Kevin Sweeney

I've taken a break from making models until September, but I'm doing a lot of research on our architectural heritage. I have come across many sad cases of beautiful buildings abandoned and allowed to crumble, and others modified beyond recognition. This one pictured take the prize for least sensitive reuse of a historically important building, I've come across so far. Built in the 1820s, this is the gate lodge of Baronstown House, Co Westmeath, converted into a very grand cow house. It's so awful and ugly I'm nearly tempted to make a model of it.

My great fear about this project is that it may turn into a Children's Hospital on steroids. According to the Irish Times we had spent 300 million back in 2023, on this project. Presumably more has been spent since. Given that Belfast Grand Central Station was done and dusted for 340 million pounds, I have major doubts that an administration like ours that can spend 300 million and have nothing built for that, is well placed to deliver the metro project on time and on budget.

Conjectural model of medieval Cavan Abbey, based on a late 1500s map of Cavan Town. The tower I posted on May 7th is all that remains of the abbey. This model will be joining my other models on display in the County Museum, until November 1st.

I'm hunting for a commission from a glamping site, so I've made a glamping pod as a sample.

I also have a new website, which is still a work in progress but is now live at breffnimodels.ie 

Another iconic Cavan building, Killykeen Cottage built in 1819 by Lady Farnham, on the shore of Lough Oughter. Anyone who has visited Killykeen Forest Park will recognise it.

7 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

The bearded gent is Bob Symes, an Austrian aristocrat who fled the Nazis and had a remarkable life. His WW2 service for instance - courtesy of Wikipedia…

After gaining the required letter of recommendation, due to his ability to speak German, French, Arabic and English, Symes was commissioned as a Lieutenant into the Royal Navy, operating Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) in the Mediterranean while based in Alexandria.[2][3] Quickly rising to command his own boat, he broke anti-torpedo measures in a raid on Tripoli.[2][3] After rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, he took part in protecting the landings that led to the liberation of Crete.[2][3]

A wonderful TV presenter, the personification of old school charm, a real action hero and a perfect gentleman. I have wonderful memories of watching him on BBC in my childhood, I think it was him who first stirred my interest in model making. Quite the contrast to the kind of zany morons that dominate todays media landscape.

A quick, simple project, started this morning and just finished. The Abbeyland Tower in Cavan Town is an iconic Cavan structure. It was the belfry of medieval Cavan abbey, and is the sole surviving fragment of medieval Cavan town.

Some photos from the opening of my exhibition in the County Museum on Saturday. I sold two models.

3 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

Thanks John. The owner is hoping to create a small historical display for visitors to the commercial side of the property, with the diorama in a glass case as the centrepiece.  Chuffed!

Well done Patrick. It is a great feeling to see your work on public display in a glass case. I had that feeling last Saturday when the exhibition of my models opened in the County Museum.

The Courthouse is finished.

The museum's poster for my exhibition.

Making good progress with the Courthouse.

The date for the opening of my exhibition in the County Museum has been moved to Saturday 26th of April at 2 pm. The title of the exhibition is "Breffni in Miniature: A Scale Model Tribute to Cavan".

31 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

The verdict is in - Kevin Sweeney you are found guilty of producing superb models!

Thankfully the only time I was ever summoned to the Courthouse was for jury duty.

My latest build is Cavan Courthouse. Built in 1824, in the 1980s the rear half of the building was demolished and rebuilt. The model will be as was originally built, not the modern version. While it's a pity they demolished half of the original building, the upside is I got plans of it on the planning portal.

I'm going to include it in the upcoming exhibition in Cavan County Museum but unroofed, so visitors can see how the models are constructed.

I'm using greyboard for this model, which is half the price of mountboard.

The date for the exhibitions opening has been moved to Saturday the 26 of April, at 2 pm.

I got the Protestant Hall finished.

The exhibition of my models in Cavan County Museum, in Ballyjamesduff starts on April 19th.

Thanks for those wonderful photos Leslie. Inspiring stuff, such fine details reproduced on such a small scale, and conversely wonderful to see such detailed scenes executed on such a grand scale. A vanished world recreated, this is where my interest in modelling is increasingly focusing.

I've made a small diorama of my N scale Corrigreenroe Church.

The failure of Irish authorities to protect important historical buildings is a theme that has come up several times on this thread. A notable exception to this is King House in Boyle, Co Roscommon. Built as a family home, it was bought by the British army and became the HQ of the Connaught Rangers. After independence it was an Irish Army barracks, they closed it in 1969. By the late 1980s it was in very poor shape, when it was bought by Roscommon County Council, who done a four year restoration project. It is now a museum, library,  and cultural centre. A rare example of an Irish local authority doing it right.

Well worth a visit if your in the area.

I have a floor plan of the building and am planning to get down there and do a photo survey in the summer. I estimate it would take about 250 hours work to build but it is on my list of buildings I intend to make.

-Plans, photo and map of Belturbet Goods Shed. This is a GNR shed, which fits the theme of your layout.

Some photos of Enfield Goods Shed. The OS maps at geohive.ie would give you the footprint of the building and by counting the bricks it would be easy to workout the heigh.

11 hours ago, Darragh said:

I am in the middle of constructing a small goods yard, not too dissimilar to Westport Quay.

I plan on constructing a carriage shed and small goods store. I plan to make a slate roofed carriage shed but cannot find any good examples to base it off. I am also having a small bit of difficulty finding a good picture of the track side of a small goods shed to base my one off. Could anybody be of possible assistance?

 

Here are plans of Crossdoney goods shed. This 6 bay shed was originally built as a 3 bay shed. If your looking for a very simple good shed Enfield would be an easy one to make. If you go to the Cavan County Council planning portal, you can also find plans of the GNR goods shed at Belturbet.

I'm very impressed with the collection of interesting buildings on your layout, a great representation of the kind of buildings found in many Irish towns.

I remade Corrigeenroe Church, this time in N scale. I have not used texture sheets for the walls or the plinths, but instead just painted them with white and black acrylic paint. This makes it much easier to hide the joints. On the OO model I used quoins to hide the joints, but the real church has no quoins, so the N scale version is closer to the real thing.

I will be at the Fair on Sunday with a collection of OO card models for sale.

1 hour ago, Patrick Davey said:

The church is incredible Kevin, as are the other buildings, all very impressive!!!

Thanks Patrick, I loved the simplicity of this church as a subject to model. I'm thinking of making it in N scale as well. The real thing is in a beautiful location overlooking Lough Key, at the foot of the Curlew Mountains. Although the unfortunate residents of the area, including my in-laws are still without power since the night of the big wind.

23 minutes ago, murrayec said:

Hi Kevin,

There is a 'Resource' section in Resources, maybe set it up in there?

or

In 

• Home
• Resources
• RTR Models
• Buildings

Eoin

Done. I've posted the plan of the labourers cottage there. It awaits approval by a moderator. I have a lot of other plans, if the moderator approves this one I will post everything I have there.

6 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Lovely - especially in two scales.

Also very interesting to see the original plans.

But where's the model privy?

The privy would be a quick build.

I love those old plans, they are not just stunningly accurate (compared to modern plans) they are also works of art in themselves. It strikes me I should start a thread somewhere on this forum for users to post and view such plans. Can anyone suggest the best section to start such a thread. It would be a useful resource for scratch builders.