I have finally got around to posting some photos of what I am working on at the moment . This is going to be a model of a fairly recent coal mine that was in operation about 20 years ago . It has since disappeared . I was inspired by a set of photos I came across in a book that I bought a few years ago , called " Small mines of South Wales vol. 2 " by A J Booth . This is one of a collection of four books that document some of the smaller and very often unknown mines around Britain . South Wales merits two volumes on its own . Within these four books there is a wealth of modelling inspiration and I reckon I could spend the rest of my modelling years just building dioramas from these books . Well worth buying if you come across them .
I shall start by showing the photos I had to work with . I apologise for the poor quality of the photos but they are just scans of the book and the photos themselves are not up to much .
My progress shots will follow .
Nick
First two pages
Next page
And the last page .
Welcome back Sir!
That looks like it has some decent potential. Certainly lots of individual elements for detailing. Interesting mix of some old and newer parts.
Is this planned as a static diorama, or are there complex plans to get the incline a working feature?
Cheers,
Dan
... not very much bricks involved then, I presume (regarding the pics) ... ;) ;D ??? ... (interesting choice anyway!)
Cheers
Good to see you back Nick,
Think you had better post that cement block building you have done ..... You know you want you ;D
At the moment I have no plans to make the model into anything other than static .
As the saying goes " Man cannot live by bricks alone " , you've got to add some concrete blocks into the mix .
I had been waiting to start this project until a suitable means of reproducing the large number of 9" concrete blocks that would be needed . This was presented to me by Diorama Debris in the form of a couple of experimental moulds . After much trial and error I have devised a method of casting the blocks that make them look convincing in 1/35th scale . This , however , does not include the use of plaster , rather a resin that is added to sawdust to make a wood filler . This , I suspect , is not that easy to get hold of . I just happened to have a can kicking around .
At the moment these moulds are not available to buy and I am not sure if there is any intention in doing so , so if you want some , you will need to pester those good people at Diorama Debris to put them into production .
Having cast several hundred blocks last September I spent part of my holiday in Scotland building the office building and the retaining wall .
There were a couple of other hurdles to overcome before I could get properly stuck into the project . The first was to find as suitable model to represent the front end loader . This I managed to do by buying , what appears to be , one of the last front end loader kits made by MIG Productions available in Britain .
The other was how to represent the arched steel girders that were used in the entrances to the adits . The solution was provided by Barney who built me half a dozen out of styrene .
I will try and post some photos that I have got on my iPad and see if I can make it work ,
Nick
Well it certainly is good to see you back with something to say!
Looks to be a very nice diorama. Hopefully pictures will follow?
Jerry
Very interesting prototype! Should be a fun build.
The 4 books you refer to are exceptionally good books for anyone interested in small, industrial railways.
I look forward to your progress reports.
A subject right up your alley, assuming you actually have an alley. I expect (and demand) your usual absolute perfection. Please post photos of every step. And try to stay out of the corner long enough to make some real progress on this thing. -- Russ
Glad to see you back at the bench Nick!
I have finally got around to sorting out some work in progress photos . Blurb to follow .
The turnouts were made by Bernard , but have become obsolete because he has superseded them with a newer version . I removed to motors to make them fit .
Construction is fairly self explanatory . I hope .
The block shed won't be used on this section of the model . It will have to wait until part 3 .
The loader will have to wait until part 3 as well . By then I might be competent enough to paint it properly .
No complaints here Nick. Block texture and colour looks pretty reasonable to me. The nature of the cut down into the mine entrance lends itself to framing the scene quite nicely. Thanks for the update pics.
Cheers,
Dan
Excellent job Nick. I look forward to seeing further progress. Especially that concrete block building.
Regards, Don
Very nice, especially the block wall and building!
Very nice. Even at this early stage your attention to detail is showing.
The dirt on the track does help a bit. If I read the plan properly the grade would begin just where you have stopped modeling, right? This thing might actually be good ... someday. -- Russ
Quote from: finescalerr on March 19, 2014, 01:03:09 AM
The dirt on the track does help a bit. If I read the plan properly the grade would begin just where you have stopped modeling, right? This thing might actually be good ... someday. -- Russ
I envisage this "little" diorama being built in probably 3 stages , with the incline and tippler coming next and the yard and office last . The idea is the bit I am working on can be finished off and become a stand alone piece . I think I will be expect to be on layout duty after this is done , so the other two sections will have to wait .
I wasn't aiming my sights as high as " good" , " quite good " is probably the best I can hope for .
Now , if only there was a high quality magazine that I could submit an article to , it would be all worth while .
Nick
Hi Nick,
I like the mine train motif very well.
I build indeed still on my model mine "Klosterstollen".
Very good work.
Nice to see your work again Sir.
The scene is very nice, I like it!
How did you bend the arched "I" beams at the openings?
Are they 3 pieces or one?
Styrene or?
-Mj
That's some fine looking work Sir Nick. Looking forward to seeing future installments.
Sure would make a nice feature article in a top rated magazine!!!
