Physicsman

Progress can seem to be slow at times. Then you look back a year - this was March 19, 2021.

A bit of scenic work has been done since then!

A considerable amount of re-walling is still ongoing, as well as additional grass-growth and weed infestations. It'll take a while to pull everything together. On this day a year ago I was still working on the viaduct itself!

Some pics - random views....

Cheers for the positive comments.

I'm happy with the way it all looks to the eye, but it can be difficult to choose which rendition - phone or DSLR - to post on here.

The camera is a touch too green and the phone a touch too yellow/brown. I've fiddled around with colour adjustments but I'll just leave things as they come off the hardware.

Some pics to update things.

Working on multiple fronts - re-walling, grassing, trees etc.

First and second pics of almost the same view - first with phone, second with DSLR. Colour difference very apparent....

Fence wire needs painting etc etc - a never ending task.....

Thanks Peter, I've sent you a PM on the subject....

2 hours ago, Neilgue said:

This is moving up to a whole new level Jeff. You certainly have been blessed with an eye for detail.

 

I hope to be able to have a look at the real thing soon. We have taken the plunge and are finalising the bookings for a trip over in a couple of months. To hell with the prospect of WW3. Until then, I’ll be spending a bit of time on Google Earth checking out exactly where it is and how to get there!

Hi Neil.

Good to hear that you've got a visit in the pipeline. I'm sure the UK weather will bring back many happy memories!!

As for Arten Gill - I'll be passing by that way, weather allowing, the week after next. Jonathan (Rowsley 17D) and I are taking a trip from Settle to Carlisle and back, so it'll be nice to see Arten Gill after a passage of years since the last visit.

As for the layout, re-walling continues - I'm now over half way there. Newly "discovered" interests such as tree-making are slowing me down!

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

In fact, it's chucking it down right now...

 

What did you use for the darker green weeds / nettles  in front of the wall?

It's a bed of 12mm grass - Noch green and beige mixed together, allowed to set in place and then the tips of the grass dabbed with neat PVA. Then Noch leaves - I think I used a middle green - sprinkled over the top, allowed to set and vacuumed off.

I did the same thing with the "beds" of yellow weeds/flowers, and the effect was first tested (for me) on the diorama.

It's quite effective ground cover mixed in with a few shrubs and other grass lengths.

18 minutes ago, Gedward said:

 

My first name is George. Gedward is just a username.

 

Like you, I'm on this ride for the modelling, less so railway operations. For that reason I've chosen to model a small harbour town called Bovey Quay, at low tide. Hoping that there'll be so much modelling to do, I'll never actually finish it.

 

Thanks for the reply and apologies that I couldn't even spell Gedward correctly!

Agree about the modelling. I may have some locos running at some stage, but in the meantime it's a lot more fun creating the landscape.

I said I'd wait a few days before posting again, but I've just tried something new - to me, that is - and I'm pleased with the results.

Some sections of hedging from rubberised horsehair. The third pic shows the few I made (spent all of 30 minutes on this, just before tea - ironically after cleaning up.....flock, horsehair, static grass, spray then made a real old mess, but sod it!) just plonked in place behind one of the walls for a "photo op". I think there'll be a production line of these, in different sizes, shapes and colours, in the near future.

Oh, cr@p - just another thing to make!

10 hours ago, Gedward said:

 

Hi Jeff

 

Just discovered this amazing thread. And so taking my time walking through the many pages here. I was fascinated to see the how you're producing the stone walls. I used a similar method on Bovey Tor. As a lot of the landscape was meant to look like Dartmoor. I experimented with a number of clays. Starting with Das but later trying out various oil based clays. In the end using Chavant NSP hard, a professional oil based clay used by sculptors. You can soften it by warming in the oven, which makes it rather easy to cut and shape.

 

 

Hi Jedward.

Is that a username, is it Jed....I like to refer to people on here by first names, where possible.

I'm glad you've enjoyed looking through the thread. The philosophy is both "listen and learn" and "onwards and, hopefully, upwards" - principally due to the feedback and ideas generated on here.

Nice to see someone modelling stone features in a different context - and a good job you're making of it.

Keep the input going!

J.

9 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Wouldn't be concerned about what clay Geoff uses, as I believe that he manufacturers his own to ensure he gets only the finest quality materials.

 

He gets the raw material from his clay quarry. Mind you now that he's gone into fence manufacturing he might be tad busy. What with his timber mill and barb wire mill I'm surprised he has anytime left for anything else.

 

He's created a proper little cottage industry just to support Gill Head.

If only there was a support industry - to make the DAS strips, which is bl**dy boring. As for the clay quarry - I think the DAS company should give me some honorary shares - I've used around 40kg of the stuff in the last year. Hardly a pack in sight now.

Where did it all go to? Answers on the reverse of your enclosed cheque, please....

Today's update will be the last for a few days as I'll get a fair bit done and then show some real progress.

Today: Fence poles and wire onto right wall, longer grass onto left path border, another 100+ stones on the wall that's gradually creeping up the hill.

