Wakefield West

[trw1089]

8 hours ago, great northern said:

Oooh, very nice Tony. Any chance you will be coming over here in the reasonably near future?

Hi Gilbert

 

I actually should have been there right about now, but alas work got in the way and wouldn't support my attendance at a conference in Lyon which would have allowed a short hop to the UK as well. 

 

I'm hoping we can get over next year as it's already been too long since my last bacon sarnie and Yorkshire ale...

 

Cheers
Tony

[trw1089]

5 hours ago, 60027Merlin said:

 

Really good work Tony.

 

You will want to have them painted soon for running on the layout.

 

Eric

 

Most definitely Eric!  Can't wait to have them finished now.

[trw1089]

Well I finally have finished the two J6s I've been slowly putting together.  With work intervening rather too much these two took me nearly 18 months which is far too long, but hey it's a hobby and working on them at least took my mind off work stuff.

 

First we have 64173, a Copley Hill loco in 1952.

 

 

Next is 64177, a New England loco in August 1958, just about ready to be shopped for a General

 

 

and finally, a gathering of J6s.  Not sure what the collective name for J6s is?

 

[trw1089]

It’s about time I did an update on happenings at Wakefield West.  While there has been a long period between posts, things have been happening all the while.

 

First are some shots showing a test of a backdrop for the main station area.  The backdrop was created by using the 3D buildings view in Google Earth, using a typical panorama shot technique by placing the viewing point roughly where the eye line would be on the layout in the real thing (well on Google Earth), then taking a series of screen shots from left to right.  These were then stitched together in Photoshop and printed out as a pdf on successive pieces of A3 paper.  While there are many modern buildings in the shot, the test was just to see how it all would fit.  Amazingly, it worked out just about perfectly, with the Westgate road being set in the right spot first, then seeing how the rest of the locality fitted in.  I was dead set impressed that all the recognisable landmarks sat pretty much where they should be, so now I need to backdate the image to more what the skyline would’ve looked like in the early 50s and get it professionally printed.

 

This also shows the re-laid exit to Platform 1 to better recreate that end of the station and the new totems I had made up for the layout.  Also shown is some new barrow crossings, the Westgate bridge architecture at track level, and over to the right, a new dropped area of baseboard to recreate the embankment entrance to the station and the area to the south of Westgate.  More on that presently.

 

cheers

Tony

Edited May 4, 2020 by trw1089
Spell check

[trw1089]

Thanks for all the likes to the last post.  The area of baseboard that was lowered was to provide the room for an embankment and also some of the area around the south side of Westgate.  I’ve managed to locate a few photos of relevant buildings through some Wakefield history pages on Facebook and also an aerial view of the location from the Britain from the air web page and so have been putting a few buildings together.  These have been based on kitbashing Metcalfe kits as well as some stock ones to get the right mix of buildings.  A few examples below.

[St Enodoc]

1 minute ago, trw1089 said:

Thanks for all the likes to the last post.  The area of baseboard that was lowered was to provide the room for an embankment and also some of the area around the south side of Westgate.  I’ve managed to locate a few photos of relevant buildings through some Wakefield history pages on Facebook and also an aerial view of the location from the Britain from the air web page and so have been putting a few buildings together.  These have been based on kitbashing Metcalfe kits as well as some stock ones to get the right mix of buildings.  A few examples below.

Very nice Tony except for one thing. I've said it elsewhere and I'll say it again here - please get rid of the lower-case lettering on the shop signs. Almost invariably, up to the mid-60s, such signs were upper-case only.

[trw1089]

6 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Very nice Tony except for one thing. I've said it elsewhere and I'll say it again here - please get rid of the lower-case lettering on the shop signs. Almost invariably, up to the mid-60s, such signs were upper-case only.

Thanks for the tip St Enodoc, will replace it when it gets properly finished.  I still need to paint roofs and weather them all once they are properly stuck to the layout.

 

Here is another building, and the image it was inspired by, plus a roughing out of how they will all sit together.

[JeffP]

Loving the skyline of Wakey. Walked my poor wife up and down many of those streets in her wheelchair when she was 5 months in Pinderfields spinal unit. You don't realise how steep they are until you try pushing a wheelchair up them.

 

I saw a similar thing done on a layout depicting Kings Lynn, well done.

[trw1089]

Thanks Jeff

 

It certainly makes the area have the city feel I was after and hopefully will look the part when properly backdated.

 

Cheers

Tony

[sir douglas]

23 minutes ago, JeffP said:

You don't realise how steep they are until you try pushing a wheelchair up them.

 

nobody here realises it until you actually stop and think about it, especially the steep streets like Queen, Smyth and the top end of Garden. The Bull Ring is about 100ft higher than Chantry Bridge

Edited May 5, 2020 by sir douglas

[trw1089]

While buildings are nice, locos are still my passion, especially making them look like ones in pictures.

 

Here are two recent additions to the fleet, a reasonably clean namer B1, and a rather dirty O4.  Both have had sound added too and I must admit I rather like them.  The O4 had the dreaded oil seep which even though the chassis was cleaned, still came back.  It’s since diminished and actually fits in with the grubby look.

