7mm Heybridge Basin

[Richard Gawler]

Last Monday was mild and calm and just right for aerosols. Maybe, just maybe this is the last time I will take this baseboard outdoors for painting. Some years ago I tried the bathroom for this sort of thing and I'm still not convinced I ever quite completed the cleanup


I have added a base coat of acrylics and I will leave the detail painting alone until I have practiced on some smaller models.

The sea lock (post 219) is going to be a model in its own right, and the basin edge is also on pause while I decide on the water surface. This might end up sliding underneath the edge here, or butting up against a full-height wall.

I can return to the bench and do some modelling sitting down

 

[MarkR]

Our son, sprayed his restored David Brown Cropmaster tractor in our garage about 25 years ago, and I am still finding Hunting Pink (red) overspray!

 

[Osgood]

Sensible application of plastering exmet (mesh) on the lock edge

 

[Richard Gawler]

Sensible application of plastering exmet (mesh) on the lock edge

This is a soft aluminium mesh sold to make formers for sculpture. It's one of those things I bought donkey's years ago, was rather expensive at the time, and which I have kept back for when it seems genuinely necessary. It's my insurance policy for DAS clay copings on mixed sub-bases.

 

[Pencarrow]

View attachment 217983
Last Monday was mild and calm and just right for aerosols. Maybe, just maybe this is the last time I will take this baseboard outdoors for painting. Some years ago I tried the bathroom for this sort of thing and I'm still not convinced I ever quite completed the cleanup

View attachment 217986
I have added a base coat of acrylics and I will leave the detail painting alone until I have practiced on some smaller models.

The sea lock (post 219) is going to be a model in its own right, and the basin edge is also on pause while I decide on the water surface. This might end up sliding underneath the edge here, or butting up against a full-height wall.

I can return to the bench and do some modelling sitting down

View attachment 217987

Hi Richard

If using acrylic paints, have a good look at buying or making a wet pallet. Really extends the working time of the paints (by keeping them damp) and means you can keep mixing up colours (and not wasting paint).

I made mine from a plastic Chinese takeaway container with a lid, a layer of foam sponge, and a piece of greaseproof paper. Add some water to the bottom. Add paint to the paper.

The biggest mistake people transfering from old Humbrol type paints is that they try and use the same method/techniques.

 

[Richard Gawler]

If using acrylic paints, have a good look at buying or making a wet pallet. Really extends the working time of the paints (by keeping them damp) and means you can keep mixing up colours (and not wasting paint).

I made mine from a plastic Chinese takeaway container with a lid, a layer of foam sponge, and a piece of greaseproof paper. Add some water to the bottom. Add paint to the paper.

The first tutorial I found for a wet palette is exactly as Chris has described:

I think it will be invaluable for when I come to paint the setts. I can mix up some basic shades and keep them as long as I need them. Take samples from these one at a time, adjust slightly, and tackle a few hundred setts at a time.


This is quite a brave photo "as a witness to the witness coat", with the flash low and pointing towards the lens. I think this will respond to careful painting when the time comes.

(The flangeway gaps are equal, but the running rails are 0.024" above the inner rails hence the asymmetry apparent here)

 

[Richard Gawler]

The biggest mistake people transfering from old Humbrol type paints is that they try and use the same method/techniques.

I’ve been using Tamiya paints for years and Vallejo during the last two years, and I get vastly better results with brushing these than I ever managed with Humbrol, Revell and the various specialist railway enamels. Perhaps I have been using the brushing techniques for acrylics since my teens and the paints have finally caught up with me!

I want Heybridge Basin to look like part of a newly-opened light railway which has been built with care from new and clean secondhand materials. The colouring ought to be dominated by the construction not the subsequent use of the railway.

In addition to this, I am only too aware of how some modellers manage to infuse a wonderful almost spiritual atmosphere into their layouts. I'm thinking especially of ‘Arun Quay’ (7mm) and ‘Trowland’ (S); these two never tire me of repeated viewings.


