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Job's Modelling

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  1. Job's Modelling
    The starting point.
     
    RESEARCH. I found some interesting information about cottages build around 1900. One of the things I have never released that from the same type of cottages several sub-types were build. To get something different then the standard card kit model size I used the Scalescenes small terraced cottages as my starting point.
     
    The information told me the following: there were 12 three-room; 548 four-room; 967 five-room and 116 six-room cottages build.
    A drawing of a three-room building was available for use with measurements. The Scalescenes cottage is 6 cm wide. The cottage in the drawing 14’6”, what is in 4 mm scale 5,8 cm. That is the size that is used for the Scalescenes small cottage kit.
     

     
    I could see what type of windows were used. I had to make a small changes to make it look like the drawing I have. Also the chimneys have a different appearance. I will try to create that too. The other difference will not be visible in the diorama.The cottage I’m creating is a almost square cottage with three small bedrooms on the first floor, and not one with an extension at the back side for the third bed room.
     
    On another drawing I saw some possibilities to create a more detailed brickwork front. Maybe I will give that also I try.
     
    Below the starting point of my design with the cottages from Scalescenes.
     

     
    In the picture below my design my Northall cottages. The upper windows got a other size. This is made with just normal prints of my brick texture on a laser printer. As you can see I changed the color from dark red to yellow. That is the result of the test printing of the brick textures on the Fine Art photo paper.
    Some explanation about printing colors on the building:
    The cream brick wall behind the cottage wall is printed on 190 gr. Fine Art textured paper on the best printing settings of my printer. This color will by used for the final building
    The cream color on the cottage is just plain 80 gr. printing paper / laser jet
    The light green door at the left is printed on 190 gr Fine Art smooth paper on the normal printing settings of my printer.
    The dark green door is printed on 190 gr Fine Art smooth paper on the best printing settings of my printer
    The other doors are printed on 80 gr printing paper / laser jet.
     
    I think there are a lot more possibilities using different papers and printing settings.
     

     
    Any additional information about Victorian cottages is welcome.
    Or if anyone has useful information, comments or suggestions please let me know.
     
    Kind regards,
    Job
     
     

  2. Job's Modelling
    I had more time to model this week. So here is an update.
    The starting point.
     

     
     
     
    The kit from Petite Properties is easy to build when you follow the instructions. Especially when you want to create a shop. The shopfront gives great opportunities.
     
    For my pub, I had to make some additional changes. I searched for some usable pub windows on internet. I resized the windows I found and give them an additional text using Publisher.
    The door is from the pub-kit of Smart models.
     
    The sign is based on a 1959 picture of a pub. I created it with the use of Publisher. Colours and fonts are based on my shop research fitting the Victorian style of the pub.
     
    New for me was the use of paint for my modelling. I used paint from the Vallejo and AK modelling range.
     
    Although I’m not totally content with the door section, I find to total appearance convincing. The pub will be part of a small street scene.
     

     
     
     
    Any suggestion or comments are welcome.
     
    Regards,
     
    Job
  3. Job's Modelling
    In the past I have to do my built diorama’s away. Nothing bad about that, but my wife likes my diorama modelling. Yes, I’m a lucky guy with that.
    But now I had to find another way for creating diorama’s that could be placed in the living room.
    On a Facebook group I saw someone who exhibited his Petite Property models in a showcase. In the latest numbers of the BRM magazine there is an article about building a layout in a Billy shelf.
    My wife liked that idea. So, my next IKEA challenge will be to build a diorama on a Billy shelf. This diorama will be dedicated to her. The diorama will be a farm scene with Hereford cows and other animals. I love those Pendon farm side scenes, but I have to do something different here.

    Left scene

    Middle scene

    Right scene
     
    But my knowledge about this subject is limited. So, I need your advice.
    I will start with the left part: a farm situated on a country lane between two places.
    The cars on the picture I will not used. In front af the farm there will be a Rover P4 75, another white metal kit from the John Day range. The other cars are a Jowell Bradford van on the road and a Austin A70 pick up for a milk delivery scene.
    The vegetable garden will become a garden with an apple tree, flowers and some vegetables. 
    The farm will be card build using the farm from Scalescenes in aged brown brick.
     
    First of all, can anyone give me some advice about modelling an early 1950’s country lane?
     
    And of course, all information about this subject is welcome.
     
    Greetings,
    Job
  4. Job's Modelling
    I have finished the pet shop. I have used textures from Scalescenes and from Internet, the curtains from Smart Models. The shop name I designed using Publisher. I save the result as JPEG file and with the photo program in Windows 10 I cut it out. I copy past the cut-out picture to Word and resize it to make it fit.
    Signs for the shop I found on Internet and resized them.
    For the inside of the shop I used texture from several sources.
     
