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

[Jason T]

In addition to the endless scribing (so much more to do), I have also started to paint the signalbox. Still need to start the roof but there is paint on the other areas, much of it needing going over to tidy it up. The light limestone has been a challenge, trying to get the right tone. From the scant few colour photos I have seen, the box was built using sandstone quoins and the light grey limestone, rather than the brown limestone from the adjoining quarry. Apparently, the station was built using stone from the railway cuttings just down the line and although the signalbox was built later (first one was opposite it), it seems like they kept to the same look/style (although don't seem to have bothered with the goods shed, built at around the same time - that was definitely built using the dull light brown limestone from the quarry).

 

Anyway, that's a lot of words; here's the pictures. Please remember that it needs more work :)

 

 

[MrWolf]

Very neat work and I was impressed to see it in the scratchbuilt buildings thread.

[Jason T]

Scribing the stonework on the goods shed abutments, I reasoned that it may be easier to do it in bulk, hence the ‘jig’.

 

Second photo shows the ones that are slightly further on (sides need scribing) roughly placed in location.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jason T]

Little and Large(r);

Sandside box next to the last one I built, Bacup (actually Hebden but they were the same basically)

 

 

[Neilgue]

Slightly OT, but I lurked around the Bacup thread back in the day, but being from the other side of the world I am not sure how to pronounce Bacup. 
Is it Bake-up Back-up or something completely from left field?

[Jason T]

6 hours ago, Neilgue said:

Slightly OT, but I lurked around the Bacup thread back in the day, but being from the other side of the world I am not sure how to pronounce Bacup. 
Is it Bake-up Back-up or something completely from left field?

It’s the former, once described to me as Bay-Cup

[Jason T]

I thought that the goods shed would be easier than the signalbox; I was wrong.

 

The stonework is again hand scribed (well, external anyway as I have used Wills and Slaters for bits on the interior which will hardly be visible), this time including abutments, the road access vestibule and office. The amount of scribing (all on 40 thou Plastikard) made for some wobbly walls so there is a lot of bracing on the out of sight internal bits, and the decision has been taken to model the rear door closed; only seen one photo of it open and that was prior to the period depicted.

 

The windows have been made and will be added once the bulk of the exterior has been painted (less hassle that way) but as can be seen, that adds its own challenges with the non-platform wall and adding the interior. 
 

The roofs will be built as separate units which will be added later.

 

So yes, a labour of love but so satisfying and even if it isn’t 100% correct to the long gone prototype, it is close enough for my skill level for me to be quite chuffed!

 

 

[MrWolf]

Beautifully neat work, you should rightly be pleased with your achievements.

I probably missed it, but what are you using to scribe and shape those stones?

[Jason T]

12 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Beautifully neat work, you should rightly be pleased with your achievements.

I probably missed it, but what are you using to scribe and shape those stones?

I’ve used a few tools, starting with ruler and a fine pencil to mark up the quoins, then a rather blunt craft knife for the stone courses. Once they are in, the scriber and more often the cheap orange handled scraper have been used to open the courses up and add texture. The Swann Morton with a new blade was used to neaten up and get the corners right (pet peeve is where courses don’t continue around corners; they aren’t all perfect but close enough hopefully).

 

Next step is to use plastic filler to hide gaps (e.g. between the loading area and the main building) and then get a coat of primer on so I can better see any areas that need attention, as well as allowing me to add the windows and the internal back wall that will be slightly visible if the doors are modelled as open, which they may not be as the shed was out of use in later life. Apparently Beetham Paper Mill used the shed but I don’t know when this finished (most likely earlier than the period I am depicting). I know that Broomby’s had deliveries of bagged cement but the sidings extended down to their site so I guess they just unloaded directly into their warehouse rather than bother to use the goods shed.

 

I do intend to bend reality by keeping the station open and possibly not truncating the line in ‘63 (by the end, the section from Sandside to Hincaster was only used once a week for the Windermere portion of the Leeds-Barrow (SO) and occasional seasonal excursion empty coaching stock (Lakeside to Windermere). This saw 10+ coaches hauled tender first by Jubilees & Black Fives using the line!!

Anyway, if I bend history then I guess I could bend traffic flows to include using the shed. In reality, the goods traffic was coke trains passing through, coal, stone (ballast and other) with the occasional tar wagon and aforementioned bagged cement.

[Jason T]

Now for the bit that always makes me nervous, the painting. You can put so much effort into building something and then it is ruined by not painting and weathering it well.

 

Using the methods and colours that Karl Crowther has for his alternative history version of Sandside (Kentside: see MRJ and Kier Hardy’s wonderful site, EM Gauge 70’s) I made a start.

