Giles Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Steph, however far you get, it will be worth seeing - it's one of the finest pieces of workmanship out there...... I very much look forward to seeing this extended version - I loved the original when I saw it at Swanley! I do hope you feel better soon. All the best, Giles Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted June 10, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 10, 2014 Hope you're feeling better soon Steph Looking good so will have to keep an eye out to see the latest extension. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph' H Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 (edited) Blimey its been a long time! The Layout did get sort of finished in the last months of 2014 and appeared at Lincoln Garden Railway show in the November, sadly the last time Steve Warrington would organise it. A sad loss to the garden railway scene was Steve. I thought I'd better get the thread up to date! We left the layout with the basic ground work going in. I continued working on this using the same methods to produce the grass and vegetation. The pond had to be done too. This was simply done using a layer of clear plastic over the slightly detailed bottom of the pond. The plastic was then treated to several coats of varnish to provide ripples, in this some scatter was trapped to produce a green scummy algae layer. This has worked OK but not as good as I wanted so I do think I will revisit the pond with some sort of resin water product at some point. It seems to produce such nice results. The vegetation is starting to develop more here, its a bit sparse and "modelly" at the moment! The problem with scenery, to me, is the larger the scale the harder it is I find to get it right! I have been adding all sorts of odds and ends ranging from painted plastic plants to real vegetation to try to get an overgrown look! These work in progress pics are a bit cruel! But I must say even now 2 years on I still have a mountain of reeds and plants that need adding! Plus I might be loosing my workshop so I'm not sure where I will go with it! I should add there is no backscene because of how the locos are operated, some are manual control, via the cabs so you need to be able to reach them to drive! Its awkward leaning over a back scene, however when the layout is set up at home I think a backscene will be added at some point as its run from the front! The low relief shed has been added at the end of one of the sidings, but has yet to be detailed etc You can also note that between the shots the van has been worked on too! Edited March 27, 2016 by Steph' H 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 27, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 27, 2016 Good to see it again is possibly losing the workshop a house move? It doesn't suffer with the lack of backscene as there's so much detail to keep the attention. I suppose a very low one for photographic purposes or even a cheapest outdoor banner behind the layout you walk up and own in between it and the layout. I did some 2ft tall for the G scale and they were about £25 for 6ft long that could be hung from a lightweight strip wood frame Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph' H Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 Good to see it again is possibly losing the workshop a house move? Yes Paul, we are probably moving... the garden line has been taken up atm too Not found a new place yet though, its got to have a garden big enough to house the outdoor line etc LOL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKR Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Very impressive modelling. When will it be on show again? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadoak Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Superb work, just my sort of railway. Regards Peter M Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph' H Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 Very impressive modelling. When will it be on show again? Thank You! Not sure as to exhibitions as we don't have any invites as of now, but there is a possible in 2017 if it comes off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph' H Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 Superb work, just my sort of railway. Regards Peter M Thanks! having seen your lovely Two Sisters farm I can say that is right up my street too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph' H Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 Anyhow, work continued to detail parts of the landscape etc! A broken skip frame casting I had been given by a friend in the trade was embedded in the water and rusted up and more reeds planted, they still look sparse in this picture! Now as the layout is set in early spring (there are daffodils and dandelions in flower) some bare trees were required, so out into the garden I went. Thankfully we had been pruning the previous year and I pile up the cuttings to create wildlife habitats so a plentiful supply of suitable twigs was waiting. As the setting is coastal I didn't want big trees. However these trees did add some much needed height to the layout and being at the front add visual interest. Taking this photo revealed I hadn't blended the skip frame into the water well enough, so work was needed. Amazing how you see on a photograph things your eyes miss in front of you. I find this with my artwork too, holding the painting I'm working on up to a mirror often reveals things I would rather not see The area around the shed was starting to get worked on... I'll admit this is as far as I've got, but writing this is making me want to get out to the shed and work on it. But its still a mite chilly out there! I want to add some ferns etc growing out of the low retaining wall. . 