.35, I've just taken delivery of...

 

1509.jpg.220d506a0d4ccd42ed0b75b8fe8d20ba.jpg

 

That should prove interesting...

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Slate roofing is almost done - I just have to make two half roof returns that butt up against the backscene.

 

3009a.jpg.d711fafd13d9a07445b4504b2710b88d.jpg

 

 

Laying the individual strips of slate wasn't too painful, and I like that the result gives the roofs a texture - whilst it's not apparent in the photos, the rows of slate are quite visible.

 

 

3009b.jpg.b2acbff7a56f3e76f8cf381ce6dba891.jpg

 

 

I need a couple more low relief flats to fill the gap to the left, and I'll make 600mm of 2D-fronts to block out the ends of the streets and alleys...

 

 

3009c.jpg.8bb0dc35d97a4c1c5a5d2ace8c8b88ce.jpg

 

 

I also have a cunning plan to make my life (slightly) easier when it comes to all the windows I need to fit...

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

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I get distracted easily.

 

Well yes, but I'm also becoming aware that in this hobby of ours, things come and go - and then are hard to find.  Take water columns, for example.  For L/NER water columns, Mikes Models seems to have been the go-to supplier in the past, and a number of NE Region themed layouts here on RMweb use them.

 

As one of the next things I will build will be the coaling stage at Northmoor MPD, I started to think about water columns.

 

But when I went looking, they are no longer in production, and rare as rocking horse manure on eBay.

 

Luckily, Skytrex Models have a similar offering.

 

Not wanting to miss out this time, I took some thinking time, and figured I would need four of these for Stockrington Station (one on each end of each platform), plus two by the coaling stage - I did like the idea of columns near the shed doors a-la-Haymarket, but Stockton and Haverton Hill (which my depot will be based on) have them near the coaling stage - for a total of six all up.

 

So I googled the Skytrex cranes, and was about to order from the manufacturers' website when the £10 indicated postage to Australia notched up to £15.  That felt a little impolite for something so small, so I did a bit more searching, and found Northwestern Models are also a Skytrex supplier.  They charge more per crane, but less postage, and when I tallied up the cost, were cheaper than buying direct.  So they got my business.

 

Today a sturdy box was waiting at my door, inside of which were six well protected crane kits:

 

0310a.jpg.37de5949d220f208748b195c237420f8.jpg

 

I took the contents of one out for a closer look - here is what you get:

 

0310b.jpg.91dbce7599fea344a6e020ec20fc14f5.jpg

 

The castings are not as crisp as those from Alexander Models or DJH, but they still look good, and with a bit of clean up, should be fine.

 

NER modellers can give Northwestern a look if they need this sort of thing - they gave me great service, and a competitive price - so I'm a happy customer.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

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  • 3 weeks later...

Now, where was I?  Oh, yes, terrace houses. :wacko:

 

So the NW corner of the layout has a nicely curved backscene, but the Western wall has low relief Scalescenes Terrace House backs running along the top of the embankment.

 

In order to get these to go around the corner, I made up a series of them in single units. and cut up some 50mm wide plywood into facets for them to sit on.  The first three were straight, but the last three take an increasing bend.

 

1910a.jpg.9aeeca5e697e8197b9fe2ffcc8823bb0.jpg

 

Turns out these need to sit 20mm above the level of the street in the corner, so the plan was to use a width of pine under the base, and glue them to the backscene

 

The river bed was as good a place as any to try and put the assembly together. It's split into 4 + 2 terraces, hence the extra glue at join #2, as this is the pivot point I used to adjust the module to sit as flush as possible with the backscene.

 

1910b.jpg.18f61340da93aba6efacb6bfb37ffdc2.jpg

 

Meanwhile, I'd been busy making up some "no-relief" terrace fronts.  There were Scalesenes Terrace House fronts, glued onto 3mm card.  I then added the low walls at the front of the houses, also in 3mm card, glued directly on to these.  These will be seen down the end of the rows of 3D terraces.

 

1910c.jpg.fbc8cd034cc55beb79e50da952e5d434.jpg

 

I dropped the 1½ terrace unit in place on the right for these photos, just to see how it is coming together.