 

[great northern]

Lovely stuff Tony, in all respects, buildings, backscenes and locos.  Good to see you are making plenty of progress.

[trw1089]

Thanks Gilbert

 

Slow and steady wins the race on this layout, but it’s nice to make some progress.

 

cheers

Tony

[trw1089]

I have been working on a scratchbuilt set of terrace houses to have some visual difference between the Metcalfe kitbashes but boy they took a long time.  So many windows and even had to make outdoor loos as apparently there are no sewerage connections at this part of the layout and we can’t expect the residents to cross their legs forever.  Happy with the roof lines of the line of terraces now.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by trw1089
Missing words

[aardvark]

19 hours ago, trw1089 said:

I have been working on a scratchbuilt set of terrace houses to have some visual difference between the Metcalfe kitbashes but boy they took a long time.  So many windows and even had to make outdoor loos as apparently there are no sewerage connections at this part of the layout and we can’t expect the residents to cross their legs forever.  Happy with the roof lines of the line of terraces now.

 

Looks brilliant!!

 

What did you use for windows?

[trw1089]

4 hours ago, aardvark said:

 

Looks brilliant!!

 

What did you use for windows?

I had been buying up a couple of the Peco building packs of roof and gutters plus doors and windows.  They’ve come in very handy for a range of building bits and pieces and gives you some flexibility when kitbashing and scratchbuilding.

 

 

[john dew]

Hi Tony

 

Very impressive......you must have spent hours cutting everything out. Time well spent though, you have created a unique model. It sounds  daft saying that about a row of terraced houses but no other layout will have a row quite like yours....well done

 

Painting should be interesting!

 

Best wishes

 

John

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, john dew said:

Hi Tony

 

Very impressive......you must have spent hours cutting everything out. Time well spent though, you have created a unique model. It sounds  daft saying that about a row of terraced houses but no other layout will have a row quite like yours....well done

 

Painting should be interesting!

 

Best wishes

 

John

Only a few hundred more and it'll look just like Wakefield...

[trw1089]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Only a few hundred more and it'll look just like Wakefield...

Noooooooo!!!

[trw1089]

10 hours ago, john dew said:

Hi Tony

 

Very impressive......you must have spent hours cutting everything out. Time well spent though, you have created a unique model. It sounds  daft saying that about a row of terraced houses but no other layout will have a row quite like yours....well done

 

Painting should be interesting!

 

Best wishes

 

John

Thanks John

 

That's why I persisted, as looking at the pictures of the area, there wasn't a nice clean line of all the same terrace houses like I would've got if I had just used Metcalfe, Superquick or Scalescene ones directly.  I also have a thing about different rooflines and wanted to have the effect of slightly different roofs to add variety.

 

Cheers
Tony

[CCGWR]

On 06/05/2020 at 21:09, trw1089 said:

While buildings are nice, locos are still my passion, especially making them look like ones in pictures.

 

Here are two recent additions to the fleet, a reasonably clean namer B1, and a rather dirty O4.  Both have had sound added too and I must admit I rather like them.  The O4 had the dreaded oil seep which even though the chassis was cleaned, still came back.  It’s since diminished and actually fits in with the grubby look.

 

 

Very Nice Tony. That oil seepage is a pain, in fact I have turned to acrylics (mostly Tamiya and Vallajo) for the moment to try and counter the problem, so far it has worked, still experimenting though.

 

Connor

[trw1089]

Thanks Connor

 

I’ve been stocking up on both Vallejo and Tamiya for the same reason, but haven’t done too much experimenting with them yet.

 

cheers

Tony

[aardvark]

On 18/05/2020 at 22:24, trw1089 said:

I had been buying up a couple of the Peco building packs of roof and gutters plus doors and windows.  They’ve come in very handy for a range of building bits and pieces and gives you some flexibility when kitbashing and scratchbuilding.

 

I had no idea, so this was most informative.

 

Imagine my amusement when a search for "peco building pack" reveals they have a "Buildings Pack A" and a "Building Kit 1".

[CCGWR]

12 hours ago, trw1089 said:

Thanks Connor

 

I’ve been stocking up on both Vallejo and Tamiya for the same reason, but haven’t done too much experimenting with them yet.

 

cheers

Tony

 

Yes, I find the 'Model Air' range of Vallejo are probably better weathering colours but I only have one, the rest are normal Vallejo, I have found they are not completely matte in appearance. For this reason I have preference for Tamiya (on locos anyway) for now.

 

Connor

[trw1089]

21 hours ago, aardvark said:

 

I had no idea, so this was most informative.

 

Imagine my amusement when a search for "peco building pack" reveals they have a "Buildings Pack A" and a "Building Kit 1".

Hi Dean

 

Yes, Peco’s labeling leaves one a bit confused.  The doors and windows one has guttering and others bits and bobs which I’ve found useful, the roof one has slate and tar paper roofs and chimneys which were also handy.

 

Cheers

Tony