    Shop window
    In the shop window there are some rabbits for sale. To paint the rabbits, I used two pictures my granddaughter made from here own rabbits. When I told here that in the 1950’s people bought a rabbit to grow it up to eat it with Christmas, she said she would never do that with here rabbits.
    Painting rabbits in 1:76 scale is not easy. I first painted them in their basic white colour and used a nib to create the individual spots wit a black and grey colour.
    The shop window is painted with AK paint from their Old & Weathered Wood set.
    I used some materials from Woodlands and some Irish moss to create the ground.

     
    And below a picture from the finished pet shop.
     

     
    Next job is the barber shop next to the pet shop.
     
    I also want to wish every reader of my entry a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and Happy New Year.
    As always suggestions or comments are appreciated.
     
    Kind regards,
    Job
  5. Job's Modelling
    I’m fond of ghost signs. The an add just some more character to a building or a scene.
    For Nice Street I made my first self-made ghost sign. I wanted to try that again on one of the buildings on Northall Dock.
     
    During my research for the warehouses of Northall Dock I came along this one:
     

     
    This sign I want to made on the premises of Farnshawe Ltd.
     
    First I made the sign in Word and cut out the individual letters.
     

     
    Then I used the cut out letter to create the letter for the ghost sign.
     

     
    I used a white pencil to create the sign and then gave it a coat of varnish.
    I wasn't quite content with the white color of the sign. So I decided to give it some more color using a water based paint.
     

     
    To give the sign a more “London” look (picture reference) I colored the letters black and faded the color a little bit.
     

     
    I’m for 90% content with the end result. I made a little mistake with the lettering of the ‘ and the S behind it. But because the building is not directly in front of the diorama I can accept that. Also I don’t know yet how much will be visible after I have finished the cottage in front of it.
    Next steps will be to finish the cottage and this building to see how the end result in my diorama will be.
     
    Regards,
    Job
     
     
    PS.
     
    Followed Mikkel's advice.
    I toned down the letters some more and also faded them a little bit.
    Hope you like it.
     

  6. Job's Modelling
    When I started building the yard I got a problem. I couldn’t find a fitting texture from Scalescenes for the yard ground.
     
    After some try outs I decided to build the yard with a part of the shop from the corner shop kit.
     

     
    As you can see I had to use just a part of my Odeon movie board.
     
    I just my preferred methods to build the building and the yard.
     
    Now the scene is finished it is time to show the final step from black & white to color.
     

     
    Next step was to put the figures in place:
     

     
    And to show the real size of my A4 diorama and how it is build up this picture gives a nice impression:
     

     
    I have made some more pictures to use in my Northall story. But that is for a later entry.
     
    But I have a personal favorite:
     

     
    I hope you have enjoyed the journey as much as I have.
     
    There is still one thing to do. Making my APA-box ready to put this little diorama in.
     
    Advices and comments are much appreciated.
     
    Regards,
    Job
  7. Job's Modelling
    When planning Northall Dock I had the idea to build some stables along the now finished road. But when building a muck up I saw that the building did not hide the side of the main road as I wished. Then Scalescenes came with the canal cottage and I made the front and to put it along the road.
     

     
    The question:
    How to create the right derelict urban appearance for the cottage?
    So I left the front unfinished. When I have such a problem I mostly do the following with success.
     
    The Process:
    I put it somewhere in my head. Not really searching for an answer. Just waiting for a coincidence. Mostly when I don’t aspect it the answer follows in one way or the other. I have learned to keep my mind open for it.
     
    The Answer:
    For the diorama I was looking how I could model the alleys between the buildings. These pictures gave my mostly information about the road surface and the details in the alleys. Very useful, but one picture showed me the answer to my question.
     

     
    Then in the Card Modelling part of the RMweb there was an entry about a free download by Clever models. They make excellent American card models and textures in different scales but not in OO. After some support from Clever models I bought an O scale brick texture that I scaled down to 63% before printing.
     
    The garden wall is a Scalescene texture selected on colour. The garden wall will not be visible to well when the diorama is finished.
     
    The result:
    Here some pictures of my interpretation for Northall Dock.
     

     
    Road modelling is still going on. This is a slow progress that takes a lot of time.
     

     
    In between I will give some thought to the final design of the warehouses along the dock. I can’t finish the road before I have done that.
    Regards,
    Job
  8. Job's Modelling

    Cars in Northall

    By Job's Modelling,

    Because of my eye troubles modelling was not good possible, so I did some research on internet about the amount of cars in the 1950’s. As far as I could find out about 1 on the three families had a car at the end of the 1950’s. I decided that for Northall that means that every diorama with three or more buildings/houses should have a car.
     
    Until now I had concentrated me on the British Railways road cars. Only in Bridge Street and Nice street, which are larger diorama’s, I placed a car. I wanted to try out the use of a car also in my smaller diorama’s Station Road and Caroline Street.
     
    I also spent of lot of time in the research of what models could be used. There is a lot information available on this subject. The period of building, the changes made and the colours the cars were made in for instance. For OO gauge not all information is usable.
     
    Because Northall is places somewhere in Greater London I decided to give the cars also registration numbers that were used in Greater London. For Northall the area code for London North East
    (Middlesex to 1963) will be used.
     
