More than a month has elapsed since I last reported progress on the Burford Branch, because there really hasn’t been any more progress since then.
I decided last November that I really ought to try to get the Goods Shed finished. This model is a prime example of the ‘slow modelling’ that has always been my default approach to the hobby. It was the first building I started to construct for this layout. That was in 1992 (!) – getting on for 30 years ago.
The first two photos (taken in 1993) show the earliest stage in its construction. It is typical of goods sheds built on the GWR and associated lines in the 1860s. The model is based loosely on the goods shed at Thame, with other details from West Ealing, Kidlington and Hungerford.
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The structure is mainly built from Wills scenic sheets (SSMP 227 - English bond brickwork, for the main walls). The 2 x 1 mock-up for the platform was too high, and was later replaced by a thinner piece of wood to provide a lower platform.
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The lean-to at the left-hand end of the building is the goods office, while the goods lock-up is at the right-hand end. The intention is to add a corrugated iron extension to this, as seen at West Ealing (below).
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Another detail that I incorporated in the model, taken in this case from the shed at Hungerford, was the corbelling back of the brickwork on one side of the entrance arch at the right-hand of the building, in order to give staff access to the open goods deck beyond.
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After a time, the front wall of the shed acquired a warp, and this was dealt with by screwing a substantial piece of L-section brass to the inside of the wall. The screw heads on the outside of the wall will be hidden by the boxed eaves in due course.
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The bright brick red of the plastic mouldings was ‘killed’ by painting the whole structure with matt white enamel before further painting of the walls. I decided that this would best be done before further assembly of the structure.
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The next photo [seen before] shows the component parts of the building propped in position on the layout.
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As shown when I was explaining the dismantling of the layout prior to its move last year, I have also built the structure of the goods deck inside the shed.
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I decided to continue with the painting of the walls before further assembly. I assumed that this building would have been constructed with yellow London stocks, like the shed at Kidlington. I took some colour reference photos there many years ago, but these were of little practical use, as they were taken after the brickwork had been scrubbed clean when the building was converted for industrial use and had lost its sooty patina. The black and white photos below, which I had taken some years earlier give a better impression of the previous appearance of the brickwork.
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I pored over various articles describing a bewildering number of different ways to paint brickwork, but came to the conclusion that I would just have to experiment for myself, having chosen to use enamels in this case. After a false start trying to paint a light mortar colour before painting the bricks, I ended up applying Phoenix-Precision P971 Yellow Brick (matt) over the whole of the main walls. When this had been allowed to dry thoroughly, a thin coat of Humbrol 72 Khaki Drill was brushed over the brick panels and wiped off immediately. The intention was to represent the darker mortar courses, but this was only partially successful.
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I had also picked out some of the stretchers with Humbrol 61 ‘Flesh’, and was quite pleased with the effect when seen on the workbench, but as the photo above shows, it was hardly visible when the model was set on the layout. Clearly, this is going to require further work, and I need to be rather less subtle in creating a variegated effect in the brickwork. I have downloaded suitable photos from the internet showing a number of buildings constructed of yellow London stocks which display varying states of weathering, and I shall have another go at it.
I intended that the brickwork on the goods lock-up at the right-hand end of the shed should be brown brick, in contrast to the yellow stock bricks used on the remainder of the building. So, in this case, I made up a 50:50 mix of the yellow brick colour with Humbrol 29 Dark Earth, which seemed to give the right sort of colour. To represent yellow mortar, I later applied a thin mix of the yellow brick colour, then wiped it off with a dry tissue, leaving the yellow mortar colour in the mortar courses.
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However, I can’t say that this was particularly convincing, and it is even less visible when the model is viewed on the layout.
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And that was as far as I had got by early December, when I last had the opportunity of visiting the layout. I brought the Goods Shed components back home with me, and when I can work up enough enthusiasm to carry on with it, I will have a more determined go at painting the brickwork. I am confident that I can achieve the effect I want; it is just that the motivation is lacking at the moment. (But it’s a good excuse to indulge in some armchair modelling instead!)