'Cameo Callaton'

jonte

Western Thunderer
Looking good, Mick, and the incline sounds a really original way to shield the exit point.

And a very Merry Christmas to you too.

jonte
 

76043

Western Thunderer
Blooming brilliant progress and modelling Mick, reminds me I need to get me skates on. Nice to have finally met at Warley, BTW.
Tony
 
Callaton

Simpas

Western Thunderer
Hello again everyone, an eventful festive season out of the way and now back to some modelling.

Things have moved on a little in the last few days. The first two pictures were taken just before Christmas and show my attempts at improving the stonework with a method of scribing the quoins and joined using my Heath Robinson method of sticking them together. Put an engineers square on and cut down guessing at a 45 degree angle as I went. It's surprising how accurate it can be. New blade required almost every time though otherwise the blade 'gathers' expanded polystyrene as it goes and makes the cut messy. The first one was just an experiment, but picture two will be getting used.

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Below is a shot showing the rough setting out with the incline trackbed base still sitting on a piece of brass. I've changed my mind about this now and reverted to just using the plastic that was stuck on top of the brass and it seems as though it is solid enough as is.

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The final shot below illustrates considerable progress from those above. I have decided to top and tail the stonework with thick card to give the construction a bit of strength with a string course parapet and pilasters extending upwards. The parapet is more regular in construction than the abutments as seen in some prototype constructions. The coping and cap stones are just thinner card and at the moment the units are still separate. My intention is to fix the track bed in place soon and that will make it a single construction which will help when fitting the girders. The stonework needs a little bit of fettling with some coping stones still to add and then the whole lot needs undercoating. I'm going to paint the bridges as a complete separate unit and add them once certain of the other scenic work is further on such as track painting and ballasting because I dont want to have to protect the finish on the stone while airbrushing the track.

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Although I have used a mix of PVA and Deluxe Materials 'Foam Armour' to stick the foam together I have used two part epoxy to glue the cardboard courses on and the same stuff to continue the stonework pilasters and parapets above. The layer of card upon which the units sit will be masked by the scenic groundwork embellishments. I'm reasoanbly happy with it so far. Shown in the area on the far side of the bridge is a piece of scribed polystyrene which will form the retaining wall at the back.

Mick S.
 
Callaton

Simpas

Western Thunderer
Just to show everything isn't always nice and neat, here I have started building the 'hills' before the track is even ballasted. There is a good reason for this - the bridge abutments and retaining walls etc are all just sitting on the layout i.e. not fixed. Until the track is ballasted and a lot of the messy work related to land contours is completed (or at least well on the way) they will not be fixed because the foamboard is a bit fragile and I want to try and avoid damaging it and having to re do the lot or try to repair it in situ. The picture below shows I have in fact fixed the main retaining wall (seen loose in the last picture) to the bridge abutment, filled and made good the joint showing the 'batter' with a bit of polyfiller. The retaining walls are of course just in place in this view for your benefit. Astute observers will also be able to see sundry tools and a couple of girder bridge sides lying about, not to mention a myriad of lill pins holding the lattice work card strips in place while the glue sets.

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The next shot illustrates the relative ease with which my scenic work can commence with nothing around that is going to get damaged. The lattice card structure has been covered with one ply paper towels soaked in PVA and left to dry out giving quite a substantial result.
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Just for effect I have dropped the stone work on so I can see how it's going and spur myself on. Note the girder bridges are loosely in place but need cutting to length. O, aye tha ganna need a birra colour on them anaal...! (they need painting too..!)
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This last bit of work took place last week and to be honest I don't know where I found the time to take the pictures but you can see I have had a go at painting the stonework and laying a bit of ground cover. The cover is basic Woodland Scenics flock over which I intend to lay static grass. Yes, you're right the lower part of retaining wall is at this stage still a separate item.
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The next shot is the result of my first attempt at using static grass on the disused three rail section of the self acting incline that forms the scenic break at the left hand end using one of those battery operated applicators. Don't ask me how you get many many volts through what looks like a tea strainer with two AA batteries - it's 'electrickery' as Catweazle used to say...! Remember him? ("come touchwood, truly thou art my brother in magic")
The stonework is still not fixed. I did need to make some reasonable progress with the sccenics because I had agreed to take it to Model Rail Scotland which is where I spent this last weekend. The little effort was fairly well received notwithstanding the fact its operational potential is somewhat limited...! I did a bit more work on the foreground as a temporary measure which made Callaton more pleasing to view but because this was temporary and I haven't got any pictures I'll probably not post how it appeared north of the border because it will be slightly different next time. It was avery useful exercise in terms of logistics and, oh yes, nearly forgot, I did have a backscene in place and there is an interesting tale to tell regarding that but more about that next time, as indeed there is about the ballasting...!
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Re the stonework - I'm in two minds whether to apply further washes of paint. Have a look at a bridge abutment below. This is Nicholson Tce. bridge close to where I live. It's on the old Tyne Dock to Consett Steelworks, line. As one of my modelling friends says to me sometimes 'less is more' so I may attempt a modicum of subtle weathering, maybe.......maybe not.!

