Canford Quay

[heda]

A little bit more progress, some scrap in the yard behind the garage, I'm going to need a lot more so probably add to it bit by bit rather than trying to do it all at once.
Meanwhile on the quay buffers, which are cut down Hornby to save space, have been installed, this turned out to be a hassle, I should have fitted them first then put the cobblestones down but I think it's turned out reasonably well. The mooring bollards have been stuck down too, I must get some mooring lines for the boats so there not just bobbing around.
Dave

[Lofty]

I do like a bit of scrap laying around the place.

[heda]

More scrap will be added soon I just need to add rust to some odds and ends.

I've not done a great deal of modelling for a while but the creative mood is back.
A crane operator has been added, he's actually an army medic, after a bit of hacking the stethascope was removed, a hole drilled in his clenched hand and a track pin inserted, a couple more track pins for controls.
Browsing ebay again I came across fish wagons, so having got a quay and a fishing boat I had to buy them, a few fish boxes, and another modified soldier handling the boxes completes the scene. The fish boxes are stuck together but not stuck to the board as I want to be able to swap loads around.

I bought a couple of lots of Airfix soldiers on ebay a year or two ago for next to nothing, there worth looking out for if you don't mind a bit of chopping around, there are some useful poses, I've got a stretcher bearer pushing a wheelbarrow and another soldier with his hands up standing in a doorway.
Dave

[Dad-1]

Hi Dave,

Good to see inspiration has returned.
Nice to see some of the army put to good use.

Geoff T.

[heda]

It's not just the inspiration, life tends to get in the way of modelling and I did have to have cataract surgery which is no big deal but prior to having it done my eyesight became like looking through a frosted glass window so and sort of detailed work was impossible.

The horticultural expert (wife) finished the gardens, so time to add dust. For my first attempt on a piece of scrap I put down some pva and sprinkled dust but it clumped up. Second attempt was to just put the dust down then use hair spray, it works but some of the dust, which was something from the wifes make up box didn't show up after been sprayed so I added some actual brick dust before spraying again. I think it looks reasonable.
Next job is to add some broken furniture and people digging through the rubble.
The strands of UHU glue that I only noticed after taking the pictures have since been removed !
Dave

[Phred]

Great work! It's a strange thing, but making something look convincingly blown up or falling down is quite difficult. The broken windows are very well done.

[heda]

Thanks again Phred, bombed buildings are something I'd been wanting to attempt for some time,I did a lot of Googling but if I had based my models exactly on the real thing a lot would not have looked realistic, for instance a glass of water on a bedside cabinet untouched the house all but demolished, a row of houses, one in the middle gone completely but the guttering still intact bridging the gap.

A couple more pictures of the bombed houses with lorries in place, I don't intend to stick the lorries down because I want to be able to move things around from time to time. More soldiers have been put to good use. It's about as far as I can go with the buildings, it's taken a bit of work but I'm pleased with the finished thing.
Dave

[Richard08]

You've modelled my house Nice work.

[Phred]

heda wrote:
glass of water on a bedside cabinet untouched

In the fifties, when my father was stationed in Woolwich, I used to regularly play on various 'bomb sites'. One thing that particularly sticks in my mind was a house, missing its side wall, awaiting demolition. In an upstairs room, a picture still hung on the papered wall and a dining chair stood upright to one side.

Richard08 wrote:
You've modelled my house

[Phred]

Oh, and I hope the residents were in that Anderson shelter when the bomb hit!

[Peterm]

Great modelling of those bombed houses. We used to have great fun, playing on bomb sites.

[Dad-1]

That is very good, I can appreciate the work in getting that to look 'right'

Geoff T.

[heda]

Pleased to say there were no casulties. The posh family from the bungalow that escaped damage were in there anderson shelter, the other residents were 'sheltering' in the pub next door, if your going to go it may as well be with a pint in your hand !

A small update, the harbour and my first attempt at weathering wagons, I'm sure they could be improved but they are basic Triang wagons bought very cheaply on Ebay and to my eye at least they look better than the basic plastic boxes that they started out as.

The harbourmasters office stuck in place, a sand/gravel path laid and some rough lineside fencing erected using cocktail sticks and rust coloured cotton. I wasn't to careful with the wire spacing as it's meant to look less than perfect having been quickly repaired over the years, in hindsight I should have leant some of the posts over slightly.

Dave

[Phred]

Nice job on the fence, and the weathering makes the wagons fit right into the scene.

[Bigmet]

Great work! It's a strange thing, but making something look convincingly blown up or falling down is quite difficult...

Make that very difficult! There is one relatively easy 'out' that I failed to mention in my earlier post; undamaged buildings with one partly swathed in a parachute; the 'mine' that failed to detonate beneath it out of sight having gone through a roof, now awaiting defusing and disposal: barriers preventing access and only the BD personnel present.