A Mill for Emsford

[scanman]

Well, I'm taking something of a break from the construction of 'South Hall Yard' (see the 2010 layout challenge).

 

As a railway modeller my main interest lies in the structures at and beyond the trackside. As a (irregular) member of the Railway Entusiasts Club (Farnborough Hants) I offered to build the mill that gives 'Emsford Mill' (the club's new 'EM Gauge' layout) its name. Rashly I made the offer in late September last year, just before starting a new job. The start was therefore somewhat delayed and hampered by lack of visits to the club! However, the parameters were to build something suitable basedon East Anglian prototypes - and the mill had be weatherboarded and powered by an undershot wheel as the millpond was already in place !

 

To those that have an interest in the subject I can thoroughly recommend http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/index.html - the home page of a site dedicated to the mills of Norflok (there's a clue in the title!)

 

Settling down a month ago to start a mock-up of the model (I always do this - it helps get the proprtions right and work out where snags such as roof-lines etc might occur) I had a clear image of the site in mind so set about finding a suitable prototype. I finally settled on Barnham Broom. The actual mill is no longer in existence - the wheels collapsed into the race in the '30's - so all I had was a very nice (but small) watercolour image, reproduced here with permission (Andy I have the relevant e-mail if you want a copy)

 

 

From this I was able to draw up the relvant elevations in 'TurboCAD' and print them out full-size on adhesive-backed paper (see my profile for the reason behind this). The shell was cut from Daler Card and the 'mock-up' windows & doors positioned where relevant (again, see my profile....!

 

The result was of a small mill with attached millhouse and single-storey bakery, and the single-storey extension on the gable end housed a sawmill! Hows that for multi-tasking!

 

 

 

 

Mock-up complete I dropped it down to the club on a non-running night for the layout. Work again intervened and it was a couple of weeks before I could get back - only to find I had completely misjudged the space available! Whilst all thought the mock-up very nice, the actual building needs to be twice as long and another storey higher - and 'Oh yes, can we have a couple more lucams?'... The model would also have to take account of the fact that sidings run to front and rear of the building (not just the rear as I had remembered - what miller would like to walk out of his front door & get mown down by a J69 ???)

 

Moral? it doesn't matter whether its the prototype or the model - measurements & photo's are a pre-requisite. Ah well, back to the web site. At the moment Horstead or Iteringham are looking good - but I am only halfway through the list!

 

This saga will continue.....

[scanman]

Following a 'meeting of the committee' where I suggested several alternative sites, a group decision was made to base the model on Lenwade. I hope to post images here but have to await permission from the web-site owner. In the meantime here's a direct link to the relevant page:-

 

http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Watermills/lenwade.html -

 

but if visiting - take the time to look at the other fascinating mills mentioned - and the depth to which Jonathan Neville has taken his research.

 

As you can see the chosen site is a *much* larger building and should easily fill the alloted site which is 53cm (21 inches in old money) by 23 cm (9 inches).

 

I have roughly scaled the main building to be about 85' long (working on the main windows being 5ft square sashlights) 24' wide and 30' to the eaves. This would give a 4mm model a 'footprint' of 34 x 10cm. However, the millhouse continues the frontage of the mill and has a rear extension which should comfortably take up some of the remaining space without it appearing overcrowded. It also resolves the issue of the miller being hit by a train as the front door appears to be on the end of the building (an assumption as it cannot be seen in any of the images!).

 

Jonathans site notes that (in common with many others) this mill has been converted into apartments so a site visit - now better weather is here(!) - will be worthwhile.

[Forward!]

Nice mock-up.

 

This is the sort of modelling I really enjoy- researching and then interpreting a real historic building. That mill at Lenwade looks like a whopper! Does Norfolk Record Office hold anything that might be of use? Some of these large mills were substantial business enterprises and as such you occasionally find the business's 'paper trail' survived well enough for drawings or specifications to be subsequently deposited at county record offices. If not, the relevant county record office or local studies library should be able to fix you up with 1:2500 scale OS mapping 1886- present which would at least give you the definitive 'footprint' of a building; and help avoid some of those tricky dead-reckoning calculations. On a building this size you would only have to misjudge the gap between windows by 6 inches for the whole thing to be several scale feet out!

 

Wil

[scanman]

Nice mock-up.

 

This is the sort of modelling I really enjoy- researching and then interpreting a real historic building. That mill at Lenwade looks like a whopper! Does Norfolk Record Office hold anything that might be of use? Some of these large mills were substantial business enterprises and as such you occasionally find the business's 'paper trail' survived well enough for drawings or specifications to be subsequently deposited at county record offices. If not, the relevant county record office or local studies library should be able to fix you up with 1:2500 scale OS mapping 1886- present which would at least give you the definitive 'footprint' of a building; and help avoid some of those tricky dead-reckoning calculations. On a building this size you would only have to misjudge the gap between windows by 6 inches for the whole thing to be several scale feet out!