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More next time.
Mick S.
 

76043

Western Thunderer
The stone work looks really great as it is, but I can see the desire to make it look like the Tyne Dock bridge. Sometimes more just becomes a mess, well it does when I do it anyway!
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Hi Mick.

This is fascinating! Daughter was at Uni in Sunderland, and if we stayed during a visit we'd get fish and chips at the Smelters Arms at Castleside, Consett. That was a bit after the steelworks closed, and if I'd realised how accessible it was I'd have seen the 9Fs.

Brian
 

Simpas

Western Thunderer
The stone work looks really great as it is, but I can see the desire to make it look like the Tyne Dock bridge. Sometimes more just becomes a mess, well it does when I do it anyway!

Tony, thanks for your comments. I'm not going to do anything else to the stonework for a while (if at all) and certainly nothing drastic.

cheers
Mick S.
 
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Cameo Callaton

Simpas

Western Thunderer
Aye, it's been a while....!

Don't know where the time has gone - well yes I do, grandchildren, garden, exhibiting and you guessed it, false starts. Not necessarily in that order either.

On the assumption that you don't want pictures of exhibitions, grandchildren (lovely though they are) or the garden, here are the false starts; I did promise last time to tell the tale of the backscene. I bought myself a Gaugemaster 108" sky backscene from my local vendor thinking this is the way to produce a wide open space at the rear of the very un deep baseboard. How do I apply it? Well I chose (wisely it seems) to use wallpaper paste but first I thought - what if it needs to come off? Good thinking Simpson, seal the thin ply backscene first with PVA and then you be able to remove it just like we do wallpaper - remember wall paper? Wey thez nee waalpaipa in wor hoose noo tha knaas, cos shee dizn't lykit (we don't use wallpaper in our home, my good lady wife keeps things simple so we paint walls).

I sealed the plywood and because the Gaugemaster product comes in three pieces I decided to use two of the lengths, cut and pasted (that has nothing to do with computers mind...!) with the 'join' appearing at the right hand end behind some trees. Everything went extremely well, I was sure I had matched the shades of sky correctly....................... hmmmm

Oh no I hadn't, I matched the colours when one was wet and the other was drying and when they dried out completely the difference in shade could be seen from the other side of the room . However my fallback was to do a bit of wallpaper stripping and go back for another backscene. The supplier of backscenes only stocks one of each different type "I can order one for you....." (three days before the Glasgow show? - Nope) I picked another one with countryside well down in the picture. At this point I decided to put the thing on in three pieces - the centre and two roughly equal sides. It's gone OK I think but as ever when you've done something there's always a better way which you only discover afterwards. It's that exact science 'hindsight'. If I was to re-paper (and I might) I would put on the first main piece then leave till completely dry before adding the outer ones. This way I think the likelihood of there being even the slightest gap at the join due to shrinkage while drying would be greatly reduced.

In the first picture below, the very fine white line in the backscene can just be discerned - look above right side of the front girder on the closest bridge. (girders not yet glued in place)

The bogie bolster is a very old 'N' kit that I carved up and spent a very long time making true to 2mm scale because when bought it was almost 'TT' scale. The palisade fencing is something I asked Bob Jones to do for me and is a really good representation of this modern security fencing. He still has lots of it for anyone interested. I had arranged the fencing differently but whan carrying the layout using the handle my index finger had a habit of going into the scenic section to steady while I was holding it and - well, you know what I'm going to say, I flattened the fence - not what you want. The grass in the foreground is laid on automotive masking tape as a temporary measure because having moved the fence to avoid damage I created an opportunity to install some allotments, which is not too far from the truth because there are stories of drivers on the Callerton 'trip' cadging vegetables when returning to Tyne Yard....! The representation of bramble bushes on the abandoned self acting incline and atop the grassed area are the results of some experimentation with postiche, luks arlreet lyk...! (is pleasing to view)

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Below is a shot with some stock, just to prove I have some. The 40 is Graham Farish's latest sound fitted offering and is a cracking model. The number has been changed prior to getting a good weathering. Other vehicles in shot are, a VGA for the explosives, HEA as a barrier vehicle and on the 'main line' in the background an air piped brake van, an essential part of the consist that was 6P03.

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Below is a view you probably will never see in a model magazine and maybe one of the drawbacks of a very small project. The LED lighting needs to be diffused. I have seen the results of the efforts of others using nothing more technical than tracing paper. You can see here I haven't quite made up my mind what the exact detail of the right hand side will be. There is going to be a PTE bus repair facility though and I'm looking forward to carving up a couple of Atlanteans to represent them at varying stages of repair. I'm also busy with some Laurie Adams' point rodding and a two lever ground frame. The trees are 'forest in a box' and because I'm wanting to portray a winter/early spring scene I think I have to say the jury's out on those..! The 08 is the 2mm Scale Association Locomotive Kit No 1 and on the extreme left of the picture a sound fitted Metro-Cammell 101. The original build had the fencing just t'other side of the VW camper so you can perhaps see the proximity to the carrying handle and ever present danger.

