Camel Quay - A North Cornwall inspired layout in 4mm

[southern42]

So, down to business and preparation for all those trains and boats coming and going

 

Spot the difference - checking the effectiveness of detailing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checking different vehicle combinations

 

 

 

Checking different viewing points

 

 

 

and creating lines of sight whilst telling the stories of life on the railway.

That's the postman!  He's usually up on the high street by now.

Perhaps it's the Stationmaster's birthday!

 

[southern42]

A little bit more on one of the pics above.

 

Light engine.

That T9's gone off without it's crew.     Don't know how it got past the signalman.  Ah!  I remember!  They'll all be in the Stationmaster's office having a birthday get together, I'll bet! 

 

Seriously, though, we do have a number of lines of sight here.

 

Population.

At exhibitions, people seem to take delight in spotting 'hidden' features and figures.  The man mowing the grass and the young loco spotter are two such characters.  From this view they fall into line with the track and passing trains, the line of sight crossing the line of road vehicles at the loco spotter.

Man and spotter, being back to back, emphasise that their positions are not related and are part of two distinct areas of the layout, the one part of the town end, the other part of the station area.  The man mowing the grass is now more obvious coming into line with the lorry's cab, a small bush and bridge corner. 

 

Road vehicles viewed from the station area.

Placing the lorry over the arch is a point of interest when a train goes through but also leads the eyes towards the high street.  The vehicle further down the road acts with the first lorry, bridge walls and hedgerow to frame passing trains and contributes to the movement towards the high street as the train departs offscene.  Trains coming into the station will follow the gaze of the loco spotter!

 

I might keep this set up, though looking at the pics of the vehicles down the road, I will probably need 3 instead of 2 vehicles coming over the bridge but not necessarily all British Railways!  I'll have to get the books out and have a look for likely candidates, though Ray has a couple of kits to build so, you never know, the coalman might arrive in time to deliver the winter fuel!

 

[Jock67B]

Polly,

They are only small details, but they make a whole lot of differemnce. Your 'sight lines' work is also worthwhile when it comes to pleasing exhibition visitors! Superbly done as usual.

Kind regards,

Jock.

[georgeT]

Can never have enough detail Polly, and CQ has loads, very nice...

[southern42]

Polly,

They are only small details, but they make a whole lot of differemnce. Your 'sight lines' work is also worthwhile when it comes to pleasing exhibition visitors! Superbly done as usual.

Kind regards,

Jock.

 

Thanks Jock.  It's been interesting taking a more academic look at things on the layout.  It's made me more appreciative of what goes into it all.

 

Can never have enough detail Polly, and CQ has loads, very nice...

 

Thanks, George, here's some more, then ... 

 

Some more back to backs to direct the eye to different scenes.

 

 

Further down the road, Poirot has turned towards Japp, and Hastings is still spellbound by that nice car!

A group of 3 split into 2 plus 1.

 

Continuing along the road, the postman has finally made it to the high street.

 

Looking back, the postman provides a bit of interest in the long gap between the two vehicles.

 

It's getting busy over the bridge!

 

How many vehicles can you spot now?

Answers on a postcard... 

[southern42]

Now to the allotment.

 

The greenhouse has been re-sited to show off two sides of the see-through building.

It will need embedding in, though.

 

The move has also allowed a bit more space for the wheelbarrow between the front end and the fruit bed.

In the embankment allotment, east of Launceston,* there is an incinerator and what looks like a compost or tool bin.

* Branch line to Padstow, Middleton Press.

 

It 's been absolutely dark and miserable outside these past few days needing the lights on inside but giving me the chance to get the camera out.  Anyway, it seems the gardener has been inspired and has started a little job down the side of the shed.

 

Wanted - a flower bed.

Available - one 8ft plank of wood and two x 18" planks left over from the fruit beds.

Heap of compost.

 

 

I decided a flower bed of approximately 35mm x 8mm would be easier to make as a piece to be stuck on rather than fiddle about making it on the layout, as there are several delicate objects near the shed.

 

To make the frame, I used a matchstick for the planks, removed the head and split the match in half length ways .

For the base, I cut a strip off an old greetings card.

 

I glued on the planks with PVA glue.

 

 

At the back, is a strip of card to hold the compost (this won't be seen on the finished job).

 

The frame placed in the allotment.

The gardener will need to dig out the ground and clear some of that overgrowth behind to get it in.

 

He doesn't waste anytime, does he?  He's got the compost in already or is that manure?

Just needs the planks creosoted and some plants.

The compost - tea leaves, rubbed finer between the fingers, mixed with a little modellers scenic material (sawdust!).

 

View from the train.

 

[southern42]

Time for some flowers.

 

Materials: Woodland Scenics light green and autumn fall foliage; Tacky Glue

Equipment: tweezers

 

 

Line with a bit of glue.

 

Add a stretched out piece of green foliage

 

and orange+yellow foliage

 

and we have an instant border of marigolds!

You can get it as a seed mat, these days, and simply roll it out - all 5ft of it!  But, I digress.

 

The gardener's view.

 

Seagull's view.

