C&WR Posted May 15, 2015 Author Share Posted May 15, 2015 Finally got onto some mossing-up of the building. I took some of the lichen left over from my wargaming days (so that will be about 30-years-old) in the packet at the font of this pic and chopped it finely with my best herb-chopping knife. This was then mixed up with some Woodland Scenics green grass and burnt grass flock. I then mixed up a solution of PVA and water and tried to dribble the powder down the roof. Not quite sure: Blast, it looks like a hanging basket, not dirty old moss! What seems to look finely chopped to the naked eye, at normal viewing distance and even on the plate looks like the Chelsea Flower Show here: I know I can tone it down again by washing it over with black, but I was so pleased to have the red and sickly yellow colours in. I then took a dry brush to it again to remove the worst: Let's hope it looks a bit better after this treatment: Not as easy as some people make it look, this! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 (edited) Excellent, bank holiday weekend approaches. With luck this means Aylesbury Railex, a visit to the pub I modeled ages ago and a trip back to the layout Edited May 21, 2015 by C&WR 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 (edited) So, success! Got to Railex and managed not to break the bank, although did pick up some handy scenic bits. Was very tempted by a Lima Class 57 in Freightliner livery to go with my modern container train, but more of that later. Delighted to see Black Country Blues in the flesh for the first time after following it on here and had a good chat with one of the operators, although Andy Y a bit busy so didn't get to say hello. Lunch at the pub was also fabulous, and the beer in its usual good state. TLHC gave me a frosty look when I suggested she should take my wallet to go and buy ingredients for supper and collect me when done, but that's understandable when it would have been at least a 40-minute round trip to do so! And so to the railway. It was to be a GWR weekend with a bit of work & some modern interlopers. First of all I got round to adding the hawser & hook to the yard crane and planting it. Hot a great pic, but I had to take it into the light & was using a table lamp as a fill in. Julian might recognise a couple of the wagons, many thanks as they have been added to my PO coal train set: The modern interlopers were a Bachmann Intermodal twin set I saw on eBay. At £20 they were great value, so they have been added to my spine wagons even if this is not prototypical: Quick shots between containers at the dilapidated warehouse: I need to build a bigger railway to do this lot justice: Thought I'd mock up a container yard: There is the slight possibility I might have clicked on "bid" on eBay for an EWS Class 59 to pull this lot. If I had, hypothetically, have won the auction I felt something EWS would go better as general motive power when running up to date at Wallington. The locomotive, let's say I had bought it will be would be delivered to the office this week The final bit of work is sorting out the surroundings of the branch lie from the steam/lake back towards the terminus. If you remember some time ago I made a brick-and-flint wall for this purpose, and bought extra lichen at Railex to finish the job. A few layers of different coloured flock, and a good overlay of static grass and here we are: Have now measured out the very end to make a little village (mainly in low relief) so I can get that corner finished too... Edited May 26, 2015 by C&WR 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcredfer Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Goodness me! You did very well on the Intermodals - wow £20! ... very well indeed ... The crane just fits so well, it is very much what anyone might expect to see and fits perfectly. Nice too see that the wagons have settled in well too. As for a "careless click" on ebay, for a 59 - that is terrific would have been an excellent choice ... still, we can look forward to the pictures soon time when one might next come available ... assumin' that the lack of the click ... might have been wasn't mistaken by the ebay computer for something more approaching a real one ... ... only time and the camera lens will tell ................................................................................. Regards Julian 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 The wall and grass look excellent as does the crane. I really like the first and last pictures in that set. Cheers John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted May 26, 2015 Author Share Posted May 26, 2015 Thank you both! I felt I had a very pleasing weekend on the railway, even if the scenic modelling side was all of about a foot-and-a-half. The red bushes don;t look quite so red in the flesh, I suspect how they appear here is to do with the minimal photo editing I did. The Intermodal set was a bargain, Julian, even when postage added. I saw one at Railex in a similar condition for £30 so very happy! I like having this more modern stuff to go with my 220 & 166 as TSC always demanded to stay and watch the freight trains when he alighted at the station in my village. On one occasion an EWS 59 or 66 running light engine pulled up at the station and the driver asked us about an unattended bag which had been spotted on CCTV - I was able to reassure him it belonged to a bloke who had missed a train, had an hour wait, and had gone downstairs for a cigarette. As for the first pic, John, I was having great difficulty seeing anything at all on the live screen on the camera (it was placed where I couldn't use the viewfinder) so it was a bit of a point and pray shot. I rather like it, though, even though the Prairie I had carefully placed to be on shed in the background is obscured... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted May 26, 2015 Author Share Posted May 26, 2015 Having lost my modelling mojo completely last autumn (it's a long story, I won't bore you, but it included a lot of problems at home and work) the good weather or something seems to have invigorated me. Having decided that the end of the branch line if not a classic GWR-BLT* is still going to be a bit rural I have broken it to family that the factories etc mean I will be making another layout. One of the constraints of this bit of Wallington is that I have a space like a right-angled triangle with a slightly concave hypotenuse to fill. The base, to the left of the layout is about 27cm and the other cathetus is 90cm. The triangle is truncated at the far angle from the right angle,and gives about 7cm clearance between the backboardand the cess of the track. A picture paints a thousand words, so here's what I mean: The bit to be filled is the sandy-coloured area to the right, and the position of the John Ahern-inspired small station building is probably where the station itself will go. The branch will then go via Wallington Sands Halt to Wallington Super Mare itself. The idea for the end of the branch is to have some railway infrastructure (the Toad is sitting on the position of a cattle dock), perhaps a small village square, definitely a Railway Inn & whatever I can do with housing. Low relief is going to be my friend! Therefore armed with my trusty John Ahern, and shamelessly cribbing from John Whiffen (sorry, but your low relief stuff is a bit deep but I am using your papers) I sketched out some cottages: After about 40 minutes or so (I was working in between turns in a game of LEGO Minotaurus with TLHC& TSC) I had the basic shape cut out, the end walls taped in place for now: After removing the end walls and taking to the various openings with an emery board I was ready to clad the thing, using pink blotting paper, some cream note paper & Scalescenes aged red brick.The brick part will have blue brick window sills & red brick ornamental lintel: From the other way. The bricked up window is an idea I loved so much from Scalescenes it had to be done: Fairly please bearing in mind that, including distractions, this took about three hours including photography and writing the post. Not looking forward to the roof. I find it very difficult to make these work round chimneys, there will be quite a lot of flashing deployed I fear! *In the days of the GWR if a BLT had been invented it would have been magnificent, not like the curly Travellers' Fayre sandwiches beloved of '70s comedians! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
altone Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 The Sheps wagon was a little present to myself. It came from the Erith Model Railway society to go in my beer van rake. The significance of this one is that the late Uncle who's music I am enjoying now lived all his life just up the road from Erith and was the first, along with my Dad to teach me to enjoy real ale, good pubs, grown-up pub conversation, jazz and blues. I'm raising a nostalgic glass of St Austell Proper Job to him now... Wait what? You have a beer van rake - ooh got to have one of those, no matter how off model or how off topic. I may have missed it if you already posted an image, as I'm quite time poor right now, but I hope you might indulge me and post an image of your "beer train" when you can. Cheers when you can. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 (edited) Thanks, altone. I've just had a scan through the thread and it seems I've never posted a picture of all the wagons together. I am having firewall problems getting into Picasa, so can't look now. However there are shots on pages 1 and 2 of some of the wagons, and towards the bottom of this post. It's not hugely impressive yet, numbering about five vans. IIRC they are all Dapol and include an Ale Wagon (converted cattle truck) and ones from breweries in either real or imagined liveries. Wessex Wagons are a very good source, as are Model Railway Clubs/Societies round the country which do them as specials. It can be a very expensive hobby as there are lots out there - i have restricted myself to breweries whose products I have enjoyed over the years or which have certain resonances with the family - my late uncle was a fan of Fremlins so I have one from a brewery that either took over or was taken over by them & so on... Edited May 27, 2015 by C&WR 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
