Scalefour Forum

A detailed Bachmann Mk1

Cheers


Jim

Just finished for Phil's "Calcutta Sidings", the P4 version









Cheers
Tim

Tim Horn wrote:Just finished for Phil's "Calcutta Sidings", the P4 version
Cheers
Tim

I like those Tim; but you want to cut the buddleia out from the cornice level; it is such an invasive plant that it can quickly cause a lot of damage to structure [he says with his Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors hat on!].

Oh, and by the way, if anyone is responsible for the viaducts on the approach to London Bridge which I pass every day and are covered with buddleia, you may wish to heed the same warning!

Nasty stuff that buddleia and yes it does do a lot of harm but if Network Rail cant be asked to remove vegetation from track these days then they aren’t going to be concerned about ‘forests’ spouting from their bricks!

Modelling it as per the prototype works for me.

More interesting for me is the great effect and colouring of the brickwork.
Please enlighten on methods etc Tim.

Many thanks

Steve

Off topic but interesting that we have a RICS members also here. Personally I am M.AIB (Australian Institue of Building) and eligable for RICS membership. Therefore we should not be making any building mistakes?

Don't forget that real builders make building mistakes, and always did.

I used to be under the impression that jerry-building was a purely modern phenomenon until my interest in vernacular architecure, plus some professional involvement with listed buildings, opened my eyes to some of the horrors committed by the Victorians and by earlier builders in the centuries before that.

The point of this remark is that we are (or should be) modelling the world as it really is, warts and all, rather than some make-believe perfect world. I no longer worry about my chimneys being perfectly vertical, having seen some pretty wonky examples in real life. As for walls smooth, vertical and all at right-angles to each other - you must be joking! I could show you countless examples of walls leaning, bulging, sagging and doing anything and everything other than standing up straight (especially stone walls), not to mention leaning or sagging lintels, door and window frames out of true, and so and so on.

I have actually gone to some trouble in the models I am building for my current layout to avoid the walls of old stone buildings being straight or vertical.

So if your prototype bridge has (or had) budddleia growing out of it, then model it. Look for the imperfections in buildings and model them. Your models will look all the more natural for portraying the imperfections seen in real life.

Photos of trackwork often show the same bodging and irregularity suggested for buildings. Maybe Templot needs a Jerry-built option?

Armchair Modeller wrote:Photos of trackwork often show the same bodging and irregularity suggested for buildings. Maybe Templot needs a Jerry-built option?

Hi AC,

You can set a variable level for randomizing of the timbering at real > timbering > timbering data... menu item:


regards,

Martin.

I lived for 30 years in an 1845 built manse (cf vicarage for the sassenachs). It was in very good order and had always been properly maintained. But there wasn't a right angle, nor a plumb vertical in the place. Interestingly an 1880's built manse nearby was really "jerry built", and was needing fairly major repairs by the 1970's. I think that as there was (relatively speaking) a housing boom in the late 1800's there was a tendency for them to look grander, and to be less well built (poorer foundations, unseasoned timber, etc.)

Allan F

allanferguson wrote: . . . But there wasn't a right angle, nor a plumb vertical in the place. Interestingly an 1880's built manse nearby was really "jerry built", and was needing fairly major repairs by the 1970's. I think that as there was (relatively speaking) a housing boom in the late 1800's there was a tendency for them to look grander, and to be less well built (poorer foundations, unseasoned timber, etc.)

Allan F

Some things don't change . . .

David

Martin Wynne wrote:

Armchair Modeller wrote:Photos of trackwork often show the same bodging and irregularity suggested for buildings. Maybe Templot needs a Jerry-built option?

Hi AC,

You can set a variable level for randomizing of the timbering at real > timbering > timbering data... menu item:

regards,

Martin.

Thanks Martin - that is very effective. I was thinking more of less-smooth curves in the tracks, random wiggles in straight track, bodges to fit pointwork into tight spots etc. but random sleepering looks good too

Martin Wynne wrote:

Armchair Modeller wrote:Photos of trackwork often show the same bodging and irregularity suggested for buildings. Maybe Templot needs a Jerry-built option?

