Job's Modelling

For the pavement I also use the sheets from In the Greenwood. Made the pavement to the right size using a craft knife. Then I cleaned them first with an MDF cleaning pad. I gave it a coat with Gesso. Next step was painting the granite kerbs. As base colour I used AK Dry Light Mud. I gave it several layers. The side used a lot of paint. After that I took a little piece of natural sponge with some Petite properties ‘Mucky’ paint. With just a little paint on the sponge I dabbed the granite kerbs. The slabs I gave first a coat with a base colour of Celestra Grey from Citadel. Than I did the space between the slabs with Vallejo Oiled Earth. After that I took an old brush with the hairs cut down. I dabbed the individual slabs with a coat of Tallard Sand, Baneblade brown, Stormvermir fur from Citadel and Flat earth from Vallejo. I worked directly on applying, in the same way, Administration Grey from Citadel. When finished I gave the pavement and kerbs a coat of Light Grey wash from Valejo. Just to bring the whole scene together. Here is picture of the whole diorama. The side street has another finished colour. I used it as a try-out, but I’m still content with the final result. The black edge at the end of the pavement will not be visible when the diorama is finished. I have first to do some things on the base and then I can start with the buildings. Kind regards, Job

Thanks for your comment. The cobble/setts sheets I received were flat, but I glued the sheet I used first on the Petite Properties base, before I started with the painting. Agree with you that the Petite Properties kits will do well here, but I will use some Greenwood kits instead. Unfortunately this one is not longer available on their website.

I still have to finish the Hansom cab…. But I think I will use something else on the diorama. Believe that the Hansom cab will be to large for this diorama. Thinking of using a handcart and a boy delivering a Christmas gift. In that time, it was already possible to buy things from a mail order company, for instance from the Empire Stores, which then were send to the costumer by rail as a parcel. Only the way we order, and deliver is changed …. But first there must be a cobbled road to put the cart on. I also made the base from Petite Properties. Painted the base black. For the cobbled road I use the sheets from In the Greenwood. Made the road to the right size using a craft knife. Then I cleaned them first with an MDF cleaning pad. I gave it a coat with Gesso. After this was dried the whole street had a coat of Vallejo Oiled Earth. Next step was painting the cobblestones individually. I used base colour from the Citadel range. In this case Mechanicus Standard Grey. After that I painted the space between the stones with a 50/50 mixture of Vallejo Light Sienna and Natural Umber mixed with Pigment binder. I let this dry for 24 hours. Next job was painting individual stones in groups of six with layer colours in grey tone. I used the following colours: from Citadel Administration grey and from AK paints Dry light mud. I mixed them in several shades. After painting the setts, I gave every individual stone a coat of Oiled Earth from Vallejo to tone down the surface. I used a Wargaming and Facebook modelling tutorial from Internet as a guide. Used the colours I had. But every time the result will be different even if you use the same colours again. I'm curious about your opinion about this one. Next job will be painting the pavement with its granite kerbs. Kind regards, Job

I still have to finish the Hansom cab…. But I think I will use something else on the diorama. Believe that the Hansom cab will be to large for this diorama. Thinking of using a handcart and a boy delivering a Christmas gift. In that time, it was already possible to buy things from a mail order company, for instance from the Empire Stores, which then were send to the costumer by rail as a parcel. Only the way we order, and deliver is changed …. But first there must be a cobbled road to put the cart on. I also made the base from Petite Properties. Painted the base black. For the cobbled road I use the sheets from In the Greenwood. Made the road to the right size using a craft knife. Then I cleaned them first with an MDF cleaning pad. I gave it a coat with Gesso. After this was dried the whole street had a coat of Vallejo Oiled Earth. Next step was painting the cobblestones individually. I used base colour from the Citadel range. In this case Mechanicus Standard Grey. After that I painted the space between the stones with a 50/50 mixture of Vallejo Light Sienna and Natural Umber mixed with Pigment binder. I let this dry for 24 hours. Next job was painting individual stones in groups of six with layer colours in grey tone. I used the following colours: from Citadel Administration grey and from AK paints Dry light mud. I mixed them in several shades. After painting the setts, I gave every individual stone a coat of Oiled Earth from Vallejo to tone down the surface. I used a Wargaming and Facebook modelling tutorial from Internet as a guide. Used the colours I had. But every time the result will be different even if you use the same colours again. I'm curious about your opinion about this one. Next job will be painting the pavement with its granite kerbs. Kind regards, Job

Nice to see this shunting operation. The crates look good to me.

Thanks for that one. I will look for more background information to get the picture right.

The Scalelink kit is expansive, so it must wait a while. See the picture: I will start with the Austin K2 for now. Did some research for a poster and think a quad royal 40 in x 50 in can be used. This is one of the posters I found: Regards, Job

Thanks Merfyn. Apologies for the mistake I made the photo I quoted. That was a Dennis. I couldn't find any good pictures of an ex-GWR parcel van or BR parcel vehicle on Internet for the Western Region. In the book of "Railway owned commercial vehicles" I found a picture of a Morris Commercial FV5 in BR livery and a three ton Scarab. There also some pictures of Western Region vehicles for container use. These are not suitable for me. Is this also a possibility: 1946 Vulcan 6PF flatbed from Scalelink? Do you have any other suggestion and additional information for me? Regards, Job

Tanks every one for the replies. I will weather and finish the Austin K2 for the time being. When I have bought a missing kit for a shop and some white metal figures for the diorama I'm building, I will go for the Morris Commercial from John Day Models. Will skip the Mechanical Horse. I saw that Springside models is selling this Thornycroft parcel van: Was it still used in the Western region in the late 1950's. I found a picture of in British Railways cream/maroon livery in the "Railway owned commercial vehicles" Midland region. This is the Ford estate. I don't know where they were used for. More information of the Morris Commercial and the Thornycroft is welcome. Kind regards, Job

