Braeside Models: The Scratchbuild Commissions of Brian McCulloch

[brylonscamel]

Oh no! Not another miniature wedding party?

 

Back onto David's 'North British Hotel' commission and I have just added a fancy entrance porch.  No 3D print shenanigans, just sheet styrene and a Swann Morton scalpel.

 

PS Despite the pristine white of the sheet styrene, I'm sure we can resist the temptation to have a bride & groom wedding photography scenario on the steps!

 

 

 

[Stubby47]

Very impressive. 

[brylonscamel]

5 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Very impressive. 

Thanks Stu, much appreciated - it's quite daunting at times.

[brylonscamel]

When you get a sense of the scale and you say something Anglo-Saxon .. 

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by brylonscamel

[Simond]

Yeah “Wow!” (Or words to that effect).

 

the entrance porch is exquisite.  
Did you model it in CAD first, or build onto a sketch, or…. And roughly how many hours of Swann-Morton time?  Buildings do seem to take a while.

 

atb

Simon

Edited October 9, 2021 by Simond

[Bri.dolan]

Amazing modelling !

have you carved into styrene for the stonework ?

 

 

[heavymetalwagons]

wow indeed .miles better than what i could do on my best day .hats tipped sir !!!!!!

[brylonscamel]

On 09/10/2021 at 07:29, Simond said:

.. the entrance porch is exquisite.  Did you model it in CAD first, or build onto a sketch, or…. And roughly how many hours of Swann-Morton time?  

Thanks Simon - it has been a fun feature to reproduce in miniature. I had some basic dimensions from an architects drawing on the council planning website but the details was estimated from photos. Swann Morton time for the porch was about 10 hours.

[brylonscamel]

On 09/10/2021 at 10:10, Bri.dolan said:

Amazing modelling !

have you carved into styrene for the stonework ?

 

 

Thank you for the lovely feedback - and yes, this set of stonework is scored into the styrene. My preference is to use modelling clay but it was a bit overkill for this building!

[brylonscamel]

Egg box construction

The method I use in constructing these little buildings is to brace each wall with an 'egg box' style lattice of formers. This creates a lightweight structure that retains it's shape whilst giving access to the inside of the model. I'm a recent convert to foamex as it is easy to cut and seems ideally suited to this sort of carcass.

 

 

This is the biggest stand-alone building I've made and so far it seems to have worked fine, with all the angles staying square and nothing pulling out of shape.

 

[brylonscamel]

Russian Dolls Houses

The scale of the hotel can be gauged by the fact that the mockup of another hotel I'm making - based in Todmorden - fits within the walls of the North British Hotel, with space to spare!

 

 

 

[brylonscamel]

Custom laser-cut/engraved windows are the way forward with these commissions. These fit really nicely!

 

[brylonscamel]

Painted Samples

I painted up a small batch of resin-cast 'but & ben' cottages to take to 'The Great Electric Train Show' in Milton Keynes. Since the sun made an appearance in the studio this morning, I took some photos. The highland 'backscene' was blended into the background using Photoshop as the  diorama is tiny and relies on a sheet of foam-board to be shoved behind it to act as a screen. I've included before-and-after photos to reveal the Photoshoppery.

 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by brylonscamel

[brylonscamel]

In this instance, I shoved the test track down the back of the diorama and put the NBL Type 2 on there for an instant slice of the West Highlands!

[David Bell]

That is very effective Brian

[brylonscamel]

Cheers David - it makes these tiny photo dioramas seem much larger, once you drop in a distant hillside!

 

Here are both images for comparison, one model, one real ..

 

 

 

 

[David Bell]

All you need now is a class 27 for the full West Highland flavour. As others here will testify I do like a 27!

[brylonscamel]

On 25/10/2021 at 20:39, David Bell said:

All you need now is a class 27 for the full West Highland flavour. As others here will testify I do like a 27!

You're not alone in loving the wee Sulzer - I was a bit late on the scene for 27s on the West Highland and the Edinburgh-Glasgow shuttle. 37s had come to dominate the former and 47/7s the latter but 27s remained very common on the Dundee stoppers and the Inverness-Aberdeen services.

 

I also had one or two into Aberdeen from the south, with gradients that test a type 2!

 

Here's the back of my head with 27s passing at Inverurie ..

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2021 by brylonscamel

[brylonscamel]

Bound for Aberdeen ..

A 'friend of Braeside Models' is taking a little sample box of resin casts to the Aberdeen Model Railway Club exhibition at Dyce this weekend.  My hope is that it might spark a conversation about what I am doing to represent the East of Scotland in model form.

 

To fit the theme and location, I painted one of the 'but & ben' models in the manner of pink Aberdeen granite.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by brylonscamel

[brylonscamel]

North British Hotel

Not forgetting David's bonkers hotel commission, it's still progressing!

 

I've been careful to get the structure right, checking internal bracing, constantly checking that everything is square, is to scale and the order of assembly makes sense. You'd think this was second nature by now but I'm still fiddling with material choices and construction methods to get the best result.

 

Today was a good step forward, all the walls are made and the windows in. I was able to give the interior a dark grey coat with the airbrush and a pass with white primer on exterior walls.

I can do the glazing now before assembly and then small job of the roof, with all it's dormer windows and odd angles!

 

Note: There's a gap at the wall joints but this is just because everything is still loose.

 

 

Internal walls and bracing

 

Windows and stonework detail

 

[Stubby47]

Looks very impressive Brian.

Are all the details 3D prints or laminations from parts from the cutter ?

[brylonscamel]

26 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Looks very impressive Brian.

Are all the details 3D prints or laminations from parts from the cutter ?

Cheers Stubby - the detail parts are a combination of materials and methods. Here's the full list:

• Windows - mostly 2-part laser cut MDF to my design
• 2 x windows are etched metal as the originals have very fine glazing bars
• Stone window frames w/pediments are cut from styrene using my plotter
• Pediment above columns and decorative discs are scratchbuiilt by hand with styrene
• Columns and caps are scratchbuilt using sheet styrene
• Balustrade is a 3D printed set I found online
• The entrance porch is scratchbuilt in sheet styrene by hand

Even allowing for the laser-cut parts it was still a lot of work!

 

Regards,

Brian

 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by brylonscamel

[brylonscamel]

Alongside the hotel, other small buildings are springing from the workbench. 

Some will be produced as resin-kits, once all the stonework is rendered. The long winter evenings will come in handy!

 

 

 

[David Bell]

7 hours ago, brylonscamel said:

Alongside the hotel, other small buildings are springing from the workbench. 

Some will be produced as resin-kits, once all the stonework is rendered. The long winter evenings will come in handy!

 

 

 

That is looking good Brian. Is that the beginnings of Aboyne in the background?

[brylonscamel]

23 minutes ago, David Bell said:

That is looking good Brian. Is that the beginnings of Aboyne in the background?

Well spotted David - it is indeed Aboyne!

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by brylonscamel