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph' H Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 Now as I was working on all this my eyes fell on an old Airfix 1/12th Austin kit based on Wallace and Gromits van. I had built this pretty much out of the box a few years ago and it had served on my garden railway for a while. However I had never been happy with the molded rust patches and dents etc. However hard I tried I could not get the rusty bits to look right. So I decided to do some work on it in time for the November exhibition. I decided to do a restoration job on it, and it turned out I ended up using the same filler etc you would use on a full size car! I used car body filler to fill the dents and rust patches. this stuff sanded much better than your usual "milliput type" model filler. I find I use this stuff for loads of things, brick slips for walls, landscaping, filling, molding etc! Another thing about the kit were there are quite a few molded on details, the most obvious to be where the flat windscreen wipers. This was easily solved by removing the molded detail with a knife and sanding and constructing a pair of new ones from plasticard. I wanted to do new door handles etc but time was against me so they didn't get done (still on the round to it list now). I also kept the clunky toy like door hinges and I'm still thinking about how to sort them out too Once I had filled all the holes and molded detail I went about adding just a few tiny rust patches. The van was then given a paint job using Citadel acrylics applied by using a fine sponge. I like this method of painting and have even used it on locomotives etc! I could have added more wear to the paint job using the hairspray technique but decided to keep the van in used but not wrecked condition. A different coloured "new" door was added! However I did have time to add some detail to the inside of the cab. The seats were removed and detailed with wear including a hole with the filling leaking out added. The ripped leather was sculpted using milliput and the filling was a few strands of cotton wool pushed into the hole! It doesn't show well in the photo but it looks ok in real life. I'm seriously thinking now of adding a bit more wear to the top of the seat too. A vintage map of Lincolnshire was printed out and put on the passenger seat and a tiny note book was made up and slid onto the dashboard. The glove compartment hold a few magazines and a football program (from my beloved Derby County!). Looking at this picture I need to do something with the pedals as well as the hinges too! Normal viewing means you cannot see the hinges or pedals well though though as the door less open that here and its not obvious the hinges are not attached to the door! Since I showed the van off its been pointed out I need to paint some of the the grill as they were not all chromed, just the surround! I have to say I am not a vintage van expert! As I think about it just now as I type the hinges might be best built as the real thing, maybe using brass..... and perhaps fix the door in one position rather than have it posable. Sadly the windscreen plastic had clouded as the model had been on a shelf in sunlight and I still don't know if its possible to rescue it? Does anyone have any ideas? One last thing it was possible to do was model a missing tail light with just the wires and connector left and no glass! An MOT fail there then! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted April 4, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 4, 2016 Van looks great and the detailing inside, sorry but no ideas on the windscreen as the corgi stuff I've had the same problem with was right through the plastic. Only thing is the bare trees suggest it's a cool morning so it's steamed up? Have to model a figure wearing a coat and scarf Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph' H Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 (edited) Only thing is the bare trees suggest it's a cool morning so it's steamed up? Have to model a figure wearing a coat and scarf People might get the wrong idea if its too steamed up Seriously though, it doesn't actually look that bad tbh. I can live with it I think. I wish Airfix would re-issue these Wallace and Gromit kits, I regret not getting the Landy and Tractor.... Edited April 4, 2016 by Steph' H Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Copleston Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 (edited) People might get the wrong idea if its too steamed up Seriously though, it doesn't actually look that bad tbh. I can live with it I think. I wish Airfix would re-issue these Wallace and Gromit kits, I regret not getting the Landy and Tractor.... Steph', Never mind, a W&G Landrover or tractor will eventually turn up on eBay. In the meantime, you could substitute a 1:14th scale Star Wars X-34 landspeeder hover-car! (At least it is spot-on for scale.) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Revell-Easy-Kit-1-14-Scale-Star-Wars-X-34-landspeeder-06685-/190808273743?hash=item2c6d0f334f:g:onMAAOSwr7ZW6C0G Edited April 4, 2016 by Phil Copleston 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph' H Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 Ha I like the Starwars model. Now did Tatooine have a 2ft narrow gauge line I wonder! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Copleston Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Ha I like the Starwars model. Now did Tatooine have a 2ft narrow gauge line I wonder! Steph', No railway, but Tatooine did have 'tracked' surface transport! http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/6/60/AncientSandCrawler.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20071006020832 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 Steph, You could try polishing the glass with fine sandpaper, working up to a fine 1200 grit or similar. The car modelling crowd use these too: http://www.revell.com/tools/88-7025.html steve 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevo Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 Hi Steph . this is probly a long shot ? as i see your post was some time ago , i have just started a small project in 1/12 scale and was wounder ing if you can tell me were you got the potato sacks from stacked on the flat wagons ,. i have looked on 1/12 dolls house scales but as yet nothing as good in the ones in your picture , have ; inc a pic of my little loco with one of si harris 7/8ths figures as mine will be on 16.5 mm track roughly 15 in gauge regards kevo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zigzag Canyon Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 So long since the last entry. Anything new (I hope)? Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now