2996 Victor

Great improvement, Patrick, and as has already been said, taking the "wrecking ball" to what you've already built is a brave step. But the results are absolutely worthwhile!

Cheers,

Mark

20 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Terrific stuff. Love the door on that shed - just right 

Agreed, and the rusted wiggly tin roof, too!

On 26/7/2022 at 8:57 PM, Patrick Davey said:

They’re still going……

This photo is phenomenal! So incredibly beautiful and atmospheric.

Cheers,

Mark 

10 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

Looking forward to your thoughts!!!!!

I can't speak for the likelihood of the Mills style on an ecclesiastical building, but it certainly looks very good to my eyes. I love the stained glass windows and the scroll-iron door hinge straps. Great work!

Cheers,
Mark

23 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

Exactly the current plan Mark!

I use Evergreen quite a lot, it seems easier to work than Slater's. Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

Cheers,

Mark 

Fantastic progress, Ken! The extra track will make a huge difference to operating, I'm sure!

Cheers,

Mark 

I'll be very interested to see how you manage the stone/brickwork on the shed.

It always seems easier to model when the quoins and reveals are stone and the walls brick, but as you say the brick quoins and reveals are a distinctive characteristic.

Cheers,

Mark

On 19/6/2022 at 7:19 PM, Patrick Davey said:

Well the louvres didn’t work….. they all fell apart! I had made a card frame for them to fit into but I don’t think the glue and the material liked each other I had left it all overnight to cure but when I started adjusting it all this morning, it collapsed

This small build really is putting up a big fight

Would styrene be an option? Evergreen do corrugated "metal" sheets. It could be easier to build a frame from styrene strip and use strips of corrugated for the louvres all joined with solvent.

Cheers,

Mark

Beautiful outcome, Patrick, well worth the false start to achieve this standard.

Cheers,

Mark

19 hours ago, Galteemore said:

That last photo is simply fabulous.

Absolutely agreed - wonderfully evocative.

And great progress on the extension, too, @jhb171achill.

Cheers,
Mark

As mentioned above, the quay wall build-out has been made and added, and pretty much painted although I may tint a few more of the stones. I've also built a shallow brick plinth, and made the shell of the small warehouse that sits on top. I've got some new brick paper from Scale Model Scenery (no connection etc), which I think is so much better than what I've been using that I'm planning to redo the terraced houses.

Anyway, here it is set up in the dining room behind closed doors (Arthur has taken to sitting on the baseboard if its left flat.....):

The lucam will be wood framed and planked.

There is enough room behind it to allow "Lyn" to comfortably pass by:

All-in-all, I'm pretty pleased with how its coming together although its a bit of a shame about the joint in the brick paper on the end wall. But this is a view that isn't going to seen much, if at all, so I think I can get away with a little trickery to blend it in. Unfortunately I had a little mishap with the window reveal on the top-right front window, which will need a bit of cosmetic work, too. The ground-level joints will need to be blended in when the building is finally fixed in place - some grass/weeds and general detritus (I fort 'e woz jus' a sergeant!) should do the trick.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Cheers,
Mark

How about giving the whole thing a coat of shellac before painting? It seals and stiffens the card. Lots of bracing helps, too, of course.

What about using oil-based paints?

Cheers,

Mark

Looking great! So many layouts seem to have verdant green grass, whereas it's usually much more yellowy. You've captured the look perfectly!

Cheers,

Mark

A little more progress has been made.

The quay wall extension mentioned above has been cobbled together and added. I've deliberately used a different pattern of stone sheet as I want it to look "added on". Most of the stonework has been painted as well, the idea being that it's similar rather than identical, again to look like it's been added. A brickwork capping will be made and a little warehouse to go on top. The warehouse is going to look like it's been extended as well, all a bit Heath Robinson 

In other news, I've had an email to tell me that the points have been made, so I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival now 

More photos when I've done a bit more!

Cheers,

Mark

On 13/7/2021 at 5:09 PM, jhb171achill said:

"Llanfairpwgyllwllygghhwghwghgwhyywjhgwhjhwllwklwjhyyyyllllwwwwywywywywywhjgsfdcugywtfb$mdxbcjkghwsejhgrfkljasxcjkhqlwkjsilliogogogochgochgoch".

Well now, what's been happening? Not a lot, if truth be told, mainly centred around other ideas and projects. However, with the healing after the surgery well on the way, I've been doing a few things with the buildings and getting back to the quay wall and inset track.

