Job's Modelling

I like those wagons. Well done,

Your detail pictures show a lot of atmosphere. I like the total concept.

I love the total appearance. Will look at your close up pictures tomorrow.

Hello Mikkel, I do think so. Some colors are exactly the same. A few colors of Valejo are mixtures. Some colors are basics like white, black, sienna and umber. The art shop in Holland has a lot more pigment colors. I just looked at the color chart ant compared with the art pigment colors. The pigments from the 'Kat' are also available from their web shop. You can also get an impression from the colors available. If you like I can put my labels as a PDF in the entry.

Still too hot for me and my card modelling. So you have to wait for some modelling progress. Basic materials for my card models For the making of my diorama’s I use textures that I print out. I know there is a lot of discussion about what kind of printer you should use. I use a HP Photosmart Office printer. For printing I use the following: - Mostly light crème drawing paper for walls - Water color paper for roofs, rough walls - A good quality printing paper for metal - The highest quality for printing After printing and making the parts I varnish it with a water color varnish. After weathering I use an acrylic varnish. Pastels: In the past I used scrapped pastels to create my weathering powder. For this I bought good quality pastels from my art supply shop. The results of that was quite convincing as you can see on a picture of J. Baker’s Café in Nice Street. finished cafe at Nice Street Pigments I had already read some articles about the use of pigments. So I want to try them out on my new diorama Northall Dock. After finishing Northall Dock Basin is was convinced of the use of pigments. For the Dock Basin I used pigments from Vallejo and one from V.O.F Verfmolen ‘de Kat’ ( Paint Mill ‘de Kat’). Paint Mill 'de Kat' The Mill 'De Kat' is built in 1781, and after a partly rebuilding in 1960 it became then a paint mill. The pigments from the paint mill are much cheaper than from model paint suppliers. So I decided to buy some more pigments by my art supply shop. Got some money for my birthday. For the choice of colors I used the pigment color chart from Vallejo as a reference. Vallejo gives also a description of the use of the colors. The pigment color chart you can download from the website of Vallejo. The colors from the paint mill have other names. I bought some small glass jars. Made labels, with a description for the purpose, for every color I want to use. Pigment with label in jar. The use of pigments in this way will give me the following possibilities: - Use them as single pigments - Make my own mixture of pigments - Use pigments with PVA-glue - Create my own acryl paint colors - Use the pigments with other acrylic mediums. Still have to buy some more pigments and some acrylic mediums and experiment with them. Regards, Job

It's getting better & better. I like the way you create atmosphere to your engine shed.

Looks great.

The idea started when I noticed that building a scene gives me more satisfaction then shunting around on a shunting puzzle or a layout. After building Bridge Street, my live companion (wife), said you must cover it down because it collects to much dust. Nothing visible anymore, just a plastic cover. Then I bought an APA box to try to build a diorama in it. The final result of that is Urban Scene ( Nice Street). These scene is now a permanent eye catcher in our work space. Bridge Street had a station called Northall, somewhere in Greater London. So I decided to use that name to place my diorama's in. In this way I can give all my diorama's the same geographical location. When I started Urban Scene I had just the idea to build a scene I would like to build. There would be one central theme: British Railways ( in all its appearances). After reading several "Wexford" books, I think it could be nice to create a map of Northall so I can connect the diorama's better to each other. So if I have an idea I now ( for instance a rag and bone merchant in a workshop under arches), I will also connect it to the map. Reading the thrillers of Ruth Rendell gives me also other inspirations for building diorama's not Northall based. But that is for the future. Hopes this is an answer to your question.

Thanks Paul , but I want to advice you to wait to the next entry to see the result of my research translated to my model road. If you live nearby I would be honored to do your model roads.

Back from my holidays. I walked a lot in the fields and woods in the early morning and late evening ( before sunset). Made some useful grey sky pictures. Because of the sunny weather I did a lot of reading ( inspector Wexford), searching on Internet and following the blogs and forums on the RMweb. Last week it was to hot for modeling in Holland for me. So here is the entry of my result of my internet research on roads. For my Nice Street diorama I didn’t much research for the road surfaces. Pictures showed that: - Asphalt / tarmac was used for residential streets - Granite setts were also used for those streets Asphalt/tarmac in Nice Street, granite setts in Angel Yard I used for both Scalescenes textures. For Northall Dock I wasn’t sure which what kind of road surface would be the right one. So I did some research on the internet. Because Northall could be a part of Greater London I concentrate on that area, but also used general information from other parts of the UK. From 1815 on important roads were macadamed, acclaimed as quiet, good- looking and quick to install. Macadam needed however a lot of maintenance. It was also not usable for tramlines ( and I presume also railways), these were laid in granite setts. After the World War One they started to give the macadamed roads a cover of asphalt. Also other roads got an asphalt road surface. At the end of the 19th century wood blocks, often tarred for preservation, were also used to pave streets. These were manufactured until the 1950s. Docks were embanked and walled for security and granite was laid on the quays: when new and not abraded, it was less slippery than cobbles for the horses. Also granite setts were used to pave roads. Track in granite setts in Liverpool. If you are travelling through London you could travel over wood, macadam, asphalt, granite setts, cobble and unmade roads even in the 1950’s. In early days, silver grey Cornish granites and some from Devon would have come via the GWR and tended to stay to the west side of London, the LNWR brought darker granites from North Wales, the GNR fetched setts from Leicestershire and darker granites and basalts from further North, but much changed once the MR gained access to London. In different parts of London you could see different colours of granite setts, depending of the Railway Company that served that part of London in the past. After reading about the development of the roads in (Greater) London, I decided to use grey granite setts for the roads on Northall Dock. Next time the first results. Regards, Job

Thanks for sharing. They would give a nice possibility to create them near a builders merchant.

