A return to Nantford Spinney

[Keith Addenbrooke]

There was a GWR 6 ton crane at Fairford.  Having only been installed at the end of WWII the former cattle dock (by then disused) provided a good solid base.  As Nantford Spinney is also being modelled post-war, it would give you a prototype for a larger, square base if you wanted - all depends on the kind of traffic you envisage having come to the terminus over the years.  Looking good, Keith.

[AndyB]

Thanks for your thoughts, @Keith Addenbrooke. 

I've done a quick mock up using a section of Peco platform. Perhaps it was once a loading dock for general goods?

 

But putting the coal lorry next to it makes it look rather odd to my eyes. The top of the cab (scale 6') is barely higher than the platform (scale 5' 6"). The platform dwarfs the lorry...

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by AndyB

[5BarVT]

Driving a car around wagons at rail height (infilled track) wagons (vans in my case) are huge so it may not be as odd as you think.

A passenger platform is 3’ from rail level, peco track is 5mm (=15”), so 4’3” from sleeper bottom and I have a feeling that loading docks were higher.

Paul.

[AndyB]

15 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

Driving a car around wagons at rail height (infilled track) wagons (vans in my case) are huge so it may not be as odd as you think.

A passenger platform is 3’ from rail level, peco track is 5mm (=15”), so 4’3” from sleeper bottom and I have a feeling that loading docks were higher.

Paul.

 

Thanks Paul. Very interesting. I think it's as much the size of the bricks as much as the relative height.

Out of curiosity I measured up the scale size of the bricks on this Peco product and they come out at 2' x 1'.

By way of comparison my house bricks are 8" x 2.5". 

[5BarVT]

Them’s big bricks (peco)!

Could they be stone blocks instead?

Paul.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

19 hours ago, AndyB said:

Thanks for your thoughts, @Keith Addenbrooke. 

I've done a quick mock up using a section of Peco platform. Perhaps it was once a loading dock for general goods?

 

But putting the coal lorry next to it makes it look rather odd to my eyes. The top of the cab (scale 6') is barely higher than the platform (scale 5' 6"). The platform dwarfs the lorry...

 

 

8 minutes ago, 5BarVT said:

Them’s big bricks (peco)!

Could they be stone blocks instead?

Paul.

I realise this was my idea, but now we’ve seen a photo I’m not quite sure it looks right - even if technically the dimensions are correct.  I have to agree with Paul, the size of the ‘bricks’ looks to me very similar to the size of the stone blocks on the Goods Shed?  If you were to suddenly take the platform away again, I wonder if the space would now look much bigger than it is?

[AndyB]

 

On 11/03/2022 at 13:41, Keith Addenbrooke said:

 

I realise this was my idea, but now we’ve seen a photo I’m not quite sure it looks right - even if technically the dimensions are correct.  I have to agree with Paul, the size of the ‘bricks’ looks to me very similar to the size of the stone blocks on the Goods Shed?  If you were to suddenly take the platform away again, I wonder if the space would now look much bigger than it is?

 

Well both the platform and goods shed are Peco products so I'm not surprised that they have a similar dimension for their brick/block work. 

 

And your wish is granted. A with & without photo for comparison.

 

 

 

The undeveloped area is about 5" x 18".

That's quite a bit of real estate to do something interesting with. Infact the undeveloped bit on this board is about 40" I length. 

 

Any suggestions from anyone reading this would be most welcome.

 

So far I've got a pub, scout hut and boat yard in mind. 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by AndyB

[stivesnick]

Hi Andy 

 

Looking at the two photos, I think the scene would be better without the platform. However if you do decide to keep the platform, it would look better as an extension to the goods shed, with perhaps the platform extending around the side to link up with the existing wooden platform. You would have to remove/change the doors on the goods shed to achieve this; a single large door on the non-platform side. 

 

As for the rest of the scene - as that area is close to the sea, a sand dune and beach huts or fishing sheds might be suitable.

