RWJP Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Fantastic as always David... If you keep working at this rate you'll pull another Ring Road and finish within a year... Willing to take commission's? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 I think once I've built all 16 buildings for Cross St, the thought of commissions will push me over the edge (unless generously remunerated of course). Here we go with the roof on, all finished for now, a bit more to do once it's on the layout. Next on the list is the modern, all glass office block to go next to the station entrance, a converted warehouse apartment building, and picking my modern icon building - this was Ikea on Ring Road, dare I have another Swedish monster on Cross Street, or something else...hmm David 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 A quick mock up to show how the street around these buildings will look with the station on the viaduct David 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWJP Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 On the iconic building, how about a Marks and Spencers? They often have a very specific architectural style like the one at Castlepoint, and of course the green logo is massively recognisable. And I see you've bought Sir Keith Heller, happy with it? I'm looking at picking up an EWS version when my next set of wages comes in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MrSimon Posted June 17, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 17, 2011 That looks really good - very evocative of happy months in Manchester! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinz57 Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Its looking great! The buildings look fantastic and I'm looking forward to seeing the layout progress even more! For the iconic building, what about a Tesco? Afterall, they're popping up everywhere! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNCF stephen Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I love the work you are doing on this layout David. The attention to detail is superb. In terms of iconic buildings you could look at something along the lines of Selfridges in Birmingham or the Public in West Bromwich. That could let your design go a bit wilder. Here is a picture of the Public (it is an art gallery/entertainment complex): Other iconic designs could be a new cinema (the AMC Cinema's have quite a modern design). I like the way this layout is being designed because it is very similar to how a Local Planning Authority would regenerate an area. Keep up the good work. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikes Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Hi Mike, is your layout N gauge as well? Post some photos if you can, be interesting to see another interpretation of this bit of line! David Hi David Mine is indeed N gauge, very early days, base boards are pretty much finished and currently laying timber supports for the viaducts which I have running across two thirds of the model. I will try and post some pictures of how its going very soon, I have built a few metcalfe terraced houses/pub and a brewery to be sighted at one end, and the main station building is half finished so will try mock it all up later and get pics. My idea is to ty and get a mix of taller buildings with a small area of terraces which are still lived in and havnt been demolished for tall buildings to be built yet. The other major diversion away from the two track viaducts is the inclusion of a couple of sidings for use by terminating Class 304, 305, and 323 EMU'S. Will sort some pics out tonight hopefully. Regards Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted June 17, 2011 Author Share Posted June 17, 2011 Red Mill Apartments Here's the final building of the week, a converted mill warehouse that is now swanky apartments. This was constructed mostly using Scalescenes scrapyard sheets - the excellent windows, interior decoration pack, and suitably modified brick and roof tiling sheets to my own design. First step was the basic card shell: Then some basic interiors: Then some external walls: And it was worth putting the interior in! A close up of the front door and lobby area: The finished building - the skylights were a pain to make, but the Scalescenes blinds really help finish them off: David 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike Posted June 17, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 17, 2011 If you want a setpiece set of flats converted from a warehouse, how about the Hacienda? Iconic nightclub (originally a warehouse) owned by New Order, turned into very swanky flats and opposite Deansgate station IIRC in Manchester. Looking good anyway David. Cheers, Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanks522 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Great modelling David, at the speed your working Cross street will be finished in a fortnight. Graham. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWJP Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Great modelling David, at the speed your working Cross street will be finished in a fortnight. Graham. I was thinking exactly the same thing, i reckon you're gonna pull another Ring Road on us David, and have this totally finished very quickly. My vote is for completion in early 2012! Have it on the exhibition circuit in late 2012. