Stephenwolsten

Thank you to everyone who has advised me about re-creating the appearance of grooved rail.   The Aberdeen Harbour example is particularly welcome, and the linked photo archive includes this close-up photograph.

3 hours ago, hayfield said:

Stephen, is the track to be ballasted or inlaid

Hi, it's a trial to see if this is a quicker, cheaper way to create the visual effect of inlaid track with setts.   I realise that dock railways had specially shaped rail with a groove but it is not really feasible to replicate this type of track.   There will be no ballast anywhere on the diorama, and we are seeking to avoid the modelling clay method because of the large area to be covered.   This is why I am looking at surfaces such as Redutex.   Thanks for your interest.

Does anyone have experience of this method of adding check rails please?   It looks a neat, simple solution that saves soldering and a lot of fiddly work.

The finished model of Kerne, now complete with fenders.  With thanks to George Boyd for his craftsmanship and expert knowledge.

Over lock-down I was inundated with online adverts for photo books.   I eventually succumbed to the daily offers and made this quick mini-book documenting the early stages of layout construction and prototype pictures, a bit like this thread.

12 hours ago, Dava said:

Lovely model of the ‘Kerne’ & very interesting work on the dock landscapes here. I’ve been looking at aerial views of Leith Docks & need to make a site visit to see if a micromodel is feasible as well as gathering details.

 

Dava

Thanks for your comments.   There is a Facebook group for dock railways that may be of interest: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rtDockRailways.   My Pinterest Boards also have dockland images eg the layout Board and the urban and industrial landscapes Board.  https://www.pinterest.co.uk/stephenwolstenh/boards/.

The (now preserved) steam tug Kerne was regularly berthed at East Princes Half Tide Dock.   The tug pulled barges across and up the Mersey.  The scene in the picture will be reproduced in model form, but with a colour scheme reflecting that of the 1950s/early 1960s.   The waterline model is being scratch built in 1:48 scale by veteran Thames tug master and modeller, George Boyd.

Thanks for reminding me about the Underground feature.   It was some time before I realised, in my youth, that it was a hoax.   I remember one of the pictures showed a very serious looking young man in the fashion of the day.

Atlantic Dock will need a lot of cobbles (actually, setts)!   I bought this sample product from Spain as an experiment and like the slightly raised 3D surface and flexibility.

I have been experimenting with crude attempts to stitch together several images of warehouses etc, to make a photographic back scene.  This screen shot shows a simple method of aligning images on  the computer screen. to gauge the effect.  If stitching non-panoramic images together works, I will move on to having something produced properly by photo editing software.

More encouraging progress by Monk's Gate Models on view.   This picture shows the completed boundary wall, police hut and the concrete lamp posts which were a feature of the dock estate.  My 16 June 2019 post shows an actual lamp post.

I would like to create a composite digital image for printing off as a back scene for a 7mm dockside/industrial layout.   The effect I want to create is of old, closely packed, tall  warehouses immediately behind the layout.   I have several good quality Fuji slides from the late 1980s/early 1990s.   I want to stitch these together and to cut off the bottom to create a single back scene image.  This new composite image needs to be in a resolution high enough to have printed on a vinyl sheet about 6 ft wide x 2 ft high.

The software I have 'googled' mostly deals with stitching overlapping panoramic pictures taken on a mobile phone.   But I assume that images from non-overlapping scanned slides could also be stitched together?   I know that there are many issues involved with stitching, such as matching exposures, perspective, shadows etc.   But has anyone tried what I want to do please, or have any advice?   For example, should I get the few slides scanned in TIFF or JPEG?   What resolution would be needed for a 6ft long backdrop?   What software could do this?  Has anyone found a commercial place to do this work please?

The dock boundary wall is a striking feature because of its grand scale, both in length and height, and because of its purpose to inhibit theft and smuggling. It was built over a period of approximately 30 years by different dock engineers. It varies in height and materials along its length of approximately 2.75 km., but is generally around 5.5m high and is a strong linear feature, making a crucial contribution to the local distinctiveness of this part of Liverpool. Its purpose was to control rather than prevent access from the town into the docks, and the monumental gateways with their heavy wooden gates sliding in iron guide rails effectively made the docks into a fortress-like stronghold. The design of the various gate piers demonstrate a fascinating progression from Foster’s early classical style to Jesse Hartley’s whimsical turrets. 

