Brick Arch Retaining Wall

[Brian D]

I’ve never really been happy with plasticard brickwork – to my mind, the mortar joints are too deep – there is too much texture.  From normal viewing distances I much prefer brick paper clad structures.  I have a similar dissatisfaction with the ready to plant retaining wall units in 4mm scale currently available.  So, what to do??

I have always thought that brick arch type retaining walls were “the business” and I am fortunate to have a drawing of part of such a wall.  The brick arched retaining part of the wall slopes backwards at 1 in 8 and is surmounted by a vertical brick panelled parapet.  I attach here a drawing showing the basic dimensions in 4 mm scale.

Retaing_wall_possible.pdf

I decided to build a trial section utilising Scalescenes’  sheets that I had to hand.  The sloping arch sections are fabricated from 3 layers of thick (2 mm) card backed with thin (1 mm) card.  When I come round to building the wall again, I am inclined to use thick card for the backing.  I also included a short extent of footpath and public highway behind the parapet.  The brick sheets were glued to the card with supermarket PVA glue stick (much cheaper than Prit but just as effective I think) as were the various layers of card.  I used UHU to stick the parapet to the top of the retaining wall and the corbal of brick which hides the join here.  The arches are "type E" from the Scalescenes sheet which governs the curvature of the arches.

I am moderately pleased with the outcome so I am posting information here for anyone who thinks they could utilise such a structure on their own layouts.  I have photos in my camera which I will download/upload?? tomorrow.  Please be patient.

Regards,

 

 

 

 

[sb67]

Be interested to see your pics, which scalescense brick did you use? Thinking of doing something similar myself.

Steve.

[Brian D]

Steve - paper used was Scalescenes TX27 Dark Blue brickwork.  I was torn between this and TX24 Dark Brown.  Photos attached below as promised.

Regards,

[Campaman]

I like that. I might steal borrow that design for my next retaining wall.

[Brian D]

I like that. I might steal borrow that design for my next retaining wall.

Feel free and thanks for your comment.

Regards,

[bluebottle]

Certainly goes into my personal reference file!

[Miss Prism]

No doubt some brick arch retaining walls were done all in blues (the LNWR seemed to love blues for anything substantial), but blues were expensive, so a cheaper brick was probably more common. Whatever stock type is chosen, brick archwork was invariably filthy, so a light blue colour doesn't seem right to me. Here's some Scalescenes with the colour altered to represent weathered London yellow stocks:

 

 

 

[ColinK]

Very impressive and presumably far cheaper than using the Wills kit.

[sb67]

Thanks for the pics, the wall looks good, I'm torn between the blue or brown bricks as well!

 

Miss Prism - How did you alter the colour of the scalescenes bricks?

[Miss Prism]

 

 

Miss Prism - How did you alter the colour of the scalescenes bricks?

I took Scalescenes 'Aged grey brick' TX09, put it into a photoediting programme, and twiddled about with the colour levels and brightness level. Silly me, I can't remember what the RGB set I ended up with, not that it is critical. Irfanview will do the job.

 

 

[Brian D]

No doubt some brick arch retaining walls were done all in blues (the LNWR seemed to love blues for anything substantial), but blues were expensive, so a cheaper brick was probably more common. Whatever stock type is chosen, brick archwork was invariably filthy, so a light blue colour doesn't seem right to me. Here's some Scalescenes with the colour altered to represent weathered London yellow stocks:

 

dark-brick.jpg

Indeed, colour is the main issue here and I am not entirely satisfied with the final outcome colourwise either.

I carried out some reserch before embarking on this trial build and what I really wanted was smoke and soot blacked brickwork which was not unfortunately to hand so plumped for the dark blue (which is actually darker than it looks in the photos).  I am however pleased with the result in a 3-D sense and the overall effect of sticking Scalescenes arches onto the brick paper.  Very much an experimental build.

There is also a problem regarding the lenght of such a wall. I think that it would be best to build the cardboard units no longer than an A4 sheet which means the joints between each "A4" module need disguising in some way as the real thing goes on forever (Copenhagen Fields springs to mind!).  Perhaps a drain pipe from the street above to hide the join?

Regards,

Regards,

[Brian D]

 

I took Scalescenes 'Aged grey brick' TX09, put it into a photoediting programme, and twiddled about with the colour levels and brightness level. Silly me, I can't remember what the RGB set I ended up with, not that it is critical. Irfanview will do the job.

Thanks for the tip but is this not infringement of copyright?

[amdaley]

Thanks for the tip but is this not infringement of copyright?

 

Why should it be infringement of copyright ?

[raymw]

from the scalescenes faq -  'Please note: for copyright reasons, the PDF files are unable to be opened in editing software such as Adobe Photoshop.'

 

A bit odd that, since he encourages folk to make stuff with combinations of the parts, change scales, etc, but not mess with the colours or other parts of the design - e.g. move a door or window. (well I suppose you could download one brick sheet, and produce a whole range.)