    To create the car numbers, I made use of the ‘Vintage Car registration’ texture of ModelrailwayScenery.
     
    In station road I place an Austin A30 A2S4 2 door Deluxe, built in 1959 in Chelsea grey with mid blue roof. The registration number: KMD 302.
    The car belongs to Harry Wild a reporter of the Northall Gazette.
     
    I painted the roof of the car myself.
     

     
    For Caroline Street I used an Austin A35 4 door Deluxe, built in 1959 in County Cream. The registration number: KMM 302.
    The car belongs to Charles Bishop, a commercial traveller who lives on number 3.
     

     
    When I put the cars in the diorama’s I noticed that they were very shiny. So I gave both cars a coat of mat varnish.
     
    So, maybe, you will see more cars in my diorama’s in the future.
     
    Kind regards,
    Job
  9. Job's Modelling

    Struggling….

    By Job's Modelling,

    Finally I started yesterday with some card modelling again.
    In the mean time I was designing Northall.
    Creating a believable story for the small Northall diorama’s is more difficult than I thought.
     
    After some struggling I remembered a chapter in “Light Railway layout design” by Ian Rice. In the chapter about Orford he described how detailed this layout was designed with maps, Acts of Parliament etc.
     
    This could also be the right approach for me. So I created a map for Northall. I used an old map somewhere in Greater London and filled it in with the diorama’s I had already finished.
     
    After that I filled the map in with other streets using the ideas I have for my story about a week in Northall.
     

     
    And for those who will save the map also the PDF version.
     
    Map Northall.pdf
     
    The yellow dots are meant as a guideline for me to create my story and diorama’s. But to show what I mean I can give you the meaning of some of these points:
     
    5 – Great Eastern pub on Bridge Street
    9 – Shops on Nice Street
    9a – Adderley glass works
    6 – Station road shops under arches
    7- Ince & Mayhew.
     
    This may be not the final version of the map. It is possible I have to change some points in the map writing the story.
    I’m also reading some more background information about urban design and housing in (Greater) London.
     
    As always: information and comments are much appreciated.
     
    Next time again some of my modelling.
     
     
    Kind regards,
    Job
  10. Job's Modelling
    The starting point.
     

     
    Last time I had finished the frame for my row of cottages
    I intended to build the front of the cottages. But after some thoughts I decided to start with the roof, because there were some parts that needed some extra attention. I wanted separate roof sections but no separate fronts as in the Scalescene kit.
     
    The tiles are printed on a high quality drawing paper, of course on the best possible settings. I tried to create some old roofs, because these cottages will be part of the demolition plans in Northall.
    The roofs are build using my usual method:
    - First I made a template for every the roof section
    - I cut stripes of tiles
    - I colored every strip at the lower side with a dark grey pastel pencil
    - I cut with my scalpel almost every tile half apart
    - I glued a finished strip on his place on the template
     

     
    After I had finished the roof sections I gave then some weathering with Smincke soft pastels.
    Then I made the chimney’s and gave them also some weathering. I only have to paint some the chimney’s. The other three were already painted for a previous project.
    I saw I had to make a small adjustment at the top of the middle roof. The top line is bowed away a little.
     

     
    Now I will start with the front of the row of cottages.
    As you have noticed I need more time to finish every step due personal circumstances, but modelling is still my favorite way to deal with daily life struggles.
    More about that in a next entry.
     
    Or if anyone has useful information, comments or suggestions please let me know.
     
    Thanks for reading and till next time and kind regards,
     
    Job
  11. Job's Modelling
    This challenge was more challenging than the first one. The box is about 18 cm wide, 7 cm deep and 12,5 cm high.
     

    I have a nice collection of cars that deserve to be put in a diorama. In a small box like this you can not create a scene with pavement, some road and a background model.
    So, I spent a lot of time drawing several (not) possible diorama plans. Using several materials and prints.
     

     
    The picture above is made when I finally found a solution. A small garage scene with a car, some pumps and figures. 
    I used my usual method for designing. I diverse the ground in thirds and the backscene will be placed almost diagonal. I will use the garage from Scalescenes, a backyard building from a Scalescenes corner shop, used as the garage office, and the Scalescenes Workshop. Also, some figures from Dart Castings and pumps from 3DK models.
    First step was to design the background. I used a grey sky and tried out different options for a background building. Finally, I decided to use a picture of the low relief factory from Scalescenes. I resized it to a useful background factory.
     

     
    Now it is time to put see what kind of ground texture I want to use. There are several options. After the try outs the choice was made: a texture from 3DK will do the job.
    I will add the base after I have finished all the buildings.
    Because I want to use blue Morris BMC car and the diorama is so small, I have made some thoughts about the colour for the garage. I would like to put the attention to the details on the for ground of the diorama. I saw in some pictures that a garage with painted white bricks was an option. In stead of using paint to give the brown brick texture a white colour I used the painted white brick texture from Scalescenes.
    For detailing the garage, I searched for signs on the internet. The garage door is also a texture from internet made to size.
     

