Sandside (FR) - an exercise in modelling rather complex buildings

[ISW]

1 hour ago, Jason T said:

None of the Slaters embossed sheets are anything like; their Random Stone is so random, I find it hard to believe that anyone in real life would use such an odd collection of stones to build anything but crazy paving.

Jason,

 

Have you considered downloading a suitable texture from t'internet, and then using it to 'trace / score' onto your building walls? Yes, you'd have to print it out at the correct scale (opportunity to re-size as you need?) and then 'lightly' glue to the wall while tracing, but it would save you having to create / invent the stonework yourself.

 

There's a reasonable selection at https://www.textures.com/search?q=stone, but there are plenty of other sites. Many of these are based on photos of real buildings and so are as 'random' as the real thing.

 

Ian

[Jason T]

Thanks, interesting website (the globes threw me a bit).

 

 I am kind of resigned to scribing, or at least giving it a go. I took a trip down to visit the Barrowmore MRG today (their club rooms are close to here and I am keen to get involved: their best known layout is the epic P4 ‘Mostyn’) and took a look at a couple of the buildings that they have scribed; a lot of effort but if done right then it will capture the stonework right.

Time will tell if I can manage it but I have been practicing again, this time with Plastikard and the outline of the signalbox.

[2ManySpams]

1 hour ago, Jason T said:

Thanks, interesting website (the globes threw me a bit).

 

 I am kind of resigned to scribing, or at least giving it a go. I took a trip down to visit the Barrowmore MRG today (their club rooms are close to here and I am keen to get involved: their best known layout is the epic P4 ‘Mostyn’) and took a look at a couple of the buildings that they have scribed; a lot of effort but if done right then it will capture the stonework right.

Time will tell if I can manage it but I have been practicing again, this time with Plastikard and the outline of the signalbox.

 

Oh dear, scribing plasticard... Wouldn't catch me doing that:

 

(Ignore the Mr Blobby paint job, early days on the road to a finished job).

 

Like you I was frustrated by not finding a suitable commercially available stone finish, so had to resort to doing it the hard way. On the plus side, nobody canook at the stonework and think it's Slaters or Wills etc.

[MrWolf]

That reminds me of the style of architecture local to where I grew up which I always thought would be a nightmare to model except by scribing. If you'd never seen the real thing, you might think that it was made up if presented with it in model form.

 

 

[ISW]

1 hour ago, Jason T said:

Thanks, interesting website (the globes threw me a bit)

Jason,

 

Yes I know. It used to be just flat rectangles that where much easier to understand. I think the globes were used 'just because we can', not because it was any better. I thought you might find https://www.textures.com/download/BrickOldMixedSize0056/66095 a fairly close representation?

 

Ian

[Enterprisingwestern]

48 minutes ago, 2ManySpams said:

On the plus side, nobody canook at the stonework and think it's Slaters or Wills etc.

 

Rest assured, somebody will!

 

Mike.

[Jason T]

Last time I exhibited The Mill, Hornby hadn't produced either the Ruston 48 or 88DS. I know that next time it goes out, I will be asked many times if the Judith Edge kits I lost blood sweat and tears over are the Hornby models and each time, I will die a little inside...

[Jason T]

Oh dear, I made a mistake. I spotted, on eBay, a product that looked hopeful; embossed paper that may have been suitable for the station building if painted. The photo representing it was a 2” by 2” square. Interest piqued, I paid £16 and eagerly awaited delivery.

 

It arrived this evening, all the way from Greece.

 

It does look like the image on eBay; exactly like it, in that it’s a series of identical 2” squares filled ten A4 sheets.

 

Ah, but is it embossed, you may well be wondering.

 

Yes it is. On wallpaper.

You can laugh; I did.

 

[MrWolf]

I think that we all know what the word is you're looking for here...

 

The question being: Is it strong enough? 

 

Or do we need to resort to combinations of two or even three expletives?

[Jason T]

Just now, MrWolf said:

I think that we all know what the word is you're looking for here...

 

The question being: Is it strong enough? 

 

Or do we need to resort to combinations of two or even three expletives?

It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic 😀 

[MrWolf]

10 minutes ago, Jason T said:

It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic 😀 

 

Quite.

 

It takes me back to my teens and visiting the home of a girlfriend's parents. There was a wall that looked like handmade bricks, colour, texture and everything. That too was wallpaper. I'd never seen anything like it.

I couldn't decide if it was really clever or really naff.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

It's a bit repetitive.

It's a bit repetitive.

 

Mike.

[2ManySpams]

12 hours ago, Jason T said:

Oh dear, I made a mistake. I spotted, on eBay, a product that looked hopeful; embossed paper that may have been suitable for the station building if painted. The photo representing it was a 2” by 2” square. Interest piqued, I paid £16 and eagerly awaited delivery.

 

It arrived this evening, all the way from Greece.

 

It does look like the image on eBay; exactly like it, in that it’s a series of identical 2” squares filled ten A4 sheets.

 

Ah, but is it embossed, you may well be wondering.

 

Yes it is. On wallpaper.

You can laugh; I did.

 

I think you should cut out the individual stone blocks and build your own wall...

[Jason T]

1 hour ago, 2ManySpams said:

I think you should cut out the individual stone blocks and build your own wall...