 

Nice arches, though.

 

Best wishes,

 

Ray

[Miss Prism]

Thanks for the tip but is this not infringement of copyright?

 

I wasn't aware of the FAQ stipulation at the time the Scalescenes sheet was purchased (2005??), but I think my answer is no. Altering the colour balance is just the same as applying a wash of paint to me. I suspect what the FAQ is trying to address is the alteration and further commercial publication of the product.

[Campaman]

You can and I have successfully re-coloured Salescenes papers once applied using watercolour washes, could depend on what ink you have used to print them though. I use a Laser so don't have problems with the ink running.

[14Steve14]

In the bottom right hand corner of a sheet of bricks that I purchased many years ago, there is a section of text that reads

 

" Authorised purchasers may print this sheet without limitations for personal, non commercial use. Unauthorised distribution, copying, downloading, commercial exploitation or modification by the purchaser or any third party of this file or printout is strictly prohibited."

 

I would say that to alter the colours in a program before printing is modification, and is therefore against copyright. It would be difficult to pursue this firther, and follow up, but as scalescenes along with other small businesses offer cheap downloadable products, this copyright should be adhered to. The small business relies on the honesty and integrity of the customer to survive and to keep producing cheap and affordable card kits and texture sheets.

 

If you require a different colour brick, or what ever, either produce your own, or ask a current manufacturer to alter the colours for you.

[raymw]

Copyright 'law' is a real rats-nest. The statements on the scalescenes site are ambiguous, to my understanding, at least. However, all a bit of a moot point, since generally, once you've bought anything, you own it, not the seller, so in most instances you can do with it whatever you want, to suit your own requirements.  One reason that software is licensed, not sold, is to be able to apply different restrictions/safeguards cf normal copyright  protection, fitness for purpose, etc.  Most likely, for a simple file download, it would take fifteen pages of 'legal speak', to offer any real legal protection of the content. Without that, even with it, the business works on a general understanding of the majority of customers.

 

It is virtually impossible to protect what is basically intellectual property. Usually, you can only punish those who steal it, once you've found them, and rarely is it worth it. As in most situations, the honest folk pay for those who are not so honest.

 

Pricing right, offering a good range of items, advertising and encouraging use, as the proprietor of scalescenes is doing, is by far the best way for protection, making it not worth while for anyone to start from scratch.

 

(fwiw, I've never bought anything from scalescenes)

 

Best wishes,

 

Ray

[Shadow]

But since no to printers produce the exact same colour, how can I guarantee that the colour is  the same as Scalescenes original?

 

I can't.

 

If I don't modify the original, but use the printer driver software to alter the file output, is that the same problem?

 

As Ray said, Quote "Copyright 'law' is a real rats-nest. "

[BG John]

modification by the purchaser or any third party of this file or printout is strictly prohibited."

I thought the whole idea was to modify the printout, otherwise the buildings produced would be rather boring!!!

[Kenton]

The owner of Scalescenes is a member of RMWeb and I am sure he could clarify things.

 

However, FWIW, my understanding is that he created all these papers as a one off purchase to enable modelling (ie modellers to develop their own scratch buildings). He also sells "kits" where he has designed buildings himself (in the Metcalf, Superquick style of model) again as a single one off purchase. After all who need half a dozen identical engine sheds?

 

The copyright thing is very much to stop the unscrupulous individual selling on the down load file through (for example ebay) Yes, there have been cases, some drawn to his attention by other members on here. He rightly follows this up.

 

The copyright is very much along the lines of any other digital media. You can make any number of copies for yourself and alter that basic 'engine shed' model by using other printed media/colour or additions. What you cannot do is sell on the original file - just like you cannot ('legally') sell copies of Microsoft Office (as if you would ever want to!)

[George Hudson]

Excellent and thanks for the drawings.

 

I did a thread on these some time back which might be of interest so I will immodestly put the link here for anyone interested.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/42853-aldersgate-buildings/

 

Unfortunately I lost my plans. They are not impossible to reproduce by any means but irritating!

 

Regards

 

Andrew

[Brian D]

Excellent and thanks for the drawings.

 

I did a thread on these some time back which might be of interest so I will immodestly put the link here for anyone interested.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/42853-aldersgate-buildings/

 

Unfortunately I lost my plans. They are not impossible to reproduce by any means but irritating!

 

Regards

 

Andrew

Andrew,

Thanks for the link to your prior thread.  There is so much stuff on RMWeb that I must have blinked and missed this "wall thread".  Excellent.  I particularly like the way that you have used vertical pillars to hide the join between each bay.  Unlike the real thing, model brick coursing does not go on forever - we are limited to the length of an A4 sheet generally.  My own thoughts about "hiding the join" as it were revolved around either not hiding it (i.e. showing an expansion joint - rare in practise) or using down pipes from the road way above.

Thanks again for youir comments.

Regards,