 

With the plain wall still not permanently affixed (it won’t be until the walls are pretty far on with painting, so I can add the windows at a stage where I am least likely to get paint all over them), I first primed the building (Halfords grey) and after a couple of days, applied the base stone colour (a mix of greys and browns). Two days later, I then painted the window surrounds and sills on the main building in a mid stone colour (not the ones on the small office; that apparently didn’t warrant fancy dressed stone).

 

Next comes a wipe on / wipe off of a mucky black/brown and then lots of dry brushing. Last will be tidying up the corners when the plain wall is affixed.

 

And then I have to add the roof…

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Cheating in some eyes, and not something I could even think about achieving, but is it possible to scan the wall pictures and convert them to a form which one of the new fangled router/shaper thingies could knock out?

 

Mike.

[2ManySpams]

What paints are you using Jason?

[ISW]

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Cheating in some eyes, and not something I could even think about achieving, but is it possible to scan the wall pictures and convert them to a form which one of the new fangled router/shaper thingies could knock out?

 

Mike.

Mike,

 

I'm reasonably sure it's possible to reduce the colours and use 'edge detection' to isolate the outline(s) of the bricks/stones. In theory (?), it's possible to then have a Cricut cutter (or Silhouette Cameo) to engrave those lines into styrene. However, the cutting probably wouldn't be deep enough to keep @Jason T happy.

 

Ian

[ISW]

6 hours ago, Jason T said:

Now for the bit that always makes me nervous, the painting. You can put so much effort into building something and then it is ruined by not painting and weathering it well.

Jason,

 

That's also what keeps me away from painting, even though I have plenty of paints and an airbrush (or three). Hence I still use inkjet printed textures instead. Yes, I do lose the 3D effect but I can check it looks good 'before' it gets applied to the model.

 

Ian

[Jason T]

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Cheating in some eyes, and not something I could even think about achieving, but is it possible to scan the wall pictures and convert them to a form which one of the new fangled router/shaper thingies could knock out?

 

Mike.

You know me Mike, I don’t take the easy option 😃

[Jason T]

1 hour ago, 2ManySpams said:

What paints are you using Jason?

Humbrol enamels mostly Chris, can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head but I do know the grey was LMS Freight Grey.

 

I once used GWR grey on a building. I felt dirty.

 

😃

[Jason T]

8 minutes ago, ISW said:

Mike,

 

I'm reasonably sure it's possible to reduce the colours and use 'edge detection' to isolate the outline(s) of the bricks/stones. In theory (?), it's possible to then have a Cricut cutter (or Silhouette Cameo) to engrave those lines into styrene. However, the cutting probably wouldn't be deep enough to keep @Jason T happy.

 

Ian

As I said to Mike, that would be ‘cheating’; I kind of like to make tasks hard. As an example, look at the 137 windows on the mill, on The Mill. I made each window individually from Microstrip, and then painted them all, including the edges of the frames so no white showed through!

[2ManySpams]

1 hour ago, Jason T said:

Humbrol enamels mostly Chris, can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head but I do know the grey was LMS Freight Grey.

 

I once used GWR grey on a building. I felt dirty.

 

😃

 

Ah hence the long gaps between coats. I've ditched all my enamels now and use Halfords primer (and other spray cans) and finish off with Acrylics. 

[2ManySpams]

1 hour ago, Jason T said:

As I said to Mike, that would be ‘cheating’; I kind of like to make tasks hard. As an example, look at the 137 windows on the mill, on The Mill. I made each window individually from Microstrip, and then painted them all, including the edges of the frames so no white showed through!

 

There's a word for folk like you 🤣

[Jason T]

1 hour ago, 2ManySpams said:

 

There's a word for folk like you 🤣

There’s a swear filter to stop you typing that word 🤣

[Jason T]

BERRY'S WAREHOUSE

 

Although there's still work to do on the goods shed and signalbox, I'm already thinking about the next building I want to tackle (yep, still putting off that station building...) and it's Berry's Warehouse. Berry's Warehouse was not a railway building at any time in it's life, despite a quarry siding passing directly in front of it. It was, in fact, built when Sandside was still a port (the port of Milnthorpe) and is first referenced in 1778. The building itself is still extant, albeit restored and modernised in the last 15 - 20 years.

 

 

I struck it very lucky when searching online, finding a study that Oxford Archaeology had performed on the building which includes history, setting, notes on construction, drawings (not sure about the scale!!!) and photographs.

https://eprints.oxfordarchaeology.com/2364/1/L10256_Complete_rep_reduced.pdf

 

I mention the scale seeming slightly off in the above paragraph as when I calculated it out, the model building seemed like it would be a little diminutive. Using Google Earth's measuring tool though, I was able to determine the length and width and then, using the drawings, work out the scale size. As such, I have drawn out scale plans for the building. The stonework for this one is going to be interesting as it's constructed from (and I'm quoting here) "uncoursed rubble limestone bonded with lime mortar, with large alternating quoins to the corners. The walls have been heavily pointed obscuring much of the stonework. More recent alterations and repairs were undertaken using refractory brick".