altone Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I only have an Allsops beer wagon I picked up in a mixed lot. I think I might just have to bid on any beer wagons I see in the auctions from now on. The Wessex ones end up at nearly 20 quid a pop with shipping to Australia so I'd only get the odd one that way I think. I'll have to get a few though and schedule the beer train at least every hour as a reminder 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 I had failed to spot your location, altone! Good luck and hope you find some suitable trucks. The Wessex ones are fairly expensive but they are exquisite, although they have the horrid Dapol couplings which don't seem to like my railway. The other option which I will be trying is to buy some generic vans and build them, then make my own decals for some of my current favourite breweries & beers. I've also discovered that the preserved railway in the village where I was brought up have commissioned their own coal wagon with livery for a local dealer at the other end of the branch line, so that's going to be added to my collection. I'm trying to get hold of one from the coal merchant in the village - one of the companies did make one in an edition of 200 and I'm on the waiting list for returns. Anyway, not too much modelling this weekend. I was on the first day of my Level 1 (Introducing Children to Rugby Union) course yesterday and this morning was doinga publicity event for our Rugby Club. I'm typing this while making the roast dinner. The row of cottages has had a black (or more accurately Neutral Tint) stripe painted along the bottom, the sides have been fitted and a floor to brace it added, with Scalescenes clapboard to represent floorboards. Windows have been done with styrene strip. I made a frame round the top, bottom and side jambs, then added stiles and glazing bars.Finally it was glazed with some packaging. Rather pleased with this effect! Only another blooming nine windows to deal with! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 After a parents' evening at TSC's School, then getting him home and packing his bag for School and having my supper (TLHC had gone to her knitting group after the meeting) I did some more work to the windows. I have used heavy black cartridge paper for the sills on the pink house, and the same on the left-hand cream one, the latter to straighten out the lopsided windows. The right hand cream house has grey sills and white painted brick lintels. I was a bit divided about how to do the lintels on the pink house. In the end I scribed some more of the blotting paper to make a brick texture & then rubbed it gently with a pencil. I think it looks OK. No pics as I finished quite late and wanted a read of the paper, will try to get some tonight after coaching children at our summer "Give It A Try" initiative then playing Touch Rugby... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Well here goes. Actually I think I have rushed this and it doesn't look great: The black sills are just a little too heavy, and what I hoped had hidden the out-of-true bits hasn't quite worked: However at normal viewing distance it's passable. I may be able to disguise the flaws with window boxes, bikes propped up etc... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 First time I've checked the thread in a while - good to see the progress you've been making! I daresay one of these will be putting in an appearance at some point: 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Oh yes it will! I was tipped off by CF from the shop, and one is on order. Now wondering if the Society will commission a Hutt's Coal one for the other end of the line - Wessex Wagons (I think) used to do one, and I'm on the waiting list for returns. There's a Weedon Bros one around as well if you like local wagons... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted June 5, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 5, 2015 Hi mate, nice job on the cottages, they look really good, and any flaws are probably accentuated by the contrast of the black and cream. I wonder if maybe one of the two middle cottages might be made a slightly different shade, to break up the uniformity, and also weather the black down with some dark grey. I also think that the black window bars on cottage 3 look far too wide. But, having ripped your work to bits... I think they're great really, and capture the feel of so many rows of terraces I've seen. Cheers, Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Thanks for the constructive criticism, Al, always welcome. The black glazing bars are, with the exception of the bottom ones which are finer, probably a scale 3" which is in retrospect far too thick. This is going to show up too much, especially if I carry on with my obsession with lighting buildings! They're held in place with a fair bit of Glue 'n' Glaze, with clear glazing behind, so it may be a bit difficult to remove them... Funnily enough, and I will need to measure this, I think they are the same gauge as the white ones. I wonder if it is a function of them being black which makes them more dominating? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