Hi AC,

You can set a variable level for randomizing of the timbering at real > timbering > timbering data... menu item:

i have to say Martin, I think that screen shot really just does sum up the capabilities of Templot. You really have thought of everything that is needed to plan prototypical track.

If only I could get my head around one tenth of what is in there, but I have total admiration for those that can...

Cheers
Flymo

Tim Horn wrote:Just finished for Phil's "Calcutta Sidings", the P4 version

Burton Upon Trent Bridge TJH06 7th September 2012 Copyright Tim Horn.jpg

Looking at that first picture, the biker in me went "eek!" as I was hoping that something wasn't coming the other way whilst I was on the wrong side of the road!

Very realistic indeed, and a beautifully posed photo.

Flymo

Flymo748 wrote:Looking at that first picture, the biker in me went "eek!" as I was hoping that something wasn't coming the other way whilst I was on the wrong side of the road!

An interesting observation Paul. Shouldn't a blind crest like that have double whites?

Thanks for the comments gents

Steve, the bridge is just an MDF shell with South East Finecast brick sheets heavily cut and shut and stuck onto the MDF. I've just used Phoenix Precision building and brick coloured paints and a couple of Humbrol enamel reds for the bricks, and my wife mixed up some acrylic mortar paint as I'm colour blind! The mortar mix was rubbed off after a few seconds with IPA on kitchen roll, and then some of the bricks are repainted again to get the various shades. Took a long time but worth the effort.

The Bridge is modelled on the prototype at Burton Upon Trent, with a few changes to suite. The white line is as per the prototype, but the photo of the model was taken zoomed in and exaggerates the curvature of the road. I was on the wrong side of the road for photogenic purposes

Whilst not an exact copy, I think i've managed to capture the look of it and I'm quite pleased by the result.

Cheers
Tim

Well, at the weekend I was rummaging around through the boxes of bits that came with the Ulpha Light Railway when I bought it a year or so ago.

Most of the contents are usable, although a couple of circuit boards that are clearly spares will remain forever a mystery to me... However, at the bottom of the box, I came across a couple of old photos, which I have scanned.

In faded copperplate script on the reverse, they state that they were taken in the quarry at Ulpha in August 1902. I think that given the lack of rolling stock evident on a light railway permanently living on the edge of Chancery, this may have been around the time of the Coronation of Edward VII, when the line was closed for an entire week.

See what you think...





Cheers
Flymo

I think these photos of Ulpha demonstrate the value of photographs in the critical evaluation and development of a layout.

What immediately struck me was the lack of debris build-up around the track. The ground area is remarkably 'clean' for a quarry. Perhaps they had taken advantage of the Coronation closure to send in the cleaners.

I think the rock faces and vegetation particularly convincing.

David

Thought id posted this one



Cheers

Jim

A couple of photos from Scaleforum. These are of Shrewsbury, not the whole layout but just one board. The standard of modelling is beathtaking.

Hi All

A couple of pics just for the hell of it





Cheers

Jim

Armchair Modeller wrote:Photos of trackwork often show the same bodging and irregularity suggested for buildings. Maybe Templot needs a Jerry-built option?

I'm not sure that this is true. There are photos, of pre- grouping track, where the sleepers are parallel but the ends of said sleepers are not square, or of even length on one side. This is exactly what you would if the sleepers were cut to length by hand. I have a suspicion that the reduction of length of sleepers from 9' to 8'6" was brought about because the companies were able to mechanically cut sleepers to length.

A reminder that Clutton is coming North this year, at Scalefour North and at Wigan (well North for me).


I don't make my models for close scrutiny.

Looks pretty darn good to me Tim.. (it did also at Scafefourum in 2011!)

The "office" is finished and planted, and looks smart in it's setting. Phil's done well

Cheers
Tim