Shadowlands and Tellynott

[Mark Dalrymple]

I will definitely be following along again.

Thanks, Kurt.

Its feels like the forum might take a little while to get going.  Thanks for following along!

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Well, I'm back from our 2fatpossums modelling weekend away.  A bit of social goings on and catching up with our Blenheim friends, but still some good progress made - and a great time had by all - which is the most important thing!

So as this scratchbuild is BIG, rather than paint everything at once I did things a little at a time.  I started off with the bottom story.  Walls were first painted antique green, running a detail brush along under the laps of the weatherboards, bouncing to get an uneven line.  Once done an inside out gym sock was used to dry dab on some more colour.  This is my way of trying to get the paint where it should be on the structure.  Dry sponging or gym socking alone leaves the structure with paint mostly missing from under the laps, which is exactly where the most paint should be.  After drying I added nail holes and a few joins and lifted boards and then gave each wall a wash with my alcohol and black leather dye mix.  The corner trim was painted in the same way using unbleached titanium.  I don't wash with A&I when using white.  Windows were painted while still attached to the painters tape using a brush with short stumpy bristles, kind of jabbing north, south, west and east.  Windows were glazed and blinds added.  I braced the centre of the walls and added the corner trim to the gable walls.  I then added bracing right next to the corner trim.  I was gifted this siding and it was thicker than the Northeastern walls that I usually use.  This meant the 6x6's that I normally use would have required rebates to be cut out of the back of every second wall.  This sounded like a pain so I went with 8x8's instead.  This is still prototypical, and several kit manufacturers use 8x8 corner trim - including Master Creations (although Master Creations actually use two pieces of 8x1 or 8x2 glued over the clapboard which is but jointed).

Photo 1 - shows the first story complete.


Photo 2 - Here we are with the second story added.  I cut a base from some 1.5mm styrene and glued three walls around it.  This sub assembly was then glued to the second story gable shown in photo 1.  The same thing was done again with a second sub assembly and this was glued in place with the left hand wall glued to the gable corner trim shown in photo 1.  Finally I cut, fitted and added the last gable wall.  There was a bit of time spent on this bit it all went pretty smoothly.


Photo 3 - a view from the front. A scratchbuilt freight door will be added to the second story.


Photo 4 - shows the left end.


Photo 5 - shows a close up of the Tichy Train Group corbels.  I think these add a great deal of interest.  I still have lots more of these to go.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

That looks great Mark. I love the detailing along with the wall covering and coloring.

[GPdemayo]

Great start Mark.....this will be a great addition to your layout. 

[Mark Dalrymple]

That looks great Mark. I love the detailing along with the wall covering and coloring.

Thanks, Curt.

The Tichy Train Group corbels are a bit more ornate than those on the original kit.  I was a little worried they might look too much, but on the contrary, I think they make the structure 'pop'.  the fans were Alexander  castings that I filed to fit within the frame of Tichy work car windows.  There is a cupola that runs the length of the taller of the two storied sections and I have 24 of these windows painted up for here.  I may only need 22 or 20.  I will add 6x6 trim between each window.  the scratchbuilt doors will use 6x1 and 2x1 timber and probably 8x2 and 6x2 for the frames.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great start Mark.....this will be a great addition to your layout. 

Thanks, Greg.

Yep - it should look good there.  Originally I intended to build a concrete complex based on Wilsons cement works in Warkworth, New Zealand.  It is a fantastic structure, but in making a mock-up for it, it soon became obvious that I would need to compress the complex so much that it lost its proportions and much of the wow factor would need to be omitted.  It's another example of always seeming to have 10% less space than you want.  I've added a link which should take you to a short article and a great picture of the complex.  So cool!

https://discover.stqry.app/en/story/9364

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

You can see I have now built the annex and the shipping/ storage facility.









More soon, cheers, Mark.

[jerryrbeach]

Mark,

I am impressed with how you once again managed to design and construct a complex structure; one that looks eminently like a building that would exist in the real world.  Kudos for not only the design, but also the execution.  The fit and finish is exceptional, too.  I'm definitely following along and looking forward to your continued progress.

Thanks for taking the time to share your modeling.