I don’t want to be too ambitious and this is a “look” I am will be very happy to achieve. I especially like the fresh appearance, the tidiness, and the tree remarkably close to the siding. This is the south-facing aspect of Brockford and the primary viewing side of Heybridge Basin is also facing south (April 2009).

It seems to me, I have got to get a grip on two kinds of painting: to reproduce the finish of full-size items which were themselves painted; and to simulate the appearance of natural materials like brick and oil and indeed the sky. I’ll ignore weathering for now because this uses paint as just one element amongst others.

Heybridge Basin is, amongst other things, my test bed to paint things better. I will try to make sure I am satisfied with my efforts before posting them here, but bear with me. I expect things will go astray, but if I would rather things err towards a dollhouse look than a pervading gloom.

I have begun by repainting the rails so they all match each other. The layout is so small, trying to distinguish new and secondhand rail looked fussy. And Chris, please excuse me for using your comment as an excuse to write an essay.

 

[Richard Gawler]

At the moment, the choice of colour for natural surfaces is giving me the greater difficulty. I must make a start somewhere, so it seems sensible for this to be where ignorance of the prototype can help me; and few observers have real evidence to educate me and spoil my own little made-up world.

E H Bentall pioneered the use of concrete to make building blocks for walls and buildings. An example is the cottage at 5 Colchester Road, in Heybridge, CM9 4AL:
Cottage in Colchester Road

This building is the former lodge for the mansion named The Towers, now lost to modern housing development.

I will imagine the railway used blocks like this to build the passenger platform at Heybridge Basin. I am using embossed styrene “paving slabs” from Roxey Mouldings, these give me the 2:1 aspect ratio.


The ignorance is, I don’t know what the natural colour these should be. I have settled on warm shades to reflect the local aggregates, and give me a contrast with the setts which will be of granite.


The platform copings can be stone flags rather than concrete slabs. I bought these offcuts of stone slips from the late Richard Stacey and they have been in my scenics cupboard for years. Richard's family continue the business as “Miniaturebrickscom” through eBay.


There is a lot of yellow brick in Essex, even my 2000-built house has some. I am happy with all of these masonry colours. The track looks less harsh in real life.


If I can keep going and the platform looks good enough, it ought to draw the eye beyond the expanse of fake water in the basin.

I have consumed all of the large pieces of stone. I expect the rest of the surface will be something to look like compacted aggregates or ash.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

The ignorance is, I don’t know what the natural colour these should be. I have settled on warm shades to reflect the local aggregates, and give me a contrast with the setts which will be of granite.

If it were locally sourced materials I would have a look to see is there were any local brickworks in the area and look at older buildings as this will provide a clue to the colouring. Also the local geology will provide a clue to the clays in the area.

Again, for the granite you would have to decide where it was sourced from as these vary in colour depending on the feldspar content.

 

[Richard Gawler]

I touched on the local geology in my Workbench thread (especially here) when I was thinking about the ballast for the whole project. The pertinent elements are clay, sand and gravel. So - ingredients for making bricks and concrete.

Here on my layout thread for Heybridge Basin, I'm working through my first interpretation of this for what is really my pilot scheme. I've never built a 7mm layout before, nor a layout set in a real location, and it would be good if my worst mistakes are on a small layout.

If it were locally sourced materials I would have a look to see is there were any local brickworks in the area and look at older buildings as this will provide a clue to the colouring.

There were many local brickworks, these started after the opening of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. We see 'foreign' red bricks throughout John Rennie's original works on the navigation; these repaired and rebuilt with local yellow brick, and the same yellow brick again in the huge Bentall warehouse and contemporary terraced houses in Heybridge.

Also the local geology will provide a clue to the clays in the area.

I agree, but it will be difficult to tie this to the products of individual brickworks. It is easier to look at 19th century brickwork, and try to make allowance for a century of weathering.

So for brickwork on my railway, supposedly built most of a century after the navigation, I will go for yellow brick. My first interpretations of this are under the platform ramps.

Again, for the granite you would have to decide where it was sourced from as these vary in colour depending on the feldspar content.

