Brettell Road, 1960s black country (ish)

[Jim smith-wright]

What would that have led to in real life? Lost oil or grease? A 'hot box'? Once inspected I expect it would have been red-carded out of a train and sidelined awaiting attention?
Neat detail though!!

Not sure but I suspect you are in the right area.

 

[Focalplane]

I just re-read the post about Marsh & Baxter, pork butchers and makers of excellent sausages. However, my step-father worked for the company as an "industrial consultant" for a number of years in the 1960s, making the processes more efficient. The net result was that our household didn't eat pork! His descriptions of the "nothing wasted" production line were enough to convince my mother.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

I just re-read the post about Marsh & Baxter, pork butchers and makers of excellent sausages. However, my step-father worked for the company as an "industrial consultant" for a number of years in the 1960s, making the processes more efficient. The net result was that our household didn't eat pork! His descriptions of the "nothing wasted" production line were enough to convince my mother.

Funny you mention that I was reading last night that in Dudley people did eat a lot of offal with jellied pigs feet being a favourite. I think I turned a funny shade of green just reading about it!

 

[Allen M]

I just re-read the post about Marsh & Baxter, pork butchers and makers of excellent sausages. However, my step-father worked for the company as an "industrial consultant" for a number of years in the 1960s, making the processes more efficient. The net result was that our household didn't eat pork! His descriptions of the "nothing wasted" production line were enough to convince my mother.

I was always under the impression that faggots, rissoles, burgers were 'invented' to use up what could not be sold a chops and/or joints, i.e. the fat,tough old bits and gristle.

regards
Allen

 

[Jordan]

My Saturday job as a lad was at a butcher's, who made his own burgers.

I didn't eat burgers for some years after....

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Work continues on my latest building. Gutters are from Modelu. When I last used Modelu guttering I found getting it stuck on was quite problematic however this time I tried Ultraglue from MIG (which I've mentioned here before) and I am pleased to report it works very well.

Fire escape from Langley Models. A few people noticed the upper door in my last post.

I've started to work on the base for the building to sit. The fence is Knightwing security fencing modified to resemble that seen in pictures of the real Round Oak. The sign was part of the etch I drew up for the building windows. I decided not to call it Round Oak as its not a model of the real place but Acorn Steel works had a nice ring to it as its smaller. Acorn was the name of the company magazine issued at Round Oak.

Moving along the fence we find an area where someone has made a hole! Perhaps it was kids trying to get in or perhaps it was a worker looking for a short cut to the station?

The other end. I decided some remnants of an internal line into the works would be an Idea. For the surface behind i have tried out some AK interactive concrete. Theres areas of the building that will need to be concrete or stone however the texture is too heavy for 4mm scale. It would work as very, very rough concrete or as a base for rough ground perhaps. In this case I sanded it pretty much flat.

Finally I couldn't resist a little test run of the buildings lighting.

 

[MarkR]

Hi Jim,
Wow! Superb modelling!
Mark

 

[john lewsey]

Hi Jim that building is Just superb

 

[Alan]

Really like the broken fence.

 

[Ian@StEnochs]

Really like the broken fence.

I’ve squeezed through that hole, or one just like it!

 

[Jordan]

I’ve squeezed through that hole, or one just like it!

How recently...??

 

[Ian@StEnochs]

How recently...??

Oh it might have been a wee while ago now.

 

[King Crab]

There was exactly this kind of fence round the back of Crewe North shed. Here someone had neatly removed the bottom fixing so it hung there in place, but no-one could tell it was able to be swung aside for illegal entry. The exact location was passed by word of mouth to the cognoscenti.....

Peter

 

[Jim smith-wright]

In an attempt to keep some momentum going I've been doing more building work. This time for the right hand end of the new bit.

This building is based roughly on the office building from Birmingham central goods. Same method as before but this time using Brassmasters etched windows.

Originally the area in question was the end backscene of the original layout and this drawing was based very loosely on the Harris and Pearson building on the real Brettell Lane (see The Harris & Pearson Office Building - WMHBT, WBPT & CoWRBPT for more info). The original basic drawing was modified and sent to Tim to be turned into an MDF carcass.

And here is the result so far. Windows are a combination of my own and Brassmasters etches.

This is the much less ornate but somehow at least as interesting rear view.

A rough idea of where it all goes.

 

[Dave Holt]

Marvellously quirky looking buildings, Jim. Very nice work.
Dave.

 

[john lewsey]

Lovely work Jim

 

[John57sharp]

Very nice indeed.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Ive been busy painting. Not a huge amount to say really so I will let the images do the talking. Next will be roofs and tiling. Lots and lots of tiling!

 

[Jim smith-wright]

After working my way through a lot of laser cut strips of tiles I can call my building(s) project effectively done.

There are several schools of thought when it comes to what to do with low relief buildings. The easiest is to keep them parallel to the backscene however if you don't (as I haven't) then the roof can actually become a little bit of a problem area. Theres 2 main ways to address this, Keep the pitch of the roof the same and cut the top at an angle. Or keep the top parallel to the rest of the building and adjust the pitch. My personal opinion is that the latter is the better option. The pitch on my acorn building is significantly different from the left end to the right end. One advantage of using tile strips over embossed plasticard is you can adjust the rows to compensate for this and hopefully no one will notice what trickery you've been up to!

The same applies to this building although it's not quite as dramatic.

The thing with lighting buildings is they look a bit weird if they are just empty boxes. I don't feel you need to model everything inside though, just enough clutter to give a hint of something inside. The shelving and cardboard boxes are from scale model scenery. I have found its something people at shows to look for and I think is nice to have some little 'treasures' that people can discover for themselves.

The Higgs and Co. building also has some 'officey' clutter. In the late 50s offices seemed to be laid out more like a school classroom than the more ergonomic arrangement we see now.

The roof of the rear of the Higgs building has some weird shapes that were a bit of a faff to work out if I'm honest.

I do feel that the middle of the layout has a suitable black country-ish feel to it now.

One little building I bunged together is this little weighbridge that will sit behind the main station building. Its based on the one at Wombourne (see
Wombourne Station) and I was initially attracted to its over the top chimney and the way it's just stuck in a corner. I did have to reel my enthusiasm in a little as the chimney at Wombourne matches the station so to model it exactly as it was when the ones on my station don't look anything like, would have been a little weird.

Below a few pictures, I feel the last one really captures the feel I want for the layout.

 

[Tim Dubya]

Jim that is both amazing and inspirational.
Cheers