brylonscamel

Well spotted! - that's the structure I originally had in mind but I struggled a bit as the windows looked all out of proportion when I mocked it up. I think it just has large industrial windows - but they look like giant domestic sash windows when you place it on the model. I've attached a photo to show the card mockup that I made ...

A Caledonian 0-6-0 - as mentioned previously, its the perfect loco to cross the bridge .. PS you can have this model when I'm finished with it. But the cost might be prohibitive - it's taken so many hours to get to this stage already! ;-)

You're welcome to this party any time Clive - I'm afraid all I can offer is a mug of tea, some crinkle-cut crisps and a half-built model railway ...

Hi Grahame - thanks for showing interest in this model - its great to get positive feedback as I'm still learning-as-I-go with this hobby! The curved mouldings use plastic rod rather than half round and were an experiment! I first tried it when recreating the railway arches (which were a larger, gentler radius). I thought I would need to heat the plastic but found the rod was malleable without splitting. I simply glued one end firmly with Plastic Weld and then eased the rod around the curve using the usual capillary action of the glue to complete the bond. I guess Plastic Weld does soften the styrene a little when applied. I was then emboldened to try it on smaller radius curves with success.

Cheers for the comments Will and Colin - if there is some interest in this 'wee project' then I'll aim to keep it up-to-date. I have had some thoughts on the factory as I now realise it is capable of acting as a screen to hide the inevitable access-hole into the fiddle yard. The original building that I have loosely based my building is much taller, with a ground floor colonnade of arches and a doorway. As it will raise the height of the building - I think that's the next plan. I'm learning a lot about how you plan these small spaces to get the best visual effect. Some of it has involved some painful lessons but this one seems reasonable and may give a bit more drama to the canal-side building.

Embarassingly slow progress on my scratchbuilt buildings for "Caledonian Basin" but as summer slips away I'm finding the lure of the cutting mat is stronger. Here's the bit of Glaswegian red brick industrial I'm working on as it gets a hipped roof and a decorative top to the tower. I'm sharing these little updates to show my method. There are no rash claims to be the best or the most efficient but it works for me! I was originally intending to have a straight gable roof but the building narrows along it's length and this gave me some visual problems! It just looked wrong so I literally ripped the card shell off and started again.

.. thanks for chipping in with a response to my question - what a funny anecdote. I sense those that knew him 'in the flesh' got to enjoy some rather amusing company!

Gosh that's such sad news - I only came to know about Allan through this very thread and quickly discovered what a prodigiously talented, funny and supportive man he was. And what a great contributor he was. Even the tone of this thread was mischievous and it was a great idea to throw down the gauntlet to fellow modelers and see what rolled in. Considering he could have sat back and poured scorn on our efforts he did nothing but give praise and encouragement. To think that he was so ill and yet took time to respond to our posts with enthusiasm and humour, right up to the end. Extraordinary.

Great atmosphere on all your shots, really lovely model making. It's a shame the Bachmann Class 40 windows suffer a bit from 'chunky window frames' syndrome and are always a bit of a giveaway (although nothing like as hideous as the old Lima/Hornby moulding). Those Shawplan etched window surrounds still provide a neat solution if you ever wanted to hack them about.

Hi Jamie - now that's a question! The sign is a survivor from a model railway that my father and I built in the late 1970s - early 1980s. I assume it was a moulding from that era but might have been made from Slaters plastic letters which are still available: https://slatersplastikard.com/plastikard/alphabets.php

I don't think this view of the cutting has been shared here - just a picture of our wee Sulzer 26015 clattering about on the 'Prize Length' ...

Just an everyday railway scene in the 1980s as diminutive McSulzer 26015 clatters along the 'Prize Length' at Braeside ...

I've looked at this layout before but keep coming back for another gawp. I love everything about it! Such a great Scottish Highlands flavour and the rich detail. Even the people feel like they inhabit the place. Oh and full marks for making the most of Hornby's flawed but effective class 29s!

Thanks Martyn - it was lovely to be persuaded to do some model making again this weekend. I'm motivated to carry on!

Making the most of a wet weekend: I returned to the cutting mat and some progress with an industrial building that I'm scratch-building for my wharf scene. After looking at some rather wonderful brick buildings in the Glasgow area, I decided to add a nice decorative tower (of a type that often conceals a stairwell) to a building that I had already started. Much fun of late has been trying to replicate those lovely decorative arched windows that you see in many of these buildings. They also fit nicely with the brick railway arches that have similar round 'romanesque' arches. Cutting round arches in plain and embossed styrene sheet. The idea being to create depth and texture by layering sheets on top of each other: How the tower will eventually fit within two flanking brick facades: The tower comes together nicely with all those lovely curved arches and decorative stone pillars. You've got to hand it to those Victorian architects - they did relish a decorative embelishment

Making the most of a wet weekend: I returned to the cutting mat and some progress with an industrial building that I'm scratch-building for my wharf scene. After looking at some rather wonderful brick buildings in the Glasgow area, I decided to add a nice decorative tower (of a type that often conceals a stairwell) to a building that I had already started. Much fun of late has been trying to replicate those lovely decorative arched windows that you see in many of these buildings. They also fit nicely with the brick railway arches that have similar round 'romanesque' arches. Cutting round arches in plain and embossed styrene sheet. The idea being to create depth and texture by layering sheets on top of each other Cutting round arches in plain and embossed styrene sheet. The idea being to create depth and texture by layering sheets on top of each other How the tower will eventually fit within two flanking brick facades: The tower comes together nicely with all those lovely curved arches and decorative stone pillars. You've got to hand it to those Victorian architects - they did relish a decorative embelishment

.. Allan - did you ever make anything that went badly wrong?

Oh for crying out loud - talk about setting the bar ridiculously high! How are we going to vault over this modelling spire?

"Build time two days" - crikey! If I went 48 hours with no sleep I don't think I could pull that off. Please don't tell me that included paint?

Hi again Martyn - I waited until the PVA was dry - at least dry enough to be described as "tacky". I hope you have fun with the cobbles/setts - I certainly found DAS clay a lovely material. I also found that wetting when you need to make it more pliable was effective - if a bit messy. Cheers, Brian

Cheers for the lovely feedback and apologies for the delay (I've been away for a while) The quayside setts are indeed done in DAS modelling clay. The clay has been rolled out by a combination of hand and small flexible trowel. I'm not sure my technique is brilliant but that seems to be the joy of the material - it is very forgiving! I found it easy to work and it remains workable for long enough that you can smooth it, trim it and form it before it starts to harden (at least half an hour - although I suspect longer). As always, I found a practice piece useful. I used an off-cut of plywood and rolled some clay onto it. I sealed it first with a dilute PVA - not something I had read about but something I've used when working with plaster. It's good for sealing and also improves adhesion. The DAS set fully overnight (approx 12 hours) and was hard and ready to be scribed. I'm sure the techniques are covered better elsewhere but you're welcome to my anecdotal description! PS this forum is proving to be a great place to share our modelling adventures!

A quick picture update to the thread as I make small progress with the bridge abutments - completing a set of arches which interface with the girder railway bridge .. The new bridge abutments - nothing fixed in place yet, these merely sit in place: A photo showing the whole 'diorama box' with the part-constructed buildings, railway arches and bridge ..

.. and tonight .. we have the bridge support added to the arches.

This is an amazing thread - it takes a while to get through all the pages!

Go on .. go on .. go on - you know you want one! Cheers Max - I'm aiming to keep this thread alive with little updates - there's a fair bit left to do!