Hawick via Grantham, Inverness and SIAM (00 gauge DC)

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Wow, that's looking good, reminds me of a Dockside warehouse.

manna

[Ex-Pat]

Many thanks RailwayRobbo, flying scotsman123 & manna.

Then one day, only on closer examination of the 3rd photo in my post of 31st March 2018 on Page 10, did I realize that there were timber beams between the support column bottoms, and had to hastily get cutting and gluing the necessary inserts. Don’t know how I missed them in the first place!

I had previously test-sprayed the support columns for 2 purposes, the first to try and get to grips with my airbrush and the second to see what the colour (Tamiya Nato Brown) looked like. The colour spray had taken reasonably well, but when I tried to hand-paint the new bottom timbers and selected upper areas, the paint went rather wishy-washy on me, so I have got to get some primer before I can continue further.

As far as painting goes I am at a total disadvantage here in that I have seen no colour photo of the coaling stage. A similar style coaling stage existed at Bathgate but a colour photo of it shows it to be a mix of rather light colours (hardly any suggestion of coal dust etc.), whereas a black & white photo of Hawick suggests a very dark almost satanic building (as shown on 23rd February 2018 post on page eight). The darkness of the latter is presumably influenced by the camera shooting into the light?

I’m now thinking that my test brown is possibly too dark?

Has anybody got any suggestions please as to the likely appropriate base colour based on the Page 8 & 10 photos mentioned above? The intention would then be to add the further “streaks” of lighter colours once I am satisfied with the base.

[glencairn]

Hi Ex-Pat Having lived in the area a good few years, one has seen a majority of the wooden buildings in the area a deep brown colour. Even new buildings are a dark brown.
Over the years wear and tear take their toll but the deep brown remains.
Where there is coal obviously coal dust will get everywhere. A mix of (much more) coal dust black and deep brown will give you your colour (hopefully). The wood attracts coal dust.

Where there are stone built buildings and coal. The insides are filthy black with coal dust, seeping out to the walls outside The outside walls are 'cleaned' with any rainfall, but coal dust remains in nooks and crannies.

Hope that helps.

Glencairn

[Ex-Pat]

Thanks glencairn - are you actually saying that the brown I have used on the support columns needs to be darker? (I was beginning to have reservations and think that it was probably too dark!)

[glencairn]

Your brown on the support columns is nearly correct as makes any difference. Just eliminate any white (that can shine in the sunlight).
Then blacken it coal dust black especially at the bottom, along the top, any edges, corners-- Don't forget the wood has been there for 60/70 years. It will be black.

You are doing a sterling job. Most would leave it as it is. Then one or two would age it 60/70 years.

Glencairn

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Creosote was used all over the railways, wooden sleepers were soaked in big vats for days to give them protection from the weather and other creepy crawlies, that gave sleepers and other wooden structures a deep, mid to dark brown.

manna

[Ex-Pat]

Thanks glencairn & manna for your replies - looks like I'm safe after all with my base colour as a starter for tarting up.

[Ex-Pat]

A recent three day trip to Waterford (to finish walking the old line from Dungarvan, and to assess accessibility to the mothballed Waterford – Rosslare line) afforded the opportunity to call in at Marks Models on the outskirts of Dublin, and resulted in the purchases shown below – so I now have no material excuses left, and will just have to get on with things!

Various paints etc.

(What’s that? – football is starting again?!)

I’ve actually started working on the guttering and drain pipes, and decided a stronger structural joint should be achieved by drilling a hole into the guttering to take the pipe rather than just relying on Mek-Pak alone.

I've also cut small blocks of plastikard to act as the "anchor points" for the drainpipe collars and cemented them in place:

12 rear anchor points - 1 drainpipe still needs to be "collared".

12 front anchor points

Next step will be to affix the drainpipes and then make the chains for the tipping platform, add some lights (I don't intend to make them working lights) and then the real painting will begin.

[glencairn]

Progressing well, Ex-Pat, and going the extra mile with the 'anchor points'. Looking forward to seeing the finished model.

Glencairn

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Well that's bigger than I thought (I knew it was big), but a great looking building, it's going to look good with a couple of loco's parked beside it.

manna

[Ex-Pat]

I just knew the return of football would slow things down! However I've managed to progress matters as under.

The guttering and drain-pipes have been added. The pipe in between the roof pitches is a larger diameter presumably because it will deal with twice as much water as the outer pipes.

My only full aspect photo of the coaling stage indicates there were 3 lights/lamps – one above the coaling platform and a different type at each front corner of the building. Last November at Warley I came across reasonably suitable lights for the corner ends. They were very reasonable at £8 for 6 lights from “LAYOUTS4U”

This shows a complete light, as bought, on the right, and the subsequent “cannibalisations” for the corner lights on the left. In the middle is the coaling platform lamp and which is fashioned from one of those red plastic items in the background and which I managed to find somewhere (they might have been covers for the legs of a washing-up dish rack I think).

The chains for the coaling platform were cut and threaded onto a thin brass pin which was pushed through the platform ,glued in place, and then had its excess length cut off.

the chains have been added to the coaling platform, and they have a counterweight which you can see attached at the bottom. - Please, no comments about a red light district!

More distress work added, plus the horizontal bars that received the telegraph wires and also the wiring conduits for the light.

So finally the actual construction is complete and I shall now turn my attention to painting it (having only experimented so far with that aspect).

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Looking nicely decrepit, but we know it won't fall over in the next big blow.

manna

[Daniel]

Very interesting work, Ex-Pat.

Your sandwhich method for de baseboard framework is very interesting and I will try it.
I have gone through the seventeen pages of this thread and enjoyed it a lot. Also have learnt some things as your method for making gutters pipes using electric wire. Beautiful! Another thing I'll try soon.

Icertainly follow your thread now on.

Daniel

[Ex-Pat]

Many thanks for your kind comments Daniel - glad to have interested you. One of the great things about this hobby is that you can never stop learning.

[Daniel]

Many thanks for your kind comments Daniel - glad to have interested you. One of the great things about this hobby is that you can never stop learning.

Exactly.
I consider myself an eternal beginner.
One thing I regret is that younger (and not) beginners seem to be afraid of asking, saying, and showing their works. Perhaps they believe we 'know'
and don't realize we all depend on their fresh look on things and specialy their questions, comments and critics to learn from them to look things in a newer way.

May be some of them suddenly discover that from not-knowing one can learn everything but from 'knowing' one can only repeat oneself and it gets boring!

Daniel