ChrisN

Having also photographed figures I can vouch for how difficult it can be.  I am sure they move, and my camera tells me they blink!  Very interesting end to the story, and very interesting pictures at the end.  The layout look brilliant as usual.

I will have to look out for GWR wagons as a fair few will make it up the line to Traeth Mawr.  Another thing to research.

Not sure how I missed this as I look every week.  Worth the wait though, brilliant scenes.  I think Benson was a Detective Constable when he was escorting prisoners across Wales.

Mike,

A lovely looking little van and you do make it look so easy.

Unfortunately I have read the Old Bailey proceedings but the models and the pictures are just superb. 

You made the right choice in spending the money on the wife and not the camera, another camera is fairly easy to acquire...........

All Andy Stadden's figures are real people who he has copied from photos so perhaps the caps are 'as is'.

The acrylics I use tend to dry too quickly and I am forever washing my brush when I use them, although using enamels means that you have to wait until tomorrow for the next colour or fix what you have just done wrong.

Mikkel,

Late to the party as ever.  My email alerts do not seem to work so I have to remember to look in.

I am honoured that I have given you the impetus to paint your figures.  I have said elsewhere that although I painted figures when I was modelling 20 years ago coming back your figures inspired me to continue and also to modify mine, when necessary.  Your always seem to have a solid quality that mine seem to lack and I am not sure it is just that you take the trouble to set the up properly and have the light correct.  As for shading I also give the figures a black wash, or rather try and put a black wash in the cracks or folds.  On dark figures it does not work too well and I wonder if a lighter paint on the 'surface' areas might do better, although I have not tried that.  My faces are thin washes over a grey primer and sometimes work and sometimes not, so not recommending it.

Although I have Vallejo paints I have used enamels for so long I am more comfortable with them but it means my figures take ages, so getting on with the station buildings and other things are getting postponed.

The man with the bag does look very much like a railway employee due to his cap but I never thought of removing his bag, although I will think again about modifying by removal the Stadden figures.  My man with a bag is Lewis Williams, Williams the Tap, the local plumber, although I suppose he could just be employed on the railway and need a big container for his sandwiches.

Mikkel,

Lovely work as usual, inspiring/embarrassing us to greater heights of modelling excellence. 

Your 517, where is it from?  (Please do not tell me that I have read the complete blog on how you built it and have commented on it- that is of course possible)

Mike,

re you waiting for the W-irons for six wheel vehicles?  They do have some but are waiting to put them back on the site as they are making a new set with the middle axle with inside supports so that it goes round tighter corners.  (D0es that make sense?)  If you email them they will contact you so you can place an order for them, or you could just phone them.  I know as I received some at the end of last week.

Clever modelling as ever.

Mike,

You have done better than me shaping roofs.  The last time I tried it the masking tape fell off when it got hot!  You also have nice straight edges as well.  I have a coffeemaker but the jug is glass so I may give it a go as it has a larger radius than my whiskey bottle.

Mike,

Excellent!  I really like you coaches.  It is nice to see something completely different.  I am preparing an order for 20 assorted Cambrian coaches. ;-)

Excellent! I do like your 4 wheel coaches and they inspire me.  The only problem is that there is very little information about Cambrian 4 Wheelers.  (The good news is people are beginning to make kits of them.)  GWR 4 wheelers may still make it down the line from Dolgelley though.

Mike,

Late to the party, very late.  All the photos I have seen on the Cambrian have the Horsebox(es) just behind the engine for a smoother ride.  I think it was common practise, but maybe not outside Wales.

Mike,

I am not getting notifications so I am late to the party with this.  A really good figure especially if this is your first attempt. I think there is a whole section in RMWeb on painting figures and somewhere near the beginning of mine are some links, if I remember rightly.  Of course Arboretum Valley has lots of painting ideas, and you must have read Mikkel's blog.

I would not try and paint the details on the faces, several people use washes of a darker colour to fill in the details; I use a dark primer with a flesh wash which gives the same effect.  I also use thin brushes but probably do not get the paint flow you do.  I am worried about making lines too thick, but your technique works well.  I also try and do a darker colour/black wash in the folds to get shadows.  You have seen my thread but I have not done a 'how I did it' as it is still trial and error and a lot of sweat trying to get it right.

My only tip is that I put both elbows on the table, hold the figure in one hand, the brush in the other but then touch my free finger(s) together so there is no shake, or if there is it is in unison.  Looking at your picture you are more or less doing the same thing.

Well done Mike.  The Stadden figures are actually easier as they have so much detail.

Thanks Chris, I'm following the figure and uniform discussion on your thread with much interest. That side of things has been a bit overlooked in model railways, I think, but it's gaining more attention now which is really nice. No doubt thanks to the close-ups we can all take with small digital cameras now.