The flower colour is quite dominant and is colourfast so it might need toning down a bit.  We'll see.

 

From the coastal path. 

Well, there'll probably be a coastal path in 50 years time when the pill box will be a seabird exhibition centre on top of the RSPB bird sanctuary; the quay will be transformed into a marina and the warehouse will provide marina facilities and accommodation for the sailing club.  Of course, the railway will have disappeared and given way to The Holiday Caravan Park with nature walk part way along the old railway track.  I wonder if the allotment will still be there!

 

Edited November 10, 2015 by southern42

[ChrisN]

It may just be me but I like the strong colour of the flowers as it draws your eye in that direction.

[southern42]

It may just be me but I like the strong colour of the flowers as it draws your eye in that direction.

 

I agree, it certainly attracts the eye, and maybe a little too much but, as the scene has yet to be completed, it might be just perfect.  I hope so.

 

In the meantime, I've started making the empty clay pots that the marigolds were in and two which will have marigolds yet to be planted out. 

 

These are approximately 9 inch pots but vary a bit in size to give a rustic look.

 

To create the rims, I rolled the bottom end of the pot with a small steel ruler to edge them.

 

I wasn't totally satisfied and decided to add the rims separately, though this made them slightly bigger so they have been gently rolled to slim them down again.  The first rim started off as a sausage which was lightly rolled flat with a pencil.  I used the point of a scalpel to pick it up, position it on the pot, and cut off any excess.

 

This looked better, so I made some more for a more convincing stack of empty pots.

 

 

I'll need to tidy up the wonky rims before painting the pots black. Then I'll dry brush them with a faded red clay colour to leave a dark shadow under the rim, and add a dash of weathering to give a well seasoned look.  None of your off the shelf, plastic garden centre pots, here!  That would need some precision work!    So why do I sound so confident?  I'm just scared it'll all go wrong if I'm not.   

[Jock67B]

Polly,

All I can say is excellent inspirational work as always - very realistic touches that go to build the whole scene!

Well done and kind regards,

Jock.

[tender]

Enough of all this gardening stuff, there are more exciting things afoot down at the Station with the arrival of another newly acquired Adams O2.

 

 

 

There are several references to 30193 working the North Cornwall railway so it was another of those 'must have' loco's.

 

This will relieve the BWT of the local passenger service with the P-set allowing the BWT to concentrate on the Clay wagons. 

 

Waiting for someone to offer an original O2 sound project but I've been told an M7 sound would be a good compromise. Anyone have any views on this?

 

 

 

 

[MartinWales]

Very nice indeed! Must dust off the Gibson 02 S scaIe kit I have here!

Edited November 14, 2015 by MartinWales

[class"66"]

Luving the scenery Ray...

[southern42]

Meanwhile....
You can’t halt proceedings up on the allotment.  There’s some serious stuff going on.  The gardener, is not just planting out his homegrown marigolds, he's been following Percy Thrower on BBC's Gardening Club and has decided to grow some roses against the shed.
 
The trellis is made from some old 2" x 1"s and, bits of wire wound round some nails in the wood (slices of matchstick and strands of modellers field grass held in place with glue).

 

 

 

 

 

[Jock67B]

Morning Ray and Polly,

Superb work from both of you as usual - definitely an A-team! Although the O2 is the wrong region for me, it is a lovely loco - what is the history of the coach Ray? Polly shows superb inventiveness as usual and CQ is capable of holding spectator's attention even when no trains are running. I particularly like all of the photographs as I can no longer travel far enough to view it in 'the flesh' but I somehow feel I know it!

Thank you, and kind regards,

Jock.

[southern42]

Evening, all.  Wet and windy in North Wales so a visit to the allotment in sunny Camel Quay was on the agenda.

 

The trellis was fixed to the raised garden as seen from the rear...

and the front.

 

Next up was to grow some flowers.

Roses were cultivated from blutack on a 150cm rule

Petals were formed with the head

and tail of a lace making pin.

Ready for their colour...

- a mixture of lemon yellow and orange with a centre spot of crimson.

And a sneak preview of the prize roses as the 02 picks up a van C from the goods road.

 

 

 

[Anotheran]

The roses are stunning Polly! Maybe if I do some my wife will get more interested in what I'm doing as she's a big fan of roses! What do you use to fix them to the stems? I assume that blue tack is too heavy to be held by hair spray.

[ChrisN]

Polly,

I have avoided  Blu Tak as it has some sort of oily stuff in it, and used clays, with varying degrees of success.  Did the Blu tak take the paint alright and did you do anything to it first?

[southern42]

The roses are stunning Polly! Maybe if I do some my wife will get more interested in what I'm doing as she's a big fan of roses! What do you use to fix them to the stems? I assume that blue tack is too heavy to be held by hair spray.

 

 

Polly,

I have avoided  Blu Tak as it has some sort of oily stuff in it, and used clays, with varying degrees of success.  Did the Blu tak take the paint alright and did you do anything to it first?

 

Neil and Chris

Paint

I've only used artist's acrylic on blutack and it seems to stay on OK.  The painted modified hats on the Morris Men are still fine and the blutack additions are still in place. 

