The Heybridge Railway, 1889 to 1913

[Herb Garden]

I bought a couple of military modeller type painting-and-weathering books, it’s all very impressive, but I get the impression it can all get a bit caricature-ish, theatrical even, if you’re not careful.

Needless to say, I’m not going to give examples of the wonderful work I’ve done having read the books…

I suppose it's the difference between photo realistic painting and impressionist painting both have a place but are just different approaches.

Probably the most important thing in all model railways is to make sure everything is consistent and looks like it comes from the same universe. I certainly can't put my locos painted on the Warhammer style next to RTR models and expect them to look homogeneous.

 

[mswjr]

I am liking the Bentall engine, If it is finished, I assume it is a wagon load, It needs a wooden stand or something for it to stand on, as it has the bolts on the bottom casting, I think a varnished bit of wood for it to stand on would go well with the green body.

 

[Richard Gawler]

I want to put the Bentall engine on a wooden trolley and I am looking for some wheels about 6mm diameter for this. Maybe I'll find something at Kempton.

If the engine is a wagon load, I'd like to put it on a platform awaiting loading because it would be sheeted over for transport. I also have vague ideas of having the edge of an agricultural show near the railway but this may be a bit ambitious for space in 7mm scale.

 

[Richard Gawler]

I bought a couple of military modeller type painting-and-weathering books, it’s all very impressive, but I get the impression it can all get a bit caricature-ish, theatrical even, if you’re not careful.

Needless to say, I’m not going to give examples of the wonderful work I’ve done having read the books…

I suppose it's the difference between photo realistic painting and impressionist painting both have a place but are just different approaches.

Probably the most important thing in all model railways is to make sure everything is consistent and looks like it comes from the same universe. I certainly can't put my locos painted on the Warhammer style next to RTR models and expect them to look homogeneous.

Suppose the layout is a little theatre with a stage and wings and lighting. There are props and actors too, but their roles will be reversed compared to a real theatre.

1) Maybe it is right for the smaller props to have slightly larger-than-life finishes, while the actors (the trains) look more like their prototypes.

2) Maybe the smaller props which ought to be alive and moving (like people and animals) benefit from these finishes to make them look a bit more interesting.

3) As an extension of 2), maybe a small engine placed in a setting where we expect to see it running but it isn't, will also seem more interesting with such a finish.

4) Maybe I need some rules on where to apply faux highlights and shadows . . . and maybe, other folk just know what works and what doesn't and get on with it

 

[simond]

Do it, have fun, see what it looks like, change it if you don’t like it…. I guess.

 

[Herb Garden]

"all the layout is a stage and all the locomotives mearly players, they have their entrances and Thier exits and one engine in its time shunts many wagons"

 

[Herb Garden]

) Maybe I need some rules on where to apply faux highlights and shadows . . . and maybe, other folk just know what works and what doesn't and get on with it

In my opinion (so take this with the bucket of salt it deserves) is that the smaller the scale to more over accentuated the highlighting/shading/detailing needs to be to trick the eye the item is bigger than it is. Certainly that's what I find in 4mm. But others may find other things work for them and that's cool cos we all see the world differently.

 

[Richard Gawler]

No pinch let alone a bucket of salt.

I am pretty sure, I am wanting to trick the eye to see an item which is more lifelike than it is, and the shading is there to play tricks the lighting rig cannot manage on its own. We need this distortion because we are viewing small objects (like figures) from a disproportionately distant viewpoint.

I have got my doubts this means the brain must think the item is bigger than it really is (because this sounds so much at odds with the idea of scale model making) but I do think the brain needs to perceive the item to be correctly three-dimensional, and perhaps alive and this perception needs help for small objects.

If this is true then the threshold for shading could be set by the physical size rather than the scale. Meaning, if I had a 1:20 model person instead of a 1:43 one, the shading would be useful on the coat buttons not the collar. Going downwards is less clear; I am reluctant to suggest a T scale train should have shading everywhere.

 

[Herb Garden]

Yeah maybe I didn't describe it right....

Maybe the best way to sum it up is....

A model is a small object in relation to the size of our optic nerve. We need to use paint to replicate the way the way we see how light reflects off a much larger object than the relative size of our optic nerve

How philosophical!

 

[Richard Gawler]

I bought a couple of military modeller type painting-and-weathering books, it’s all very impressive, but I get the impression it can all get a bit caricature-ish, theatrical even, if you’re not careful.

Needless to say, I’m not going to give examples of the wonderful work I’ve done having read the books…

Yeah maybe I didn't describe it right....

Maybe the best way to sum it up is....

A model is a small object in relation to the size of our optic nerve. We need to use paint to replicate the way the way we see how light reflects off a much larger object than the relative size of our optic nerve

How philosophical!

Trying to find the right two words, I want to aim for something looking "fabulous" not "fantastical", and figures are a good place to try.

 

[Herb Garden]

Trying to find the right two words, I want to aim for something looking "fabulous" not "fantastical", and figures are a good place to try.

