brylonscamel

The paintwork has hopefully conjured up the flavour of the stone and the appearance of the buildings that were inspiration for the model. I love the pinkish colour of some Aberdeenshire granite. This is typical of the area (Aboyne) and may have been sourced from quarries at Kemnay. The Glantanar name is true to the area, if not the actual hotel. The Glentanar estate is a huge chunk of land at Abyne. For us, it has a personal connection as Dad worked at the Glentanar Bar in Aberdeen as a youth. It proved quite an experience for a man educated privately at Robert Gordon's School. His education behind the bar introduced a few choice phrases to his vocabulary! The side door to the bar fixes the connection nicely. The 'wee shopy' at the end was my idea and Dad asked that we name the shop after a relative who ran a small store in Aberdeen. Dad was always amused at the original sign, which was laid out oddly and read "General H. McIntyre Merchant". We suspect that locals would have called him "General McIntryre" as a joke!

During the process of miniaturisation, the 'Huntly Arms" has become the "Glentanar Hotel".

Fantastic colour scheme and you're king of the rattle-can finish!

The pace at which I've been working recently is slow, despite the hours worked! I'm also pernickety and know that mistakes creep in if I rush. With five projects running in tandem, progress can feel glacial (despite the heat!) However, I love the moment that character starts emerging from the scatter of components and materials. This freelance version of an Aberdeenshire hotel, bar and shops has reached that point. It will form a backdrop to a scene on Dad's layouts and is based on the Huntly Arms Hotel in Aboyne. With a linear plot available, I hacked the buildings around to fit, retaining as many original features as possible. These photos show what roofs, chimneys and architectural details contribute to a model. With paint and details, this should be a super bit of Aberdeenshire vernacular!

David's Glasgow tenement has gained a bar on the ground floor .. I'm hoping that David's landlord can be persuaded to stock the brand of whisky (Rob Roy) that we produce at the Coire Beag distillery in Braeside...

The buildings that create the miniature version of Sheppey fire station are inching towards a conclusion, with most of the roof details added. I'm leaving things like finials, chimney pots and downpipes until last as they are fragile things, easily knocked off with my occasional fat-fingered handling. Paintwork should really bring this to life.

String courses, stonework and masonry flourishes Back on the workbench is the set of Glasgow tenements that I started err .. ages ago! I had got to the stage where drawings were turned into carcasses, the windows were cut and structural parts of the dormers made. The clay surface-layer was added & sanded but was waiting for the carving of stonework before I was able to add the masonry details. I knew they should transform the building from the merely functional.

Portfolio Career!? As well as model-making, I work part-time as a cycle mechanic / tea boy at my friend's bike shop and found myself recently covering staff holidays. But I am always happy to return to the miniature projects.

Whilst I was busy with the roof signage, mini-me was busy in the distillery car-park, touching up some scratched lettering on the company van ..

Whilst paying Dad a long-overdue visit, I updated the distillery to include a stencilled sign on the roof of the stills room.

Distant hills ..

The model was as accurate as I could manage, relying heavily on the carcass that Steven produced., for the main measurements.

A little piece of Kirkcudbrightshire The latest contribition to my client's rendition of New Galloway is this stone and slate station building. Working exclusively from a thin collection of B&W photographs, we managed to reproduce the building in some degree of authenticity. My client - Steven - had a crack it himself but handed it on to me as he's rather consumed with making a maltings! Whilst photos of the platform-side, we could only find one angle on the entrance - a photo with the grainiest of early photography. Most of which was obscured by vintage charabancs!

Back on the harbour and the infamous 'haar' has settled for the day, nearly obscuring the gaswork's Barclay!

Funnily enough some high-res images of the interior at Fouldubs box popped up on a Facebook group this week. You weren't in-shot, wrestling with a heavy lever.

A gap in the clouds Full sun in the yard gave me a chance to drag the Fife coastal scene into stronger light and hard shadows. Setting and buildings inspired by those at Cellardyke. Scratch-built with lots of scribed clay in 1:76

Big old thing isn't it! It' Big isn't it!! It always amazed me that semaphores were pulled by cables, pulleys and man-power. Signalmen must have been high in the list of people you wouldn't challenge to a bar-room arm wrestle.

The overal structure of the buildings has now been established whilst adding the bay, garage and roofs

The latest commission that is emerging from the cutting mat is a Kent Fire Brigade station model in 1:76 Here are some of the detailed components in close-up that will bring it to life ..

A social gathering at the doors of Wallace's newsagent .. I recently added Mrs Wallace's husband and took advantage of todays' natural light to soften the scene.

I must admit to being a bit detached from rural farms, living in a Victorian city terrace! I will be doing more scenic work to bed in the little farm steading, so I am off to the Canmore site for inspiration, although a fair bit of the photo archive seems derelict!

The bus forward to Kincardine O'Neil is taking forever. Probably because I haven't made it yet!

Old MacDonald had a farm ..

.. thank you - one of the joys of these smaller layouts & dioramas is that I get to photograph in outdoor light. It makes a big difference with all the natural shadows.

There are a couple of diorama models and resin-cast buildings that found new homes or were broken up. Before that, I messed about with combining them into photo-friendly scenes. This is one of my favourites ..