This is useful to know. I can try to match the colours of the copings around the basin and the sea lock. These are massive blocks of granite, bedded on thick mortar beds. But for the setts around the railway I can either blend them into the copings or choose something to make a contrast. With a century between navigation and railway, I can allow myself the luxury of choosing the type of granite for the setts. Indeed, I might choose a sandstone instead; this would tie in with the stone slips I've just glued onto the platform. Building stone has to be imported, so I can compose fictional history around whatever I find aesthetically pleasing.

 

[Richard Gawler]

Most of the model foundations are glued onto the layout and the landscaping in between them can get underway.

Meanwhile, this is the empty plot at Heybridge Basin in the 1920s.


"Heybridge Basin - ketch barge FEARLESS unloading granite chipping for road making, Essex C.C. FEARLESS was built 1876 at Ipswich, Official No. 65377". From the Ron Green Collection at Mersea Museum.

I saw this photo for the first time today. My interpretation already has a great deal of licence, but clearly there just had to be a railway here

Thanks to @Rob R for bringing this wonderful set of photos to my attention: Places > Heybridge - Mersea Museum

 

[MarkR]

Lovely pictures on the Mersea Museum site, I've always wanted to go to Mersea Island (just love the scenes at low tide!), it's a long way from west Dorset, but I have a surprise holiday there for my wife in May 2025, for our 51st. wedding anniversary! I also have a 48" Thames Sailing barge in the loft, plus a 1/4 scale Tiger Moth, plus a.........., plus a.........!
Mark

 

[2996 Victor]

Meanwhile, this is the empty plot at Heybridge Basin in the 1920s.

George Iliffe Stokes!

 

[Richard Gawler]

Thanks to @Rob R for bringing this wonderful set of photos to my attention: Places > Heybridge - Mersea Museum

I have plenty of takeways from these photos . . .

1. poles carrying telegraph wires
2. bollards of the 1920s
3. darker finishes on the weatherboard cladding on the cottages
4. style of the gates on the sea lock
5. fishing at the basin
6. trees beside the towing path were already mature
7. typical dimensions of imported timber
8. size of vessels which came into the basin, including one from Denmark
9. an original edge of the basin now retained by sheet piling (a bit indistinct for modelling)
10. a large shed (could go on the backscene)

Thinking about activity offscene, I can also see the way timber was unloaded (by hand) and where it was unloaded.

These are useful photographs, and none of them contradict my efforts so far except insofar as I cannot hope to capture the sparse and open nature of the location on my 1.2 metre baseboard. I can only ponder why the Mersea Museum chose to index them as "Heybridge", which is probably why I never found them.

 

[Richard Gawler]

The operating practice on the Navigation was for sea-worthy vessels to tie alongside near Osea Island, where their loads were transferred to old Thames barges. These were towed across to the sea lock, moved into the basin, and everything was moved again this time onto barges.

I have mentioned the use of Thames barges to transfer freight across the estuary. This was a post-1945 activity and it is not relevant to my layout project. I mislead myself here and sorry for misleading anyone else.


The bollards were sized to hold the ships entering the basin. Photographed on one of my site visits.

 

[Richard Gawler]

It is sensible to deal with the groundworks built directly onto the baseboard before adding any ballast.

Really, my only "groundworks" for this project are the station platform and the inset track and (later) the basin itself. I was unhappy with my styrene kerbs beside the setts so I cut them out and put in a row of sandstone ones. The new kerbs are dolls house bricks cut from yellow sandstone.


The only other model to be built directly onto the layout is a flower bed for the station platform.

This is an afterthought. I have struggled between having a really bare platform and a prettied-up one, and settled on the flower bed as a way to try out modelling flowers in the scale. I will guess the contractors over-ordered on the kerb stones.


The flower bed gets a blanking panel for the time being because the flowers are about the lowest priority for the project. These blocks have been in my stash for years. I love the vibrance of the colours though I realise I may have to tone them down one day.


The rear extension on the baseboard has ended up with the tiniest downward fall, so the base for the waiting shelter gets shimmed up to make sure the building stands vertical. I have to force myself to look for this sort of thing but supposedly vertical structures really do need to be vertical if I am to be happy.