 

1910e.jpg.994054514ab73485cbeadb89edfe15bf.jpg

 

There won't be a lot of that visible once the rows are planted.  Certainly it will be glimpses of fronts at the end of the streets and alleys, and never all at once.  It certainly is beginning to feel populated.

 

And most importantly for me, I feel like I've broken the back of this task.  With those low relief units now glued in place, I actually have completed all 22m of back scene for Stockrington.  And I have just 11 and two ½ terraces left to detail.

 

The way forward from here is to cut out some ply for the roads and alleys, prepare and install them, fill in the gaps in the landscape contours, and complete the terraces and install the boards they are built on.  A lineside paling fence, and some details to bring it to life, and the area beyond the railway in the last of the four corners of the layout will be done.

 

If I can knock all that over by January 1st, I'll be a happy camper.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

edit.   Hmmmm.  The lack of chimneys on the "no relief" fronts is going to annoy me until I remedy it....  :o

 

 

.

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1 hour ago, runs as required said:

Amazing stuff !

Just hope it will all pack flat as a touring exhibit to be shewn in railex Sunderland and afterwards at Settle station alongside you-know-who's model of Ribblehead viaduct.

:jester:

 

 

Typical, typical Northern.....

 

.....   Self, self self.....   ....................        Flatpack those carefully created curving landscape hills, valleys, river and housing.....???

 

.....    Anyway, how can anybody North of the Watford Gap afford the sheer luxury of visiting a model rail exhibition?

 

.....    best pack the bags, RTR, and head South to the civilised 2 Isles of the Southern Hemisphere.

 

Regards

 

I have now descended to my Nuclear Bunker before pressing the Send button...........

 

 

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3 hours ago, runs as required said:

Amazing stuff !

Just hope it will all pack flat as a touring exhibi to be shewn in railex Sunderland and afterwards at Settle station alongside you-know-who's model of Ribblehead viaduct.

:jester:

 

 

When's that on like?????

 

3 hours ago, runs as required said:

 

1 hour ago, jcredfer said:

 

Typical, typical Northern.....

 

.....   Self, self self.....   ....................        Flatpack those carefully created curving landscape hills, valleys, river and housing.....???

 

.....    Anyway, how can anybody North of the Watford Gap afford the sheer luxury of visiting a model rail exhibition?

 

.....    best pack the bags, RTR, and head South to the civilised 2 Isles of the Southern Hemisphere.

 

Regards

 

I have now descended to my Nuclear Bunker before pressing the Send button...........

 

 

 

Hmmmmmm. . . . . . . . .  .   .   .    .     .      .      .

 

 

 

John

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13 minutes ago, Two_sugars said:

 

When's that on like?????

 

 

Hmmmmmm. . . . . . . . .  .   .   .    .     .      .      .

 

 

 

John

 

Hmmmmmmmmm  ...   ...   ...   you hum it, I'll try to play it.  I don't have much confidence in that bringing a satisfactory result........

 

J

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Well as I had a day left in my weekend, and cutting plywood in the shed is a task not readily done after work Monday to Friday, I hooked in Sunday and marked out and cut up the strips for the roads and alleys, and then took them upstairs to test fit it all:

 

2010a.jpg.c47af7adaf5a0e1515c996cbd55ff92e.jpg

 

I confess I probably didn't quite explain it too well in that last post, but the aerial view above should make it a bit clearer.  The boards that the terraces sit on already have the Scalescenes footprints glued down, so what I was doing was cutting inserts from the same thickness ply to fill the gaps between those neatly.

 

*None* of these are stuck down to the styrofoam underneath - yet.   I'll stick down the pathways and roads first, and then the house boards will drop in snugly after I complete the terra-forming there.  

 

2010e.jpg.0ffd36ac28d29e89d0e5a5cfff8eed64.jpg

 

Looking down the first street... 

 

2010d.jpg.f27fb8e9b481db883f2efb8575819f1b.jpg

 

And the alley behind the rows...

