Lydbrook Dean

[MrWolf]

Absolutely wonderful, so well observed and replicated.

I've possibly posted these before, but this is our local limestone quarry, abandoned over fifty years ago.

It says more than I can about how convincing your model really is.

 

 

 

 

 

Keep up the good  excellent work!

[Graham T]

49 minutes ago, wiggoforgold said:

Hi Graham. The glazing is stuck in with small strips of masking tape, stuck to the back of the glazing and to the inside of the building. No risk of any drips or adhesive on the glass with this method. I prefer the glass as I think it looks better than plastic. It is also dead flat. 

The glazing bars are done by cutting the main frame from 10thou plastic card. The glazing bars are 0.4mm plastic rod, glued behind the main frame with solvent. Pending used to do a similar thing with thin card and cotton I think.

Alex

 

Thanks Alex.

[wiggoforgold]

Thoughts please. I am considering whether to add a small shed or domestic garage between the cottage and the track. Having tried it, I think it blocks the view of the cottage and detracts from the scene so I am minded to leave it out. What do you think?

 

[mullie]

10 minutes ago, wiggoforgold said:

Thoughts please. I am considering whether to add a small shed or domestic garage between the cottage and the track. Having tried it, I think it blocks the view of the cottage and detracts from the scene so I am minded to leave it out. What do you think?

 

I went back and looked through some of the photos of the cottage in a wider layout context. 

 

The hut could work. As the scenery develops around the cottage and everything blends I think you will know.

 

The amount of buildings I have put on layouts,  taken off or changed I don't want to think about . 

 

Martyn 

[Fishplate]

42 minutes ago, wiggoforgold said:

Thoughts please. I am considering whether to add a small shed or domestic garage between the cottage and the track. Having tried it, I think it blocks the view of the cottage and detracts from the scene so I am minded to leave it out. What do you think?

 

Would setting out the railway boundary fence/ wall/ shrubbery help decide?

 

From the (angle of the) photo it looks like you might not have much room between a boundary feature and the cottage for something else? Will you have a side gate to the ground beside the cottage?

[MrWolf]

I'd agree with @Fishplate here, there's probably not enough room for much more than a gate leading to the rear of the house, a lot of which had a veg plot to the rear. I could picture the house with a lean to garage or shed on the opposite side but of course it's hard up against the backscene.

[wiggoforgold]

Thanks for the replies. Some food for thought there. Funnily enough building the fence was on my “to do” list, so I’ll get that done and see what it looks like with that in place.

[NHY 581]

9 hours ago, mullie said:

I went back and looked through some of the photos of the cottage in a wider layout context. 

 

The hut could work. As the scenery develops around the cottage and everything blends I think you will know.

 

The amount of buildings I have put on layouts,  taken off or changed I don't want to think about . 

 

Martyn 

 

 

Totally agree, Martyn. 

 

I tend to plonk the buildings down, move them around a bit, then leave them for a few days. Crucially, over those few days, I will get down to eye level, peer about the place and take photos from a variety of angles. 

 

It all helps to gauge if a building is in the right place and is appropriate to the overall scene. 

 

Rob.

 

 

[NHY 581]

Crikey ! I seem to have missed a fair bit on here recently. 

 

Puddles, brambles and that wonderful cottage to name but three aspects of this lovely, lovely layout. 

 

Excellent modelling and much inspiration. 

 

Rob

 

 

[F-UnitMad]

On 04/06/2023 at 12:51, MrWolf said:

I like the choice of car, not so much because I've owned a couple, but because it makes a great period piece contrast with the railway infrastructure. 

IIRC there's one of Ben Ashworth's photos, taken at Coleford S&W station I think, with a Pannier shunting, & a Vauxhall Cresta parked in the yard.

Prototype for Everything.... 😁👍

[wiggoforgold]

On 23/06/2023 at 20:22, F-UnitMad said:

IIRC there's one of Ben Ashworth's photos, taken at Coleford S&W station I think, with a Pannier shunting, & a Vauxhall Cresta parked in the yard.

Prototype for Everything.... 😁👍

You do recall correctly. That's where I got the idea  :)

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by wiggoforgold

[wiggoforgold]

I’ve decided to go with the hut by the cottage. I’ve set it Ito the bank and I’m currnently brining the vegetation down towards it. The trees are a mixture. Some are seafoam with the main “trunks” painted a brown/grey colour and a coating of autumn orange scatter, others are wire armatures with the smaller branches from teased out acrylic fibre.

There will be a paling fence behind the shed with a gateway between the shed and the cottage.