That's a nice way of putting it.... Might use that in future

 

[Richard Gawler]

Here are four crew from loco kits by Connoisseur Models, and two workmen from packs labelled 'Modellers World' of Coventry. This is the first time I have sprayed figures black before starting the painting, it really does help a lot.


An old hand holds a class for footplate posing.


A budget figure reminds me rickets was common in Victorian Britain . . . and sadly is reported to be returning.


A new moustache, a yellow carnation and overpainting the silver buttons have all helped.

These are my last figures for the time being, which is a bit annoying as I was just starting to enjoy myself.

 

[Richard Gawler]

This is my present population minus the footplate crews. I probably have all the passengers I need (you had to be pretty wealthy to travel by train) but there is room on most any layout I can build for more workers.

 

[AndyB]

Here are four crew from loco kits by Connoisseur Models, and two workmen from packs labelled 'Modellers World' of Coventry. This is the first time I have sprayed figures black before starting the painting, it really does help a lot.


An old hand holds a class for footplate posing.


A budget figure reminds me rickets was common in Victorian Britain . . . and sadly is reported to be returning.


A new moustache, a yellow carnation and overpainting the silver buttons have all helped.

These are my last figures for the time being, which is a bit annoying as I was just starting to enjoy myself.

Nice to see 3 of these chaps with some colour to them after all the years they languished in my 'one day.....' pile!
What is 'sandwich board' man going to be advertising (or predicting...)?

 

[Richard Gawler]

Nice to see 3 of these chaps with some colour to them after all the years they languished in my 'one day.....' pile!
What is 'sandwich board' man going to be advertising (or predicting...)?

A message using short words, and capital letters I can mostly make from straight lines!

Messages like "rail strike" are unlikely in the 1890s and I am 30 even 50 years too early for "repent the end is nigh". The Chelmer and Blackwater navigation remained a working waterway until the 1970s so "boat trips" would be too wrong too.

I've had a couple of ideas (post #717), "more driver menace" (to reflect the driver figure standing beside their 1908 Renault) or "Royal visit" (so I can have lots of people out in their best clothes). I could have "long live the King" to represent 1901 and 1910. A single word might give the most flexibility e.g. "excursion" but this word is rather long. All ideas welcome, he could have a different or even contradictory message on his back

 

[Richard Gawler]

Nice to see 3 of these chaps with some colour to them after all the years they languished in my 'one day.....' pile!

. . .

The four loco crew came with the starter loco and the J15 and they are better than some figures sold individually. The modelling of the bodies and clothing is very good, some faces are a little undefined. I used a black draughting pen to add the eyebrows and I didn't try to "dot the eyes".

I gave one of the firemen a new shovel handle from a bit of wire. I melted away part of his shovel doing this so had to rebuild it with solder and file it down. Then I decided one scale diameter handle was enough.

 

[Richard Gawler]

'Blackwater' threw a crankpin screw at NEEGOG last weekend. Amazingly, she ran on for another 20 feet or so before coming to a very abrupt stop. Even more amazingly, someone found the crankpin where it fell.


This isn't really an ideal design, the side rods are forever trying to loosen the crankpin screws on one side and the action swaps sides every time the model changes direction.


This is the underneath in case anyone is interested to see inside a Minerva Manning Wardle. The pickups are usually concealed by the wheels so I took the chance to clean them.


Everything is back together and working. The loco still runs forwards perfectly but has developed the tiniest tight spot running in reverse. I think the hard stop has put a bend in one of the two rear side rods but I cannot see anything amiss. I have eased both rods outwards a few thou', the tight spot is almost gone but it is still there. Running is perfect on a feedback controller.

The side rods are too slender to let me put in some Slater's crankpin bushes. I have secured all six screws with Loctite, I don't like doing this or even recommend it but this fault has happened before and I want to stop it happening again.

 

[Richard Gawler]

Yesterday I went to the show at Kempton Park and collected my Y14 from Warren



This is the first time I have used a professional painter and Warren's work has sort of transformed the loco. It really will look "Victorian" on a layout. I am pleased with everything here, there were some surface faults in my construction and they have all but disappeared.

Making the boiler assembly detachable let him draw(?) the lining on the boiler bands without having to resort to transfers.

The livery is from an essay by Lyn D. Brooks published in the GER Society Journal number 36 from where I quote,
"The first Y14s were finished in the standard blue livery with small lettering GER on the tender. From 1885 Holden introduced larger tender lettering, but from about 1890 all goods engines were painted black with lining and lettering as before".

The photographic emulsions of the 1890s did not respond to red, so I suspect I will never find a useful photo of a suitable prototype. I put off giving the model a running number as long as I could, but the number needed to appear on the front buffer beam and is 925. This procrastination means I can expect to wait another eight weeks or so to get the plates for the cab sides.

I will ignore the boiler backhead for the time being (I have barely started it), and concentrate on putting back the motor and control gear, adding the missing details and . . . well, seeing it running

 

[Dog Star]

After talking with you at the Show on Saturday I can see now why you were so pleased with the result of Warren's work. You have a model of which you can be proud and a model that others can enjoy when running at shows.

regards, Graham

 

[chigley]

good to meet you Graham, nice to put faces to people, I was with Richard when he was talking to you

Ken