Wheelwright update

Last time I was left pondering how to light the interior of the building and it was suggested that I could try a light tube up the chimney. That is what I have done. I inserted a plastic tube up into the chimney-actually the sleeve from a hyperdermic needle-behind the forge and then inserted a smaller tube at right angles to the chimney to lie along the beam in the roof. I then managed to thread a yellow micro LED up into the tube and hey presto I had light!

With the lighting sorted I attached the roof and stuck on strips of tiles. These were made by printing a 2mm x 2mm grid onto cartridge paper, then cutting strips 5mm wide with the tiles cut with scissors 2mm into the strip. When dry the whole lot was given a wash of tile colour followed by randomly painting each tile with varying mixes of light red, burnt umber, scarlet and neutral tint watercolour.

Finally the roof and brickwork was weathered by dry brushing a mixture of chromium oxide, raw sienna and raw umber. The main doors made from thin card were added as well as a cellar base and it is now virtually finished.

The only thing left to do is some ivy growing up the end wall between it and the lean to. This will be done with dark green coarse scatter material.

Wheelwrights for Pendon….

For a change I have started building a new model for Pendon Museum. This is the Wheelwrights. The building itself is fairly basic but has a feature of a large window made with overlapping glass panes. The main feature of the building is a detailed interior which hopefully will be lit in the night scene.

When in the scene eventually it will be located quite close to the viewing glass.

I have completed the shell of the building and have been working on the interior. Details for this have been obtained from photographs found on the internet as well as a visit to Tiverton museum in Devon where they have a mock up of a wheelwright.

The brickwork is embossed Flemish garden wall bond and still needs tidying up and weathering.

The lapped glass main window is made with strips of Perspex stuck with Humbrol Clearfix and mounted behind a frame of thin card with the whole lot mounted in the opening cut out for the window.

The interior was initially lined with Howards Scenics embossed card and painted to represent dirty whitewash. The various benches, wheel horse and saw horse are made from a mixture of 1/32″ plywood, balsa wood and obechi strip. A raid of my stock boxes produced bits of carts, wheels, saws and buckets.

The next stage is to work out how to install a light tube from the base up into the roof without impeding the view of the interior!!!

Canal locks update

I have now finished the detailing of the two locks including the gates in various stages of delay.

Here are some pictures of the end result.

Firstly the upper lock with the tail bridge and cut out to accept the lock keepers cottage;

Secondly the lower lock with more derelict gates;

Now to find the time to deliver them to the museum!

Canal locks progress

I have now finished the main carcass for the upper of the two locks. This one includes a limestone tail bridge used for getting horses from one side of the canal to the other together with a cut out to take the lock keepers  cottage when it is  installed in it’s scenic tray. The bleached carpet felt grass has been applied and now awaits painting and then the fun bit of adding all the weeds, brambles, ivy etc can begin. 

  
The canal was abandoned in 1914 but most of the pictures we have of their derelict state were taken in the 1990s. At that time there was still some evidence of the lock gates. As they would only have been derelict for some 15 to 20 years at the period we are modelling one can surmise that there would be a bit more of the gates and other bits still in situ. The lower lock will have very derelict lower gates and the remnants of the upper gate while the upper lock being near the lock keepers cottage will have more intact gates. 

  

Canal locks for Pendon

One of the last projects commissioned by the late Roger Haywood, Pendon modelling coordinator, was for the Wilts and Berks disused canal locks for the Vale scene and I was asked to make them. 

The canal became abandoned in 1914 and by the time of the Pendon scene they had fallen into a state of decay.

  
Two locks are required, one of which has a bridge over the lower end which carries a track from the nearby farm to the lock keepers cottage. Because of the distance the canal has to fall in the scene it has become necessary for each lock to have a 11 feet drop.

I have started work on the lower lock. The brickwork is being done with Howard’s Scenics embossed brick card as most of the brickwork will be covered in ivy and brambles. I have glued the embossed sheet to a card base and after painting it with a mortar wash I painted the bricks by the method described in the instructions. A mixture of water colour to the correct brick colour is applied by stamping with the cut surface of an eraser coated in the paint. When dry weathering powders were applied.