Princes Half-Tide Dock began as a tidal basin but was extensively modernised around 1868, when two passages and a barge lock were installed, allowing small vessels to come and go at a wider range of states of the tide. Prior to the alterations, the dock boundary wall had been extended further north on the landward side, in similar brick between 1841 and 1848 to provide security for the Dock Railway, which was used for the construction of further docks to the north. 

The North Gate to Docks 28-31 Victoria, Princes and Waterloo, the Gate to Victoria and Trafalgar Docks, and the Gate to Clarence Dock and the Gate to Clarence and Clarence Graving Dock are all built by Hartley in buff sandstone in classical style established by Foster. They are square in plan and have pitted rusticated bases, which chamfer to battered ashlar shafts and have gabled caps with acroteria.  I chose to have this style of gate pier modelled as it was more ornate than Foster's design, but more representative of the Princes Dock area than the granite rubble masonry piers with Doric caps found nearby.

Work in progress on the dock wall and gates.  For the architects , this is one of several gates built in buff sandstone by dock engineer Jesse Hartley, in the classical style of his predecessor, Foster.  They are "square in plan and have pitted rusticated bases, which chamfer to battered ashlar shafts and have gabled caps with acroteria"!

Superb signwriting and weathering of the sliding door, by Richard Ellis of Monk's Gate Models.   I now know what a lumper is!

This picture shows the assembled parts.

Using my brick calculations, Monk's Gate Models converts this information into General Arrangement drawings and then CAD drawings for laser cutting.   This picture shows the manufactured parts for the transit shed.   The front wall had altered brickwork and a sliding door.

The next sequence of photos will show the complete process of design, manufacture, construction and painting of the transit shed for the diorama.   The first picture shows enlarged research photographs being used to count the number of brick courses, to estimate dimensions.   These calculations are then used to produce an annotated drawing expressed in terms of  x brick lengths and y brick widths. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/business-events-and-conferences-given-go-ahead-to-resume-from-1-october

4 hours ago, burgundy said:

Can I suggest a quick immersion in Issue 11 of the LB&SCR Modellers Digest? Probably kill or cure.

Best wishes 

Eric  

Thanks, I have to admit that there are some fine locos illustrated in the Digest!  

Regards

Stephen

Definitely a bad case of lockdown fever - I've seen it all before.   This LBSCR stuff - it'll all end in tears.

Please have a look at the photo archive of the Engine Shed Society for any Holyhead pictures, and more general inspiration.  You can view online without being a member.   Archivist, Engine Shed Society.

engineshedsociety.co.uk

On 29/05/2020 at 18:16, Tricky said:

Hi all, just ‘signing in’ and saying hello! 
 

As we tentatively ease out of Lockdown, I hope it will encourage more modelling to commence again, certainly as raw materials hopefully become a bit easier to get hold of and public confidence restores. 
 

Fortunately I’ve had enough to keep me going but have some capacity now for a new project or two. I am extremely grateful to my existing customer base and thoroughly enjoy working on commissions big and small. 
 

So if you are teetering on the edge of starting something (7mm and above) or struggling to finish it, or just need help with one or two ‘signature’ buildings for instance,  then get in touch and I’ll be only too glad to assist. 
 

Previous commissions include:

 

Baseboards and track build

Station Diorama build from scratch

Individual buildings

Museum display diorama

Innumerable packing crates, wicker baskets, barrels etc for goods wagon loads, timber loads, cotton bales, telegraph poles etc etc. 
 

All to the highest possible standard.

 

All the best,

 

Richard 

Richard's work speaks for itself but I would be happy to discuss my experience of commissioning a project from him, if anyone wants to send me a private message.  I have no connection with Richard other than as a very satisfied customer for a range of work.

Amazing construction and weathering of Slaters' corrugated iron, by Monk's Gate Models:

Building up the depth of colour and rust detail, courtesy of Monk's Gate Models: