Black Country Blues

[Jason T]

A little bit of progress to show, although even the bits I have got done aren't finished and one bit offers up yet more questions.

 

I've scribed the doors, made them look tatty, added doorframes and bolts and where appropriate, added them to their respective apertures. I say where appropriate because for the middle shed door, it has come off it's hinges and been leaned up against the wall. Unfortunately nobody has (or ever will) got round to fixing it. First coat of paint has been added but lots more to come to make them look rotten. The hinges, bolts, etc., also need to be dry-brushed to make them stand out (but not too much - they won't be painted in a totally contrasting colour).

 

 

 

 

As I plan to get on with the roof as soon as possible (and I have some ideas for the holes in it), I thought I'd try putting a surface down inside the sheds. This is Sleeper Grime which, when still wet, has had ash tamped into it to hopefully represent a filthy soil floor. You can see the shed door leaned up as well

 

 

And now the final bit and the questions; the lintel for the cart shed roof. I did have an idea of using a steel I-Beam, which could possibly have been 'liberated' from the nearby works (or sidings) to replace an ageing wooden beam but I'm not so sure now as the rest of the building (especially the roof) will be in a right state so why would they bother (although I still like the back-story of them robbing it at night time). So, I laminated some Microstrip together and carved / filed / sanded it to look like a wooden beam, which you can't really make out from my crap photo (or the base colour I painted it) which I reckon will probably suit the building better. What are your opinions?

 

Next, the length of the beam is knocking on for 30', so I presume that it would require supporting in the middle. There are no clues given as to how on the photos but I am guessing a vertical timber with bracing at the top?

[Stubby47]

Looking really good, well done for painting each brick, the results are worth it.

 

I need to re-do my brickwork, no excuses now not to do it properly...

[Worsdell forever]

Looking good, I would say the beam would have two supports, giving three bays of about 9' each. These supports could have been brick pillars, giving you the excuse to distress the lower bricks.

 

[Mark Forrest]

You could use timber supports, arranged like these shown here; maybe one of these has rotted and been patched up with some steel "borrowed" from the works?

[Jason T]

That's what I had in mind Mark, thanks.

[Coombe Barton]

Here's some cart sheds

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cart+shed&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=tBL&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5jfrUOesGImd0AWVj4GoAw&ved=0CD4QsAQ&biw=1519&bih=890

[Robotstar5]

or even the pop man's lorry?

 

It was Alpine pop on the lorry we had round Smethwick

[Siberian Snooper]

Did Davenports ever have any pubs, or were they strictly a beer-at-home service? I remember their depot for North Staffs used to be behind the Sheet Anchor at Whitmore (landlord- Geoff Hurst- at least for a while), but I don't recollect the Sheet serving their beer.

 

There used to be a Davenports pub in Bristol Just round the corner from the Infirmary.

 

SS

[2ManySpams]

Flavio - looking very nice. Address PM'd. Worth having a play with the 'tampo' printing - it could just work!

[iL Dottore]

Thanks Chris, got PM, will prepare parcel.

 

A question to the BCB lads: regarding "tampo printing", any ideas on how to approach? Would a hard rubber pad do the trick?

 

A selection of feedback/ideas would bne appreciated

 

F

[Giles]

I've just found this wonderful thread - and if Paul ever puts on his own exhibition, I'm going to pay money to see it....!

 

Brilliant, brilliant!!

[Stubby47]

Paul,

 

Where are (who makes) the figures in the queue from ?

 

Stu

[Stubby47]

Il D,

 

Having googled Tampo (carefully not adding a trailing letter 'n'), I have a couple of curious questions :

 

Which bits of the building do you want to print ?

Why is this a potentially better method that using printed paper or embossed plasticard ?

 

Stu

[Mark Forrest]

A question to the BCB lads: regarding "tampo printing", any ideas on how to approach? Would a hard rubber pad do the trick?

 

A selection of feedback/ideas would bne appreciated

 

Are you thinking as an alternative to dry brushing to add the brick colour over a mortar undercoat?

If so, I think I'd try using something like these

[iL Dottore]

Hi Stu,

 

I too had a "quick Google" (sounds a bit like an alcoholic drink, methinks [as in "I'll have a quick Google then home to SWMBO"]) and found that pad printing, to give it the correct name (Tampo is a pad printer manufacturer), uses silicon rubber pads. This solves the "what do I use" question and I can recycle some old silicon rubber moulds for my printing pad.

 

The way I want to "Tampo Print" the Tennants building is to use the process to deposit brick colour on the brick faces of the embossed "brick" plasticard. In this way a large number of bricks will be individually painted in one go without having any brick colour overspill into the mortar courses (or that, at least, is the idea and theory).

 

If all goes well, this would speed up the process of painting the brick faces of the Tennants building (as I mentioned in post 153 above, painting each brick one-by-one is VERY tedious). And would be something I'd adopt for the forthcoming warehouse build.

