ScR steam in the 50's

I have found that getting as low a shooting position as practical helps with creating that illusion of semi-reality, and the use of natural light and shadows helps suggest that what we are seeing actually is there :) The C&L "00" track with its British sleeper spacings also helps this in a way Peco can never do. Various combinations of manual settings and light  positions are fired away, with most of the shots discarded, and those that are left are cropped and slight adjustments are made, usually tweaking the backlight function, which brings out  a lot of detail more or less hidden in the original. I don't bother with altering colours or anything like that- just see what the camera can find on its settings. All good fun!
The wagons are weathered with various shades of brown and much drybrushing and washes, the subtlety of which vanishes when photographed :???: and most of the markings are put on with a finely honed chalk pencil- grossly overscale in real life, but they look OK at a distance. There was a mention on RMweb recently of a light grey marker pen with a very fine point that someone used, and I am going to try and track this down- unfortunately I didn't bookmark it, so it could take some time…..

Anyway, that's it for now- sleeper chairs have arrived, so that's me going to be busy for a while. Thanks again for the interest.

A couple more…

How could I have missed all this for so long????

Thanks, Bob, for front-paging Ben's work, thank you, Ben, for a very enjoyable mornings read about some quality work and the info about True Textures even if you do get a cosmetics company on first just Googling 'true textures'!   

[truetexture.co.uk  

Doug




Doug

Cheers, plenty more where the last lot came from!

Firstly, a WIP on the Peco point alterations- most of them fitted on one but unpainted as of yet. I am unsure about the inside chairs- experiments suggest that anything that looks promising tends to foul flanges, so this side may be left alone. It does look much better to the eye though- the track flows smoothly without the intrusion of unchaired flat bottom rail .




One or two more daylight pics now.

You can almost feel the chill wind in this shot Ben:




A cracker for a highland moor and I see what you mean about the C&L sleeper spacings (and depth) making the track look so much better than Peco.  It's a combination of many things that makes your shots look so realistic but the track certainly plays it's part. :thumbs

Great photos Ben,

Good to see a pannier this far north !

Yes, one of two sent to work the Dornoch branch and looked after at Helmsdale. This really did happen!

I could walk out across the track and up into the hills, book me a ticket, I'm coming on holiday!

Marty

Yes, if only….I'd turn round and see what was on shed, and wait for a Black Five to pull up for water and shunt off some coaches…. Dreams..

Anyway, still adding chairs to points, but here's one I grabbed this afternoon, unfortunately with an untreated point in full view :oops:

Ben, do ever get problems with the added chairs as those two in the last picture look a little proud?

Phil

I just love those shots, so atmospheric!

[user=753]Phil.c[/user] wrote:

Ben, do ever get problems with the added chairs as those two in the last picture look a little proud?

Phil

Still haven't trimmed them down- it's easier to fit them roughly and run a scalpel over them later.This isn't scale modelling, but the visual impact is much improved-…… watch this space!

[user=1369]Ted_[/user] wrote:

I just love those shots, so atmospheric!

Thanks, a mixture of good backscenes and natural daylight are the main ingredients, plus me getting my finger out and tackling a thirty plus year old white metal loco kit stash. Realising that it was most unlikely that I was going to live long enough to see some/any Scottish R-T-R locos has given me a creative burst, aided by judicious use of Bachmann and Hornby chassis to provide a meld of pre -group locos with the superb running qualities of current releases. I'm actually glad I put off building these over the years, as the chassis and motors of these kits are mostly fit only for the bin.

Brilliant Ben,absolutely brilliant.Your efforts are much appreciated.

Truly inspirational.
 
Terry

:oops:   :oops:   :cheers  Many thanks for the kind words- there's still a lot to be done with the layout, but I do think I have managed to capture some sense of time and place,even if the timescale is a bit elastic, and to that end am pleased with the way it is turning out. It probably helps that there is very little out there to compare it against; there being hardly any late steam era HR models around, it seems, and modelling a prototype is fairly straightforward- you just copy what was there!

Yes that's right Ben,

And as Bruce Forsyth would say " and that's all there is to it ".

If only…..some fantastic work there, as said previously, you can feel that Scottish chill and could just walk out and touch the scenery.

I can only aspire……but I'll tell you something, it's fantastic that every now and again, you get treated to something like this that gives you a lift and shows you what is possible.

Sir Chris Hoy………Andy Murray………..Ben Alder…… The set is complete.

Come on the Scots.

Regards. Toto.

[user=772]Ben Alder[/user] wrote:

……………………………………………………………- you just copy what was there!

And therein lies the rub !!!!

  Richard Doake and Mother Nature seem to have an ability to do it so much better than I can …………;-)

Chair laying has reached a just about there stage, with them in place and trimmed and painted, now undergoing running trials to spot any protrusions that cause bumping. Still not a total solution, not that you'll ever get that while using Peco points- or 16.5m for that matter, some may say- but hopefully an improvement on what was before.

It certainly is to my eyes Ben.
Nice, if painstaking, work.
cheers

Marty

This shot highlights the difference in sleeper spacing on the Peco points and shouts from the rooftops how much better the C & L track looks.   Without the mix shown here, I'm sure most would have been happy with Peco track - I know I would, but seeing them side by side, I know which is better to my eyes …………..:roll:

Another excellent shot Ben (or Richard ………………:roll::roll:)