 

2010c.jpg.e880d18a8d1bc3deefad2c3e4cdf030c.jpg

 

and the second street.   I really should come up with a couple of street names, shouldn't I?  I see at Easington, the road names where the terraces used to be start with A's in one area, then B's in another, and finally words beginning with C in a third area, while a few other nearby towns just use 1st Ave, 2nd Ave, 3rd Ave, etc.

 

Looking back from the railway bridge, you get  this view:

 

2010b.jpg.51827d2b907bea17a21a3642be8124fb.jpg

 

You can see the low relief houses I glued yesterday, that are now suspended from the backscene after I took the pine out from under them.  Also visible is the slight nonsense where low relief meets no relief:

 

2010f.jpg.55d278523b8871271d91ef969bc03784.jpg

 

Again, it's a view that is almost invisible, but I'll pack that gap to look like steps and paint it grey.  The area to the left of that join is embankment, and there's a cobble alley to run along those four terrace backs you can see there:

 

2010g.jpg.f8b76448237bdddc192f214d59416109.jpg

 

Remember I talked about a dodge for the windows?  Well that has been used here: I actually only cut out the panes from one set of window frames, and glued white curtains behind those.  I then took them and photocopied them.  So all the windows in these terraces are just photocopies.  It halves the number of cuts I need to make, and sped things up nicely.

 

I've also come to the conclusion the coloured curtains from my Mk.1 terraces are an unnecessary distraction - my mantra is that the back scene is supposed to be a stage, not a feature, so the eye shouldn't be drawn to it - so I will be using a few more of these 2D windows and pasting them over the top of any of the coloured curtains, to tone them down.

 

I'm also working on a little cameo that I have planned for one of those streets...

 

Onward!

 

Cheers

 

Scott

Edited by jukebox
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One of the narrow streets between the terrace houses is going to have a couple of cars parked near the end.

 

You can suspect something will be afoot...

 

2710a.jpg.682a0c9ef698781377c944cf64e732f3.jpg

 

I've had this for a couple of years - it was very tatty, and came in gold from the factory.

 

2710b.jpg.416813e65895b06bd54fe0a9f06a8905.jpg

 

A bath in cellulose thinners took it back to bare metal...

 

2710c.jpg.e375d02a1beb9434f9ad8ee0dff69f1f.jpg

 

And now it's primed, and ready for a coat of British Racing Green.

 

The other vehicle has also now been sourced and is in transit.  It, too, is a Jaguar, and it also needs a respray...

 

Cheers

 

Scott

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 I see at Easington, the road names where the terraces used to be start with A's in one area, then B's in another, and finally words beginning with C in a third area,

 

Before these streets were named, the "A" streets were numbered 1st to 12th street North.

                                                              the "B" streets were numbered 1st to 12th street South.

                                                              the "C" streets were numbered 1st to 12th street East.

Horden and Blackhall still have numbered Streets.

 

Have you got a bridge to park the mk10 under?

P.s   There's even a song about the event under Pesspool Bridge . . . . "5:15 am" by Mark Knopfler

 

John

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Well spotted, John.

 

Yes, this is going to be Angus Sibbert's Mk X.  

 

I don't have a suitable bridge to suggest South Hetton, so I thought I'd have him meeting up with Michael Luvaglio on one of the backstreets of Stockrington.  Strictly business...

 

Here's some of the reference photos of the motors involved:

 

ex2-pic2-3.jpg.513fe578fe1ba6d49a53445753121a2d.jpg

 

ex4-pic20-3.jpg.9aa7d6656f6cfebb83e81b38e807b1f0.jpg

 

As my imagined meeting will be occurring some time before the fateful night Sibbert was shot, the Mk X won't need to be damaged!

 

The Oxford Diecast E-type that is on it's way is brand new, but coloured cream, so will need a repaint, too:

 

_98769986_7bcbee3d-a802-4bbf-b867-92d379a4bfaa.jpg.20c3ef87cf22552076eed8efedb13d4f.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

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It is indeed - part of the controversy is what happened to the car whilst it was impounded at Peterlee; it seems to have had additional damage done, to suit the case for the prosecution...

 

For those interested in the background, the reference photos are:  http://www.villain-or-victim.com/?page_id=56

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

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E-type Jags and flashy suits...