[GPdemayo]

Great progress Mark.....

[Mark Dalrymple]

I am impressed with how you once again managed to design and construct a complex structure; one that looks eminently like a building that would exist in the real world.  Kudos for not only the design, but also the execution.  The fit and finish is exceptional, too.  I'm definitely following along and looking forward to your continued progress.

Thanks for taking the time to share your modeling.

Thanks very much, Jerry.

At present, this newly opened site doesn't seem to have much traffic, and so I was not in a rush to post an update.  Comments like yours certainly help motivate me!  I always try hard to think about the terrain that was there before the buildings came.  It makes such a difference if you can make the structures look like they were built into the existing landscape.  When working on the diorama last night I got out the instructions from my one and only South River Modelworks kit - Thorndike Mills - and was reading about their philosophy on siting kits and see it is exactly the same as mine.  Maybe that is why I always liked Bob's designs so much!

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great progress Mark.....

Thanks so much, Gregory.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Well I spent yesterday playing around with plaster castings for the canal walls. I also decided my canal wasn't quite deep enough to allow a drop in height for the sluice gates and allow a bridge across the river on the main line which is a little lower than the pulp mill trackage. Firstly I attacked the base again with my skill saw - cutting 6mm out of the 16mm MDF and then attached with a hammer and chisel. I then measured and cut a small piece of 16mm MDF to raise the canal height for the sluice gate.

Photo 1 - Show an overall view of the canal. You can see I will have to create some suspended walkways for those doors. The main mill and hopper share part of the canal retaining walls as foundations. I'm thinking the right front of this photo is where the outlet pipe will go. I will put another drop in canal bed height before here.


Photo 2 - shows a view down the canal. I cut a couple of double track bridge abutments in half, to height and then reduced their thickness. These became my bridge abutments for the two mill tracks. I wanted to create some negative and positive detail. The double abutments had been cast some months ago and so were nicely cured.


Photo 3 - shows the sluice gate and the start of the sluice gate wall. The sluice gate was a wills kit. The kit comes with two sluice gates in parallel that operate as one - I cut the kit in half. I immediately snapped the plastic shaft in half by looking at it and so used a pin as a replacement shaft. You can see I glued in a piece of 16mm MDF to get some change in riverbed height. This scales out to about 4' 8".



Photo 4 - shows the grooves I cut into the top of the abutments for the timber beams that will support the trackage.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[deemery]

I was reading about Wilson Portland Cement, and then looked at North Island geology.  I wondered where they got the limestone.  There seems to be a patch of limestone near Warkworth, which I guess makes sense.  Some of the other deposits in the area are ash-rich, the same as the famous Pozzuoli stuff that makes Roman Concrete, which can cure under water and is much stronger than "regular" concrete.  It's fun to put to use what I learned from the geology courses I've taken the last couple of years.

The start of the canal, including the sluice gate, looks great!  I had some custom NE Brownstone castings for a curved canal wall on my previous layout.  (I still have that section of layout, but I couldn't find a way to use it in the current layout.)

dave

[Mark Dalrymple]

I was reading about Wilson Portland Cement, and then looked at North Island geology.  I wondered where they got the limestone.  There seems to be a patch of limestone near Warkworth, which I guess makes sense.  Some of the other deposits in the area are ash-rich, the same as the famous Pozzuoli stuff that makes Roman Concrete, which can cure under water and is much stronger than "regular" concrete.  It's fun to put to use what I learned from the geology courses I've taken the last couple of years.

The start of the canal, including the sluice gate, looks great!  I had some custom NE Brownstone castings for a curved canal wall on my previous layout.  (I still have that section of layout, but I couldn't find a way to use it in the current layout.)

Thanks so much, Dave.

I used to spend summers staying with relations on a farm in Warkworth as a kid.  Happy days.  It sounds like you're getting a lot out of your course.  I also did a workshop with Russ in Scranton, 2015 modelers expo.  Using those plaster caving techniques you can get some pretty realistic results - its just time consuming.

Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting, cheers, Mark.

[Janbouli]

Looking great , love the colors and detailing and the way the structures are going to be planted with the canal running through , can't wait to see it finished.