     
    After I had I had finished the garage I filled in the small gap at the left side. This is just a suggestion for a building.
     

     
    Now I had to build the front with two petrol pumps. I had a model from Scalelink but missed the right colours to create a SHELL pump. I had some pumps from 3DK models which could be used. I also bought some petrol pumps from Kingsway models. I also found some nice textures on internet.
    With these components I found the solution. The Kingsway pumps have a layered approach. I used this method to create my Shell petrol pumps. I used textures from internet for the front and the sign, for the sides the red pars of the 3DK pumps and some black wire for the hose.
     

     
    The Morris pickup van for some semi-gloss varnish from Vallejo, some weathering with Agrax Earthshade from Citadel for the canopy and some rubber tyre from AK paints for the tyres.
     

     
    The only difference with the plan I made that I left the figures away. Focus is now on the Morris BMC pick-up.
    This IKEA box challenge is now finished. I can start with the next and last one.
    I hope you liked this one.
    Thanks for reading and as usual critics and suggestions are welcome. I’m never too old to learn.
     
    Kind Regards,
    Job
     
     
     
  12. Job's Modelling
    How to find back my information.
    Since I started building Northall diorama’s I collected a lot of information. But one way or another I wasn’t always able to find it back as soon as I wished. I hadn’t built up a system for collecting my information. Searching again takes sometimes away time for modelling. Last week I came upon a website created by another Dutch man. He has an interesting website about a fictive land somewhere in an ocean.
    See his website here: http://www.spocania.com/archief/menu-e.htm
     
    What triggered my was his alphabetical index. Today I bought a new folder to collect my Northall information on paper and creating an index folder on my desktop. I will also use an alphabetical index.
    An example you can see below.
     
    Names
    The other thing I was not sure of were the surnames I used for my diorama’s. I now know that not all names were common in all parts of the UK. The same counts for Holland. My surname is a typical name you will find frequently in a part of the province Groningen and not in other parts of the Netherlands.
     
    Then I found the following for my usable website:
    http://www.1911census.co.uk/
     
    You can select a county or a place and fill in a surname. In this way I could see if the name that you had chosen was known in that place.
    This means that I have to go through my Northall Gazette’s and my story to change names that are, in my opinion, are not suitable.
     
    Progress
    Progress on the row of Victorian cottages goes slowly. Personal circumstances are responsible for this. So you have to be a little bit patient to see A wow of Victorian Cottages - part two.
     
    As you know I like to create a history for the firms in Northall. You can read the history of Robert Oxford and Sons Limited below.
     

  13. Job's Modelling
    I started with the design of Caroline Street when I finished Station Road.
    I had made my wish list for this one before I started with the first drawings:
     
    - a row of Victorian 2up 2down cottages
    - a factory
    - a just a few people ( I had the idea of just one)
    - a balanced colour choice
    - the right choice of textures
     
    The first attempts did go to the recycle bin. I tried to add some track into the diorama, but that didn’t work out. So you have to imagine that the goods line is in front of the diorama going along the factory.
     
    Finally I came op to this one:
     

     
    Build with black and white texture. After some try outs I decided to use Scalescenes textures again, because they suit my way of working.
    The main scene is a somewhat older porter working at the Northall Goods Yard, enjoying his Sunday rest, talking to a neighbour girl. The scene is placed in the late 1950’s again.
     
    In the picture below you can see the working points for the final design.
     

     
    To be sure the it will all work out I will build a test diorama with the colours I want to use for the final result. My black and white textures are printed on a laser printer and I noticed by building Station Road that there is a small difference in scale when I printed the colour sheets on my inkjet printer.
    The colour try out version is also to see how many and what pages I have to print. This because I will use some other paper this time for the parts that will be in sight. This paper is more expensive, so I will be sure that I don’t print pages that are not used.
     
    If anyone has useful information, comments or suggestions please let my know.
     
    Kind regards,
    Job
  14. Job's Modelling
    The last couple of weeks nothing did go as planned and hoped. My wife has serious problems with the flu, I had a little accident with my bike and a friend of yours needs some personal coaching en help. And luckily I found still some time to do some modelling. About the result you can read below.
     
    As I tried out in the design stage I tried Scalescenes brown stretcher bond at the building behind the cottages.
     

     
    Before building the final background building I printed the texture of the cottages on the Fine Art photo paper. The colour was so much deeper red that I reconsidered the texture of the background building. After printing several textures I decided to look for something totally different.
    On Northall Dock I used a texture from Clever Models. So I got I look at their textures I downloaded three of them to try out. After testing I had two options and the final choice was called “cream city brick”. It looks like garden brick bond and has a nice texture after printing.
    I used one the templates from Scalescenes High Street backs to create the building. After I had finished it I was not happy with the final result.
     

