Shadowlands and Tellynott

[PRR Modeler]

Everything looks great Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Thanks for your encouragement, Jerry, Karl and Curt. It is always great to hear.

Well I got a bit more done yesterday being modeling Thursday, and then followed on with a bit more between watching the Olympics on TV last night.

Photo 1 - shows the loading docks.  I ripped the bottom offcuts of the two left front walls down to the correct height.  I cut the concrete paving down to the correct width and mitered the 12degree join.  I filed the back of the paving to custom fit it to the wall and then attached the rippings to the underside of the paving at the front, leaving a small quirk.  I cut and added styrene the same height as the rippings to the back.  The rippings were then cut/ sanded to length and a short piece mitered onto the left end.  It seems nice, and fitting, to have a concrete loading dock and is in keeping with the rest of the structure.

Photos 2 & 3 - show the roofs in place.  I traced the base onto a spare piece of 1.5mm styrene before adding walls and so was able to cut this out and start with a pretty close fit.  I added stripwood strips to the interior walls of the structure, measuring down 3.5 or 5.5mm from the top of each wall (depending on whether the wall had trim on it or not.  I will add trim - 4.8mmx2mm - to those walls that don't have it factory).  The roof pieces were then sanded, or small slithers added, to get a good fit.  When adding slithers I glue a larger piece of styrene to the edge, sanding both surfaces to get a good seam.  I CA one edge and press the pieces together on a flat surface on top of lunch paper.  I then trim the additional piece of styrene with a sharp knife leaving a slither and sand to fit.  The roof pieces are all still removable at this stage.

Photo 4 - Here we have one of those nasty problems I sometimes run into - especially when doing a longer kitbash.  For whatever reason (maybe compounding error, maybe one of the factory edges being slightly off square) my structure ended up with a rise off the ground at each end.  Photos 3 & 4 show this slightly - but is actually a stray offcut of styrene underneath that I didn't notice - the structure sits nice and flat now.  After living with the problem for a day I decided the only solution was to either live with it (which I couldn't) or run a knife down the front and back join of where the sloping front wall meets the 3-storied wall and prize apart.  I did this and then added wedges to the gap and rejoined.  I will strengthen this from behind, tape and putty, and then come up with a nice detail to hide.  I'm thinking some outside sewer pipework to suggest there is a toilet in the top corner of the 3-story section of the building.  There will be a roof over the loading dock, and so that will disguise a little, and then I can add some details in the corner of the loading dock.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Another great weekend of modeling was had at our annual Trainz weekend.  There were a few talks on various topics which you could choose to sit in on or otherwise work away quietly at your project(s).  There were around 30 attending.

I spent the week leading up to the weekend using my modeling time to come up with a project for the weekend.  I figured I needed one more structure to the right of Tickner's watchworks, and so I tried various ideas in the small spot.  The area is basically a reversed  capital L shape, approximately 270mm long and 70mm wide at the left end with a 50mm step out about half way along.  The right end has the back of the reversed L cut off where the one lane road curves down towards the track.  I tried a kitbash of Magnuson models powerhouse, but it just didn't look right, especially at the left end where the end wall just looked too small between the track and the single lane road.  I scanned, sized and printed walls and made a cardboard mockup after designing.  Next I tried a bash of Bar Mills shipyard brewing co.  Again the left end looked wrong - especially with the triangle shaped wall not ending against the backdrop.  Again, walls were scanned, sized and printed and a mockup built - actually two different iterations were built.   I had almost resigned myself to a small structure - and was playing around with ideas for a flipped (left to right) version of Fos Scale models Mathias spring and wire co when I remembered Steam era models layflatte linoleum works.  This was an O-scale kit I found pictures of online recently after watching a scratchbuild of the organ works.  Finding that structure was one of those 'holly hell! I've got to scratchbuild that!' moments.  I did some playing around with sizing from the two pictures I could find of it, and decided that with some tweaking I could make it work.  I decided I could have a cast concrete skyway crossing the one lane road to the structure behind, and have some of the chimneys (I guess that is what they are?) running along the top of this.  I started on this mockup and got it far along enough to convince myself that it would work.  By then it was the weekend and so I had to scramble to find things to do!

Firstly - here is a link to a photo of the kit.

https://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/steamera/index.html

The tower at the left end really helps to disguise the thinness of the site.  I was able to find room to allow the ridge of the weatherboard section to the right of the tower to be back from the one lane road by approximately 20mm - allowing enough room for the two copulas.  There was also room for a loading platform in front of this weatherboard section and the step forwards fitted perfectly with my track design.

Photo 1 - shows the plan.

Photo 2 - shows a close up of the mockup.  I spent a few hours over the weekend finishing off this mockup.

Photos 3-5 - show the mockup from further back.

More in a sec, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi again.

I also spent a bit of time working on Burkes station scratchbuild doing various small projects.  Neil had found the signal tower interior kit, and so I assembled the signal levers and painted them, I painted the chimney and roofed the ticket office.

The rest of my modeling time I spent painting my Tickner's Watchworks kitbash.  I painted the walls with two coats of Woodland Scenics concrete and followed up with a light wash of AI.  Windows were painted moss green and doors were earth, both from Ammo by Mig Jimenez.  It is my first time using these paints and I found they flowed very well - more like enamels.  I still have touch ups to do, and a lot of weathering.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Looks great Mark.

[S&S RR]

Mark


Great work - and it sounds like you had a great time.