 

Glue

I used superglue for the Morris Men's hats to stick the blutack directly onto filed down white metal.

The roses are stuck on sea moss with tacky glue (PVA) and I'm leaving them overnight to allow the glue to harden before planting out on the layout.  So far, it has survived a bit of manhandling to restick the trellis back in place while I was working on it - there was a bit of blutack I hadn't removed from the based of the trellis after checking it all went together!  

 

Hairspray

I added a bit of light green foliage very sparingly onto the bushes and gave it a light spray with hairspray and left it to dry before adding the blutack flowers.  A stickier hairspray than ours may be enough for small amounts of blutack. Worth a try, perhaps, although trying to get blutack out of the foliage when it gets stuck in it is not easy! 

 

Handling

I used the point of the pin to ease off a rose from the steel rule (the blutack didn't adhere strongly so was fairly easy to lift off) and position it onto the bush using the blunt end of another to push it down in place.  Tacky glue (PVA) was better than instant glue because the flowers had a tendency to flip over and a few needed righting.

 

The Roses

Rosa Golden Showers was introduced in the USA in 1956 and was distributed later in the year.  The climbing rose can grow to a height of 10ft-15ft in 5 to 10 years with flowers up to 6in in diameter.  It has now arrived at Camel Quay and will be making quite a show - all that homegrown compost and mulch, not to mention the endless summer sunshine.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=golden+showers+1956&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAmoVChMIuey1xbyTyQIVA7oaCh2Wmwlv&biw=1024&bih=447#tbm=isch&q=rosa+golden+showers&imgrc=_

 

Hope that helps.

[Jock67B]

I'm with Neil on those roses Polly! I seem to learn something every time I look in here - thank you so much,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[southern42]

Paintiing blutack - I forgot to mention that I add a drop of washing up liquid to the jar of water that I mix into the paint.  I don't know if it makes a difference or not as I started to do this with weathering (one of BarryO's tips) and now do it as a matter of course on all the modelling stuff.

 

The raised garden with roses is in the allotment partially set in place.  A few of the roses will be trained round to the front of the shed. The flower pots are almost ready, the top two needing marigolds for the gardener to finish the planting out.  Looks like he's had these pots for years!  I'm happy with that.

 

[southern42]

Waiting for the glue to dry...

 

or - in allotment speak - the gardener has gone off for lunch after working hard all morning.

 

 

 

 

 

And later...a bit of woodwork, making use of some old 6" x 2" planks found behind the coal staithes.

 

Split matches into 3 planks apiece, cut to size...

 

and start to assemble.

 

 

 

 

To be continued...

 

[Jock67B]

Lovely work as usual Polly - I looked in to say that I hope you are all secured in view of the forecast extreme weather!

Kind regards,

Jock.

[southern42]

The roses are stunning Polly! Maybe if I do some my wife will get more interested in what I'm doing as she's a big fan of roses! What do you use to fix them to the stems? I assume that blue tack is too heavy to be held by hair spray.

 

Neil.  Who better to make them, then?  If you ask her persuavively kindly.  You never know, you might have a budding helper!

 

I find the bigger the flower the better for modelling individual flowers.  The smaller the flower, the better for a scattering of bead-like foliage (like CQ's heather and gorse) or, if in between, sometimes a blob of paint of the relevant size fits the bill. The autumn fall (leaf) foliage seems a good source of orange/yellow flowers of varying size (like CQ's marigolds).  All this is just practice for the signal man's pride and joy under the running in board.  He won't let me get away with just a couple of small fir trees even if his predecessor did have a pair.    

 

 

Polly,

I have avoided  Blu Tak as it has some sort of oily stuff in it, and used clays, with varying degrees of success.  Did the Blu tak take the paint alright and did you do anything to it first?

 

I think if I did flowers of that size again, I might try something that hardens such as clay, as the blutack can take on a different shape when you lift it off a surface or when you handle the plant they're added to, and not so easy for painting the underside.  So not a 100% satisfactory.  I also think a rounder rose/flower might be better than a flattish one because I'm finding that a flat one doesn't quite look right when you just see the edges of it but that might just be me being finicky. Just a thought.

 

 

Lovely work as usual Polly - I looked in to say that I hope you are all secured in view of the forecast extreme weather!

Kind regards,

Jock.

 

Thanks, Jock.  In fact, thanks to everyone for your ratings and comments.  It sure is motivating, especially when I have a mishap or two and feel like giving up.  One stack of painted pots jumped ship never to be seen again so a second stack was duly made; the roses were harder to train along the shed than I thought; and, as for the bit of wordwork, the gardener could have found some decent planks!  Recycling is all very well but...planks that split and warp like bananas? Still, it's got to look the biz.

 

Despite loads of wind and rain, we've been fine up here though we did have a contingency plan (a camping gas stove) in case we lost the electric, which used to be the norm.

[southern42]

...and more on the woodwork.

 

Assembly continues.

 

 

Tried in place.

 

Compost well down; garden waste spilling over the top.

 

Greenhouse and compost bin permanently grounded in; and the trail is set.

Just waiting for the gardener to return from lunch...