Today's update pics.

I'm now nearly 300 stones on the way uphill in the background, but that's just mundane walling - maybe discuss that when I reach the top.

More layering work around the path with a bit of flock. And an hour or so fitting the first set of fence poles with a wire along the top. This has to go in now - I made the mistake of putting this feature onto the diorama when I'd already done the longer grass. Made it a bit tricky to see the fine holes the plastic rodding is seated into!

It's still too neat for my liking, but nature will take over in a day or two - grass, flowers, a few shrubs, a bit of hedging are all waiting in the wings....

And btw, serious comment, I do apologise for the sequence of "samey" pics this week. Same angles - but they do show a progression and I know that some of you want to see what's going on - rather than "hey, look - here's one I made 2 weeks ago".

The discussion re. barbed wire instead of wood is a fair one, but actually moot in this context.

The wall DID fall down in places and, albeit temporarily, the authorities DID go to the trouble of shipping wooden fencing up to the site, as shown in the prototype pics. As wooden fencing provides a nice contrast with stone walling, I'll be proceeding as planned.

As for barbed wire, it's actually not THAT difficult to model, but you need a bit of luck. In the pics in the next post, the fence poles have a "barbed wire" line at the top. Painting this wire to make it stand out (it's white and nigh on invisible otherwise), the paint tends to clump along the wire because of surface tension. I try to remove this, but if left to dry the beads do resemble the barbs in barbed wire....

The first pic pre-dates the second, so you can see that the gap in the wall has been repaired. However, I think a section of wooden fencing and a broken down wall provide additional features, so they'll be included.

Good observations, lads.

There'll be a post and plank section of wooden fencing across the rest of the gap - I'll post the prototype pic later. And quite a number of bits of wall debris scattered among the grass/vegetation that'll soon spring up in the area.

Off to make the fence poles now - as I used to the rear of the diorama. I'm on my tablet, will nip and put those prototype pics up so you can see what I'm aiming at.

Path installed (mix of medium/fine ballast and chinchilla sand), base coat of 2.5 and 1.5mm fibres added around it. Work in progress - the earthing nail will vanish when no longer needed!

The copings on the path walls are now complete and the wall sections have been given another wash of paint and fixed in place.

The path will need re-doing as it was easier to alter the levels between the walls than trying to accommodate the existing levels. A gravel path of some sort will be added-in over the next few days....

First pic is a close-up of the walling, as requested by a couple of people.

5 hours ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Jeff,
I think you either need (another) PhD in the design, construction and application of model stone walling , with special reference to North Yorkshire and Cumbria, or to seek medical help...
 

Peter, the first suggestion is a very good one. Nuclear Physics and Model Walling. Contrasting specialisations!!

However, I think your latter comment is the more likely.....

3 hours ago, Rowsley17D said:

Just been a a north-west show and a guy was modelling trees and had some for sale. Yours would have put them in the shade, as it were, if they had been side by side.

1 hour ago, Donw said:

I haven't been keeping up lately Jeff so it is a big difference quite stunning. Your walls were the best I had seen on a model now you managing to top that. One thing we do know ( I say we because Marion is better than me at stone walling)  is that the walls are different according to the stone. Limestone will vary quite a lot.  Yours match the area I feel.

 

Don

 

 

Jonathan, Don - much appreciated comments on the trees and walls. And Jonathan, if you'd like one, I'll make you a "generic" tree and bring it with me when we head off up the S&C.

Let me know how tall you'd like it, to fit in with Derwent Spa. Up to, say, 12cm (30').

Don, I was always very pleased with the original walling (it dates back to the mists of time.....2013ish!!), and it gradually improved. However, putting a bit more effort in - and thanks to discussions with Jamie Warne and Steve Gibbons for inspiring me to do this - the new "product" is, I think, a step-up.

And btw, Don. Great to hear from you. I hope you've got your potential home move sorted.

I added over 400 coping stones to yesterday's walls and gave the DAS a quick "wash" over. It's started to bring out the wall detail and the pics are better balanced than last nights. So here are 3 "updates". By the middle of next week it should look a bit more "natural" and complete!

I've attached some pics to show what I'm currently doing, re-walling wise, on Gill Head.

The first pic shows the state of the wall/path/vegetation leading up to the viaduct, as of a week ago.

Since then the "old style" (6 months!) walling has been ripped out and new stuff is under construction. Each wall length is around 70cm and contains about 1400 stones. The present stage is without copings.

The phone had problems with the white balance owing to the proximity of so much "white" due to the DAS stones. I've jigged things a bit, but the problem will reduce once the walls are built and some washes added.

I'll say more about what's going on in a few days when further progress has been made. The trees and walling aren't fixed in place. Having spigots in each tree also makes it easier to move them about/replace them, should that option be required.

7 hours ago, PeterBB said:

Seems like some responses above 'did not' but still amazed by the quality of your detail and the explanation (instructions) of how to do it.

Just keep "nagging" at me, Peter. It's amazing what rubbish I can spew out!!