Isle Ornsay

[invercloy]

Some progress to report...

All my buildings are based around foamboard shells which then get clad with either das, carved filler, or plasticard sheet.  Tonight I've finally finished the row of buildings along the rear of the layout.  The following photos and captions are lifted from my NGRM thread.

The street is based on the curved series of properties at Plockton, but is made up of a more eclectic mix of buildings from prototypes all over Western Scotland.




Left to right you have:
The hotel (still needs a name) + lodge (Dundonnel Hotel), croft (modified from the Dunvegan Hotel), small croft (freelance), Pioneer Stores (Kyle of Lochalsh), croft (Plockton), post office (Plockton), chandler (Plockton), Customs House (Ullapool).  At the front on the left is the harbour office, and on the extreme right is the loco shed.



Excuse the wonky bit of wall, it's just a spare off cut of a casting I've dropped in place temporarily.

As you'll see I've tried to bring the roof line away from the backscene by at least 10mm, thereby giving a better impression of depth by showing the roof sloping down at the rear.  There are some points where buildings head straight into the backscene, such as the track leading off next to the Customs House, but I have plans for how to camouflage those.



Only the station building, ferry office, water tower and signal box (I'll be replacing the one bashed from the Wills kit I'm using at present) to do then they're all done.  I may leave some of those until after Sparsholt, but I'll see how the next month pans out on that front...  Next job is to get cracking with building cassettes.  Then hopefully my rock moulds will have (finally) found their way through customs and I can crack on with getting them added too.

[Tigger]

This just looks SO good Tom!  Very evocative and reminds me of Tobermory last Easter.  Looking forward to seeing it.  However unless I'm mistaken, you haven't mentioned the distillery yet.  I think the Isle Ornsay 12 year expression with a fresh, peaty and yet slightly floral nose, a phenolic, smoky and slightly salty taste with a seaweedy but dry finish would go down very nicely after a helping of game pie following a day's shooting on the hills.  The 18 year, although a similarly fresh nose reminiscent of the cool wind through the heather is more sherried and far better for the end of an evening by the fireplace recounting stories of ancestral ghosts and derring-do where it is accompanied with a couple of shortbreads...
(Eat & drink your hearts out Oz Clarke and Jilly Goolden!! ;D)

[invercloy]

Thanks Tigger :)

I don't need to make up a distillery as there's quite a well known one just off the route of the HLR which I will be providing P.O. wagons for ;)
http://www.discovering-distilleries.com/talisker/

I've also just received the rock moulds I'll be using.  They come from America from a company named Bragdon Enterprise and are FANTASTIC!


A4 sheet of paper included for scale  :o

[membership]

intrigued by the check rails - the curve doesn't look that severe in the photos. or is there another reason for them?

[invercloy]

It's probably sharp enough when you think that we always model curves tighter than we should do. Plus I like them.

[MickT]

Check rails? Oh, I thought you had gone Southern Electric and was expecting a 2BIL to appear on the jetty............ ;D

It's looking very good with the buildings now giving more "shape" to the overall scene - reminiscent of my last visit to Portree and very much an impression of Skye.

Looking forward to seeing the layout in the flesh at Sparsholt - less than a month to go!

Mick

[invercloy]

Check rails? Oh, I thought you had gone Southern Electric and was expecting a 2BIL to appear on the jetty............ ;D

It's looking very good with the buildings now giving more "shape" to the overall scene - reminiscent of my last visit to Portree and very much an impression of Skye.

Looking forward to seeing the layout in the flesh at Sparsholt - less than a month to go!

Mick

Thanks Mick

A 2BIL!?  :o  Will a steam railmotor do instead?

Here are some pictures of the castings from the rock moulds I've bought recently.  The headland is taking shape.  All the castings are thin and then cracked to shape to fit the scenery.  The gaps between are the filled and carved.  There's still some work to do around the baseboard joint, and to fill in gaps around the rocks with more paper mache.

[gtmspyder]

Good morning Tom.

I must congratulate you on the looks of the coastline using the new rock moulds, especially the last pictue you posted, it looks superb.

The harbour wall is also very real, was this hand carved or is it done with a mould.  The way the stones are not only randomly shaped, but also protrude at different depths makes it so realistic.

Regards,

BrianT.

[invercloy]

Thank you Brian, much appreciated.

The harbour wall is produced from a mould made by the same company: www.bragdonent.com The appeal of that mould was that it had the added relief you mention, and isn't entirely flat.  Joel Bragdon has been very helpful, I'd thoroughly recommend his moulds to anyone.

[Graeme Dunbar]

It is looking satisfyingly rugged!

There is some magnificent stonework in the old harbour at Portsoy (East Coast). Von Daniken would probably claim it was made by aliens.

An arty monochrome photo:

Ref: http://www.lightstory.co.uk/photo_6962624.html

More touristy:

Ref: http://www.moraycameraclub.co.uk/members_picture_gallery/john_macgregors_pictures.htm

The stonework for lighthouse bases is even more impressive - the pieces interlock as if jigsaw pieces - as told by retired lighthouse keeper and current museum guide, who I'm sure is Neil Oliver's father (he of the flowing locks and presenter of BBC history/geography TV programmes.) The one interviewed the other and the likeness is uncanny (except for the hair that is).

Your moulded stonework is a good representation of the type shown on the left of the second photo. Just the other side out of shot where the burn enters the harbour the wall grows out of the rock just as you show.

Another edit: this is just along from the harbour office and public toilets that grow out of the rock too, just like your layout! (This is where Mark Ellington onetime member of Fairport Convention and Master of Ceremonies for the Portsoy small boat festival makes his announcements - the harbour office, not the public loos!)

[pilotfriend]

Looking excellent, Tom

[MickT]

Excellent Tom! It's now taking on a bit of a Burtonport feel with all those rocks Just train a garden hose on it (as long as the water police in your barren and parched part of the world don't notice) and you'll have a photo scene of a typically "soft" northwest Donegal day!

Mick

[Tigger]

Oh EXCELLENT Tom.  Well done!

[invercloy]

It is looking satisfyingly rugged!

There is some magnificent stonework in the old harbour at Portsoy (East Coast). Von Daniken would probably claim it was made by aliens.

Thanks Graeme.  Portsoy looks very modellable! I don't recall ever seeing a 009 layout set on the East Coast, thinking about it...

Looking excellent, Tom

Thanks, John.

Excellent Tom! It's now taking on a bit of a Burtonport feel with all those rocks Just train a garden hose on it (as long as the water police in your barren and parched part of the world don't notice) and you'll have a photo scene of a typically "soft" northwest Donegal day!

Mick

Thanks, Mick.  I fear that if I were to try and emulate Donegal weather the countryside may start dissolving before my very eyes  :(

Oh EXCELLENT Tom.  Well done!

Thanks  ;D

[Graeme Dunbar]

Yes, your layout has a definite look of familiarity about it. It is coming together very well indeed. I'm sure you will get people wanting to know where they can go to see the real version!