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There is a bit of a tale about the ballast, its fixing and painting - another false start. Maybe next time.

Mick S.
 
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PMP

Western Thunderer
The trees look ‘odd’ because they’re the wrong colour. Spray a couple of pieces with medium greys,dark greys and an earth brown in random patterns, with an emphasis away from the brown, and their appearance will change drastically for the better.
 

76043

Western Thunderer
Bloomin' heck Mick, you're doing fantastic! I can see it really coming together now, which also reminds me that I'm behind, especially considering the latest progress email from the judges.
Tony
 
Callaton

Simpas

Western Thunderer
The trees look ‘odd’ because they’re the wrong colour. Spray a couple of pieces with medium greys,dark greys and an earth brown in random patterns, with an emphasis away from the brown, and their appearance will change drastically for the better.

Paul,
Thank you very much for the tip. I'll give that a go when I get the airbrush out next time and see where that takes me. I do think this sea moss needs a bit of a beef up but I've got plenty of it so enough for some experimentation I think..

Mick
 
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Callaton

Simpas

Western Thunderer
Bloomin' heck Mick, you're doing fantastic!
Tony

Tony,
Divn't knaa boot that lyk...! (I say, sometimes it doesn't seem that way) thank you - I'll keep trying..!

I wonder if everyone's the same here and does like I sometimes do taking three steps forward and two back. Better that, I suppose, than two forward and three back. A learning curve no less but it does help to wander round this site and see the ideas other people have and how they're adapting to changing circumstances as and when....

I am, as I imagine most people are, grateful for comment that causes any re-examination of a particular aspect that hasn't gone (or isn't going) according to plan.

Mick
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
I must say that I'm enjoying the bilingual updates. Here in Tywyn it pays to have command of a couple of languages too, English and Brummie.
 

Simpas

Western Thunderer
I must say that I'm enjoying the bilingual updates. Here in Tywyn it pays to have command of a couple of languages too, English and Brummie.

Neil,
cheers youngun, al try n keep it gannin..! (Thank you very much I will endeavour to continue..!) and thank you for your interest.

Tywyn? I think I've been there - in a different life, of course - 1982 Golden Rail holiday to Pwllheli. Bet I pronounce it differently to you.

Mick
 

BCN-Pete

Western Thunderer
Looks good Mick.

The other thing you could try for the backscene is to get one from a photo printed on vinyl...I have just done one recently on A1 extended length (so long but not very high) and it’s 30 notes well spent ;)

Look forward to see more of this...
 

adrian

Flying Squad
The other thing you could try for the backscene is to get one from a photo printed on vinyl...I have just done one recently on A1 extended length (so long but not very high) and it’s 30 notes well spent ;)
Agreed - I've also just got one done for Holywell Town. 52cm x 190cm for a similar price.

I got mine from Bags of Love who print photos on a variety of fabrics.
Design Fabric Printing

I was most impressed with the service, simple to see what I was ordering and the delivery time was quick. The maximum size they can do is 158cm x 500cm
 

Simpas

Western Thunderer
Looks good Mick.

The other thing you could try for the backscene is to get one from a photo printed on vinyl...I have just done one recently on A1 extended length (so long but not very high) and it’s 30 notes well spent ;)

Look forward to see more of this...

Pete,

Thanks, I have got plans to go that way but space is very tight at the back so maybe the next little project?

Mick
 
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Simpas

Western Thunderer
Agreed - I've also just got one done for Holywell Town. 52cm x 190cm for a similar price.

I got mine from Bags of Love who print photos on a variety of fabrics.
Design Fabric Printing

I was most impressed with the service, simple to see what I was ordering and the delivery time was quick. The maximum size they can do is 158cm x 500cm

Adrian,

Thanks for the link, I think I'll contact them at some stage in the not too distant future and, reference my comment to Pete above, might just see if thickness of material will be an issue in theis case.

Mick
 

PMP

Western Thunderer
Mick, I don’t know if you recall Shelfie1’s backscene, that’s printed on opaque Matt banner vinyl, about 7 thou thick. That might be an option worth exploring too, the print size was roughly 6’ x 18” tall.
Brgds
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Adrian,

Thanks for the link, I think I'll contact them at some stage in the not too distant future and, reference my comment to Pete above, might just see if thickness of material will be an issue in theis case.
I ordered mine oversize so that I could cut it to size - something I need to do rather quickly as I rather rashly "volunteered" to take my efforts along to the Skills day at Chelford on 19th. May. I can send you an offcut if you want to gauge the thickness and texture of the material.
 
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