Birmingham New Street and Brettell Road in P4

[Jim S-W]

Ive been building 3 hoppers via 3 different routes. On the left a coke hopper from the old Three Aitch kit. I've already done one of these and this follows the same pattern of using Bill Bedford W irons.

In the center also a kit but a brass one from Dave Bradwell for the BR 13 ton hopper. A fun if not sometimes tricky kit to build.

On the right a mackerel ballast hopper converted from a Hornby trout, again with Bill Bedford w irons. I make no claims for the idea behind this as I first saw this on Kier Hardy's EM 70s website.

[Jim S-W]

After Scaleforum i became aware that the vegetation on Brettell Road probably was a bit to green and lush for a late October setting. To remind you roughly what it looked like back then here are a few images from earlier in the layout build.


OK so it wasn't exactly late spring or anything but armed with some scenic sheets from Martin Welberg (https://martinwelberg.wordpress.com/) and some more muted static grass from WWS supplies (http://www.war-world.co.uk/) I set to work making it all look a bit more, well, dead!

As you can see I've made he disused line look a lot more overgrown. The eagle eyed will spot a bit of extra iron work supporting the wall. I always intended to add this from the early days of the layout.

I'm happier with it now.

[flying scotsman123]

I can definitely appreciate the improvement, grass often seems to look too green on models, not helped by the supply of static grass, so thanks for the link, I shall investigate further.

[Jim S-W]

I've finished off the hoppers I was working on. Here's the coke hopper in the company of the previous one I had already done. As the older one is an LMS version I revisited the weathering to make it look a little more used.

The 13ton hopper

Mackerel with a gannet and herring.

A few I haven't mentioned before. The M. E. Evans one is a Bachmann collectors club model in memory of Merl Evans. I spent a very enjoyable day at Tysley with Merl surveying a couple of class 150's so this little wagon seemed a no brainer to me. Straight wheel and coupling swap with a bit of weathering. The ED wagon is a Powsides kit for one of the Earl of Dudley's fleet. Another no brainer. Whether either wagon would have lasted to the late 50's I dont know.

[Jim S-W]

Although the factory was essentially finished for Scaleforum it lacked the clutter that gives it an 'in use' look. Unless the workers were meticulously tidy I suppose. So I have gone back to make a bit of a mess. The image above is the before shot...

...and the after.

I've added a wall and gate to the entrance. The old lorry was featured earlier.

The wooden boxes are from 4Ground models. I knocked up a rudimentary travelling crane from bits of brass and plastic. The discarded machine tools were 3 d prints and originally intended to go inside the building but I thought they were a bit too nice to hide away so I weathered them up an dumped them outside.

Another crane from bits of brass and some basic yard lights. Below are a few images of the factory at night. The yard lights do provide a bit more light to the centre of the layout.

[Pete]

Atmospheric pictures Jim.

You mention 3D print machine tools, are these ones you've commissioned/printed yourself or are they available on the market?

Pete

[Jim S-W]

No I just found them on the shapeways site

[Jim S-W]

I wasn't all that happy with the positioning of the yard lamps shown last time. The one on the right masked the tail lights on the lorry (as several people didn't notice them) and it didn't do enough to light up the entrance to the yard. Leading a couple of people to enquire how the lorries actually got in. So I've had a bit of a fiddle.

I've moved the light further along so that the back of the lorry is in shade. This on its own didn't do enough to illuminate the gate area so...

I've added headlights to the lorry. (this picture was taken on a phone). They are much to bright really but you can't see them from the front of the layout anyway.

Here is what I was aiming for. Again its too bright for a lorry of that era but I'm happy with a bit of artistic licence for effect. You can see the difference when the headlights are blocked (on the left).

I have also been busy with more AK interactive wet effects fluid. Below are a few overviews that give a better hint of the rain.




Finally another video, time for another cuppa and a biscuit!
https://youtu.be/al7CYc7WAvg

[carnehan]

The kettle is on...

Paul

[luckymucklebackit]

I just cannot get over the amount of detail in each shot, the one that gets me is the base of the chimney stack, with each of those bolts picked out, absolutely incredible, can you explain how that was done please.

Jim

[Jim S-W]

I’m a bit lost, what do you mean?

[TimberSurf]

I think he means the decorative corbelling below the lowest octagonal of the chimney. I was also impressed but assume it is a kit and not scratch built, this one I assume?

[luckymucklebackit]

AH! that's the one - I assumed it had been scratch built

Jim

[Dad-1]

Absolutely stunning as usual Jim - I can almost hear the gentle rain falling !!
(Oh it probably is)

Geoff T.

[Jim S-W]

AH! that's the one - I assumed it had been scratch built

Jim

Nope, just repainted Bachmann as has been mentioned.

HTH

Jim