[postalkarl]

hey Mark:

What can I say. Looks just beautiful so far. Following along with much interest.

[ACL1504]

Mark, Cheers,

I've always liked the Magnuson Tinker's Watchworks. I have two of them and really like how you kit bashed the structure. I'm not sure how I'll kit bash mine but I do plan on using them both on the A&S RR.

Wonderful job on the coloring of the concrete. I'm going to copy that. 

Tom 

[Mark Dalrymple]

Thanks you very much Curt, John, Karl and Tom for following along and commenting.

Curt - Thanks for being my number 1 fan!  It means a lot to have you stopping by so frequently, and applauding from the sidelines.

John - it was a great weekend and very timely, because as of midnight last night the whole country has gone into stage 4 lockdown for only the second time since the pandemic started, after a single case of the delta variant was found in the community.  Being a small island nation we have managed to exist very normally throughout the pandemic by 'going hard and going early'.  This strategy continues, especially after watching our Australian neighbours taking a more laid back approach recently which has backfired.  This new variant is a different animal, and we will have to wait to see if we can successfully stamp it out quickly.  The first time we went into lockdown (March 2020) we had two days notice and I was able to stock up on building supplies.  This time the announcement was made at 6pm and lockdown began at midnight.  I'm sure I will be able to find plenty to do if it should last awhile!  The county is not far through the vaccine program, but my wife and I are due for our second jabs next week.

Karl - I'm pleased to be keeping you interested.  I like to flesh out my mockups and working process to let people know that that big city look is often preceded by a good number of failures.  The linoleum company was no exception.  By the way - I love the 'Layflatte' name - there will have to be a big sign somewhere!

Tom - I did find this one hard work - with many problems that I believe shouldn't have been there - especially the air bubbles. That first front wall was so bad that I don't think it was possible that it was examined before being put in the box.  When you compare it with the likes of Kibri, Walthers Cornerstone, City Classics and others... Their saving grace is their uniqueness.  George Sellios has tons of these kits on the S&FM - but if you look closely almost every corner join has been hidden or disguised in some fashion.  I certainly had to do a lot of putty work to get the corners acceptable.  I still keep finding blemishes, but I kind of reached saturation point and said 'that's good enough'.  The colouring on Tichner's Watchworks was something I have found very good on plaster.  On plaster I used the Woodland Scenics concrete wash - on this resin structure I used full strength concrete over grey primer.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Well I thought I'd move on to a bit of historical research. I always try to find an establishment in new Zealand within the time frame I'm modeling to base my structures on. This helps with realism, but also gives a nice backstory to my structures, the people who own it or work there, and hints at interactions which may have taken place in Tellynott. In short it helps to give Tellynott personality. I was quite keen to keep this structure as a watchmaker or jeweler, and so went about searching for New Zealand Jewelers, historical, on Google. Now a name is everything and as many of you will know we have for many years had Bullmastiffs. Their kennel name is Little Ridge. Paired with this my son has a sharpei called John. So when I found a New Zealand jeweler in the correct time frame called 'Littlejohn and Son' I was over the moon! Some of the information I could find out about this company also worked well, and helps with signage, details, shop layout and wider tangents within the community. Littlejohn and Son was established in 1879 and is a maker of jewellery, chronometers, clocks, watches, instruments and optical goods. Machinery includes lathes and planing machines. The optical department is kept separate and has contrivances for lens grinding, drilling and other needs. The building is three stories high and employs 16 staff. Littlejohn and Son is responsible for many of the recognisible clocks seen around New Zealand, particularly many of the turret clocks seen on post office buildings. Lots of cool ideas here!

I made up a veranda using black card, high tack tape and 6"x2" stripwood.  I attached three LED's over the freight doors which I had trimmed from a line of 100 and attached to a 51K resister and a 9V battery.  I think this gives off a nice mellow light.  I will make up a few boxes to put around some of the windows and add interior details and light.  Its the two Woodland Scenics nano lights for $18NZ which has forced me to do this.  I think their lampposts etc aren't bad value and most are pretty nice looking details, but if I were to put just three lights in every structure in Tellynott that would cost $5400NZ for the nano lights alone!  I bought 2500 resisters for $10NZ and 100 tiny LED's for $7NZ.

Photo 1 - shows the three LED's over the loading dock.

I have also preped and primed a good number of Rusty Rails castings for detailing.  I'm in the process of painting these.  I recently watch a Jason Jensen video on painting castings.  Jason spent 3 full days painting his castings.  I asked him how many hours he spent.  His answer was that he didn't count the hours, but it was three long days.  I understand that Jason often stays up into the wee small hours working on such things so I might expect 12 hour days, but even if it was 10 that's still 30 hours of painting detailing castings.  If I was to only paint on my modeling Thursday afternoons, I might expect to take between 10 and 12 weeks to accomplish the same results!  Its a nice way of putting things in perspective when you feel like you aren't making a lot of progress.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Jerry]

Beautiful work!


Jerry

[deemery]

Mark is the expert at making urban scenes look "organic," with all of the buildings looking like they fit into the urban space.


dave

[Mark Dalrymple]

Beautiful work!

Thanks very much, Jerry.

Still painting castings...

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Mark is the expert at making urban scenes look "organic," with all of the buildings looking like they fit into the urban space.

Thanks for the lovely comment, Dave.

And remember my motto, if things feel like they are getting too cramped, jamb more in!

Cheers, Mark.

[postalkarl]

Hey Mark:

Looks just great so far. Can't wait I see this finished.

Karl