 

F

Edited January 8, 2013 by iL Dottore

[iL Dottore]

Are you thinking as an alternative to dry brushing to add the brick colour over a mortar undercoat?

If so, I think I'd try using something like these

Yes I am (see above). Although I think that the sponge may be too soft and go into the recesses and deposit paint (unlike the firmer silicon rubber pad), but it's worth a try. Thanks for the tip

 

F

Edited January 8, 2013 by iL Dottore

[Jason T]

The method I used for my stone buildings on Bacup does work with brick too, although not quite as effectively. Basically, I put a blob of paint in an old jam jar lid, wrap a rag around my finger, dip it in the blob, wipe it until there is a minimal amount of paint left on the rag and then dab/wipe it on the surface.

 

Worth a try for the large areas but unless you have teeny tiny fingers, you won't be able to get into corners (which is why I now paint and weather my buildings first, before glueing them together).

[DonB]

Good to see that the "Professionals" are sometimes stumped, and not afraid to ask for and accept advice!

Gives us mere mortals hope and encouragement, as well as feeding off the information / suggestions!

[Jason T]

A bit more progress this morning. First up is the window for the back of the shed (which will be all but out of sight). My usual method with windows is to affix the clear material to the inside of the building and then add the frames but with this one, when I held the material up against the inside, it looked a bit too recessed so back to the drawing board.

 

So, I cut a piece of clear Plastikard to the size and then built the frames around it, both inside and out, before painting the frames. As you can see, there is an unpainted section; that is because I am waiting for the paint to dry so I can hold it and finish it off. Once done and all dry, the glazing will be dirtied using washes, etc.

 

This is actually the inside; the outside is a bit neater (the photo is cruel anyway as it is about 20 times larger than the actual window)

 

Something which I have been giving some thought to (quite a lot actually) is how to represent the holes in the roof and still be able to use my preferred medium of mounting board. Below is the method I am testing out - feedback would be appreciated.

Basically, I have glued six strips of (around) 0.040 x 0.030 vertically and then added 0.010 X 0.020 strips horizintally, with gaps cut in. The roof sub-structure then has a hole cut into it and the plastikard section will be added into this hole. The horizontal strips are (almost) at the same depth as the mounting board and as such, I can then lay the slates onto the Plastikard section, with slates removed where required (e.g. over the hole and some of the horizontal strips). The plastikard section will be painted appropriately.

 

 

[Jason T]

Further progress, mostly with painting. I took it outside so that you can all see what it is like in natural light.

 

First, I tried to get a rotting, falling to pieces look for the exposed roof section. It was painted in 'Weathered wood' and then dry-brushed with beige, brown and a tiny bit more weathered wood. The unpainted sections at teh top and bottom will be out of view (still covered with slates):

 

Next, the doors. Once again, they have been dry brushed with beige and weathered wood. Hopefully they are quite close to the look of my outside loo door (read: Bike kit storage shed). Lintels have also been painted to represent wood:

 

 

I added some general items to the shed with the missing door, namely the door itself, an old barrel, a press-type thing, a wheelbarrow and a bicycle in condition that suggests that it is still in use:

 

 

You can see where the uprights for the cart shed are planned to go - a scale 9' apart:

 

Window fitted, although I still need to do a bit more dry-brushing on the lintel and sill. The sill is supposed to represent it being painted in green at some point, badly (they had some paint left over):

 

Sorry the last one is blurry.

[iL Dottore]

That decrepit roof looks really good....

 

Oh Bu99er, I'm going to have to up my game - again!

 

iD

[Worsdell forever]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the 'Likes', I must be doing something right!

 

Hi Stu,

They are from three makes, the one leaning I think is a 247 Developments driver/fireman, the one behind him and the one eating his F & C are from Pete Goss and the other two, the one in the Gannex coat and the one with the bags (diesel driver?) are from Phoenix Scale Miniatures.

[durham light infantry]

I've just found this wonderful thread - and if Paul ever puts on his own exhibition, I'm going to pay money to see it....!

 

Brilliant, brilliant!!

He does put on a very good exhibition. Goathland in July.

 

Mike

[MartinWales]

The BL 1100 / 1300 were made at Longbridge, which is even closer.  They had been superseded by the Allegro in '71 but were the chariot of choice for the hardworking family guy on a tight budget.  I don't know how much traffic you will need on BCB, but by their utter mundane-ness they would really suit the melancholy aura I think you are trying to create.  Minix ones available on EBay.

 

Rovers and the booted variants of the Mini, less likely, they tended to haunt Sutton Coldfield or Penn, rather than BC.  Singers, still many pre-Arrow series about (my mates mum had one).  Imps were still in production, till '75 I think.

Sorry to be pedantic but the Allegro's production run was 73-83 which only just overlapped with the 1100/1300 range which was produced 1962-74

[PhilJ W]

The Minix 1100 can be updated with the wheels and interior from the Cararama mini.