fender Posted November 7, 2014 Author Share Posted November 7, 2014 well now that the weather has properly turned I will be spending more time in the house. hopefully some of this will be put to more modelling. recently I have been experimenting with puddles. my previous layout had a few but unfortunately I can't find a way to convincingly use glass for this layout as it is too thick (because I used thin sleepers). so this attempt is with clear plastic. it is very small and is not easy to get a reflection. not sure if I will try to add more to the the layout. ( need to find some really really really thin glass...like the thinnest cheapest picture frame glass there is, or maybe thinner is more expensive, I don't know. anyway...) in this view you can barely see it: but down low is it more apparent: I've also started paper machéing the elevated section at the back: also built up the sides for my girder bridge (from the Wills kit) and the base for the bridge to go on, but no pics yet. hopefully I will have some evidence of this in a few days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Nothing wrong with that puddle. It's subtle and understated, just the way it should be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 mocking up the bridge (the girder bridge only has its rust base layer on at the moment) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 This layout is coming together very nicely Looking good Fender Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 more progress on the bridge. I used the paint-salt-paint-rub salt off technique. bit overdone in a couple of areas as I didn't realise how much the salt would rub the paint off, i.e. much more than the area the salt was covering in the first place. may have to redo a couple of areas when I spray the underside of the bridge. with a van for comparison: I'm quite happy with the way its come out so far though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themagicspanner Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 I think the first photo looks about right. A poorly maintained plate girder bridge can have hardly any paint on it. I'll need to try this method out for my own foray into P4 although I'm not a big fan of the way the Varigirders look. Looking at the second photo, I would suggest that the girders are probably about one panel's length too long. They would typically project less than a full panel's length onto each abutment. Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 13, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 13, 2014 That rust looks spot on to me Ray - and I've seen far worse that that (there was an excellent example at Saltash a while back, even had rusted through holes in a couple of places ). the girder does look a little overlong to me but wouldn't be easy to shorten and keep symmetrical so why not build the ends into some quite big piers? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 thanks for the advice on the length of the bridge. I've been mulling over how to fix it. putting in thick piers or walls would be one option, as I don't think I can cut the ends of without too much damage. another option might be to simply hide the ends behind vegetation, as there will be quite a lot of it on this layout. at the left side of the above pic you can see that I haven't 'built' the wall all the way down to the ground, this is because there will be a small embankment there, as there was in real life, and there will be a retaining wall holding back the road, but also vegetation, on the right. hopefully, then, I will be able to build up the plants enough to make the bridge look a little shorter. I can also move the walls under the bridge back a little (they are just loosely resting in place at the moment. these pics should help clarify: http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/CalmWebserviceImage?doc=a0\4e9cae-8685-49ef-b3d0-0c6814203106.jpg http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/CalmWebserviceImage?doc=23\ccc55d-1915-42af-8d7b-11b85bc4d0d2.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/13232346@N00/360001527/ this one is from the other side, and modern, but shows how much growth I might be able to put in: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13232346@N00/359997592/ actually, thinking about it now, I'm sure some combination of the above will make it look much better. edited to add a photo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 14, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 14, 2014 Depends on the period as far as vegetation is concerned Ray - if you go back to the '50s the cuttings sides there were grassed and quite neat. I doubt the rot (or rather bushes) really got going until the mid '90s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 Depends on the period as far as vegetation is concerned Ray - if you go back to the '50s the cuttings sides there were grassed and quite neat. I doubt the rot (or rather bushes) really got going until the mid '90s. thanks. that had occurred to me, however I'm not sure the yard was kept very neat in the late 50s, judging by the views from when it was converted to a depot in 1958. or maybe they just suspended the gardening detail while the construction was underway. but anyway, problem solved as I've managed to move the walls back a little to make the bridge look more correct. the feel I'm going for is early 60s, as if the yard was still in operation. however, I now realise I'm going to have to think a little about how unkempt I make the whole thing look. perhaps I will shoot for, a-little-less-than-50s neatness. my name's not Ray, btw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Can we call you “Bob” then? What ever your name is I’ve really enjoyed following your thread. Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 14, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 14, 2014 thanks. that had occurred to me, however I'm not sure the yard was kept very neat in the late 50s, judging by the views from when it was converted to a depot in 1958. or maybe they just suspended the gardening detail while the construction was underway. but anyway, problem solved as I've managed to move the walls back a little to make the bridge look more correct. the feel I'm going for is early 60s, as if the yard was still in operation. however, I now realise I'm going to have to think a little about how unkempt I make the whole thing look. perhaps I will shoot for, a-little-less-than-50s neatness. my name's not Ray, btw. Sorry - me mixing up tenders and fenders Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted November 15, 2014 Author Share Posted November 15, 2014 Sorry - me mixing up tenders and fenders no problem. ---------- I've made some progress on painting the walls and put them in the approximate final position, which I think will work fine, so that's the bridge-length issue solved. I think this is an improvement actually as it opens out the area somewhat. kind of draws your eye in under the bridge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoover50008 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Hi