Job's Modelling

Thanks for your reply and the very true Charlie Brown strip picture. At night problems look mostly very different then by day light. When you model a railway traject or a railway station every thing is clear. Trains are coming in and are departing. Freight traffic is more complex. But creating a believable story for road deliveries is even more complex. Individual freight parcels have to be delivered in a logical order through a city. That's why I create a city map. The Kelly Directories are helpfull with this. I think you can use them also for your Farthings project. For my eyeproblems there is a good solution for reading and modeling: a Desktop Video Magnifier. I'm already testing a software program to help my to use the computer. But I have to see what is possible.

Thinking… again I have some serious eye problems due my allergic constitution. I see much less in bright light. The problem I have can be solved with medication or surgery or hospitalization. But after I have had some examinations and I know there is a way to help me see better. There are some good devices available for the problems I experience. For now I keep doing some modelling. Modelling aspects: I also have different aspects to keep occupied with my Northall diorama’s Creating a fictional city with streets, shops, factories and of coarse people looks sometimes a project of his own. Not all of them will be visible in one of my diorama’s. I’m creating a new set of maps for Narthall. This is the first map I have finished. I do a lot of research to create Northall. This means frequently looking out of the box in other disciplines. or other time areas, for instance using a Kelly's Directory. Some of the Kelly Directories are available as download on the internet. And of course modelling. Although now with some problems I keep trying to do some modelling from time to time. Cars, busses etc. I have sold all my trains last summer and bought a lot of cars, some busses and lorries. For every item I make a file with information. This takes a lot of research and sometimes also surprising results. For instance I bought a Austin Se7 . I thought it could be used in my 1959 Northall diorama’s. Then I discovered that the duo painting was standard available in 1963. So maybe in the future I will build a Northall diorama situated in 1963 / 1965. See the 1963 PDF brochure. Austin mini 1963 colours.pdf At this moment, I’m also painting a Morris car and a British Railway Mechanical horse. But more about that in one of my next entries. Regards, Job

Maybe, I will have a look for a suitable figure.

The story My regular readers know that I like to create a background story for my diorama’s. I mostly do this before I start building and sometimes when I suggestion comes along in the comments of my blog entries, for instance adding a poster on the brick wall. G.W. Barlow & Son Ltd / Pawnbrokers & Jewellers No. 14 Queens Street - Closed shop The shop first opened in Northall as a jewellers and pawnbrokers in 1900. The shop was from the beginning situated on Queen Street and owned by Mr A Gardner. The shop, including the original shop front, is moved to No 136 High Street in 1959, due the development plans of the Northall Council. George William Barlow purchased the business in 1945 and was joined by his son Harold in 1946 on his return from service in the army during the Second World War. The shop front is largely original and as it would have looked in 1900. G.W. Barlow & Son Ltd is a truly individual family run business offering a wide range of more individual pieces with a highly professional and very personal service. X-ray screening health poster Early discovery means quicker recovery’ states this poster. It was drawn by artist T. R. Williams. Advertising posters such as this promoted mobile X-ray screening programmes to detect pulmonary tuberculosis in large groups of people.. Mobile X-ray services played a large role in public health campaigns against tuberculosis in the 1940s and 1950s. Mobile X-ray services were very successful. They were phased out in the UK in the 1960s. But I read that modern mobile X-ray units are introduced again in London. Laundry Service No.15 Queens Street The first business that was situated here was the King’s Arms The King’s Arms was possibly the Great Kings Arms mentioned in 1792 and recorded as The Kings Head in 1845. The pub closed in 1893/4. By 1913 the property was used as a clothiers and in 1928 as a greengrocers. In 1947 it became a laundry. Herbert Sing Lee started a laundry shop here in 1947. He lives above the laundry shop. Sing Lee employs two people: Lee Doon, a nephew from Liverpool, who works for Sing Lee for just five weeks, and a local woman called Lily Scott. Herbert Sing Lee is still looking for a new property to continue his business. No. 16 Queens Street Closed shop: A. Leach & Co – Ironmongers Limited By 1899 Albert Leach & Co ran their ironmongers business from number 16, to be succeeded by Harry Leach in 1901 ‘Leach & Co, ironmongers’ in a 1907 trade directory. Thomas Leach, becomes the director of the company according to the trade directory in 1954: A. Leach & Co Ironmongers Ltd. ‘No 16 Queen Street Northall (phone no.) NORthall 3262’. 1959 the same company was trading as A. Leach & Co (Northall) Ltd., Engineers Stores & Ironmongers; No.10 London Road using the same phone no. Black and white Most of the pictures I find from the late 1950’s or early 1960’s are in black and white. So I thought it would be a good idea to create also a black and white photograph for my story telling. Picture by John Lovell Redevelopment After redevelopment of the area a new office building, will house the offices of the Northall Housing Association. As usual comments, information or suggestions are welcome. Kind regards, Job