 

Wil

 

 

Will -

Good point - and one I should have thought of!

 

I'm in the process of planning a site visit & was hoping to (maybe) get close enough to do a brick count. However, looking at 'Goggleearth', the site looks to be pretty private.... I'll work in a vist to the Records Office on the same day.

 

Regards

 

Ian B

[scanman]

With reference to Will's post, the other (not too scientific) measuring tool is the ruler in 'GooglEarth'. This shows the *main* building (ie without the mill cottage or the recent single-storey addition at the other end) to be 79' x 24'... Not too bad in the original estimate, and this means the model 'footprint' will certainly have room for the mill cottage. Site visit is planned for Monday, along with a vist to Norwich Records Office. More then!

 

Regards

 

Ian

[scanman]

Well, due to a variety of reasons, the 'awayday' on Monday didn't happen... Two of those reasons involve the model - or the 'raison d'etre' behind it. The first diagram shows the location of the mill etc on the layout (this is a very rough sketch...!

 

 

As previously stated, the available area for the model is some 53 x 23 cm ( that equates to a 'footprint' of 132' x 57'). Lenwade mill 'in the flesh' is approximately half that size, so will need to be 'extended'. The main building is almost 'modular' in design -

 

 

so that should not be an issue.

 

Discussion with the rest of the group added another parameter - it was felt that, if made of brick, the building would overpower the area. We therefore decided that the frontage above the ground-floor level would be 'weatherboarded'' - the mill in the 1950's (and in fact today) is white-painted brick, so it wil not look too dissimilar.

 

 

The rear of the mill building will be red brick as is the original

 

 

The final consideration is the mill accomodation on the far end of image 2. This is quite small - particularly for an enlarged mill. More suited to the mill foreman than the mill owner. Also, the 'front' of this unit is the only one for which there is no image and would have been the subject of the recce on Monday. However, it is very obvious from 'GoogleEarth' that this area is also very private! A round trip of 300 miles with the possibility of no result was somewhat daunting!

 

In any case the accomodation looks to date frome the late Georgian/early Victorian - so I can make a good 'guesstimate' of the layout and proportions of the frontage.

 

Having accomodated the foreman, it now remains to accomodate the mill owner... This will be a fairly imposing structure lying behind the mill as indicated Again a Georgian structure with it's frontage facing the baseboard edge (for some reason these houses rarely fronted on to the mill pond - a fact that modern living would assume to be bonkers!). Possibly this would be to do with the fact that the mill pond was a'working unit' - in Norfolk they often included river access for wherrys etc, and the owner doubtless did not want his guests looking out on the workplace!

 

A quick word about proposed construction. I find I can work in most common materials. However I find good quality card the most enjoyable - until I read an article in the last 'Model Railway Journal' about using waste styrene food containers! I've tried it, and whilst the results are not spectacular, there are grounds for optimism! So much so that I've ordered in the commercial type of board on which the product is based. More experimentation will follow over the next few days - and if the results are viewable I will post them here...

 

My thanks to the 'NorfolkMills' website for permission to post the images above.

[scanman]

Well, as the images below will show, the draft model of the new mill is almost finished. However, before I go further I should add a 'trader alert' and a 'disclosure of interest' (a polititcian I am not!). I have already cleared this with Andy so hopefully stand on the side of the gods..

 

For my pains I run a small company called 'ClearSolutions' - rhe web address is on my profile page, and the home page tells why I formed it.. Basically I LIKE builldings the same as most people like rolling stock -and I think it's a shame that many of us do not pay as much attention to one as the other. Enough of the preaching! This was also one of the reasons why I was asked to make the model - I already had the wherewithall to make over fifty identical sash windows & sundry doors!

 

On to the model - and the processes described and illustrated will form the basis for the the full model.

 

Image one shows the 'basic ingredients'. The mill itself is almost 'modular' in design, so three basic wall panels (right) were created in 'TurboCad' (no connection except as a satisfied customer) depicting the two end panels (which have doors) and a centre panel which has windows. these were then slighlty modified in layout to provide further panels for the middle sections. The top unit shows the main windows. These have been developed by amalgamating the various layers from the model window (4/sash/009 from the catalogue). The aperture template required for this window is shown at bottom left. All these units are printed on adhesive-backed paper, which when cut out is stuck to good quality card (bottom centre).

