Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

Thank you Ron,
I am just applying techniques and skills that I have learnt from reading in the model railway press, other modellers that I know, YouTube.....a great resource to learn anything, and most importantly by building kits.
I think building kits is a good way into scratch building. I have built a few and I guess you pick up some ideas, but also an understanding of how card buildings go together.
Building kits then led to modifying kits and that in turn led to having a go at scratch building.
I think building kits in the first instance, has given me the confidence and knowledge to get to where I am now.......but I must say it`s taken a bloomin` long time in my case.
The great leveler for me has been software ( LibreOffice Draw ) which allows me to accurately print out parts for buildings, rather than drawing them up freehand.
Some people can do it freehand and get good results, bit if I did it freehand, there would be lots of fudging and filling and wobbly buildings.....
Some people take to it like ducks to water, but I have had to feel my way along slowly and cautiously to arrive at where I am now.
Gormo

 

Yes it has changed over the years Gary,
It`s good to see that aerial view, which puts a couple of things into context
That big chimney at the end of the small annex was removed at some stage and the small weatherboard building has also been altered.
There is a join / extension about two thirds the way along now, which also changed the door arrangement.
As you know, I have taken elements of the buildings mostly from Bewdley, although I have borrowed from Hampton Loade as well, so my model is not a faithful representation of Bewdley, but rather a hybrid of the two stations.
Thanks for the pics.....it just adds more interest as I keep working on Bamford.
I got myself some fire buckets today from Woodpecker and some more station staff which will add interest.
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Just a little bit of image trickery here to show the difference between my station model and the real thing.
As I mentioned above, in my reply to Gary, Bamford is a hybrid model taking it`s bits and pieces from Bewdley and Hampton Loade.
So doing it by aerial methods......we have here a pic of my model taken from above.




We then do a little bit of digital magic and resize it and rotate it and place it next to the aerial view of Bewdley supplied by Gary.
You can see the real Bewdley has two main annexes each side of it`s booking hall, with a big chimney on each, whereas my model has only one. The booking hall end on my model favors Hampton Loade which is a much smaller station than Bewdley.





If we then slide the model across over the top of the real building, you can see it`s a close match, yet not identical.




Gormo

 

Gormo

 

The final piece of the puzzle.
Fire buckets from my local hobby store ...Woodpecker Model Railways.......12 buckets and two stands.
The weatherboard shed at Bewdley has fire buckets on it......so I thought I would do the same on my model.




I had to file the flash off the bottoms of the buckets , otherwise they are a clean model.
Two coats of Red




Then the stand was Blackened and the " F " on each bucket was given a light touch with Black.
The buckets were glued to the stand and then the stand was glued to the building.
I found an appropriate notice online and prepared that to be fixed to the building above the buckets.




So I won`t bother you all anymore with updates on Bamford Station building.......
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
I have placed Bamford Station buildings out on the layout, not permanently fixed yet, because the area behind the buildings has to be built up to the same height as the platform to support the back of the building.
I`m still sorting through my ideas for the best way to proceed with the layout of the town, and the ground works behind the station play an important part in that, however I think it will evolve as I fumble along with it.
One thing I know for sure is that I need some low relief buildings, so I`ve made a start by kit bashing one of my Superquick kits.
So this is the kit in question....two buildings for the price of one. I have started with the left hand grey building.





The building is nearly finished, but you can see I`ve changed the roof line and reduced the depth of the building considerably, actually it`s only about 15mm but it does make a difference.
I didn`t like the original roof line......call me crazy, say I`m nuts......but if I don`t like it....it`s gone......
Model railways are about empowerment .......you build it the way " you " want to build it......and that`s the end of the discussion in that regard.....





The white card is additional to the kit to strengthen it and also to create a sealed area for the lighting.....the top floor only, will be lit.