So, scribe then backfill with filler? I'll need to experiment; I did do something similar with a building on Bacup and was happy enough with the outcome.

 

 

Inclusion on the layout is, in my eyes, necessary. As kids, we used to be fascinated with it; in it's dilapidated state, we referred to it as Dracula's House and would creep into it to scare each other (with me looking for railway memorabilia at the same time, not knowing it wasn't related to the railway at all).

 

The thing is, inclusion in it's actual (relative) setting does beg the question of what orientation would the proposed layout be viewed from? A discussion for the layout thread as it's probably more relevant there.

 

The location of the warehouse, outlined in yellow. The station, signalbox and goods shed were where the buildings are in the top right. You can clearly see the land the goods yard occupied, opposite Berry's and on the other side of the Quarry Lane.

[Jason T]

I knocked together a cardboard mock-up (mounting board) of Berry's to check that the drawings were correct and get a feel for the dimensions of the building in 'real life'. The building has a foundation of 8mm to allow it to be sunk into the scenery; the real building is built into the hillside, hence the side and rear doors being higher than the single door on the front, but I wanted the front to be sunk in too, as it hides the gap at the base and also allows for the trackbed to have underlay, meaning that will not throw off the base of the front door when the siding is added on the layout (it was a grotty disused siding by the time the layout will be depicted - the track was still there when I was a kid).

 

The front facing middle floor doorway looks odd; at some point in it's life, it was narrowed and the left hand side infilled, meaning that the segmental arch over it continues beyond the doorway. There appeared to be very little between the top of the arch and the above doorway sill; mainly infill. 

As can be seen, I very roughly drew the arch and the quoins in to show the above.

 

 

The rear of the building sits deep into the hillside; the middle floor door is at ground level here; rough steps climbed up the SW side of the building, now gone as an extension was built on.

 

 

A 3/4 view looking from the NW, showing the substantial buttress, which is still extant (probably for good reason).

 

 

All in all, a fascinating building, especially in it's run down state and being built into the hillside. I will struggle to model quite as run down as it was in reality - it had weeds along the front and ivy beginning to creep up it in the early 60's. Also, it would be permanently added to the scenery through necessity of it being built so much into the landscape. As can be seen, there is a substantial retaining wall which finishes just to the right of the building. This is original; the steps, etc., are not. The wall running up the lane past where Kellett Cottage was situated was almost totally collapsed prior to the restoration of the building, and there was a lot of undergrowth and shrubs (as well as mature trees, some of which are still there).

 

 

 

Apologies for the long post, I do get carried away but I want to provide some background and setting information to my posts.

[Jason T]

And after Berry's, I need to construct the small stone building and winchhouse (for the rope-worked and disused drops), as well as the Spencer Lime Kiln (also disused). For these, this is one of the best photos I have seen of them (at least that I can share), all are from a similar angle too. These were gone before my memories kick in, including the drops and almost all stonework associated with them. I do know that the drops were basically the height of a 7 plank wagon, which helps a bit, but I think some artistic licence may need to be employed here. The Spencer Lime Kiln... PVC tube and lots of plastikard cladding??

 

The drops and buildings as they were

 

A similar view now

[Jason T]

In my usual butterfly way, I have been getting on with the painting of the goods shed. Where I left off last time, the base colour was on but no windows fitted, back wall unattached, etc.

 

A dirty wash (Matt black and leather) was applied and rubbed off and when dry, the windows and what will be the visible internal wall attached. This evening, I have applied the first dry brushing (a mix of LMS Freight Grey, Leather and Light Stone). It’s already bringing out the shades I want to achieve and when dry, further dry brushing will be applied to individual stones, etc.

 

 

 

The light wasn’t the best for this shot

 

[Jason T]

For this week’s update, I have been working on the collection of buildings that sit alongside the quarry sidings, neither of which are railway related at all (in fact, in the period I intend to model, none of the structures or infrastructure adjacent to the quarry sidings was used for the quarry; stone was loaded by portable conveyor or by hand!!).

 

First is the diminutive cottage that pre-dates the railway. I have not been able to find any drawings or decent photographs of this but was able to estimate the dimensions from a five plank wagon near it. Construction of the main building was of rough uneven limestone but the extension is throwing me a bit; the clearest photo I have shows it’s surface to be smooth, almost as if it has been rendered. So, I modelled what I saw.

 

 

Next comes Berry’s Warehouse. You may recall that I made a card mockup of it; I had a go at using DAS and scribing the stone onto it but it didn’t work so, it’s a case of scribing again.

 

Whilst finishing up this morning, I picked it up and the light behind gave a rather interesting view of the scribing so far.