I’m a modelling small dioramas on which I want to suggest the parcel and sundries traffic. Until know my fictive Northall was situated in an urban environment, but I like to transfer that to a more rural one, set in the Western Region in the late 1950’s I have a couple of British Railway road vans from Classix and Oxford models. But I know these are not always correct. I have the following vans with a W on it: Austin K2 Fordson Thames Estate Morris J Mechanical Horse 3 wheel I have a couple of questions: What vans can I use? Do you have suggestions for other vans usable in a rural environment? If the Austin K2 is correct how can I improve it, except from weathering? What was the use of a Fordson Thames Estate by British Railways? I like to use prototypical vans on my next diorama’s. Looking forward to your answers and suggestions. Kind regards, Job

Thanks for the advice, will see what I can do with it.

Thanks.

Thanks. I have thought of that to, but I will wait until I have finished the Hansom cab.

After my experiment with pastels I now I used mainly acrylic paints and in the end some pastels. This time I painted the horse that came with the Langley kit of the Hansom Cab. I did also some additional search on internet about the background of the Hansom Cab. Doing this I came along this interesting website http://www.gail-thornton.co.uk/index.php . A lot of information about wagons and carts used in the past. The starting point: the horse from the Langley kit. This time I also found a nice reference picture that I could use. I glued the horse to the wooden base using PVA glue. In this way it easy to handle. After cleaning it from flashes and cleaning it, the next step was to give it a coat of primer. In this case I used Vallejo grey primer. Then I have put the basic colours on. Because I used Citadel paint I didn’t need to dilute the paint 1:1. I let the base colours dry for 3 hours (actually a night). With Reikland Flasshade (a wash), using a small brush, I got along the edges of the harness to bring the colours more together. After drying I painted the whole horse wit the wash to sharpen up the painting and provide shadows. With diluted paint 1:2 I painted the small details. I also gave the harness a thin coating of black leather from Scalecolor. Then I gave the horse a total wash with diluted 1:5 with Ratskin Flesh for the horse and Vallejo black wash for the harness. Because the wash is transparent the base colour showed through. As a finish I gave the horse a layer with Vallejo satin varnish. Then I used some Schminke pastels for the final touch. The horse doesn’t look shiny anymore. I used a tutorial from Internet as a guide and used also the advices from some members of the RM web. I will thank them for their advice. Painting more figures will give me more experience. I'm curious about your opinion about this one. Kind regards, Job

Like your wall. I agree about using the washes.

I use several brands. The AK paints are from to sets: one for road vehicles and the other for painting wood. For my next horse painting (Langley) I will use only paint and found a interesting colour from Scalecolor called "black leather". Citadel paint are also great, but more expensive. I mostly look for the purpose I want to use the paint. The AK paints work well for me on my road vehicles, especially the tires. Vallejo has some great washes I use frequently. As I said before I still have to find the way that suits me best. I also like the way jou have painted your horses.

Looking forward to your result.

Thanks for looking and the comment. I have added a second picture, which I hope will give you a better impression.

I agree with you. But it was my intention to create a dark horse.

I have learned to do the hardest things first. For me that is painting figures. After the excellent blog entries in Wenlock’s Blog (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-20957-coal-part-2/ ) and Mikkel’s The Farthing’s layout (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/75/entry-21161-gwr-large-flat-dray/) about horses and carts I decided to do some horse painting. In the past I found an excellent tutorial about painting horses using pastels. So let’s give it a try. The starting point is a horse from the Dart Castings range. After cleaning it from flashes and cleaning it, the next step was to give it a coat of primer. In this case I used Vallejo red brown RAL 8012. Then I started painting the harness of the horse using black acrylic paint and black wash. I finished the harness drybrushing with a mixture of black and brown. Next step is to use the pastels. Building it up in layers. I started with Yellow Ochre, then I added some Burnt Yellow. Then you give it a light coat of varnish for pastels. After that you can built up the colour further using brown and black. Each time you add a small amount of pastel to the colours you have used already. Every time I had done some layers of pastel I gave it a coat of varnish. Finally, I highlighted some muscle parts adding black with a cosmetic pad. After I had given the horse it final coat of varnish I found it to glossy. To solve this, I gave the horse a final coat of black wash. Then I finished the bottom of the feet using some acrylic paints: white and light dirt. Here is the result of my efforts. I'm curious about your opinion. Kind regards, Job P.S. After the correct comments of the picture I have made a new one. Hope it is better. Also got a personal advice to improve it. I will try this out and will show the result in my next entry.

Great entry. Thanks for sharing the link for the horse poo.

I know the Kingsway site. Use them as a reference. Thanks for mention it. I use, for my purpose, the excellent books "the ….. house explained" from Trevor Yorke. And any advice is welcome.

Excellent modelling. Think I can learn a lot of your approach of metal figures. Hope I can achieve the same result with ny Edwardian diorama. Your way of handling the load of the flat dray learned my a lesson. I had an idea for my Northall 1959 diorama's but skipped it because I thought it would take to much time. I will pick it up again. Your are right: it is mostly the joy of simple things.

There isn't much difference between late Victorian and early Edwardian. Also many houses were built by speculating builders, who made there own choice. Brickwork is stretcher bond and look machine made in the kits. Windows are actually late Victorian, but this can be converted.

Never thought of adding snow to the scene. Have to give some thoughts. Have to do some research on the celebration of Christmas in Edwardian times. My mean concern is the painting of the figures.