Firstly I needed to replace the two end sections of Wills stone wall, and having done that the next task was to attempt to correct the colour of the stonework from the overall grey to a warmer grey-brown with purplish tints more appropriate for the Baggy Sandstones prevalent in the Barnstaple area. I think I've managed that quite well, picking out individual stones with a variety of different shades. It all just needs a thin wash to blend it together. I've fixed the new timber baulks as well, and given these a wash with several coats of Citadel Nuln Oil, which I think works quite well. Photos:

The next jobs are to finish creating a projection of the quay wall at the far end of the second photo, which will have a small warehouse perched on top. I've also had to have a bit of a hack at the setts of the inset track as the flangeway clearances were too skimpy. Seems okay now I just need to touch in the paint (again!). Then I can create the 'orrible sludgy mud at the base of the wall, and tint the wall to represent the green gunk that builds up at the high tide mark.

The necessary points have been ordered and should be under construction shortly, after which I can get the track down properly  

Thanks for looking in!

Cheers,
Mark

1 minute ago, Patrick Davey said:

Due to bit of impatience on my part.....I have had to abandon the above and start again.......

Sorry to hear that, seems a real shame. Can it not be salvaged?

Cheers,

Mark

Great start, or perhaps re-start, Ken - looking forward to seeing this develop. The part-relief goods shed is a great idea, as is the part-station with view blocks.

Cheers,
Mark

1 hour ago, David Holman said:

Thanks Mark. A few other things I've used are:

• Y points are great space savers - nothing but in the first p!an
• The fewer straight lines the better, but keep curves gentle
• Going diagonally across the baseboards is better than parallel to the sides
• If you put a frame around the scenic area, you can hide an exit at the front edge with it, as per the first plan and Fintonagh itself
• Layouts do not have to be big to be interesting. Iain Rice's rule that a train needs to be able to travel three times it's own length on a layout to look 'right' is at the heart of all my plans.

 However, the 'through' layout plans didn't get built because they need a fiddle yard at each end, which means half the total space is non scenic. Would work better as part of a continuous run. End to end layouts are not ideal at exhibitions - they need extra operators and (because trains spent less time on scene) more stock and bigger fiddle yard to keep things interesting.

Excellent points, David!

I'm a bit of an Iain Rice disciple as well - creating a framed scene helps to focus the viewer's gaze on the model rather than the surrounding activity, while gentle curves and avoiding baseboard edge parallel-ism is more pleasing to the eye. Y points are a very useful tool in shortening the overall length taken up by sidings and loops and as you say going diagonally is also a useful way to make the track layout more interesting.

A series of great plans there, @David Holman, and the notes are a good way to reason out a scheme, something I ought to do when scratching out a plan! I like the minor through stations, particularly the first of the two, they have a lot of potential as cameos.

Of course, Fintonagh is a delightful layout, and the plan incorporates just the right amount of track to make for interesting manoeuvres.

I do like the way you use view blocks to disguise the holes in the sky, something I'm trying to do as well with the layouts I'm planning) building.

Great stuff, thank you for sharing.

Cheers,

Mark

13 hours ago, Sean said:

I am being slowly converted over to the idea of weathering after seeing how much it can highlight all the panelwork on the side of a GM.

 

in the past i havent cared for it.

12 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

I think it was other posts here which converted ME to it. Not everyone’s taste of course (few things are!) but it does indeed highlight certain details. My goal is the closest that can be got to photo-perfect realism, thus weathering of some sort - however slight - becomes as good as mandatory….

Close observation seems to be the key with a subtle approach. And not over-doing it - less is definitely more in my humble opinion!

Cheers,
Mark

11 hours ago, meathdane said:

I wish I could take credit for the goodshed, however it's a run of the mill Hornby Skaledale Granite goods shed I got for twenty quid basically brand new! Adding to this makes more sense than scratchbuilding as I wasn't basing this off anywhere in particular, so I could get away with it, though I may come back in the future when my skills allow me to building something more Irish looking!

Well it certainly looks the part, so why not? In fact, I'm tempted to see if I can find one for my project MGWR layout when it gets started - I think with a bit of tinkering it might fit in nicely!

Great stuff - looking forward to seeing more.

Cheers,
Mark

Looking good, Dane, excellent track layout and nice progress. Great work on the concrete which notoriously difficult to make convincing.

The shed also looks fantastic, the windows are particularly effective. Have you got any details on the build?

Looking forward to seeing your next instalment

Cheers,

Mark

Beautiful work, David, as always! The time taken pays handsome dividends in the atmosphere of the whole scene.

Cheers,

Mark

Would it be worth finishing the road surface before adding scatter/greenery? That way, you can add grass and weeds growing at the margins of the road, making it look a bit more like nature trying to reclaim the land.

Just a thought!

Cheers,
Mark