 

 

A completed panel prior to aperture removal will look like this:

 

 

Note that the aperture templates have been overlaid on the wall template. Only the ground floor (which is brick) will have the curved lintels - the other floors will have straight lintels. Using the 'modular approach' to the wall panels ensures that all the apertures are level, square and true!

 

 

The completed main wall. All other walls were constructed in the same manner, and when joined and braced together, can be compared with the prototype above -

 

 

 

I mentioned above the problem with the 'unseen wall' - the frontage to the millers cottage. Well, here is the conjectured elevation.

 

 

Finally a comparison of the earlier model and the one now proposed. Something of a difference in mass!

 

 

Even more finally - if any modeller would like 'draft images' of windows & doors from the range - let me know via the email link on the web site. I'm happy to provide these for a nominal 50p per order - this is just to cover the postage costs!

 

The next phase should be the construction of the full model. However this has to be approved by the team first!

 

Happy modelling

 

Ian

[Worsdell forever]

Hi Ian,

 

That's quite a structure, I'm looking forward to seeing this.

 

I built a water mill about 18 months ago and was lucky to find a book 'Eight Centuries of Milling in North East Yorkshire' published by North Yorks Moors National Park. It Runs to 290 pages has plenty of photos and even more useful drawings. It's amazing what you learn researching a model, I found out that the windmill half a mile from us is the earliest recorded windmill in the area, Whitby 'Union Mill' was one of the tallest in the country and Ruswarp mill, when built in the 1750s, was one of the largest industrial buildings in the country.

 

The mill mine is based (loosely) on is Glaisdale High Mill, deep in the Esk valley, I didn't even know it was there. The model is built from mounting board covered with Slaters stone with Wills pantiles for the roof. The wheel (overshot in this case) is made of plasticard and turns, with a motor and gears inside.

 

[scanman]

Hi Paul -

 

Very impressive - I like the little touch with the millstones outside!

 

Replacements or replaced?

 

Regs

 

Ian

[scanman]

I cannot believe it has been ten months since I posted an update! However, taking in to account 'ordinary work, the (failed) attempt for the 'challenge' and lifes normal trials and tribulations, I suppose it must be!

 

As the images will show however, I have been getting on with it -albeit slowly. The layout it is destined-for is still under construction, so there is no pressure regarding exhibition deadlines etc (more's the pity - I tend to work better under pressure!). It has also been a case of 'some stps forward, and a couple back' as we will see. On with the construction..

 

Normally I prefer to work in good-quality card, but this model will have to suffer the usual slings and arrows of club life. The clubroom is light, airy and centrally-heated, so no problems with storage- however, bering in mind the requirements and (sometimes) challenging condiytions on the exhibition circuit I decided this model would be in plasticard. As can be seen, it is quite a large mdel, and I wanted to minimise joins - so 'Eileens Emporium' prvided several large sheets of plain card, whilst 'S.E.Finecast' at the same show (ExpoEM) prvided similar sheets of embossed plasticard.

 

Construction would follow my usual method, building up the wall thickness from several layers of plasticard. reading 'from the outside in' so to speak - 1) outer cladding - 2) 20 thou backing - 3) 20 thou strip - 4) 20 thou inner wall. The apertures were initially cut in layer (2) using the templates first used for the mockup (these are printed on A4 adhesive-backed paper and stuck on the reverse side of the sheet -

 

 

the apertures are then removed.

 

The brick cladding (1) is then applied tto the outer face and the apertures cut through. The cut lines are just visible -

 

 

Each aperture is then 'framed' with 20-thou strip, with additional lengths applied between the apertures -

 

 

THe semi- complete wall is then laid over (4), liqid cement then run round the apertures and down the log verticals (marvellous thing, capilliary action!) and when dry the apertures are removed again. At this point the various wall assemblies were set aside to harden - if you can still smell solvent - it's still active!

 

However, there is another job to get on with in the meantime. Windows. About 50 of them all consisting of -

 

 

As indicated in the earlier post, these are all made by printing the various layers on either adhesive paper (the glazing bars) or fine card (the frames). The glazing-bar units are then removed in the whole from their backing sheet and applied to 5 thou glazing. The 'panes' are then removed.... 3 gentles strokes per side from a scalpel... (4 sides, 8 panes per frame, 2 frames per window...) (you can see where I'm going with this...) Each 'pane' is then gently peeled from the glazing, leaving a fine glazing bar behind, Hopefully. Some sashes are obviously modelled in the 'open' position - this not only adds interest but also allows atmospheric equilibrium!