     
    I had a look at my own reference map of Northall and searched again for the templates I could use from the Scalescenes High Street backs.
    For the windows I wanted to try out again the same approach I had used for the factory and my first attempt of the back ground building. Scalescenes doesn’t have the windows I wanted to use, so I searched again in by Clever Models for some windows. The windows the use in their Coal Merchant building could do the job. So I bought the kit.
    I tried the Clever Model windows out on the Scalescenes textures.
     

     
    For the roofs I used a texture TX161 from Model Railway Scenery.
    The final result you can see below.
     

     
    I like to hear your opinion about the use of the Clever Model texture and kit parts for British buildings.
    Or if anyone has useful information, comments or suggestions please let me know.
    Kind regards,
    Job
  15. Job's Modelling
    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
  16. Job's Modelling
    The starting point.
     

     
    Last time I have made the final design for my row of cottages.
    Now I had to build the frame of the cottages using Scalescenes kit 022 Small Cottages.
     
    In an article which compares the living circumstances in working class cottages in the 1950’s and the 1970’s is the following description about a working class house in the 1950’s:
    “Along with the strong imposition of categories and relationships in a working-class house, there is strong insulation of rooms from each other. Doors are kept shut most of the time, particularly the par lour door, cupboards and the staircase frequently isolate the parlour even more firmly from the back room. It is not even possible to see into the interior of the front room of the street.”
    “In a ‘traditional’ working-class house the interior of the house is usually concealed from the street by net curtains, which remain closed even at midday.”
     
    So the interiors won’t be visible, but I liked to create the right atmosphere for them. The used wallpapers for the living rooms are from Model-Railway-Scenery.
    For the bedrooms I used the textures from Scalescenes kit. For the floors I selected the textures that fitted the best for the bed and living rooms. Bedroom floors were covered with lino or oilcloth. Linoleum (lino) and oil cloth were made by different processes but they both looked the same. In the living rooms there was planking with rugs. Also lino was possible used there. I couldn't find more information about this subject.
     
    After finishing the frame of the building I noticed that there is some difference with the try-out I built. I have to make a new plan for the front of the building to make it fit the frame. Because it won’t be visible I used scrap card to build it. So it is not so well fitting as I usually try to do.
     

     
    More about that in a next entry.
     
    Or if anyone has useful information, comments or suggestions please let me know.
    Kind regards,
    Job
  17. Job's Modelling

    Interiors ......

    By Job's Modelling,

    This title might surprise you, but we are going back to Caroline Street to the house of Arthur Page.
     

     
    No, I don’t want to build an interior into the existing diorama. I needed just the interior for the illustration of my story. In his excellent book “Cottage Modelling for Pendon” Chris Pilton is a good chapter about when you should build an interior. The most important is the room of the interior will be visible for the viewer and mostly the room in which the interior is made has lighting attached.
    I have done is, although with indirect lightning for my shops on Station Road. See the picture of Walden Books below:
     

     
    The interior that I have created now is a small diorama on itself. It contains a front room and a kitchen.
     
    In some background information I found was stated that:
    “Many people used their front room just for special occasions and it was kept tidy for this purpose. Many were hardly ever used because of this.”
    In my case Arthur Page is used this room for listening to the radio and reading a newspaper or book.
     

     
    The kitchen was the centre of the family live, because it was the warmest room in the house with heat from the range.


    Lucy Page is making the lunch. I was gladly surprised when I saw that Dart Castings had added in the Monty figures range a housewife figure.
     

    Used textures.
     
    For the building of the diorama I used textures from:
    Scalescenes : kitchen wall and the kitchen floor Modelrailwayscenery: wall paper in the front room and wooden floor. Finescale buildings: kitchen range and furniture in the front room and kitchen. Internet: dollhouse free available resized textures (photo’s) and other textures/pictures I resized personally, for instance the radio in the front room.


     

    Question:
    For my story and the building of my next diorama (when I have finished Oval Road) I am looking for pictures of backyards / gardens with washing lines with wash from the (late) 1950’s. Monday was in the 1950’s washing day. If anyone can help me with this, I would be very thankful.
     
    Kind regards,
    Job
  18. Job's Modelling
    After I finished my first basic design, I wanted to answer the next two questions
    - what balanced color choice could be used ?
    - what is the right choice of textures ?
     

     
    I will start with the answer on the second question.
    I bought and tried out several textures from Model Railway Scenery, Clever Models and Scalescenes. I have laid several type of pavement and tried several brick options. Although all mentioned suppliers have excellent textures, I came to the conclusion that for my way of working the textures of Scalescenes are the most useful. So I had to look in his range to see what was the best choice for this diorama.
    I found a nice color scheme on the Internet that I used as a reference for the choice of the textured. I used Publisher to create a basic try out on the computer. The result you can see below.
     

     
    Not all textures were available to try out this way and maybe I will use other sets.
    The next step was to print out the textures. I used the lowest setting for my printer and also used some left overs. Then I started to apply the textures on some the buildings.
    The factory I designed again after the release of the low factory from Scalescenes. I will use it in a slight modified way for my factory. I also made with the use of the low relief High Street kit a building behind the cottages. Many thanks Mikkel for your comment on the open sky behind the cottages.
    And I followed Mike’s advice to keep the sky in same as on Station Road.
     
