Winter Challenge 25-26 - Fiordland Lobster Company - Tellynott Depot

[Larry C]

Mark that's quite the building. Your imagineering techniques are really good; but I think you'll be seeing windows in your sleep after this build.

[elwoodblues]

YIPES Mark !!!!!   At the rate you going you are going to be finished in a week.  

That is one huge building.  I just moved my chair closer to the front.

[deemery]

YIPES Mark !!!!!   At the rate you going you are going to be finished in a week. 

That is one huge building.  I just moved my chair closer to the front.

All but the window glazing :-(  

dave

[Mark Dalrymple]

I think Middlesex Mfg is one of the all time great kitbashing kits.  I always enjoy seeing big buildings and good kitbashes.

dave

Thanks, Dave.

Its very handy having such big walls.  It means a lot less splicing together.  My favourite so far would be the Heljan brewery and malt house.  I've created two large kitbashes on my layout from one kit and I still have walls left over.  The Walthers American Hardware co. is another good one.  Like the DPM M T Arms hotel, it has two walls of one design and two walls of another.  I find these sorts of kits very versatile, especially if you buy two of them.  Milwaukee beer and ale is another good one.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Mark that's quite the building. Your imagineering techniques are really good; but I think you'll be seeing windows in your sleep after this build.

Thanks, Larry.

I guess it makes a change from sheep!

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

YIPES Mark !!!!!   At the rate you going you are going to be finished in a week. 

That is one huge building.  I just moved my chair closer to the front.

Thanks, Ron.

Never fear - the painting will take a lot longer!

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Photo 1 - Shows the splice of the end wall to the front and back wall.  Whenever I splice a wall that has a 45degree chamfer on it I tack the walls together and then lay a bead of plastic rod in the rebate.  More CA is then added to create a strong bond.


Photo 2 - The foundation sections were cut off one group of three walls and then three 8-story walls were created.  These were then glued together.  I fabricated some square pieces of 1.5mm styrene and glued between all the floors to keep the tower square and true (two of these are visible in photo 3).  I fabricated a brick insert to lay in the door opening on the fifth floor of the main wall.  The elevator tower was then glued to the main wall.  I cut the small piece of roof off the main roof piece and trimmed the cornice for a good fit.


Photo 3 - Problem number two.  This kit, like most plastic kits, is not designed with painting in mind.  Indeed, most people building a kit like this assemble it in factory colours and simply place it on the layout.  Windows and glazing are glued in place before adding the tower to the main wall.  I wanted to prime and paint the entire structure before adding windows.  This meant there would be no access to install the windows to the tower after it had been glued to the main wall.  Again, I used a small drill to drill holes in the corners of 8 openings and used a knife, scriber and dremel to remove the plastic from the main wall behind the elevator tower windows.  In this photo you can see I have removed the bottom five pieces.


Photo 4 - Here I have used my razor saw to cut a vertical line through the cornice and a chisel blade to remove the excess.  This is to fit the side wall from the M T Arms Hotel kitbash.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Below is a bit of background about how this diorama fits into my layout's imagined reality.
We recently when on a short holiday to visit the locale of my Shadowlands and Tellynott Railroad.  It is something I have been wanting to do for a long time.  It is a beautiful part of the world, with one of the highest annual rainfalls, and this leads to a land cloaked in a thousand different shades of green.

Photo 1 - Shows the bridge over the Arawhata River, a few miles before Jacksons Bay.  This is the sort of river valley I can imagine my geared locomotives chuffing through as they embark on the 4% ruling grades.  At the far side of this river was a shingle road that went a further 20km south, as far as it is possible to drive south in South Westland.


Philosophy

Tellynott is my representation of Jacksons Bay, South Westland, New Zealand, and what might have been if the 1870's settlement had progressed as first intended.  A haphazard town has developed on the steep terrain surrounding the bay and Tellynott has become the hub for the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.  It is the closest port to Australia, the closest port to the Haast Pass, the lowest pass across the Southern Alps, and surrounded by seas with great fishing.  Fiordland is some 80 kilometres south of Tellynott, and the waters between are home to the Fiordland crayfish (New Zealand Southern Rock Lobster).  This delicacy is highly prized for its exceptionally sweet and succulent meat.  The Tasman Sea is also abounded with plentiful supplies of Tarakihi, Blue Cod, Snapper and Hoki.  Salmon and Trout were introduced to local rivers in the area, and these are brought to the plant along with whitebait by rail.  Shellfish and Oysters are also harvested and processed at the plant.  In my fictional story the Tellynott depot of the Fiordland Rock Lobster company was first constructed in the early 1880's.  The original structure has been kept and is the timber structure by the sea (hopefully I will have time to scratchbuild this structure as part of this years challenge).  The saltwater environment has been harsh over the past 50 years, and this old wooden structure is rather run down.  As the company expanded, various other buildings were built or acquired over time.  This created a bit of a hodgepodge appearance, with various aerial walkways and small extensions clinging to the side of some of these larger structures.  As my layout is set in the early 1930's, Shadowlands is still in a deep depression, and so things are generally pretty run down.