 

Nick 

 

 

[AndyB]

Some interesting ideas there @stivesnick Nick. Thank you.

 

Sand dunes & beach huts: That would certainly be a relatively quick way of scenic-ing up this area. Worth considering if I run out of steam. 

Crane: an interesting idea to wrap the loading platform round. To make that work I think it would need to be a sliding door though.

 

At the Basingstoke show today Mike @The Stationmastershowed me a photo of the same crane design at Henley which effectively sat on a slab at almost ground level. I also saw this type of crane at ground level on two of the layouts on display; Bodmin General and City Basin Goods.

So whilst it's not a good idea to model models, they did look good.

 

[Andrew P]

Hi Andy, I had my Yard Crane mounted on a plinth, (part of the Peco Kit) on my original O Gauge Trebudoc.

[AndyB]

And here we are. Sorted...

 

 

And whilst I had the DAS and a paint brush to hand I potted in the coalyard scene...

 

 

And before moving on to the next mini project, an overall view of the goods facilities...

 

 

Overall it looks quite grubby. But I somehow doubt these things were pristine by the 1950s/60s. 

Edited April 2, 2022 by AndyB

[AndyB]

I've been thinking for a while that the slate-grey terrain colour I used was far too dark.

 

So by way of a test a swatch I'm trying out Tamuya "buff". My thinking is to break it up with dry brushing with lighter colours and a planting weeds.

 

My memory from my youth of our Scout group's boatyard was of the ground being  a sort of grit made up from cockle shells that were pounded into the dirt. So quite a light colour. 

 

I'd be interested to hear what you think. To me it lifts the layout and makes it less dull and flat?

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by AndyB

[AndyB]

I added some scatter to the test swatch, starting off with earth scatter and adding rough grass on top of it. 

 

IMHO these photos look like crushed Weetabix. But in reality they don't look quite so bad, or plumped duvet like.

 

This is a part of my modelling that I need to work on. 

 

To the front of the boat yard shed I'm going to add some gerbil dust to roughen up the texture and then paint over it?

 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by AndyB

[Keith Addenbrooke]

10 minutes ago, AndyB said:

I added some scatter to the test swatch, starting off with earth scatter and adding rough grass on top of it. 

 

IMHO these photos look like crushed Weetabix. But in reality they don't look quite so bad, or plumped duvet like.

 

This is a part of my modelling that I need to work on. 

 

To the front of the boat yard shed I'm going to add some gerbil dust to roughen up the texture and then paint over it?

 

Hi Andy, I quite like the ‘new’ colour you have (in front of the building in this photo).  I accidentally discovered a way of creating a textured surface in small areas last year by sticking down a rough layer of spare ballast* onto an otherwise flat surface, then topping it off with scatter.  It turned out much better than I expected, and seems to look reasonable (to my eyes at least) in close up photos.  Just a thought, Keith.

 

 (* worth mentioning I wasn’t using expensive proprietary ballast, but a large bag of reptile sand from a pet shop).

[stivesnick]

Andy 

 

I like the slight changes in colour and texture that you have achieved - it looks like summer dried vegetation.

 

I would be tempted to remove some of the top finish to create some paths through the area - I would use a small screwdriver to do this an an unofficial track may only be a foot wide. 

 

Another point to consider is the contrast between the dried/dead vegetation by the river and the green hills behind it - I am trying to recall if I have ever seen such a contrast before. 

 

Regards 

 

Nick 

 

[AndyB]

Thanks Keith @Keith Addenbrooke and Nick @stivesnickfor dropping comments. Really helpful to get other people's perspective  

 

Funnily enough I had started to add a tiny bit of ballast in front of the boat yard workshop to add texture to the ground. But dpurred on by Keith's comment I've gone the whole hog and am just waiting forcthe PVA to dry. I'll then paint over it with the buff colour and then maybe do some dry brushing to stop it looking too uniform?