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 Despite not having much time for modelling in the past few weeks, I have managed to complete one more building. Actually, this is a rebuild - I had already made this a few months ago out of plasticard, but once I'd started on the card buildings, I decided I needed to go back and revisit it, especially as this will be at the very front of the layout. In the end I completely redesigned the building and this is an all new model. I can see myself almost exclusively using card now, on Ring Road I stuck to a rule of card = brick, plastic = cladding. With the level of detail I can now create with card, I think most of the buildings on Cross Street will be purely card. Certainly I can already see a couple of more modern buildings that will need plasticard to represent the more structural elements of their architecture, but I'm certainly keeping it to a minimum. So here we have the Urban Rise apartment block. Very closely based on a block near the Castleford viaducts in Manchester, this is to represent some ghastly 1960's tower block that has subsequently been gutted, reclad, and marketed as swanky urban living close to the city centre, in that typical regeneration kind of way. David 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grafarman Posted June 30, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 30, 2011 Really really good to get this kind of "feel" from flat card takes some doing !! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
-missy- Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Im loving the architecture David! You have the ability to make very convincing buildings for sure. I am following this one with interest. Missy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 Thanks Missy, There's a couple of buildings coming up that are going to REALLY stretch my skills, so watch this space! Here's a quick snap of the completed buildings mixed with the 'as yet to be constructed' dummies on the layout plan. Even after all these years I am still surprised by just how much you can fit onto a 6 foot board in N. David 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWJP Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Mock up is looking good David. I really like the way that some of the buildings obscure the view of the line itself, makes it feel much more realistic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 Last day of my week off today, and the builders have been in... Very exciting to have got to this stage, the size is just right - far more manageable than Ring Road, yet still actually a very large area to model - the 67 in the second photo seems dwarfed by the board. Here's a quick snap of the buildings in situ to give a better idea of scale: Next step is to lay the tram track under the raised storage yard (these sheets aren't glued down yet), and save up some pennies to purchase all the track I need! David 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted July 15, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 15, 2011 Nice job as usual and nice to see the variety of architecture in this. Are you taking advance bookings for local shows? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWJP Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Looks great David, really getting a feel for it now! And co-incidentally, I also picked up the ply for my layout today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nile_Griffith Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Just picked up on this thread and had a mild shudder at the sight of your Palace Hotel. I've spent many gruelling hours working shows at the Palace Hotel in Manchester and yours.......... Well lets just say it brought it home a bit too quickly..... lol Good work fella!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 Tthanks guys! Ross youll have to post a track plan. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 Things start to get complicated now, thanks to the inclusion of the stretch of street-running tram line. The next thing I need to do is glue down the sheets of ply that make up the raised storage yard, so I can then make a start on track laying. However, before I can do this, I need to lay and wire the tram track that will run underneath the storage yard (appropriate 'tram poking' access is from the rear). Before I can do THAT however, I need to have already designed and printed the road layout, as the tram track has to follow exactly the printed design. This is so that once the tram track is laid, the road sheets will fit exactly up to the rails, creating the effect of the rails being embedded in the road surface. The nub of it all is that I've had to switch from construction mode to scenic mode, as shown in the photo below. Here I am roughing out the sheets I will need in order to get the tram layout and road curve right. The top end sheet is a final design (though all printed in draft on paper rather than card for now), and having sketched out the rest of the tram route further down, I can now design these sheets properly, then the whole thing can be printed in draft form, glued down, and the tram track laid over the top. This won't be touched again until much later on, when a high resolution card version of the same design is printed to go over the top, hiding the sleepers of the track. The junction where the silver tram is turning is going to be suitably complicated - the outer lane becomes 'tram only', the inner lane stops at traffic lights a way short of the actual junction, alowing the tram to cross its path into a yellow box junction, with the road lanes flaring out again once the tram has turned off. There will be plenty of traffic lights on this layout! David 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Complicated tram junctions: for inspiration have a look at Manor Top and Gleadless on the Sheffield Ring Road. The first has a section of tram on central reservation of dual carriageway splitting with the two tracks crossing the carriageway at different positions. The second has one inbound tram track going round two sides of a triangle while the outbound takes the third side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 It moves! David http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSDVc1pMNEg 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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