  
Because the lock is so deep I decided to make up one side and the base first. I then glued and painted plumbers hemp bundles to the base before assembling the second side and the associated  egg boxing for the scene. 

   
 
Once the scrim and plaster has been added work can start on preparing the surface of the lock and adding all the weeds etc. This lock will have the remains of the lower gates and part of the upper gate. 

Cowleaze Farm progress 2

I have turned my attention to the front of the farm. There is a gravel area and a front fence with two gates leading onto the drive to the garage.

The fencing is made from hoops of .41mm brass wire set into a strip of cardboard and then the horizontal wires are soldered on. The whole lot is then set into a slot in the ground plaster. This is an idea given to me by a fellow modeller Stuart Holt.

The gravel is represented by sprinkling chinchilla dust into wet masonry paint and when dry the worn paths were made by rubbing with a fibre glass pencil..

The gates are built up from evergreen plastic strip.

The next step is to finish the stone walls around the orchard and install all the various gates.

Cowleaze vegetable garden- finished

Well the growing season has been good and the garden is full of produce!

There are a lot of weeds growing around the garden. These are a mixture of static grass applied to thin amounts of PVA, plumbers hemp sprayed with varnish and then scatter added to represent nettle and some woodlands scenics dried grass strands dipped in PVA and then coloured and green scatter to represent rose bay willow herb.

It is amazing how much mess is created when doing this type of scenic work as can be seen in this photo of my work bench. Loads of different containers of scatter material, card, glue, paint and books for inspiration!

The next step will be to finish the stone walling around the orchard and front of the house and then move onto the detailing of the orchard.

Cowleaze garden progress

Well, the garden has been dug and the bean poles are up……

The soil as described before is a mix of filler, sawdust and PVA which has then had 4 or 5 washes of watercolour.. A mix of neutral tint, Chinese White and burnt umber with a dash of raw sienna. The paths are covered in fine sieved chinchilla dust rubbed down with emery cloth when dry and then toned in with weathering powder.

The bean poles are made from fine stems from a willow screen hiding the oil tank in our garden!

All that needs to be done now is plant all the various vegetables that I have been producing off site.

Fruit and Veg

I have started to produce the produce to go in the gardens of Cowleaze Farm. I have reblogged a description of how to do them from my other blog – Yeoton wharf

Yeoton Wharf

As part of the detailing of the scene I will need some garden and allotment details. I am also doing a scenic tray for Pendon Museum. I previously built a pair of workers cottages for Cowleaze farm;-

and I am now installing it and modelling the gardens to go with it.

I initially had a long session of making the various vegetables. I have used methods taught to me by Malcolm Smith when working at Pendon and have also taken ideas from a very good article written in an early Model Railway Journal [no. 5] by Chris Pilton. I have also experimented and worked out my own ideas.

Lettuces, Cabbages and Cauliflowers

The basis of these is punched out coloured tissue paper. Acid free tissue paper is first painted, on both sides, with watercoulours in the various shades for different vegetables. A strip is then cut and folded over and…

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Cowleaze Farm progress 1

I have been working on the area of the stable yard and the small garden at the end of the farmhouse. The buildings have been set into their bases and the gaps around filled with a filler/PVA mix. Weeds have been added using short static grass. The surface of the yard was basically already done but I have added some cobbles and a drainage channel using scribed filler and added weeds, a mound of manure and some wood awaiting cutting into logs for the house. Weathering powders were used to give some variation in colour to the yard surface. The farm was a fairly poor farm so will look rather run down as controlling weeds etc was not priority.

I have also begun to prepare the ground for the vegetable garden. The surface of the earth is a mixture of filler, sawdust, PVA and some Woodlands scenic earth pigment. This is based on the method described by Stephen Williams is his books on modelling Great Western branch lines . It will next be painted with a suitable earth colour after which it will be planted up but firstly all the various vegetable and fruit plants will need to be made!. More of that later.