 

It doesn't really take long to set up for the photos. I have a little point and shoot (Canon Ixus 230 HS, which I'm not entirely happy with, but it's OK) which can fit in almost everywhere. The photo of the lighting set-up in the comments above shows my, erm, studio :-)

 

Yes the two figures in these photos (Sparkler and Vemmick) are Dart castings - MSV13 Porter and MSV44 Ticket Inspector - with the caps filed to resemble the GWR 1900s style. The latter is from the recent introductions and is really good with sharp facial features.

 

I'm not good at painting faces and have come to loathe it, so to spare myself the frustration I've taken to just using figures with well sculpted faces and then painting them very neutrally with just a bit of shadow.

 

Dunno how many staff are employed at Farthing. The size of the station seems to be growing as the years go by (moving the goalposts!), so the number of staff is growing too. There are about 6 GWR staff on the bay and will probably have something similar working in the goods depot.  But some, like the station master, cut across several scenes of course.

 

I haven't started painting any of the Stadden figures yet, but am getting a lot of inspiration from the staff interviews at Traeth Mawr!

Mikkel,

That is very kind of you to say so.  I have said elsewhere that seeing your figures gave me the inspiration to modify mine, although not necessarily very well.  Sharp facial features do make all the difference.  A grey undercoat with the flesh not much stronger than a wash and trying to avoid the eyes bring out the shadows.  I am not sure they are the best results as I have seen much better.  I wuld like to use a white undercoat on the ladies to give a pale skin but this may completely work against what I want to do.  I shall follow your progress with interest.

Mikkel,

Just brilliant!  The modelling, the photography and the story.  I have taken your photography for granted but thinking about it tonight it is superb.  Do you take long to set up or have you done it so often it is second nature?  I am sure my figures, no, I know my figures do not stand up to that sort of close scrutiny.

Are these Dart Castings' figures that you have modified? How many staff are employed at Farthing?

A friend of mine had a Shire for use on his small holding.  There was not enough land to warrent it but he wanted a horse.  It was 19 hands high. Yes, 6ft 4", or about 195 cm and was trained as a dray so did everything at the trot and so was not really any use for agriculteral work.  My friend sold him.  The horse's name is Joseph and may still be on the Shire horse show circuit.

He replaced the Shire with a Percheron which is about the size of the Langley horses compared to the Dart ones.  Very clever horse, and understood about 20 or so commands.

It is most likely that Shires were used as Percherons did not cross the channel really until the 20th century. (Wikipeadia is a wonderful thing!)

The model looks good.  I will have to dig mine out and see if it compares, (Don't be stupid, of course it won't!)  Very interesting information as well.

Finally, only just caught up. I should be getting email alerts but they appear not to be alerting me.

Mikkel,

I think I read this before any comments had been made, no sorry just checked and I completely missed them.  I was shaken, and could not write anything at the time, not because I did not know this sort of thing happened with and to the navvies but the poem brings it to life.  Real people, real stories, real hardship.

Thank you for sharing

I tried the hair dryer and the first problem is that you have to anchor the figure in some way as the hair dryer just blows the figures away!  When I did manage to heat them up the figures began to shrink and they were not malleable so it looks like it is back to 'cutting and sticking'.

Mikkel,

Thank you for your reply.  I tried heating a Preiser figure up in boiling water but for the type of plastic Preiser use it is not hot enough.  I have just Googled some information and one suggestion is to heat it up with a hair dryer.  I am getting some figures that I can afford to do this on and will try it and let you know.

The Mike Pett web site is http://modelrailwayfigures00.co.uk/

As I mentioned some of his figures are very big.  Although he has a web site you have to write and send him a cheque. They are quite a good quality though.  I am disappointed that he has repeated figures from other ranges.

I was speaking to Hubert Carr recently and he said that MRD was going to produce some more figures, the next apparently being a suffragette which might be interesting but a little limited.

All the best,

Chris

Hi,

Another late comment/question even though I have read this before ages ago.  How did you reposition the arm?  Did you cut and re-glue, or did you heat it up say in hot water and then just move it? 

I am going to try the heating method myself but if that is the method you have used then I am keen to hear from someone with more experience and expertise.

I actually do love your figures and come back often for thoughts how to make more late Victorian .

I have some MRD figures and I think they vary in size, the sitting down ones I think are ok.  I have the station Master who is quite tall.  I also have some of the new Mike Pett figures and they are rather large.  His Watson I would not like to tackle as he is 6' 6" and quite broad.  Nice detail though.

Chris

Mikkel,

The modelling is one thing, and it is brilliant, but to be able to see the parts in other things just blows me away. 

Chris

Mikkel,

I have not been this way recently, which is a mistake as I always like your work & stories.  Brilliant, both of them.  I always think of detailing coach interiors but I am not sure if pictures are a bit too far for me.  Luggage racks?

Frosted windows. The Ratio station kit suggests soaking the glazing in cellulose thinners for 30(?) secs and then drying with a hair dryer.  I got very good results doing this.

Chris

I thought that's what you meant but I must have missed that article when I looked at it. Still too late now.

Chris

Toddler? Am I missing something?

Chris