GREAT MODELING. I look forward to the progress.

Nice inspirational modeling. Lovely set of wagons for the depot. Do the open wagons get a load?

I find it always nice to see the open mind of children. Not the subject is important but the proces. I like the final result.

Great modeling. Love the atmosfeer.

Great idea to use the lid for the fiddle yard. Will use that one in the future for an APA-box Northall micro layout in the future. .

Thanks., going to a small village with some railway history. After the holiday the next job are the roads.

I have built the Dock Basin. I wanted to opt for try-out no.4 acrylic paste, paint & varnish and a wooden pillar. But unfortunately my acrylic past wasn't doing the job properly. So I made a small change here. Instead of acrylic paste I used Gesso. Gesso is a base that is used to prepare the painting surface for acrylic paintings etc. The edge is made of separate build card edgings stones. On internet I found a stone merchant who had edge quay stones for sale. He also mentioned the size of the edge stones. I recalculated them for 4 mm to a foot: 19 mm long, 13 mm wide and 5 mm high. I made them 4 mm high, because that would make the way I want to make the track in the way easier for me. After I had completed the quay, pillars and the edge I gave them I first weathering. Then I gave it a coat of varnish for water color paintings. Next step was to paint the water surface. I gave it one coat of gesso, two coats of my mixture of Payne’s grey and Chromium Oxide Green acrylic paint and finally three coats of glossy varnish. After drying I started to give it a final weathering. I liked to give the alga along the edge of the water surface some more texture. Painting the water surface I hit on several places the quay. To hide this I made a mixture of PVA glue with greenish umber pigments. With a small brush I did hide the green water surface paint. In the still wet PVA paint I sprinkled some greenish umber pigment. Next step was to use some of the PVA paint to add some Woodlands burnt grass. Direct after applying I removed the supply of the burnt grass by knocking it off. The final result you can see in the pictures below. Basin overview & Basin detail. Below I summery of the materials I used: Dock wall and pillars: texture from Scalescenes Edge : seamless concrete quay wall texture from CGtextures Payne’s grey and Chromium Oxide Green acrylic paint PVA glue and PRITT glue greenish umber pigment from an art shop acrylic pencils: for instance green oxide, red chalk, sepia my scraped chalk mixture for general weathering: 6 parts white, 1 part brown, 2 parts black Woodlands burnt grass T44 embossing pens and standard tools for card building. Next couple of weeks I'm going on holiday. Walking in the woods, cleaning up my head. So you have to wait for my next entry for a couple of weeks. Regards, Job

It always take some courage to do this. Good luck with the new start.

Nice little model. Seeing forward to see it finished.

You can give the walling more texture using an embossing pen. Worked well for my.

Planning an urban diorama When I decided to build diorama’s I tried to find as much information as possible. With this information I made my one reference card. My reference card (without the pictures) contains the following elements: Think of the acronym PICS: • Plausible scenes • Independent / isolated vignette(s) • Contours in the scenery • Staging Planning ahead To avoid frustration on your project, plan ahead. Look if you can create your scene with available scenery products. Make your own unique sign Don’t place any structure on your diorama without at least making up and printing your own unique sign for the building. That means don’t use the names / decals supplied with the kits you buy. Scalescenes provided the name Ducketts , I changed it in JOHN GRAMTHAM F.C.A, HIGH CLASS GROCERIES & PROVISIONS Modify your kit If you use a kit, at least modify it a bit on your layout. I like to do some kit bashing with the Scalescenes templates. In this way I create my own buildings. For instance J.H.Pepperell's greengrocers shop. This was a try out, to see what I could do with the Scalescenes templates and kits. Look (for scenery items) in other modeling disciplines. I always keep an open eye for that one. Not only for scenery items. But also for the technique that are used in other disciplines. This area I still have to explore. Urban ground cover Building a great looking structure for your diorama is not the end of your work to replicate the real world. You must not leave a gap between the bottom of our structure and your bench work. Real buildings don’t sit on top of the earth but rather rise from it. That is the most important thing I learned from building Bridge Street. I now let the buildings rise up from the ground. Street base structure used on Nice Street. Now I'm still busy creating the Dock Basin for Northall Dock. Regards, Job

Thanks for sharing. This is the only way for people to know what your problem is. Worked several years with children with behauvior problems, including autism.