Early station platforms sloped towards the track, I guess to make the drainage easier. I forgot to do this when I built the platform. The RAIB has reported on accidents at Southend Central and Whyteleaf in 2013 where a wheelchair user’s chair and a pushchair rolled onto the tracks. Fortunately the people involved suffered only minor injuries. Heybridge Basin is ahead of its time here.

Report 17/2014: Accidents at Southend Central and Whyteleafe stations

 

[Richard Gawler]

I am thinking about comments posted on this layout thread and on my workbench thread on my choice of finishes for my scenic models. Clearly “it’s my train set” but I will try to expand on this.

There is no useful building stone in Essex. John Rennie used granite for his works in 1797, so I can choose sandstone and local gravels to add a contrast for my Heybridge Railway. This diorama is supposed to be my learning project for 7 mm, and I think I will be happy with this aesthetic, so I can only try.

I want a layout I will enjoy and which brings engagement. This is going to need some bright colours to inject a little fun and youthfulness. These can sit alongside muted colours, for things which set the scene, and pastel shades to provide that all-important calm on a layout where very little happens.

I hope this doesn’t all sound too pompous, but the underlying governance is my desire to portray a newly-opened railway. I am an engineer by training not an artist so technical stuff comes naturally and early on. Looking at my platform edging slabs I can see a tendency towards the exaggerations of freelance modelling. So be it.

 

[Osgood]

….. I am an engineer by training……

I’m just waiting to see which way up you plant that granite bollard.

 

[Richard Gawler]

I’m just waiting to see which way up you plant that granite bollard.

I was shown a similar bollard almost hidden in the undergrowth behind the boat yard. Well, they aren't the sort of thing you dig out because you aren't using them any more. The striking thing was how far this bollard is from the water - it had to be long way away because the ships of the time were so big.

 

[40057]

I am thinking about comments posted on this layout thread and on my workbench thread on my choice of finishes for my scenic models. Clearly “it’s my train set” but I will try to expand on this.

There is no useful building stone in Essex. John Rennie used granite for his works in 1797, so I can choose sandstone and local gravels to add a contrast for my Heybridge Railway. This diorama is supposed to be my learning project for 7 mm, and I think I will be happy with this aesthetic, so I can only try.

I want a layout I will enjoy and which brings engagement. This is going to need some bright colours to inject a little fun and youthfulness. These can sit alongside muted colours, for things which set the scene, and pastel shades to provide that all-important calm on a layout where very little happens.

I hope this doesn’t all sound too pompous, but the underlying governance is my desire to portray a newly-opened railway. I am an engineer by training not an artist so technical stuff comes naturally and early on. Looking at my platform edging slabs I can see a tendency towards the exaggerations of freelance modelling. So be it.

It’s your railway, Richard, so you don’t need to justify your choices to anyone but yourself. I suspect one of the attractions of model railways for many is that it is a part of one’s life where you actually are in control of what happens. It’s a hobby, meant to be fun, so create what you will enjoy looking at and operating.

What does any model try to recreate? An exact, photographic type, representation? Only very rarely. Lack of space means buildings are reduced in size, platforms shortened, distant objects brought forward. Unlikely amounts of interesting stuff are fitted into very small spaces. Essentially a life-like painting rather than a photograph. But often the model builder goes further and makes a slightly idealised representation — the world as (s)he would like it to be rather than as it actually is. Locomotives nice and clean, all the gardens neat and full of flowers. A modeller will surely be disinclined to spend a great deal of time making something that s/he has a strong aversion to in real life.

Take an industrial scene. At one end of the scale is a photograph of an actual place. Next, a realistic painting where the artist has perhaps brought different buildings closer together than in real life and exaggerated the volumes of smoke from chimneys for effect. Enhanced reality, if you like. Finally, a naive painting such as one of the famous views by L.S. Lowry. All of these can work as ways of portraying reality and conveying a sense of place.

Most modern model railways I would argue are somewhere in the middle between the photograph and a naive representation. We don’t shorten coaches any more (as was commonplace up to the 1950s, to allow for small radius curves), but we do still shorten buildings.