    In the pictures below you can see my colored try out. I didn't apply textures on all the elements and also didn’t correct some things I have to build different when I’m building the diorama. Also I accepted that not everything was perfect.
     

     

     
    If anyone has useful information, comments or suggestions please let me know.
     
    And of course I wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a good and healthy 2015.
     
    Kind regards,
    Job
  19. Job's Modelling
    It is still too hot for modelling for me. I looking forward to somewhat less warmer and oppressive (?) weather.
    So I worked a little further with my story telling idea.
     
    I have made an appointment with the hotel where I can expose my diorama’s. He have to do a small change at the front of the diorama. This gave me the opportunity to make a picture of a delivery scene in Nice Street.
     
    So a new chapter from “A week in Northall”
     
    Nice Street on Tuesday
     
    Today Arthur has to do some deliveries at Nice Street. Nice Street is one of the shopping streets in this area. With the railway arches behind the houses its characteristic for this part of Northall.
     
    Arthur will first go to Christine Cooper at the Launderette. She opened the Launderette in 1957, in the former butcher shop of John Gibbs, who died after a short illness in 1956. It is a local meeting point where people share their latest news.
    Christine this morning is doing the wash for Mrs. Leanne Fincher-Rosenberg and her Teddy boy son Darrel, who live next door on No. 13. Her husband was a plumber and died in WW2 when Darrel was only about five years old. Leanne works on the tea packing floor of Fanshawe Ltd. She starts at 8. am and she finishes at 5.30 pm.
     
     
     




     
    Arthur has to deliver some bulk packages of OMO soap at the launderette. After a short chat he goes to his next costumer.
     
    This is J. Baker’s Café on no. 17. A well-known selling point for cigarettes and ice creams. He also serves good coffee and sandwiches.
    Jack Baker and his wife Yvonne started in 1939 this establishment as a Dining Room. In 1955 it is turned into a cafe.
     

     
    Arthur has to deliver a box of Rowntree's Fruit Gums.
    Marian Adderley, the 8 year old daughter of the owner Adderley Glass is going to buy a Walls ice cream in the café of Jack Baker.
     
    In the corner shop on no. 19 Henry Hewitt started in 1935 his photo shop. Henry has closed it down because the shop had outgrown its premises. He moved to Station Road. Darrel Fincher bought here his first second hand Houghton Ensign E29 Roll Film Box Camera. This camera was used by Henry Hewitt’s grandfather. Darrel made this picture of the closed shop.
     
     
     




     
    No 21-22 Nice Street is now the business and house of Mr. John Adderley, the local glass merchant. The merchant workplace is built in 1936.
     
     
     




     
    In front of the back entrance of the glass works Raymond Berryman, a British Railways van driver, has parked his Scammell in Angle Yard. He is delivering wooden box with mirrors for Adderley Glass Works. Mr. Adderley had ordered them by Mawby & King Limited, mirror manufacturers in Leicester for Quintin Nightingale the owner Brimhurst Park Manor, a Grade I listed Jacobean manor house.
     
     
     




     
    And for those who liked it the PDF version:
    Nice Street.pdf
     
    And as always information, opinions and constructive critics are welcome.
     
    Kind regards,
    Job
  20. Job's Modelling
    Unfortunately, I have an unfocused vision at this moment. This makes it difficult to model on the level I want. So I decided to work on my story. The story is about a regular week of the live of the family Page, living in Caroline Street in Northall. I will use pictures of my diorama’s to illustrate the story.
     

    Sunday 23 August 1959


     
    It’s a cloudy morning when Arthur Page is sitting in front of his late Victorian cottage in Caroline Street. Margaret Gates is telling him she is going for a walk with her parents in the park near Victoria Road. Their dog Ponto may come with them
     




     
    Next to his chair lays the latest edition from the Northall Gazette, which he was reading before he was interrupted. Arthur is concerned about the main article about the new housing plans of the Northall Council.
     
    His wife Lucy is busy in their small kitchen making the Sunday lunch – usually roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, because Arthur does not like most other meats. This Sunday she makes his favourite desert: apple pie.
    Arthur, Lucy and their daughter Daisy and are enjoying the lunch together.
    Lucy makes for Arthur and her some coffee brewed in the percolator.
     
    After lunch Daisy is picked up by John Lovell, her boyfriend.
     
    Arthur and Lucy are talking about the housing article in the Northall Gazette. They both don’t want to remove to the new estate. Lucy says she is a little worried about the friendship of Daisy with John. But Arthur says she must have an open mind, because he sees that John is working hard, despite of his colourful appearance. He also says that he can see that his daughter loves John.
    William is now going listening to the radio to the Billy Cotton Band Show, one of his favourite radio programs.
    Lucy is going to her son Frank, who lives in a flat on the Muriel Campden Estate, North Court. His wife Christine is at the end of her pregnancy and can give birth to her first child very soon.
     