 

Nick you're right about the juxtaposition of the lush fields adjacent to the dried grass area. I was trying to go for a look of weeds growing on rough ground...but probably went a bit OTT with the dead vegeration mix. I'll see if I can bring it a  it more in line with the adjacent field. If it doesn't work its no bigger to s especially it off and try again. 

 

Need for a path noted. Likely for use by anglers trying their luck in the Nantford estuary! 

 

I'll post a photo later once I've had another crack at this. 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

On 19/03/2022 at 12:56, AndyB said:

Thanks Keith @Keith Addenbrooke and Nick @stivesnickfor dropping comments. Really helpful to get other people's perspective  

 

Funnily enough I had started to add a tiny bit of ballast in front of the boat yard workshop to add texture to the ground. But dpurred on by Keith's comment I've gone the whole hog and am just waiting forcthe PVA to dry. I'll then paint over it with the buff colour and then maybe do some dry brushing to stop it looking too uniform?

 

Nick you're right about the juxtaposition of the lush fields adjacent to the dried grass area. I was trying to go for a look of weeds growing on rough ground...but probably went a bit OTT with the dead vegeration mix. I'll see if I can bring it a  it more in line with the adjacent field. If it doesn't work its no bigger to s especially it off and try again. 

 

Need for a path noted. Likely for use by anglers trying their luck in the Nantford estuary! 

 

I'll post a photo later once I've had another crack at this. 

Thanks Andy - this is what mine looks like after being in place since last August, incl. several months of upright storage. Track is 9mm HO narrow gauge so the scale is bigger (the Station Building is a modified 4mm scale Ratio Yard Office).  Keith.

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Keith Addenbrooke

[AndyB]

37 minutes ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Thanks Andy - this is what mine looks like after being in place since last August, incl. several months of upright storage. Track is 9mm HO narrow gauge so the scale is bigger (the Station Building is a modified 4mm scale Ratio Yard Office).  Keith.

 

Looks good, Keith. 

I was going to ask about the scale as I knew you were working in 4mm. That's a nice effect you've achieved.

[AndyB]

So I took Nick's comments on board and added some green clumping foliage and grass fibres on top of what was already in place. I'm going to stick my neck out and say that it looks OK now. So I'll put the trampled path in next.

 

 

 

I've thinned it out down the sides of the shed where more people might have been treading on it.

 

 

I also tried out Keith's idea of a layer of ballast over painted with Tamiya buff colour. That has certainly given more relief to the ground.

 

 

I've put a figure into the scene so you've something to compare sizes to. 

 

Overall I think this has worked well. So the plan is to extend the scrub towards the signal box. 

Edited April 2, 2022 by AndyB

[AndyB]

I rarely throw "useful" items out. And rummaging through one of many boxes of such useful items I came across a legacy from my OO days. I believe it was originally a lifeboat or tender for a OO fishing boat by Artitec? Although it does appear to be a waterline-type model so I may well be wrong about that.

 

 

Anyway my plan is to give it a new lease of life as a fishing boat that is undergoing repair. 

 

 

It's of resin construction and has a certain amount of flash around the bottom. I'll gently file this down and then add a couple of plasticard layers to round out the bottom of the hull. Thereafter I'm thinking to put a deck and aft cabin in. 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by AndyB

[AndyB]

Seeing the difference that repainting and grassing over the area around the boatyard made, I got the bit between my teeth and e tended it. So I've ow worked my way down past the signal box towards the goods yard.

 

 

Before doing that, though I needed to disguise the point control box. So I build up the area to either side using foam board as a filler and contouring it using DAS. Tricky to see in this photo but I didn't want anything too dramatic. So if you can't quite see it yet then that's probably a good thing!

 

Into this area I've sculpted a road down to the boatyard and also to the goods and coal yard.

 

The flat area in the centre I'm thinking to put a couple of buildings; precisely what those will be is yet to be decided.

 

And whilst that little lot dries I'll crack on with the boat build. 

Edited April 2, 2022 by AndyB

[AndyB]

....and we're back.

