Chuffnell Regis

[Graham T]

5 hours ago, Gopher said:

Graham - looks good but I think a tad more flock is needed on the side of the hedge in the background.  I'm not sure what time of year you are modelling but if late Spring/Summer I think the hedge will show more all round foliage.   I like the light green flock on the hedge  - I think the idea of using two flocks is good, but I'd be careful of having a big contrast in the shades of the two greens.   

 

Yes I think you're absolutely right about the amount of flock.  I'm still at the experimental stage (but don't see that lasting too long, I'm on a bit of a roll!)

 

I am indeed looking for late spring/summer as the time of year.  Boring I know, but I like how it looks.  And modelling bare winter trees is a challenge I don't fancy taking on!

[Graham T]

4 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Hedgerows in the 1930’s

 

I was hoping that a Google search for just that might provide some images to guide us all…. Sadly not.

 

However, I found some interesting articles from the likes of the RSPB and countryside groups, but all illustrated with images of hedges today.

 

My next port of call was Pendon and surprisingly, there are very few hedges…. Maybe that’s the answer… in the distance of a shot at the junction, there is a road and that has a very small hedge at the side.

 

https://pendonmuseum.com/about/the-vale-scene

 

Therefore I think it’s a case of what we think is right…. Are you happy with the way it looks / does it look right… in which case that’s probably the right answer fir our models. I will revisit my hedges at Henley on Thames and change some of them…. In the fullness of time!

 

This is one of my favourite scenes at Pendon and shows the largest hedge:

 

 

 

 

Thanks Neal.  I'd tried googling too, but it looks like not many people took photos of rural hedges in the 1930s   I'll just copy Pendon then!  (If only...)

 

I definitely subscribe to your view of "if it looks right" then it probably is.

 

 

[Graham T]

2 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

Distant views but these may be of interest, both taken from https://www.vintag.es/2017/09/29-incredible-color-photos-that.html 

 

The second one is actually from the fifties, but I don't think things changed much in the countryside.

 

Thanks very much Nick, lovely photos.  And now I'm thinking that maybe I need to include an angler as well!

[Graham T]

2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

 

That second one has some very well clipped hedges in the distance.

 

I know where you're going with that Neal!  But, afraid to say I'm going to stick with the shaggy and unkempt look   That's far more my style than neatly trimmed anyway!

[Graham T]

The brambles under the bridge have been replaced, but I'm not sure they look any better than the previous ones to be honest...

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

Am also having a bit of a crisis of confidence with regard to the hedges...  I thought the colours looked fine yesterday, but now I'm not 100% convinced.  You can see that I added some grass tufts along the hedge-line, and I wonder if it might help if they were removed?

 

The chunkier bit at the end nearest to the camera is supposed to be a small tree (species unknown) growing up out of the hedge.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Graham T

[MrWolf]

I think that the bush under the bridge would be pretty scraggy, it would be trying to grow towards the sunlight.

[Graham T]

Yes, I think it might have to come out (again!) Third time lucky perhaps?

 

What would grow under there do you think?

[MrWolf]

Probably not much at all, depending on how high the bridge is above ground, it would never see much sunlight under there. Either side of it you're most likely to have nettles, brambles, all the usual nasty stuff, or just long grass.

If you look at how the shadows are cast under the bridge in the photo, it gives an idea of whether anything would grow there.

[Graham T]

25 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Probably not much at all, depending on how high the bridge is above ground, it would never see much sunlight under there. Either side of it you're most likely to have nettles, brambles, all the usual nasty stuff, or just long grass.

If you look at how the shadows are cast under the bridge in the photo, it gives an idea of whether anything would grow there.

 

Thanks Mr W.  I'll probably just put a little bit of brambles and long-ish grass at each end then.  You won't be able to see underneath then anyway.

[Graham T]

Well I'm pleased to say that the confidence crisis seems to have been headed off at the pass (I think...)  More to follow on that in a moment or two.  The usually unseen side of the cutting has had its coat of static grass this evening too.  There's still some tidying up do of the cess and so on, and I must remember to weather the tunnel mouth.

 

It may look a bit strange with the backscene stopping so abruptly, but you wouldn't normally be able to look at the layout from this angle.  I was holding my phone close to where the fogman's hut stands.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

Moving on to my current nemesis, the hedges.  Before ripping out the grass tufts, I thought I'd try applying some more static grass.  So I made a mask out of card and sprayed along the hedge lines, then piled on copious amounts of 6mm grass.  This seems to have helped blend in the tufts, and also achieved the effect I was trying for, of having long grass growing round the base of the hedges.  Still a bit of cleaning up to of course - static grass seems to get everywhere!

 

That's allegedly another small tree on the right of the track, at the corner of the field.  I need to make a suitably rickety looking gate next, and also a small stile for the opposite hedge, giving access to the river meadow.

 

But now it's Zebedee time

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Graham T

[Neal Ball]

Great progress yesterday afternoon Graham, that lane and the hedge is looking just right now. Although is it still wide enough for a horse drawn cart to get through?

 

The tunnel mouth entrance looks good and i think you might find you want to use that shot from time to time as the 07:40 et al approaches the station. It's a different perspective and one you might enjoy showing.

