Kilgrammie Shed

 

For some time, I've had a desire to model something of the old Waterside system in Southern Scotland that I knew so well when I lived near it in the 1970s. The loco shed there was wonderful inside, especially when no.24 was resting within. But the outside lacked any character or "modelability" as it had been built relatively recently. I cast my memory back and remembered a building at the shipyard in Govan that I'd sketched and  filed away as interesting.

I started by cutting out the walls from 2mm grey board. I had noticed a product called "Redutex" which is a form of embossed, printed brick sheet. It sounded interesting, so I sent for some. It's good- self-adhesive, and with a reasonable texture. With a bit of work, it could be made to look quite realistic. I picked out some bricks in different colours and weathered the walls with pastels.

 
The windows were made from postcard, cut out as a fret and overlaid in a low-rent imitation of the Pendon style. I painted them with Citadel paints "Death World Forest" green, then washed them with "Night Lord Blue" afterwards to give a patina of weathering. I used to use Humbrol acrylic paints- I liked them, and they covered well, but they didn't take to being neglected. I often found the paint dried up after a few weeks.These days I'm standardising on Vallejo and Army Painter colours, they both have excellent coverage and come in superb little bottles that don't dry up.

 

I had a bit of a struggle with the front of the shed, as I had this idea for a ventilator with louvres. I'd done this before with my Forster's Feed Store model and had even rediscovered a little jig I'd made. But the gods of modelling decided that I had to be punished, and I had a massive struggle with the damned thing. After about five goes, I finally got a ventilator that looked OK. I concluded that I'm a bit more hamfisted than I used to be. I haven't fitted doors yet, although I will have to get round to that, the residents of Kilgrammie are a felonious lot.

 

I detailed the interior in a rudimentary sort of way. Everything was made from things salvaged from the scrapbox, except for the lathe and the pillar drill, which I made from card and milliput...and bits from the scrapbox. The figures and the lovely Oxy Acetylene cart are of course, from Modelu. One revelation was how much more convincing the Modelu figures are with a dust of the appropriate weathering powder. I reckoned that since this scene will only ever be seen through the shed windows, the low level of detail will be OK.

Some roof trusses were made up on a jig, then the roof built from Wills cement/asbestos corrugated sheet. I love weathering this stuff. The roof ventilators were a cop-out- after my experiences with the front elevation, I bought some from Scale Model Scenics.

The signs are from "Eagle 1 Model Signs" on Ebay- he will make them up to order and supply on a printed sheet. Of course, I made a spelling mistake, and will have to order some more! The figures outside and the gutters here are from Modelu. After the walls were joined together, I applied some Das to the Redutex walls which I was pleased with, I hope it looks like failing render.

 Here's a shot of the shed in it's setting. The loco is of course, a much weathered "Hatton's" Barclay, while the loco boiler is a 3D print from Rhuddlan Models. The Austerity tank and cab are from an Airfix kit I purchased from Ebay.