    At the end of the street is the premises of Robert Oxford and Sons, Steam Engine Printers. Here the Northall Gazette is printed. They also are publishers of fictive books.
    Arthur’s daughter Daisy likes the work she is doing at Oxford Ltd and she hopes to be a book editor in the future.
     




     
    John has picked up Daisy. They have met each other a couple of months ago at a party in The Phoenix Tavern when two colleagues of them got married.
    They are walking to Station Road talking about the things they like to do in the future.
     
    When John was 16 he took up amateur photography. He likes to photograph old derelict buildings. Daisy likes the picture he made of the old empty office at Northall Dock.
     




     
    Last week he had a look in the window of Harry Parsons photo shop and saw a beautiful Rolleiflex. It’s is still above his budget, so he will have to save more money for he can buy one. He wants to show it to Florence. John likes to become a freelance photographer making social engaged daily life pictures.
    John wears Teddy Boy clothing because he wants to stand out. He is in many ways a shy and humble young man. He actually loves a quit live, spending a lot of his spare time in his dark room.
     
    Arthur works at the factory of Ince & Mayhew, where he got the opportunity to work as an industrial advertising photographer for the company. This factory produces well designed first class office furniture and publishes every year a high quality catalog.
     




     
    Arthur finds Daisy a very attractive girl, but it is her warmth and kindness which likes he most.
    Daisy is a fan of Elvis Presley. She looks with a lot of interest at the shop window of Arch Records, on Station Road, which has an Elvis Presley theme. They like to visit the record shop, as other Northall teenagers, because James Johnson can tell nice anecdotes of today’s music scene.
     




     
    Last week they visited Walden books. Daisy loves to read and is always looking for some nice Victorian poetry and novels. John is not interested in literature, but he found a second hand example of Photography Theory and Practice from L. P Clerc and George E Brown from 1937 in the book shop. The owner of the bookshop Mr. Newton was very helpful and Arthur will now regularly go to his shop searching for books about photography.
     
    After seeing the ODEON board Daisy suggest to go to Serious Charge featuring Cliff Richard next Saturday evening. She likes his new hit Living Doll.
     




     
    John takes Daisy to the milk bar on the corner of High Street and Queen Street to treat her on her favourite sorbet, a Knickerbocker Glories. Arthur likes the Italian coffee they serve.
    Then he will walk her home.
     
    End.
     
    When the total story is finished I will publish it aa a PDF.
     
    And comments on the story are welcome. My only reference to that period are my memories as a boy living in a small apartment in Utrecht in 1959.
     
    Thanks for reading.
     
    Job
  21. Job's Modelling
    The last building is William Fish & Son.
    The building is based on the T024a Industrial A – Warehouse from Scalescenes.
    For the roof I used the zinc roof texture from the Scalescenes Garage and for the slated part TX184 = Mixed grey roof slates from Modelrailwayscenery.
     
    When I designed this diorama I wanted to use a large advertising board on this building.
    To create tis one I used a layered approach. And as I promised I would show you how I did it.
    You need two advertising boards to realise it.
    Cut out the poster inside the frame.
     

     
    Next step:
    Put the frame on top of the second poster.
     

     
    And the end result: a layered advertising board. Although almost invisible on the pictures.
     

     
    Then you can glue the advertising board on the building.
     

    The picture shows the final result after weathering.
     
    The building is built in the same way as the goods receiving office and also weathered, using the same materials.
    The doors are from the internet. The sign is made myself using Publisher.
     
    Although the roof texture is designed to glue it in one part on the roof, I decided to using the method I also used for the roof for the Goods Receiving Office. A layered approach gives you the opportunity to create an individual roof.
     

     
    As you can see I used the roof Scalescenes created for the ware house as a guidance. For me the mixed slates are going very well with the colours of the bricks.
     
    I also wanted to give the side wall of the building some more character. So I gave it a window and u bricked up door.
     

     
    And because a picture says more than a thousand words some pictures op the final building.
     

    The alley between the two buildings.
     

    A birds-eye view of the building
     
    Now I can give the diorama a final finishing touch. Looking critical to the pictures I have made an adding a final detail or some final details.
     
    As always comments and suggestions are welcome.
     
    Kind regards,
    Job
  22. Job's Modelling

    Presentation

    By Job's Modelling,

    This little diorama deserves a proper presentation.
     
    Just as for my previous diorama I used an APA-box. In an APA-box I can display two A4 diorama’s.
     
    My main concern was the lighting. I followed in this case in main lines the way a shadow box is lightened.
     
    I started with the front of the APA-box. I cut a piece of black demenstration board to size.
    Then I bought two black photo frames, with a opening of 14 x 10 cm. I had to make sure that the edges on the inside were black.
     

     
    Next step was to make some side brackets alongside the window frames at the inside of the APA-box. I made them from frames used to make a painting frame. Made them fitting in the box and I glued black board along it on the side of the window. The angle at the top is 45 degrees.
     

     
    Then I made a black bottom bracket between the two side brackets. The underside of this bracket has the same height as the street level of the diorama.
     