Photo 2 - A view of the Tasman Sea from Jacksons Bay, over the grave of one of the original settlers.


Photo 3 - A panoramic photo of Jacksons Bay from the wharf.  This wharf was supposed to be built in the 1870's but finally arrived some 60+ years late.  In my alternative reality this wharf was built as the government of the day promised, leading to a thriving settlement.  Those steep hills covered in forest is where my town of Tellynott is located.


Photo 4 - The sign which spawned an idea.  You can see the actual Jacksons Bay depot of the Fiordland Rock Lobster Company is somewhat smaller than my version.  But I really liked the 'Fiordland' name helping place my layout locale.  Everyone knows where Fiordland is!


Photo 5 - A view of the Cascade River at the end of the 20km Jacksons River Road, over the martyr Pass.  The Hermitage Swamp is one of the largest unmodified wetlands in New Zealand and produces abundant whitebait.  This used to be flown to markets by small aircraft.


The Walther's Fireproof Warehouse kit came with a good number of brick inserts for the openings.  I will paint these a different colour from the rest of the kit to help give the feel of change over time, as if a different brick was used at a later date to brick over the windows.  I will add various scratchbuilt aerial walkways suspended from the side of some of the structures to help convey this history of change.  Painting and weathering will employ techniques to accentuate the age and hard life of the structures and the salt air.

I feel that larger industries appear more realistic on a layout and provide more realistic operation.  I will apply this ideal to the Tellynott depot of the Fiordland Rock Lobster Company by joining together various structures with aerial elevators and walkovers.  This will visually connect the different buildings within the complex, making it appear a much larger industry, and also give a sense of logic to the diorama.  I'm still researching the time appropriate processing methods of the various seafood and river foods, and appropriate details will be added as the scene develops.  This sense of logic expands into my wider layout, with a lot of thought put into the logic of the roads in Tellynott.  Indeed, this is the reason for a road disappearing 'through' the back of this Walther's kitbash.  I also spent several hours working on the track design to get aesthetically pleasing spurs to service the industry.

Photo 6 - Inspiration for the suspended walkways hanging on the side of the larger structures.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[jerryrbeach]

Mark,

Beautiful photos and a great explanation about the planning that went into your layout.  As I'm sure you know, I'm a big fan!

[jbvb]

Nice background information about your project. Looking at Fiordland here and elsewhere on the net makes me think about visiting NZ, but so far I've never been south of the equator in those longitudes.

When I join styrene wall panels edge-to-edge, I fill the joint with tube (model airplane) styrene cement, perhaps placing a styrene sheet reinforcement over it.

[deemery]

Nice background information about your project. Looking at Fiordland here and elsewhere on the net makes me think about visiting NZ, but so far I've never been south of the equator in those longitudes.

I've been down the west coast of South Island, although not as far south as Mark's layout.  It's absolutely worth the journey.  

dave

[Mark Dalrymple]

Mark,

Beautiful photos and a great explanation about the planning that went into your layout.  As I'm sure you know, I'm a big fan!

Thank you for your kind words, Jerry.

I was trying to give context to the diorama I am building for this challenge.  Question one asks about your philosophy, approach and techniques used when building your diorama.  I felt I needed to set the scene in order to show the thinking behind my actions.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Nice background information about your project. Looking at Fiordland here and elsewhere on the net makes me think about visiting NZ, but so far I've never been south of the equator in those longitudes.

When I join styrene wall panels edge-to-edge, I fill the joint with tube (model airplane) styrene cement, perhaps placing a styrene sheet reinforcement over it.

Thanks, James.

Keep an eye on my layout thread.  I'm updating again and I will be adding a few photos from our trip.  I took 688 photos while away!  There certainly wont be that many, but I think it is good to set the scene of where my fictional layout resides in my alternative history.

Cheers, Mark.

[Rick]

Certainly an interesting project with all the cutting up of kit walls to make something new.
Great design and what you've done so far looks very good.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Certainly an interesting project with all the cutting up of kit walls to make something new.
Great design and what you've done so far looks very good.

Thanks, Rick.

I do enjoy cutting up kits and making something new!  Plodding away at things.  It was a bit too windy at the dog show today to make much progress.  I got some windows glazed ready for installation.

Cheers, Mark.