The visual changes to this kit, apart from the obvious changes to the dimensions, are as follows :-
Curtains and room backscenes
Quoins on the corners of the building
A new shop sign......Natalie is my daughter........everybody in the family gets a shop.
New covering on the shop roof and Scalescenes slates on the residence roof
New tile overlay under the shop windows
Colour matched cover strips for the outer corners of the shop
White cover strips for the corners at the entrance to the shop





All that is required now, is a back for the building, guttering and down pipes and some new small signs and a chimney......and weathering of course.
I have to build the chimney because I`ve changed the pitch of the roof......




These kits are basic and probably, in my estimation ,would be the next step down from Metcalfe.
The thing is that you can modify them and dress them up and at the end of the day, they scrub up OK.
It`s all about getting rid of those unsightly corners and if you want, you can even re-paint the kit.?

Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
As the number of buildings slowly increases on Bamford, I`m using Paul L`s suggestion from a few years back, of converting pics to grey scale to more accurately assess whether I`m on the right track or not.
By removing the colour influence from a pic, you get a better idea of how the scene is working......well it works for me anyhow......I`ve picked up on a couple of things already.
Here are some examples below.......nothing is set in concrete yet.....I`m still moving things around and re-arranging
First of all I used my image manipulation software ( GIMP ) to superimpose a grey road over the wood grain base I have there at the moment. That helped quite a lot.





Then went to Grey scale, and then I`m more aware of depth and shapes.





Another angle and things moved around......Natalie`s shop needs something next to it to draw you away from the fact that it is low relief.





More obvious in the Grey scale.





Here we are trying the buildings set an an angle to the back scene.





I think if the low relief shop butted right up to the back scene at a bit more of an angle, this would work, creating a pathway to the church in the background.




Well food for thought and much deliberating to be done.....
Anyhow, my junior engineers are here tomorrow and we hope to get a running session in. The train room is all neat and tidy and everything is running as it should......so all systems go...
More as it happens
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
A couple of new signs for the railway room.
A new Platform 1 MRC sticker that Gary kindly popped into the letter box last night.......
Very classy little sticker with bold colour choice.





And I finally laminated and installed my welcome sign for the Rivet Counters.
I felt it best to stop them at the door, rather than let them into the room.




Thanks for dropping by with the sticker Gary.....
Gormo

 

Okey dokey folks,
Another little building is under way.
This is the second part of the previous kit that was shown.
It`s progressing fairly quickly.....the Blue card under the shop roof is there to prevent light bleed because in this build, the shop will be lit.





The light bleed proofing is secured also to the back of the top front wall of the building





This is a downloaded image and will be fitted as the back wall of the shop about half way through the building. The digital read out will not be seen when it`s installed.
The fitted floor behind the image approximately matches the floor in the image.





Magazines fill the front windows.......these will be backlit and should look OK.





This building has also been cut down to make it semi low relief.





A paper covering has gone over the original roof and the shop sign will be changed as well.





The back wall of the shop has been fitted. I have cut a card ceiling to rest on top of the wall and also it will be glued to the white card under the windows.
The ceiling will have an LED fitted to it before being installed. I may even add a second LED to light the top floor.....not sure about that yet.?




More as it happens
Gormo

 

Thanks Gary,
Yes the details will come later though, once it`s installed.....It`s those little extra details that make a big difference to the presentation of the model as you know.
There are two panels either side of the shop door in the foyer which most likely are for displaying the latest headlines as well.?
Anyway, I`m up to putting an LED into the building , but that will be tomorrow.
The ceiling for the shop is built and holes drilled for the LED and wires.





The upper floor ceiling needs to be thin ( Guardian cereal box this time ) so I`ve reinforced it with some card beams........under weight below until the glue sets.





Test fitting the ceiling, plus windows have curtains now





And finally, I`ve created a new shop sign for my Son Adrian and his two boys.
They also own the news kiosk on GCJ mainline station
The sign was created in LibreOffice Draw using the dimensions from the kit version, and then it was glued to some cereal box card and fitted to the building. The sign has one coat of PVA over the face of it to seal the paper, and also it adds a slight sheen to the sign.




Tomorrow is another day for modelling......
Gormo

 

Hmmm..........that sounds like wishful thinking to me...???........
Gormo

 

Well there you are...????
Gormo