 

Hopefully by now (about 50 modelling hours later) the walls are dry and can be detailed -

 

 

and painted (having spent all that time making them you do NOT want to get paint on the windowframes! I also lightly weathered the walls using artists oil crayon suitablr 'rubbed down' on sandpaper, and clad the upper frontage with 'Evergreen' Novelty siding -

 

 

The join will eventually be disguised with a fall-pipe.

 

This is a big building - so some thought has to be given to bracing that long wall. In it's drying sojourn, it had warped slightly - but nothing that a good bracing with 80 thou couldn't sort out!

 

 

and then I added the windows & doors...

 

 

and did a bit of detailing (the black dots wil be covered by 10 thou 'bolt heads'.

 

AND THEN I FOUND THE MISTAKE......

 

As originally constructed, the mock-up was deemed too long for the site - so I trimmed the 'real thing' by a bay. The only trouble was, I trimed the BACK by a bay, and the FRONT by half a bay... Result - not only is the back a half-bay too short, but the apertures are all mis-aligned.

 

Now technically its the frontage

 

 

thats wrong - but I'm not re-building that lot (the rear wall only has 15 windows to re-make!) Fortunately it will fit the site!

 

So that's the story of the last ten months. Will it take another ten months to finish? Not likely - the 'O' Gauge Group want a goods shed for 'Netherley'!

 

Regs

 

 

Ian

[scanman]

Hmmm - what was it I said about not taking another ten months??? Two deaths in the family, a lot of overtime at work & other family pressures have meant little progress. However I have now decided to try to make each Tuesday 'Club Modelling Day'. .Tthe REC meets on Tuesdays & who knows - I might even get there one day!

 

The main aim for today's modelling was to rectify the error with the rear wall. This meant a complete re-build, starting with re-positioned templates printed from the trusty computer. It was relatively simple math to adjust the spacings between the three panels to fill the available length - having first set the length of the inner wall against the existing structure.

 

The apertures were removed, then the inner was aligned over the embossed brick card (this was one of the delays - I'd run out & couldn't obtain any until ExpoEM in May) ensuring that the apertures align with the brick courses. Both layers were held in place with double-sided tape whilst the window panels were removed.

 

 

 

From there, construction followed the method outlined above - the entire sub-wall was lined with 20 thou along the edges and round the aperture (a long & tedious process!). I usually use 'MEK' brushed on, but on this occasion I experimented with Humbrol styrene cement which comes with a long applicator nozzle. I was quite impressed as the adhesive has a slower drying time than MEK and - where long sections (some of the strips are nearly 30cm long) this was a distinct advantage. The same applied when the brick card skin was applied over the 'base' - the longer drying time ensured that it was simplicity to adjust the two layers. Mind you, the smell of the solvent...... Which brings me to another point - the rear wall was pierced at points between the reinforcing to allow trapped solvent to escape. If you can still smell it, it's still active! The completed unit was then weighted to ensure tht the early curing stage resulted in a flat structure.

 

After allowing it to cure for about two hours, the rest of the evening was spent detailing the wall with the various lintels and sills cut respectively from 20 thou & 30 thou strip. Losely located in place it certainly looks better than the original effort - it fills the gap completely!

 

 

Next job will be to paint the wall then build & fit the sixteen windows to go in it....

[hymek2]

Suitably impressed. I really like the windows, especially as I am struggling to produce 5(!) for a stable block for a club layout. I have tried printing a cad drawing onto thin paper and also thin card and then cutting out the pane section only to keep cutting though or slightly tearing the bars. I have a "robo cutter" but can't seem to get it to cut all the way through the thin paper or card or even labels successfully for the 9- pane windows in the the small size I need. I hadn't thought of printing onto labels, sticking it to the glazing and then cutting.... sometimes the obvious is difficult to see. Off to the workshop to try again.

[Chubber]

Suitably impressed. I really like the windows, especially as I am struggling to produce 5(!) for a stable block for a club layout. I have tried printing a cad drawing onto thin paper and also thin card and then cutting out the pane section only to keep cutting though or slightly tearing the bars. I have a "robo cutter" but can't seem to get it to cut all the way through the thin paper or card or even labels successfully for the 9- pane windows in the the small size I need. I hadn't thought of printing onto labels, sticking it to the glazing and then cutting.... sometimes the obvious is difficult to see. Off to the workshop to try again.

 

Hi, H,

 

You may care to have a look here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/19929-a-harbour-office/ as I have found printing window shapes on SATIN photo paper quite successful, I stress satin because I found gloss paper de-laminates too easily.

 

Good luck,

 

 

Doug

[REC Farnborough]

OK, a couple of years down the track - and this build is finally continuing here -

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1377/entry-12030-a-mill-for-emsford/

 

Stop by & say Hello!