Edited June 26, 2023 by wiggoforgold
Changed photo

[wiggoforgold]

A pannier shunts outside the entrance to Whitehill Tunnel. The trees are a mixture of Seafoam and my own using wire armatures and acrylic fibre sprinkled with orange scatter. The brambles are teased out acrylic fibre, sprayed brown and laid in place before being given a coat of hair spray to hold it in place, followed by a sprinkling of scatter. The whole is given a spray of scenic cement to hold everything in place.

[MrWolf]

On 26/06/2023 at 09:12, wiggoforgold said:

I’ve decided to go with the hut by the cottage. I’ve set it Ito the bank and I’m currnently brining the vegetation down towards it. The trees are a mixture. Some are seafoam with the main “trunks” painted a brown/grey colour and a coating of autumn orange scatter, others are wire armatures with the smaller branches from teased out acrylic fibre.

There will be a paling fence behind the shed with a gateway between the shed and the cottage.

 

The size of the area between the house and the railway is now much easier to judge in these photos and being a big fan of traditional sheds, I'm glad you have been able to include it.

Everyone needs a shed.

[F-UnitMad]

2 hours ago, wiggoforgold said:

A pannier shunts outside the entrance to Whitehill Tunnel. The trees are a mixture of Seafoam and my own using wire armatures and acrylic fibre sprinkled with orange scatter. The brambles are teased out acrylic fibre, sprayed brown and laid in place before being given a coat of hair spray to hold it in place, followed by a sprinkling of scatter. The whole is given a spray of scenic cement to hold everything in place.

You'll be getting a cautionary warning soon, about how unethical it is to post photos of the real thing, and claim it's a model....  🙄🙄😉😂😂👍👍

[wiggoforgold]

This weekend I’m working on fitting couplings, so rather than a photo of bits of brass, here’s a pannier shunting what I’ve done so far in Whitehill quarry.

[wiggoforgold]

Behind the goods yard at Lydbrook Dean will be a stand of large trees, which merge into  surrounding forest. Because these trees are quite large, they are higher than the space between to folded boards. To address this, I have made what I call “demountable” trees. These come apart in the middle of the trunk so that the top of the tree can be removed for transportation. This allows the base of the tree to be blended in to the ground.

There are many ways of making realistic trees. I use an armature of twisted florists wire of various sizes. I start with a length of wire about twice the height of the finished tree, This is doubled over, and the open end held in pliers while the looped end is turned to twist the wires together. I work from the outer ends of the branches, as this gives greater control over the height and shape of the finished tree. Some thought to the basic shape at this stage allows for different species to be modelled. The twisted wire branches are built up round a central core of telescopic brass tube, which allows the trunk to be jointed in the middle.  The tube for the upper section fits into the tube for the lower section. A short length of the tube for the lower section is glued to the top of the tube for the upper section to prevent the top section from slipping down into the trunk. The wire branches are secured to the lower tube with masking tape, and on the top section I leave a “tail” which fits inside the brass tube.

The wire armature is given several coats of a bark mix. The texture of the mix will depend upon the species of tree being modelled. You can make your own bark mix form plaster, pva and sawdust, but I am currently using Treemendus bark powder. Once this is dry, the basic trunk can be painted: water colours are fine for this, or you can use well thinned acrylics. I start with a brownish-grey colour, and add mixes of slightly different shades. The is no need to wait for coats to dry, as we want them to blend together.

Lydbrook Dean is set in the autumn. I think autumn trees are harder to model than summer trees, as they have a much more open appearance, particularly as the season moves towards winter and the finer branches become visible as the leaves fall. I spent some time studying trees in the outside world before embarking on the models. I am fortunate to have a group of trees at the bottom of my drive, and I took photos of these every week or so as Autumn drew on, so I could see how the appearance changed over the weeks.

The finer outer branches are added from acrylic fibre  or theatrical hair. If necessary, this can be painted before application – a browny-grey colour sprayed from an airbrush od spray can. I use what is to hand, currently Halfords camouflage matt brown.

The fibres are stuck to the ends of the wire branches, either with pva, or gel superglue. The super dries a lot faster and I have a spray of superglue accelerator to hand to speed things up further. When the glue is dry, the fibre branches are teased out some more so that they stick out from the wire branches, and any loops are trimmed off.

Leaves are made from scatter, fixed with hairspray. I work a section at a time. The branches are given a squirt of hair spray, and scatter is sprinkled on. I start with Treemendus fine autumn orange scatter. Various shades can be added, and I add some darker green under the branches to help impart shadows. Be sparing with the scatter, so as not to lose the open appearance.