Very atmospheric. I like the idea. This is a very nice picture. I still have to make time to learn to work with my photo program to make better pictures of my Northall diorama's.

I have seen a lot of exhibition layouts in the past. For my a small layout with a lot of movement will do. Maybe a small country station with a goods yard placed in the same period as Foster Street. I think you can find a lot of inspiration on the RMweb and in the railway literature.

Thanks for your comment. In this entry you can find some more information about how I created my colour palette: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1325/entry-17962-colour-palette-design/

Mikkel, this is a fantastic warehouse. Lot of details and af course I like the merchants name. After seeing your signs I have to create some time in the future to learn to use my photo program

Hello Mikkel. Glad you like the colour coordination. Don.t worry, there is no supermarket planned in Queen Street

But there is a story behind it. I will it reveal when the diorama is finished.

The last building The last shop is also closed. It’s an ironmongers shop, called A. Leach & Co. Ironmongers limited Different appearance The shop sign is created by myself using Publisher. One of the advantages for me is that I can save my Publisher creation as a jpeg file. The shop is made with different textures from different kits and texture sheets from Scalescenes. The give the diorama a lot look at I gave it a totally different appearance with a lot of details. Modelling the shop The colour scheme I use was the reference for the choice of my textures. Windows are made in the same way as for the second building. I used the glazing with grime texture sheet from Scalescenes to put behind the windows. Finishing I still have to do some finishing work. I want to place some sky at the side and in the back of the building. There are also some small parts that need attention. Scene The diorama is made to show a delivery scene. The delivery scene will be part of my story, by using the photographs I make from the scene. I have some thoughts how to do this but I must work this out first. I also want to use it as presentation diorama for one of my 1950’s cars. The British Railways mechanical horse will also be used in my other story-telling diorama’s The whole building & the shop fronts Any suggestion or comments are welcome. Regards, Job

But first I have to finish Monday. I have an idea how to represent the delivery of the parcels.

Excellent work. I think to give them some personality they need some weathering. Martin Welch has discribed very good in his book "the Art of Weathering".

Looks great.

Caroline Street was on Sunday. So I'm working along the days of the week. Keeps me busy the next couple of ........ I believe in the late 1950's most people had leisure time in the weekends. TV, radio and reading were popular in the evening. Maybe the they got to a dancing school.

Tha last picture is just great. This could be a nice attraction park. Love to see kids using their imagination.

The middle building The shop in the middle of the building is still in use. I know how to create windows for a derelict building. So for my first building I had no problem. But how to crate believable windows above the shop for my second building? A late 1950’s Laundry shop I always try to create a believable late 1950’s scene. First I make a choice for my shop. For that I use pictures out that period. I found useful pictures to help me to create my scene. I have also some good usable textures for this part of my diorama. The shop sign and shop window signs are created by myself using Publisher. Monday – washing day The diorama is set on a Monday, and Monday was in the late 1950’s still washing day. And not everyone was doing (all) the wash at home. In my case the middle shop offers Laundry Service. They offer also bag wash service. “In the UK the system was known as the bag wash, or bagwash, and was sometimes offered by independent washerwomen working from home.” The Laundry Service is run by Mr. Lee. His ancestors came from Hong Kong. Modelling the shop Because I use a colour scheme I use that as a reference to choose my textures. Textures used are from Scalescenes, for the brick, windows and shop and Smart Models for the curtains. The window textures from Scalescenes I found to light and to grey. I used pastels to give them a more poorly maintained appearance. Colouring them with middle brown and sepia, faded with a cotton bud, gave the right result. Finishing I still have to do some finishing work. I so that when I have finished the third part of the building with the final shop front. For the result until now see the pictures below. ​the two finished buildings & the two finished shop fronts Any suggestion or comments are welcome. Regards, Job

In this row of three shops, there is still one open. The other two are closed now, because the building is waiting for demolation. In teh end of the 1950's project development corporation getting more influence. So for one of my next dioram's I can create one of them or maybe both on their new location. My mind is already working with this lovely idea.