I found these pictures on a disc of Valletort Road which someone sent to me when I was considering a similar project wich you may be interested in. I am unsure of their origin and probably came from somewhere on the internet although I have been unable to verify this, so credit to whoever took and owns the pictures. E Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 Hi I found these pictures on a disc of Valletort Road which someone sent to me when I was considering a similar project wich you may be interested in. I am unsure of their origin and probably came from somewhere on the internet although I have been unable to verify this, so credit to whoever took and owns the pictures. Valletort Rd.jpg Valletort Rd 1.jpg E thanks very much for this. I already have the photos but I'm very grateful for any help in finding 'new' images, so thanks for trying. I think they are both on the Cornwall Railway Society Website. it seems to have been a very rarely-photographed site. I've seen only one from when it was in use as an actual goods yard (shown earlier in the thread), a few from its later days as a signal engineers' depot, including a number of it being converted, and of course about 1,000,000 from when the site was developed into houses, although even some of those have been quite useful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jintyman Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Wow that rusting on the bridge panels is superb!!!! Excuse me if I appear thick, but what is the 'salt on, salt off' method exactly? Jinty ;-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 Wow that rusting on the bridge panels is superb!!!! Excuse me if I appear thick, but what is the 'salt on, salt off' method exactly? Jinty ;-) Hi Jinty, You paint the area you want 'rusted' in a rusty colour. In this case I did the entire bridge, but you can just do the affected area that you need. Then you put some 'wet water' (water with a tiny amount of washing up liquid) on the areas you actually want rust to show through, with a brush. Next, sprinkle some salt onto the water and wait for it to dry. It will remain very brittle and will come off easily, but should survive the next step: Spray the top coat on, the actual colour of the thing you are modelling. The salt blocks the paint from covering the layer underneath, so you have to be careful with how much salt you put on in the first place. I found it easy to do too much and also too little. Wait for the paint to dry and then carefully brush off the salt, leaving the 'rust' showing through underneath. This last step was the hardest for me as when you rub/brush the salt off it immediately becomes abrasive and starts rubbing more paint off. requires some care. I suppose this technique just needs to be improved with practice. Finally, touch up a few areas with darker bits of rust etc, to add variety. I suppose you could also do this at step 1. Can't wait to try this on some wagons. I like this better than the complicated 'bleeding' rust technique I tried on my 16T earlier in the thread, although in the right hands that method looks incredible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted November 21, 2014 Author Share Posted November 21, 2014 small update with some work on the terrain at the back of the layout and I've stuck together the frame of a house to see how it might look: the newly turfed area will be covered in grass when I get my puffer bottle in the mail. I've decided to go for that as the fancy ones cost too much and, from what I've seen of the home-made fly swatter machines, it would be awkward to do it with those in the space I have. the house needs to be moved back slightly (in these views) and lowered a little. there will be two of them, which happily resemble those on the backscene, along with their back gardens. hopefully I can hide the shadows on the backscene with a tree or two. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 five months! well, I've been pretty busy (not with the layout ) but it doesn't feel like that long! anyway, aside from a myriad of minor jobs the biggest progress I've made in that time has been growing weeds: also completed half of the fiddle-cassette thing, so I can finally run trains! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 in the interest of moving along at something other than snail's pace I've decided against the daunting prospect of scratchbuilding the goods shed and instead kit-bash the trusty Metcalfe kit, leaned to here for a rough idea: for reference: the kit looks much too small by itself, but will be bulked-out somewhat by the office and the canopy that extended for some distance along the loading platform. it will be heavily modified as well, the above is just to get an idea. if it ends up being too small I could always combine it with another, but we'll see... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted April 23, 2015 Author Share Posted April 23, 2015 I've widened the entrance, to allow the platform to run into the shed, and added the half-built office, which makes it look more substantial. I think that with the canopy as well it will be imposing enough (given the size of the layout) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 A couple of negative points re the metcalfe kits are, in my opinion, the corners and the roofs. I will fix up the corners later but for now I have tiled the office roof: For this one I simply stuck the tiles onto the cardboard roof that was supplied, but this led to a little warping. For the main shed roof I will substitute the base layer for plasticard as the warping might be uncontrollable there. I have also conducted an experiment to see if the putty-in-the-grooves technique I used on the yard walls will work on a scribed platform: looks good enough to me! will now start work on the loading platform. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted April 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 28, 2015 Really nice project, I can't imagine why I havent seen it before! Cheers, Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 more progress on goods shed office and platform. I cut and scribed the first platform top. here it is checking the position: and with the rest of the platform: there will also be a ramp at the far end, abeam the office, to allow vehicles to drive on. now that I look at the pic I've remembered I need to search for some end-loading docks and see how they were set up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted May 8, 2015 Author Share Posted May 8, 2015 sprayed the platforms, then filled the gaps with putty, then spread weathering powders, mostly dark earth, lightened a bit, then fixed with some matt varnish. didn't come out exactly as I'd hoped, still a lot to learn about weathering. also need to weather the brick platform sides, and the rest of the buildings. here are some update photos: funny but you can't really see the weathering in the photos. in real life it looks much browner. I still need to fill in a lot of gaps and glue it all together, but for now it looks like progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.