With the scatter in place, the tree is given a shake in order to rove any loose bits, and the whole can then be given a mist of scenic cement to hold everything in place. The scenic cent dries matt, but when it goes on the entire tree will take on a whitish appearance until it dries. Don’t panic, it will go away.

Alex

Edited July 23, 2023 by wiggoforgold

[wiggoforgold]

The 16xx is a new addition to the motive power for Lydbrook Dean. It’s a Rapido model, fitted with Sprat and Winkle coupling loops, Modelu crew, Railtech number plates and weathered with powders. 
I sprayed different areas of the body with gloss and Matt varnishes, to try and give a contrast between areas which had been given a bit of a clean, and those left dirty.

[wiggoforgold]

I wanted a couple of brake vans for Lydbrook Dean. I decided upon an ex GW “Toad” and a BR standard 20 ton van

For the Toad, I ordered a Rapido AA20, this duly arrived, and is a fine model. Somewhat controversially, it has a full interior, not much of which can be seen when the roof is on. To give access to the interior, the roof is held in place by tiny magnets, and this gives rise to another issue – because the roof is not secured in place, there is a visible gap between the top of the sides and the roof, which many find detracts from the model. So far this hasn’t been a problem for me, and I will leave it loose at least until a guard is fitted.

I haven’t done much in the way of alterations. The couplings have been replaced with Sprat and Winkle couplings and the allocation name was carefully removed from the black patch A replacement allocation was applied, using a bespoke transfer from Railtech.

Weathering was done using the methods described by NHY581 in his thread. First, the glazing was masked off with Mig masking putty. Then the underframe and lower body were given a light spray of a mixture of dark grey and earth acrylic paints. Buffer heads and shanks were picked out with Mig “Old Rust”. The whole model was then sprayed with acrylic matt varnish. Powders were then applied. Patches of rust on the Ironwork were represented with iron oxide and earth powders applied with a small brush. The body sides were given an overall coat of Humbrol “smoke”. This was then removed from the individual planks with a 2mm glass fibre brush. Earth coloured powder was introduced to give the impression of peeling paint and old wood. Fading was introduced to the paint work by brushing with matt white powder. I worked on a section at a time, completing one section before moving on to the next.

The roof was pre-shaded with matt black around the rain strips, the chimney and at the base of the roof. The whole roof was then given a coat of a mixture of smoke and dark earth powders. The chimney was picked out in red oxide and dark earth.

Where paint was worn off grab rails by handling, a small amount of gunmetal powder was applied.

The finished model was given a further light coat of matt varnish to seal the powders. In the past I had not done a final sealing coat as I was worried that a vanish coat would obscure the contrast between the colours, but I  have found that if the powders are left unsealed for a few month, they can take on a slightly sticky, glossy appearance, which is far worse than any slight loss of contrast.

The BR van is the Airfix model, which holds up well compared to more modern offerings, particularly remarkable for a tool 60 years old. (I’m not sure how old the kit I used was, probable about 45 years.) This one has a new roof from Plasticard replacing the over thick one in the kit. The new roof addresses the unfortunate error in the kit where the positions of the chimney and ventilators are a mirror image of where they should be. This one is fitted with MJT W-irons, Hornby wheels, sprung buffers (not sure of the source) and Lanarkshire models vac pipes. The moulded hand rails have been replaced with wire. It still awaits the horizontal hand rail, and I’m going to add a guard and lamps to both vans.

Edited July 25, 2023 by wiggoforgold

[Captain Kernow]

The 16XX has scrubbed up very well, Alex.

 

Very much like the brake vans as well.

 

[wiggoforgold]

I’m on holiday for the next two weeks (and it’s my birthday today) so I’ve set myself a target of finishing the installation of the turnout motors on Lydbrook Dean. 6 of 7 are in place so far, all working. Next I need to fit the last motor and start wiring up the switches.

I’m using Cobalt motors rather than my usual Tortoise as they are about 10mm shorter. One of the design criteria for the layout was that the folded layout should not project above the car seat backs. Shorter point motors means shallower layout frames which allows less height in the folded layout.

In the picture I’ve put the plugs for the power supplies in place to show where they go.

[Tim Dubya]

Happy Birthday mate 👍

[MrWolf]

Happy birthday and happy wiring. 👍

[mullie]

Happy birthday Alex.

[NHY 581]

Happy Birthday, Alex. 

 

I hope you've had a good one and it will be good to see you and Liz on Saturday. 

 

Rob.