P4NewStreet - modelling Birmingham (UK) in the 1980's - 1:76 scale

[jim s-w]

Work has progressed on my warehouse. I've installed the second floor which means the final lighting for the first floor is also in place. I used self adhesive copper tape instead of wire and found it made things so much easier. Something ill definitely be adopting for the other floors and buildings.

[jim s-w]

A couple of pics of the Deeley tank parked up for the night.

Cheers

Jim

[Ray Dunakin]

Very nice!

[finescalerr]

I certainly could have used some of those photos when I was publishing the Annuals! -- Russ

[Bill Gill]

Very nice scenes.

[jim s-w]

Thanks all.  A few more images. I've added a few details to the second floor more of a hint of something there really as you can only see it if you peek through the windows.

[finescalerr]

Those images remind me of an attempt from several years ago that just refused to satisfy me. So instead of shooting through the window at the interior, I used the light through the window to illuminate a locomotive (in the dark) outside the building. The patterns of light pouring through the muntins and mullions onto the loco were very effective. -- Russ

[jim s-w]

I know what you mean Russ.  I've included windows at the back of the building, even if you can't see them,  to try and get the effect you describe.  I haven't tried any shots to see if it will work though

[Hydrostat]

Jim,

I really like and enjoy the standard of your modeling and photography. There were a lot of shots which made it at least hard to decide whether there's a prototype or a model picture. I like the last ones, too, but the brickwork looks a bit unrealistic to my eyes. Maybe you're going to put work into it and if so please forgive my nitpicking. I think the point is that there's no sharp edges at all the bricks, which seem to be somewhat rounded in all dimensions, and the surface looks a bit like plastics, which it is, I assume? For sure this works from a watching distance at the model, but not in such a close up shot.

Volker

[jim s-w]

Very true Volker   Have a look back at page 3 for the very same point, appologies for lots of the links being broken (I upload images to the forum now)

[Hydrostat]

My apologies. I didn't notice that.

[Ray Dunakin]

Nice. I always prefer to have at least a hint of something showing through the windows, even if it can't be seen clearly, rather than just leaving it empty.

[jim s-w]

I have a bit of a thing for bad kits. Very well designed ones are great but I always feel someone else has done all the work for up you. It all seems a bit easy some how.  So I found an old white metal kit for a very long lived loco called a Kirtley Goods or 700 class. This class served the British railway network for a century and the example I'm modelling did 80+ years from build to scrapping!
The kit, according to the copyright notice on the instructions came out in 1976 which means it's only 2 years younger than I am!

Anyway to get a feel of where I'm starting from I loosely mocked up the body as below.

[jim s-w]

The moulded springs were rubbish, I'd already started removing them in the previous picture but the splashers were huge. This threw out the entire look of the loco. The reason for this was to accomodate 00 gauge wheels. You can see in the first picture below the difference between a 00 wheel and a scale wheel. The second image shows the reduced sized splasher.

[jim s-w]

Here's the loco after much modification, it's nearly ready for paint.