 

Good progress, what's on todays agenda? At least you don't get diverted like I do.... we can't see any half finished jobs!

[Neal Ball]

Great progress yesterday afternoon Graham, that lane and the hedge is looking just right now. Although is it still wide enough for a horse drawn cart to get through?

 

The tunnel mouth entrance looks good and i think you might find you want to use that shot from time to time as the 07:40 et al approaches the station. It's a different perspective and one you might enjoy showing.

 

Good progress, what's on todays agenda? At least you don't get diverted like I do.... we can't see any half finished jobs!

[Graham T]

On 27/01/2022 at 07:35, Neal Ball said:

Great progress yesterday afternoon Graham, that lane and the hedge is looking just right now. Although is it still wide enough for a horse drawn cart to get through?

 

The tunnel mouth entrance looks good and i think you might find you want to use that shot from time to time as the 07:40 et al approaches the station. It's a different perspective and one you might enjoy showing.

 

Good progress, what's on todays agenda? At least you don't get diverted like I do.... we can't see any half finished jobs!

 

Thanks Neal.  I was pleased with how things turned out yesterday, after being close to the" rip it up and start again" stage at one point.

 

I think the lane is still just about wide enough.  It brings to mind a childhood memory.  We lived at the end of a similar lane, that was overgrown with brambles and so on.  My dad, being a bit of a petrol head, disliked having his car scratched, so had the bright idea of burning back the hedges a little.

 

With hindsight, doing this in summer probably wasn't the best idea he ever had.  I seem to remember bucket chains being formed, and the fire brigade being called out...

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Graham T

[Neal Ball]

4 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

Thanks Neal.  I was pleased with how things turned out yesterday, after being close to the" rip it up and start again" stage at one point.

 

I think the lane is still just about wide enough.  It brings to mind a childhood memory.  We lived at the end of a similar lane, that was overgrown with brambles and so on.  My dad, being a bit of a petrol head, disliked having his car scratched, so had the bright idea of burning back the hedges a little.

 

With hindsight, doing this in summer probably wasn't the best idea he ever had.  I seem to remember bucket chains being formed, and the fire brigade being called out...

 

 

I think the phrase is "different times"

 

The lane looks fine with the car in place, although it is looking a bit too rustic for your dad to be "pootling" along. I'm sure he would moan about the surface as well as the brambles! A horse and cart will look very much at home there.

[Nick Holliday]

Found this collection which may be useful - https://www.vintag.es/2016/09/treasures-from-grandmas-attic.html colour photos from 1939 such as these

Lots of other pre-war gems, including the rails on the quay at Wells-next-the Sea

[Compound2632]

The foreground blends superbly with the backscene (or the other way round) - obviously I don't know how well it works in the flesh but in your photographs the illusion of distance is superb.

 

I would assume your lane is a farm track. I'm fairly sure that by the 1930s even minor public roads had been tarmacked - as in @Nick Holliday's second photo there. There are undoubtedly some that haven't been resurfaced since...

[Graham T]

4 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

 

The tunnel mouth entrance looks good and i think you might find you want to use that shot from time to time as the 07:40 et al approaches the station. It's a different perspective and one you might enjoy showing.

 

 

That's a nice idea - I'll try to get some pics later today.

[Graham T]

4 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

 

Good progress, what's on todays agenda? At least you don't get diverted like I do.... we can't see any half finished jobs!

 

There are loads of half-finished jobs, you just can't see them.  Now, if you saw a photo of the rest of the layout!

[Graham T]

2 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

Found this collection which may be useful - https://www.vintag.es/2016/09/treasures-from-grandmas-attic.html colour photos from 1939 such as these

Lots of other pre-war gems, including the rails on the quay at Wells-next-the Sea

 

That's a superb set of photos Nick, thanks for the link.  Stacks and stacks of really useful detail.

[Graham T]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

The foreground blends superbly with the backscene (or the other way round) - obviously I don't know how well it works in the flesh but in your photographs the illusion of distance is superb.

 

I would assume your lane is a farm track. I'm fairly sure that by the 1930s even minor public roads had been tarmacked - as in @Nick Holliday's second photo there. There are undoubtedly some that haven't been resurfaced since...

 

Thank you - it doesn't look too bad in real life, but don't always believe the camera!

 

The lane is intended to be a farm track, but I suppose I could paint it so that it's hard to tell whether it's dirt or tarmac?  I think it would also look good with a horse and cart on there - anybody have recommendations of where I might get one?

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

 

Thank you - it doesn't look too bad in real life, but don't always believe the camera!

 

The lane is intended to be a farm track, but I suppose I could paint it so that it's hard to tell whether it's dirt or tarmac?  I think it would also look good with a horse and cart on there - anybody have recommendations of where I might get one?

I will photograph them for you. I’ve got one Slaters horse and cart and two from Langley …. Tbc

[Neal Ball]

3 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

Found this collection which may be useful - https://www.vintag.es/2016/09/treasures-from-grandmas-attic.html colour photos from 1939 such as these

Lots of other pre-war gems, including the rails on the quay at Wells-next-the Sea

Wow, there’s some great photos there.

[Graham T]

24 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

I will photograph them for you. I’ve got one Slaters horse and cart and two from Langley …. Tbc

 

Thanks Neal.