altone Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 this from acg_mr also weather the black down with some dark grey I agree that would definitely tone down that big black stripe and make it look a bit more true to life. Nice job on the cottages. Oh and don't forget to share the brewery decal artwork I'm going to try my hand at one or 2 custom livery decals for the Dapol LMS vent van - water slide on white to see how they go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 Quick update. Passed the Rugby course and am now a licensed coach. It was jolly hard work - more than three hours of playing touch Rugby in blazing sun on Sunday while other candidates practised their coaching (and more than two Saturday) took their toll, I've then had 20:00 finishes at work and my Touch league yesterday so all that has happened to the models is removing the black glazing bars. With regard to the black bands I agree they could do with a bit of muckying up. However they can look quite stark as suggested by one of my influences here: Image pinched from Google. I think what I will do is add some light dusty colour from ground level up... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgman Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Congratulations on passing your coaching exam in a proper sport ! The pink cottage, is it in Devon/Somerset by any chance and are you going to thatch any of your model roofs ? Hope you don't mind but here's an example I made many years ago from card and used plumbers hemp for the thatching, alternatively you could use the Allan Downes method and try wool. As ever .... .....Happy modelling 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgman Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 (edited) Forgot to mention, the walls had tissue glued in random places and a thin coat of plaster used to represent the cob which was then painted. The stonework is scribed plaster too. Cheers Edited June 11, 2015 by bgman Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 By the way, have been in communication with Brakspear about getting a hi-res copy of their old logo. I seem to be having problems posting links to them, though. This is what I am after. However I don't think the resolution is great, even when scaled down. This image is more modern and may have to suffice. I'll see what the lovely ladies in the publicity department come up with! The image here is likely to appear as a poster too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 Thanks re the course, it's nice to back up the actual coaching I have been doing formally for two years with an actual qualification. Thanks also for posting your building, that is a truly lovely piece of work. I am very tempted to thatch mine and may pop into the hardware shop at lunchtime to see if they have hemp. The reference picture I showed above was jsut from a random Google search. It is in Kennford near Exeter and the owners were told to tone down the colours by the council! You should have seen some of what came up with a search for "pink cottage". This was a favourite: 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcredfer Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 (edited) That cottage ... It is in Kennford near Exeter ..... has been like that for at least 50 years and has had several re-paints in the same colour, over the years. Can't imagine why the fuss about a house colour, particularly since someone is paying Taxes to pay for the person who chose to spend their time trying to bully the owners over re-painting their house the same colour as before. Clearly the person hasn't got the faintest idea about difficult financial times and wasting Taxpayer's money. It is on the way to a beautiful old pub, with a great restaurant, where I used to be pleased to entertain a few delightful young ladies [one at a time, of course - well you couldn't get more than 2 people in an old MG J2! ... ] Edit - hearty congratulations on the Coaching Award, very well done and much hard work. Edited June 11, 2015 by jcredfer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgman Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 That cottage ... ..... has been like that for at least 50 years and has had several re-paints in the same colour, over the years. Can't imagine why the fuss about a house colour, particularly since someone is paying Taxes to pay for the person who chose to spend their time trying to bully the owners over re-painting their house the same colour as before. Clearly the person hasn't got the faintest idea about difficult financial times and wasting Taxpayer's money. It is on the way to a beautiful old pub, with a great restaurant, where I used to be pleased to entertain a few delightful young ladies [one at a time, of course - well you couldn't get more than 2 people in an old MG J2! ... ] Edit - hearty congratulations on the Coaching Award, very well done and much hard work. Thanks thought it was, right on the 90deg bend, then up to Kenn to the Ley Arms, nice pub last time I was in there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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