So a BIG thank you to AndyY and the team for restoring the forum 

I'm not sure how many photos I'll be able to replace, but I'll back fill as best as I can.

 

Anyway. We left it with me having recently grassed over some terrain near bridge and I had continued that towards the goods shed?

 

 

And my plan was to place a building over the point control box. As it turned out that didn't look at all right. So I did a bit more grassing over and came up with this...

 

 

I think it was Nick (?) who suggested having a path through the grass. So I've put one in leading to the signal box.

 

I also mentioned developing the boat yard scene, which I'll post about next.

 

Anyway, it's really good to be back and re-conecting with virtual friends again. 

 

Cheers for now. Andy

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by AndyB

[AndyB]

To matters nautical...

I had in mind to repurpose a OO tender that must have belonged to a larger resin fishing boat kit (harking back to my 4mm days!).

 

And I'd intended to build this up into some kind of 2mm fishing boat with a wheelhouse. And that's when reality hit.

 

Although it seemed quite large, when a figure was placed next to it there was no way it was going to pass as a fishing boat. So I settled on it becoming a generic boat which was in the process of repair. 

 

First of all I used some Milliput to add curvature to the bottom of the hull. I then cut up some cocktail sticks and used these to prop the boat up. To set the scene I had a figure sit on an oil drum painting the hull.

 

 

Of course it wouldn't be a boat yard without some seagulls. Those were quite fiddly to paint. And even more so to get them to fly! (a single paintbrush bristle superglue to the gull)

 

 

I'll have to think next how to represent seagull droppings on that old corrugated roof. 

Edited March 31, 2022 by AndyB

[AndyB]

The 2nd anniversary of the layout is fast approaching. "Return to Nantford Spinney" was started during the Easter break of 2020 shortly after the first lockdown started and my office relocated to a desk in my garage. 

 

So by way of marking its anniversary I thought to post some overview pictures of the layout to show what's been achieved. 

 

For anyone not familiar with Nantford Spinney, it's a U-shaped BLT around 3 sides of a garage. About 18' of N gauge running line before arriving at the station throat.

 

The first photo looks down the line across a valley scene, which then snakes past a halt and then disappears behind the spinney. The coach is disappearing off scene onto a separate FY board.

 

 

 

 

The line then reappears from behind the spinney and continues its way towards Nantford Quay

 

 

The line does one final turn hidden in a cutting.

 

Before crossing a low bridge spanning the estuary and drifting into the station at Nantford Quay.

 

 

The last major bit of the layout to develop is in the foreground of this last photo by the quayside (not shown). 

 

So that's pretty much the layout in a nutshell. There's still work to do but my mind is starting to turn to the "What next?"

 

 

[AndyB]

I recently picked up this Q1 one ebay.

 

 

But as my layout is set around the time when these locos were a year or so from being scrapped I wanted to show it in a very care worn state. 

 

The first Job was to find prototype photos so I could weather it "as is" rather than "as imagined". TBH there weren't many colour images, so I've done some cross referencing between the many B&W photos and those colour image I could find.

 

An article by Simon Grande in the BRJ No. 288 was immensely useful and gave me the confidence to put paint to loco.

 

The first job was to tone down the gloss finish using a mix of thinned down matt black, grey and a tiny bit of gwr stone. I used some spare, gloss, black plasticard as a test piece so I could see what the end result might look like. 

 

Once dried I added a tiny streak or two of white primer where there were limescale deposits.

 

 

At this stage the finish looked quite grey, whereas the colour images I had suggested an overall patina of brown. I wasn't too worried about this as I was intending to add these colour tones with weathering powders; the previously applied wash of paint acted as a key for these. 

 

 

 

In due course I'd like to weather the sides of the chassis but don't want to do anything which will clog the pickups.

 

All in all this was an enjoyable project, albeit a bit nerve wracking adding the first bit of paint to the loco! 

Edited April 19, 2022 by AndyB