Marly51

I need to find out a bit more about the historic transport of fish by rail in Sutherland. There’s a few old black and white photos with Lochinver wooden boxes on the platforms. I seem to remember reading about the transport of salmon by road from salmon net fishing stations, such as the one at the mouth of the River Naver by Bettyhill, to the nearest railway station which I assume would have been Thurso?

Pity your track does not pass along my road - could've done with a snowplough this week! Lovely model!Marlyn

How's your model coming along? Looking good so far

Vertical alley (Kierant) is stepped, Geoff, so my canal boat horse might struggle! The boat will be 'legged' through the tunnel while the horse is taken up and over to the other side. This weekend has been tied up with paperwork, so hope to get some more modelling and pictures up during the week ☹️ Thanks for your comments. Marlyn

Working on mock-ups of buildings and deciding how to model the ‘wynd’ with round cobbles. Checking images of Scottish medieval cobbled ‘closes’ - something like Sharp’s Close in Falkland with a gutter to one side https://goo.gl/images/ZGYBSf or Halliwell’s Close in Selkirk with central gutter https://hiveminer.com/Tags/close%2Cwynd ? Now where did I put the DAS?

Definitely no hurry, Jim. I have two small Highland Railway Layouts to complete first! Will be in touch later. Many thanks. Marlyn

Good photo of another Caledonian Station with V bay window at Langloan in the current issue of ‘The True Line’. Looked for the photo link online, but only one which someone is selling on eBay? Very informative article about Caledonian advertising boards. At some time I would like to produce a micro model/diorama of a Caley station, but probably in 4mm rather than 2mm, because of the detail in the decorative brackets used on the signal cabins.

Totally agree Marc, I always start with a rough idea, then try to draw a basic scale plan, but once I have a few 3D elements like a building, track, etc. in place I realise that some things need to be moved around to create a better composition. I hope that Jerry keeps going with his model and look forward to seeing your plan in the flesh as well. Marlyn

Thanks Shaun - really appreciate your advice. I may remake some of my buildings, for comparison, at a later stage. Been chatting to ‘Ben Alder’ Richard, as well, and he gave me the link to an Ernie’s amazing collection of Scottish Railway photographs on Flickr. I have chosen the same colour scheme as you for my cabins but the corrugated roofs are grey. I’ll be posting details of the layouts later this year. Juggling a few things at the same time as usual! All the best, Marlyn

This tree technique is excellent. I had seen Luke Towan’s YouTube video and also read about using sage bush and sea foam. I’m experimenting with splicing suitable dried twig cuttings, from my own garden, and fixing a few together with wire & superglue, then attaching very thin layers of green polyster fibre to form a canopy for the final scatter material - a mixture of finely ground foam and commercial leaf scatter. I keep looking at trees when I’m out and about and realising how unobservant I am most of the time!Marlyn

Thank you David - very good advice and lovely detail in your hut model. I think thread glued to card was used in smaller scales in the past because the cabin battens were half-round, while the more utilitarian buildings like platelayers huts, etc used flat battens. I’ve been enjoying modelling in card, but may return to using Plastikard for the finer details. Somewhere I have a 2mm scale model of an old cottage in Rothiemurchus, which I made totally in Plastikard, but never painted it because I loved the textures of the plain white model! Thanks again for sharing your techniques. Marlyn

Thanks Ian - good to know. I’ll definitely keep this in mind when I get round to considering adding this piece of kit to my workshop. A new airbrush and compressor is top of my purchase list at present All the best, Marlyn

Hi Shaun - lovely layout and interesting old photographs in your posts! I am working on a Far North layout in N gauge at present, based around 1940s Sutherland. I have made one signal box using thread and card to represent the timber board walls. Would you mind me asking how you constructed yours? Also I was wondering about the corrugated roofs of the various railway buildings - were they usually naturally rust red? My first attempt has a grey paper printed ‘corrugated’ roof, which may be incorrect? Most of the old reference photos I found were black and white. I’ll be posting more about my layout later. Marlyn