Could be more hassle than it’s worth; it really is a shoddy product (a shoduct?)

[MrWolf]

That's a remarkably restrained and polite assessment...

[2ManySpams]

12 hours ago, MrWolf said:

That's a remarkably restrained and polite assessment...

 

Unusual, you might say. 

[2ManySpams]

You seen this stuff Jason, not used it myself but looks interesting? Price is steep though...

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

16 minutes ago, 2ManySpams said:

You seen this stuff Jason, not used it myself but looks interesting? Price is steep though...

 

 

 

Not bad pricewise until you consider how many 6 inch pieces you will need, especially if building a retaining wall or such like.

 

Mike.

[Jason T]

Whilst I may have been quiet on here, I have been busy in the real world and my experiment scribing plain Plastikard has led to more hours than I would care to admit, a few pieces thrown in the bin when better photos have been found (the drawing in the book is more of a representation with some glaring errors), a sore finger from scribing and some real head scratching. What looks like a simple signalbox is anything but…

 

First, a reminder of the real building

 

[Jason T]

As can be seen, the walls are stepped, with different sizes of blocks used on different sides. I haven’t stuck religiously to the horizontal number of stones but vertically, I think it’s about right. The only bit not scribed is the brick part of the chimney stack (which changes half way up).

 

First coat of primer has been added to spot any areas that need tidying up (there’s a few), plus I wanted the main structure to be primed prior to adding the windows.

 

The window frames are yet to be glued in and framing added using 020 x 040 and 020 x 060 Microstrip. Outline was cut from 20 thou and inner frames are Microstrip.

 

Below are some cruel close ups.

 

 

[Jason T]

A bit more progress on the signalbox. 
the windows are now in although I need to add the sashes (or whatever the horizontal equivalents are called); door needs a bit of work too by the looks of it.

 

The next challenge is the roof. As can be seen in the above photo of the actual box, the timbers are rather prominent so I spent quite some time scratching my head on how to achieve the look. As can be seen, the (removable) roof has a main hipped structure upon which the ‘timbers’ have been attached. Next, I need to determine the optimal length of them, add the gutters (I have ideas on how to do that) and then add an additional skin upon which the slates will go.

 

 I’m going to change the name of the thread too as it’s probably becoming quite obvious that the scope has crept from making a model of the station building to…. who knows what!

 

[Sasquatch]

Hi Jason,

One method of creating half decent stonework is one Allen Downs used, that is to take the Wills course stone sheets and sand the surface. When I tried it, I found it needed going over with a brass brush which removes all the mess. Although like me I guess that you have moved on from trying to make larger structures from those small, tough sheets. I'll use anything to hand these days which is usually JTT plastic sheets. (Cos it's half the price of Plastruct). Failing that I'm building a foam cutter and am getting into the wargaming method of carving the stones onto the foam and coating it in gesso. Better foam gives better results and it's quite addicting.

 

Grand bit of modeling.

Regards Shaun.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Sasquatch
Bit more waffle.

[DGO]

On 03/02/2023 at 20:45, 2ManySpams said:

You seen this stuff Jason, not used it myself but looks interesting? Price is steep though...

 

 

I got one of these a while ago as I needed a long strip of irregular stonework to go along a riverbank, it's not bad and at least you do not get a straight line at the joint of the two parts, can't remember where I ordered from, price wise it was neither cheap nore excessive 

 

[Jason T]

Two steps forward, ten steps back.

When the roof was added, it became evident that the dimensions of the windows were off (taken from the now obviously dubious drawings in the book referenced above). I tried to remove the window units from the original base but it didn’t go well at all, meaning that all I had left was the roof (built removable).

 

So, I set to work scribing again and creating a new base (a blessing in disguise as I think the stone scribing looks better than attempt one; more uniform). The windows were obviously reconstructed but this time I planned in the sliding opening ones, one modelled so).

 

 I have also slated the roof and in lieu of having any finials, bodged some up as placeholders. Gutters were made by using 40 thou Plastikard, a skrawker, files and swearing. They’re hardly noticeable but they are there, honest.

 

I know that on a monitor it probably looks scruffy (the cruelty of photos) but in reality, it’s better looking with a few areas to tidy up but nothing serious.

 

Bit more to do with the roof (obviously), add interior and then commit to painting it.

 

As wrong as it may seem, the chimney pot really was a mess, probably worse than depicted!!

 

 

[Jason T]

In other news, I recently picked up a couple of Dapol (ex Airfix) 16 ton mineral wagon kits; a bit crude but with a bit of work, scrub up ok.

 

 I say bit, but in reality, I have spent quite a lot of time fettling it, with more to do.

 

The first obvious thing to do was get rid of the ridiculous hinges that allow the door to open (followed much later by spending way too much time adding non-working hinges back on).

 I kept the brake rigging from the kit (one side only as per the prototype) and drilled out them, the vee hangers and some spare Parkside levers so I could add the operating rod. The rigging was thinned as much as I dared and staples added for the safety loops.

 

As (at the time) I wasn’t overly enamoured with the kit, I decided to remove the top doors to add a bit of variety to my (overly large) collection of 16 tonners.

 

Other things done were to add Lanarkshire buffers and out of sight but wholly necessary, fit brass bearings and EM Gibson wheels.

 

Worth all the effort? I enjoyed doing it so definitely!