Jerry
I thought I heard some grumbling about magazines. Hmmm. I just completed page layout on the final NG Annual; only proofing and printing to disk remain.
Ever since I announced the end of paper publishing the abrupt termination of phone calls and e-mail was as though I had died. And maybe I have.
Russ
I like this unromantic approach. There is none of that cute old time romance that surrounds many mining layouts. Your choice of materials and layout looks very authentic and disturbing in a nice way. This is some serious blue collar modeling! (again)
I also love how well the tracks disappear into the ground. Excellent!
Christian
Thanks for the favourable comments . Most welcome .
Now , Young Marty , you weren't really paying attention in class , now were you ? As previously stated I enrolled the help of Barney "Mr. Styrene " to make the arched "I" beams . What I didn't say is that he constructed them using three pieces per beam . By far the easiest way of making them .
Well , Russ , the lack of emails and phone calls only goes to re-enforce the widespread belief that we only loved you for your comics and not yourself !
Nick
This is going to be a very interesting model. The corrugated sheets and the arches look very good. And so the rails do.
Thanks for sharing this!
Volker
By the way: Is this a vanilla ice cream loader?
(https://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2366.0;attach=11591;image)
Dang! That looks like a gigantic unpainted resin kit somewhere out in the 1:1 world -- great job on the ground work / setting there! -- Dallas
Quote from: shropshire lad on March 19, 2014, 03:06:58 AM
Quote from: finescalerr on March 19, 2014, 01:03:09 AM
The dirt on the track does help a bit. If I read the plan properly the grade would begin just where you have stopped modeling, right? This thing might actually be good ... someday. -- Russ
I envisage this "little" diorama being built in probably 3 stages , with the incline and tippler coming next and the yard and office last . The idea is the bit I am working on can be finished off and become a stand alone piece . I think I will be expect to be on layout duty after this is done , so the other two sections will have to wait .
I wasn't aiming my sights as high as " good" , " quite good " is probably the best I can hope for .
Now , if only there was a high quality magazine that I could submit an article to , it would be all worth while .
Nick
No luck at that Nick. Maybe in Europe or Australia but no longer in the U.S. The last quality mag is now retired.
Don
Nick, have you considered MRJ? Or is narrow gauge "beneath" them?
Does Roy Link still do the narrow gauge magazine?
Quote from: artizen on March 19, 2014, 08:17:58 PM
Nick, have you considered MRJ? Or is narrow gauge "beneath" them?
Does Roy Link still do the narrow gauge magazine?
Ian , As you must have guessed I was poking a bit of fun at Russ so I was not really expecting to publish an article anywhere . Roy Link is still involved with the Review but only in an advisory role these days . I do still owe them an article , so I probably will cobble something together for them at some point .
Nick
When I recover from the past twenty-five years of snubs from the hobby industry and narrow gauge "fraternity", and if you don't insist on a paper publication, I would be honored to devote as many pages as you like to digitally publishing the work of anyone here.
The world as we once knew it is eroding pretty quickly. Might as well face it and move forward regardless.
Russ
Who needs a magazine when we have this forum?
I'm printing hard copies to sell when the internet crashes!
That way we will have something to read while driving around the desert in leather looking for fuel and water!
Nick, is this a blue plastic bag edgeways of the mine entrance? It took some time to discover this. It looks phantastic.Do you have a closeup?
Volker
Nick has sent me a few images of the completed diorama. Here's the first, with the project still under construction. -- Russ
Nick has begun planting grass. -- Russ
As the grass begins to grow, Nick left his scratchbuilt rolling stock outside to rust. -- Russ
He had to leave the bikini girls for a few minutes and crawl into the tunnel to expose this photo. -- Russ
Here is the finished diorama. -- Russ
And a closer, final, look. -- Russ
Now your reward for suffering through Nick's photos: First a trio of Nick's dioramas, including the Ponty Mine, at an art show. Really? Art? -- Russ
Here is a closer look at the Remora. First the long shot .... -- Russ
...And now a little closer. Th- th- th- that's all, folks! -- Russ
In a world full of fake news, I am skeptical that Nick is still modelling, much less finishing something. Still, I suppose it's possible. Quite nice if true!
Nick who????
Jerry
Quote from: TRAINS1941 on December 29, 2017, 06:05:54 AM
Nick who????
Jerry
Oh , how quickly they forget . Or is it your dementia kicking , Jerry , me Old Fruit ?!
Happy Christmas ,
Nick
Quote from: shropshire lad on December 29, 2017, 07:32:59 AM
Quote from: TRAINS1941 on December 29, 2017, 06:05:54 AM
Nick who????
Jerry
Oh , how quickly they forget . Or is it your dementia kicking , Jerry , me Old Fruit ?!
Happy Christmas ,
Nick
Oh that Nick!!!
Well Happy New Year to you and the family!!!
Jerry
Nick,
I see. It isn't a plastic bag but some slabs of slate. I'm a bit slow witht that.
Cheers,
Volker
Awesome stuff, especially that Ponty Mine! I love the shot looking out from the tunnel.