Love the details in this model, David, and amazed that you ‘Photoshopped’ the backscene from an image taken in County Mayo? I have asked my daughter to have a go at producing a backscene, digitally illustrated, for a model based in Sutherland. We can get it printed as a strip onto vinyl or heavy duty paper at one of the sign makers in Inverness, then mount it on the backboard. We’ll see how it goes. Marlyn

These are amazing miniatures and thank you for all your advice. Really enjoying following the progress of projects by yourself and others. I’ve loved making tiny things since I was first able to use a pair of real scissors at about age 3! Marlyn

Thanks, Khris - that’s another possibility - will experiment a little more.

I could have sworn that was a photograph of the real thing!!? Amazing modelling!

Interesting option, Geoff! I’m actually modelling a retaining wall which has a balustrade alongside the track on the upper level and incorpates the tunnel entrance for the canal at the lower level. My ideas will evolve, so the end result may yet differ from my initial concept. Thanks for the feedback.Marlyn

Thanks Doug, I have another couple of signal boxes and other buildings to make, so will try the Shellac method. Not used this since screenprinting as a student way back! I had already read a topic about using Shellac for building card wagons - Jim Read? But someone else in another post somewhere mentioned they weren’t keen on Shellac because it became brittle over time? Must jot down some notes from the Forum posts. Marlyn

I am interested in the options of using very detailed printed textures for scratchbuilding and comparing them to textures created in 3D using, paper, card, Plasticard and etched brass. Some excellent printed textures are available from companies like Scalescenes, Model Railway Scenery, etc. but the selection may not always have one that is based on the subject detail required. I have read articles about N Gauge layouts where the modeller argues the case for using paper printed textures throughout, as they feel the level of detail is good enough for viewing at an exhibition. I am currently scratchbuilding a small historic N Gauge layout based on a real Far North Line Station and therein lies the challenge of recreating the typical Highland Railway plank and batten walls of the signal boxes, waiting rooms, etc. An early modelmaker used thread pasted on card and this is a technique I have used, but it is extremely fiddly. I used the finest thread I could find and first pasted it onto card at the appropriate centres with PVA. Once dry I very carefully painted the textured surface with acrylic paint mixed to the correct colour. However, as we know PVA is easily reactivated by water or water based products, so the painting had to be done quickly in one coat and and any movement of the texture quickly adjusted using a pin. The result is not too bad, but when I compare my efforts to the modelling by Caley Jim I am just amazed at the detail other modelmakers are achieving in 2mm Finescale. Jim’s Caledonian Railway signal box for his 2mm layout ‘Kirkallanmuir’ has some beautifully crafted detail both externally and internally. http://2mmfcag.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/ This level of modelling takes a lot of commitment in time and skill and I am currently compromising using a combination of purchased printed textures with added three dimensionsal detail. I would be interested in other members’ preferences and techniques. Marlyn

Cake box finally arrived last week! Made a start on base structure - decided to use a piece of 5mm ply for base instead of thick card, to reduce risk of warping. A bit quick off the mark with sculpting the expanded polystyrene ‘wynd’ to connecting the two levels, so will have to build this up with the modelling clay and texture with cobble surface. Retaining wall and canal tunnel entrance to be constructed next as well as planning the buildings!

I’ve really enjoyed this topic and hope to have a go at some larger scale modelling in card later. Thank you

Oops - I’ve not used any special water products yet! Hope you are able to remedy it? I’m still old school - layering paint with varnish or PVA.

How about modelling the ‘real’ Free Kirk building in Bettyhill for your layout, Rob? http://www.scotlandguides.org/static/images/freechurch.jpg Marlyn

Looking forward to seeing more. Interesting idea - thinking of suggesting a joint layout with my daughter later on, when she is less busy. Marlyn