Nice to see some building activities. This is nicely modelled and I'm looking forward to further progress. For the prototype you mentioned, Scalescenes something like that. in the past as a free download. I think you can find some pictures om the Internet. I think it will fit your layout very well.

Ian, thanks for the complement. I will see what I can do with you suggestions when I have finished the complete building. Kind regards, Job

For this project I used a reference picture with a row of derelict shops. I never follow the picture to build a copy. The picture is the base to create the scene. Every part of the building will get another appearance. In this way even a small scene can look interesting. For this building I searched carefully the colours to follow my colour scheme. To refresh your mind, I have put the colour scheme below. For the choice of the textures I used the scheme as a reference. Most textures are from the High Street shopfronts from Scalescenes. The brick covering of the shopfront is aged brown brick from Scalescenes and for the garden wall I also used the brown garden wall textures from Scalescenes. The grey plywood textures are from CG textures, made to size and the shop sign is made using the RGB colours that fit the colour scheme. The picture gives the first impression of the building. I still have to add the roof and do some weathering. The weathering and finishing of the scene will be done when I have finished the complete building. Any suggestion or comments are welcome. Regards, Job

Mikkel, I hope you have enjoyed your holiday. You have probably missed the previous entry where I have said I sold my trains and bought a "large" amount of road vehicles. My wife thought I toke the right decision. Before I bought them I did a lot of research to find the right models. The mechanical horse will be used in most of my diorama's or vignette's for photographic purposes. I think this road van has also another advantage. But more about that in a later entry. The car will be the subject I want to use for my scene, In a vignette the mean subject can be some persons, a car or even a poster. A vignette for my is a independent scene, in which I want to try to model something special. My next entry I hope will make this clear.

I have started my new vignette. A vignette is smaller than a diorama, with the focus on the main subject. I my case this will be a mechanical horse for my story telling and a Morris Oxford III for the finished vignette. I’m going to try out some a new weathering approach for my diecast models. But more about that in a later blog entry. For my vignette a used one of the buildings from the High Street shop fronts from Scalescenes. As usual I started with the road and the footway. This vignette is a try out to get the proper size using the golden rule. One thing I didn’t realize is that for situating the road vehicle the size of the road and the footway is defining the size. The building can be placed outside the vignette as the edge of the micro layout. In the picture an overview of the vignette. The vignette measures 21,5 x 10 cm for the road and the footway. The road surface is from Scalescenes, the footway from Model Railway Scenery. The colour of the footway of Scalescenes didn’t fit in my colour scheme. The colours of the inside of the building won’t be visible when the building is finished. The frame of the building is not yet finished completely. On the left side of the building I have to create a part of a yard or garden wall, maybe with a gate. Any suggestion or comments are welcome. Regards, Job

I have finished my Sunday diorama’s and Monday is washing day. So my next diorama has to give an impression of the Monday washing day. Just a row of back yard with washing lines could do the job. The other possibility is washing lines crossing the street. But I wanted use my Austin K8 for a delivery scene. Then I published an entry in the road vehicle group on the RM web. I wanted some information about the NCB electric van of the British Railways. After this I realized the Austin K8 was stationed in the Southern Region and most of my other vans in the Midlands Region. Northall is situated in the Western Region. So I made a big decision. Replace Northall to the Midlands Region was an option. The other possibility was to build up a British Railways carpark for the Western Region. I also played with the idea to build a bus scene in the future. I love those London transport Country Buses. This one has a great British Railways advert. Once a year we clean up our house. Looking for what you use and what we don’t use. After some thoughts I decided to sell my trains and by some additional London Transport Country buses, Western Region British Railways road vans and other 1959 based cars. Until there is a Western Region based Austin K8, I will use a Scammel Mechanical Horse three wheel or a Morris J van instead. I had designed a diorama but I want to try something different. So please have some patience. I have already an idea. But some additional information could help me out. So can anyone provide me additional information about bag sac washing in the 1950’s? Kind regards, Job

I have another grimey street in mind. To create this I have do some designing first. The pic above is indeed very inspirational and I will save it. Maybe I can use it in a later diorama.