 

Michael Luvaglio's E-type has arrived here on the West Coast:

 

 1411a.jpg.d57a43801059e13dab18731ea98cc000.jpg

 

 

1411b.jpg.0f2aaff1c7e2c5e2d8b78f2658ad968a.jpg

 

 

Brand new, it feels a bit of a shame to pull it apart, but it needs to be Carmen Red, so a respray is needed.

 

image.png.47eb7aa0974881f5d4a62a56c887aab2.png

 

image.png.d0c46c14f3cfd5972710f0c2e16c73df.png

 

Cheers

 

Scott

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Two steps forward, one step back.

 

Some lovely detail on that Oxford Diecast jag - the badge printed on the boot in microscopic font:

 

1611a.jpg.4689e4f5b10ab26009ec7a3f0a661971.jpg

 

A few minutes with a drill bit to open out the body rivets, and a scrape of the knife blade to loosen the windscreen:

 

1611c.jpg.18d8a84860bfee987b6ff28fdc54c438.jpg

 

and she was ready for spraying.  I was going to strip it back to bare metal, but as it's brand new, thought I'd have a go at simply over-spraying first.

 

In the meantime, the Mk X became a victim of my own quality control.

 

I wasn't going to airbrush it, and brushed a coat of green on.  It looked dire, so I sanded it lightly, and had a go at topping that with the airbrush.

 

It looked okay, but not great, especially next to the E-type...

 

So it was back in the thinners to bare metal;

 

1711a.jpg.5b56dc763ce9fb976bc8184fc25d86a6.jpg

 

It's a curious model - the Matchbox panel lines are raised, but finer than the current day Oxford car.  The finish seems a lot rougher, too - unsure if that's play wear or the casting quality.

 

1711c.jpg.3481c4f29fa692e14ed38ce4319005a2.jpg

 

Didn't notice that damage (?) on both front door uppers - though perhaps it's the feed for the mold?

 

1711d.jpg.8459da6fd4ee5f55d2a8b2217b1f2655.jpg

 

Looking at other samples on line (like the one above), they too seem to have varying degrees of "softness" in that same location...  hopefully it won't be too visible under a coat of British Racing Green.

 

Anyway, just wanted to make a point about being satisfied with your work:  This is a car for a cameo in a backscene. The finish really won't matter, as it's not able to be looked at closely where it will be posed.  But I am a believer that you set a standard and should try and keep to it.  I wasn't going to be happy with it looking scruffy, so for an extra 1-2 hrs work, I'll redo it and make it better.  No one else may ever have noticed, but it would have bugged me.

 

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

 

 

 

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So what started out as this...

 

1411b.jpg.ad1f99c7ffce9926057773d34c72e6ba.jpg

 

Has ended up like this:

 

2311a.jpg.ff4bd63e25c59a23771f87d312e9c2fd.jpg

 

Just need to print up some licence plates, and it's done.

 

2311c.jpg.d26be578992cb5a2acbbb3bd771c1202.jpg

 

Picked out the steering wheel, handbrake, and radio dials

 

2311d.jpg.2e25b766aefd45ad3da61e4dad7c65b7.jpg

 

Redecorating this tiny gem was a lot of fun.  Great refresher to break the terrace house monotony...

 

2311b.jpg.622c2005a57ac9f008036929ea61a3b9.jpg

 

Now to sort out the Mk X.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

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Back at Stockrington, the last of the terra went down around the estate...

 

2411a.jpg.8c169dbe9a65e1609399cb86d4ad871d.jpg

 

The alleys and streets are fixed, with just the boards that hold the terraces removeable (outlined in red):

 

2411c.jpg.e96d1c7c5585763b68ee6945ed87b16a.jpg

 

I wrapped the house boards in cling wrap, then plastered the areas that were previously unformed.  In *theory* I should be able to lift those four boards clear to fit out down at my workbench downstairs...

 

2411b.jpg.1a64ce45ccf8f7381e1500685a6871a1.jpg

 

Once the boards are back, and complete with terraces, walls, and footpaths, I'll apply the ground cover, and add some paling fencing...

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

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