Kevin Sweeney

I'm back modelling after a bit of a hiatus. I'm in a Plantation of Ulster phase at the moment. I'm getting close to finishing a model of Tully Castle in Co Fermanagh. Built in the Scottish Baronial style in the early 1600s, it was captured by rebels in 1641, burned and never rebuilt. The two storey house is the Pendean farmhouse which dates from 1609. It is preserved in the Weald and Downland Living Museum, in Sussex. The cottage is a scaled down version of Peandan.

Getting close to a finish with this model. It's Carnalway Glebe House, which is near Newbridge, in Co KIldare. It's a tudor revival house built in the 1870s, with a well executed late 20th century extention on the rear.

I'm planning on a doing a land commission house at some stage.

A quick little modelling project, certainly simple compared to Navan Station. A Congested Districts Board cottage. Would be a suitable model for a west of ireland layout.

Navan Station is installed on the customers layout.

I often think Jack Fitzsimons and Richard Lovett Pearse were the two most influential architects in irish histoy. Fitzsimons stated the bungalow revolution and Lovett Pearse the Palladian revolution. Lovett Pearse designed among others, Castletown House, 9 and 10 Henrietta Street, the Houses of Parliament on College Green and Bellamont House. Lovett Pearse definetly wins on aesthetics.

This is the state of play with my next exhibition titled "The Irish House, 900 to 2026", I have set a deadline of October 1st to have it ready. I'm a bit more than half way there, as I'm planning to have 30 models, from a ring fort to a modern mansion. The bottom photo shows the development of rural working class housing from 1600 to 1990.

The roof is done with Scalescenes textures, so printed out, cut into stips and glued on.

Navan Station is finished. Customer is collecting it today

Getting close to a finish on Navan Station. The model will not have any canopies, some plints on the wings and downpipes will finish it.

it is a difficult style to model for sure, but a beautiful iconic style. It's long been my intention to model a classic GNR building.

Current state of play with Navan station.

I can empatise with your loss, as my wife passed away 22 months ago, after an 8 year long illnesss. For those 8 years I was her full time carer. We all handle grief differently, but for me model making was therapy and my salvation. I started model making as a distraction, for those 8 years it kept me sane. In the 22 months since she passed model making has continued to be my salvation. The beauty of model making is that it requires total focus, when you're cutting a piece, there is nothing else in that moment but that line you're cutting. Giving how mad the world is getting that ability to ignore it all and just focus on the job in hand is a wonderfull form of escapism. A good friend who also lost his wife said to me, you learn to live with it, your get on with it, but the world without them will always be a lesser place.

I done it in Inkscape, using photos to get the colours. It took a while and there were many steps in the process. I've long wanted to do a GNR building with the polycromatic brick, it's such a distincitive style.

I'm working on a OO model of Navan Station. It is my second commission.