     
    After that I made an overal bracket for the lightning. This is glued above the side brackets, along the whole inside of the APA box. On this bracket the led light is glued. I used the same ledstrip as on Northall Dock.
     

     
    Then the diorama was placed in side and I could test out the light. Because this diorama has blue colours I was limited in the choice of the colour.
     

     
    And to finish Station Road – Shops under Arches a final picture through the glass. I know that isn’t the best for to present it here, but it gives you an idea how it looks like. My wife loves this little diorama in a box.
     

     
    And to make pictures I can take it out of the box.
    Now I can start with my next diorama. This will be called Caroline Street.
     
    Regards,
    Job
  23. Job's Modelling
    At the end of the year it’s good to have a good look at what you have done and how to go on in the new modelling year.
    When I started with my Bridge Street project 7 years ago, I just wanted to try out card building. And because it was my first project I also wanted to see if it was possible for me to create a believable English scene. Just to fresh up your mind a picture of my first build card building: John Grantham’s grocery shop.

     
    In this stage I also created a station called Northall. My second diorama was also a further try-out.
    Because my allergic constitution I have limited possibilities to model. So instead of trains I decided to concentrate me on the British Railway road vehicles. In this stage to idea grow to create Northall as a town where “packages” where delivered.
     
    In the meantime, I build several other diorama’s and tried out other kits and other materials. One of these project is one of my wife favourites: Church Street
     

     
    The last picture shows also one of the problems I discovered. This road van was never used for the delivery of packages.
    Also, some comments showed me that my approach was not always the way to create a correct image of the way sundries & parcels were delivered.
     
    Because I like to create realistic believable diorama’s I asked myself the following question: what criterion do you want to use your modelling projects. I came to the following points:
    History – Railway related and social
    Parcel and sundries traffic
    Road vehicles
    Advertising and railway posters
     
    To be honest I lacked the knowledge of some of these points. So, I have to do some more research. This time not only on the internet but I also bought some books about the history of the use of road vehicles and parcel and sundries traffic by British Railways. It also awaked my interest in the GWR road vehicles and posters.
     
    I have already deleted some of the categories on my blog page.
     
    So, I will start partly over again. Northall is a market place situated on the canalized river North in the fictive county of Middleshire. From Northall there is a Branch Line to Littleworth.
     

     
    The Northall story from now on will be a “cocktail” of diorama’s situated around Northall and villages mentioned in the map in different time settings.
    As a start some time-based posters with dogs.
     

     
    Thanks for reading my entries in 2018.
    I wish you a merry Christmas and a healthy and
    prosperous 2019.
     
     
     
    Looking forwards to you suggestions and comments.
     
     
     
    Kind regards,
     
    Job
  24. Job's Modelling
    Last week we were married for forty years.
     
     
    To celebrate this I had arranged a short stay in a local city hotel just over the border in Germany.
    We have enjoyed our trip and could combine our both interests.
    The owner of the hotel has the same breed of dogs we have: Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers. A bread that doesn’t affect my allergic constitution to much, with the right approach.
    So we took the dogs with us on our walks. My wife could work with them. She is a coach of dog owners and likes to create a dog (owner) in balance.
     

     
    In this area there were in the past large coal mines on both sides of the border.
    On one of our walks we saw some relics from the coal mining past. See the pictures.
     

     

     
    I told the owner of my diorama’s and she was very enthusiastic. I suggested that they could be a nice atmospheric items in their small restaurant. She thought this could be a good idea. So my diorama’s Nice Street and Northall Dock will go over the border to a small hotel in Germany as eye catchers in their restaurant.
    I promise you to post some pictures after we have them installed them in the restaurant.
     

     
    My eyes are going better finally. So I can start modelling again. I really missed it.
    Regards,
    Job
  25. Job's Modelling
    For the roads along the dock basin I use a granite road texture I found some time ago here http://www.btcomm.com/trains/resource/brick_n_stone/hocking_valley_pavers_med.jpgI had to resize it a little bit using the sett texture from Scalescenes as a reference.
     
    I had to build the road op with two layers of 2 mm card to get it even with the dock edge.
     
    On the picture you can see the starting point of the road.
     

    road modeling in progress
     
    With the embossing pen I scratched in every stone individually. I also tried to give the road surface a more uneven appearance pusshing a thicker embossing pen on some stones. Then I used a black color pencil to give the road some more texture.
    Later on I stopped using the color pencil and used Carbon Black pigment, which I dry brushed on the textures surface and rubbed in with a soft paper handkerchief.
     
    After varnishing the surface with a light coat I started weathering the surface with a few other pigments to get the final result. After I glued the road in place I gave it a final weathering, with my favorite mixture getting the dock edge and road together.
     
    I like the way you can work with pigments on a card surface.
    Two pictures of the final result. I hope you like them.
     
     

    dock basin, dock edge and road
     

    finished road
     
    Now I can start laying the track and the road before the warehouses.
    Regards,
    Job
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