Thanks for your lovely comment, David.

We had Lance Mindheim as our guest speaker at our biannual model railroading convention a few years back. Lance talked about modeling the ordinary and not cheery picking in order to gain realism. I decided that as long as I cherry picked everything I would get away with it. The idea of modeling the ordinary held no appeal to me. We are all different.

I was really struggling to fit a believable industry in the small space I have available (shown in the photo above) so in my usual fashion instead of thinking smaller I thought bigger. I am really excited about the prospect of scratchbuilding this vertical beauty and have put in an order with Tichy Train Group for the tall, skinny windows required. The package was shipped yesterday so hopefully it will be here within a month.

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks so much for stopping by, George.

I try to give an insight into the working of my brain (scary!) by trying to describe my working process. I do spend a lot of time enjoying this part of the hobby.

I'm pleased you are enjoying following along - I have a lot to catch everyone up on.


Cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.


Here is a little refresher from the original first corner diorama (I'm playing around with the new photo upload process). The building in the front was a scratchbuild where I took SRM's Rugg design and shrunk the footprint and stretched the height - along with some other changes. Behind is a kitbash using a Heljan brewery kit. This enormous kitbash used less than half of the kit. This was the HO/O version. I have seen an HO/N version on an HO layout and felt it was a little on the small side. This has been one of my favourite kits to bash. I used another chunk for my Jon H. Olson Chemical co. a few years later.

I have discovered a large gap in the timeline of my layout and the uploads here, so I will try to fill them in in the coming weeks/ months as time permits, but for now I will jump ahead to my current projects.

First up is my Tickner's Watchworks kitbash. This is a kit I bought from Scale Structures (originally made by Magnuson). I have been a long time admirer of George Sellio's R. U. Bawnagen Inc. structure on the F&SM. However, it wasn't until recently that I clicked what kit it was bashed from. I had a spot on my layout reserved for what was to be a scratchbuild based on this structure, so when I found what kit it was I purchased one. Unfortunately the kit arrived with a front wall filled with air bubbles, many on the edges of windows and doors. I eventually was sent a replacement front wall at no cost along with a gift voucher. I started off by scanning and printing off two copies of the walls and cutting them up to make my kitbash. This allows me to make mistakes and fix them before attacking the kit. It also allows me to get my head into the project.







And here is the kitbash in position. By using the side wall and back wall as an extension of the front wall you basically double the size of the structure. The back walls are all made from 1.5mm styrene. By the time the kitbash was complete there was virtually no material left over - making it a very economical bash.





More very soon, cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

Well I thought I'd move on to a bit of historical research. I always try to find an establishment in new Zealand within the time frame I'm modeling to base my structures on. This helps with realism, but also gives a nice backstory to my structures, the people who own or work there, and hints at interactions which may have taken place in Tellynott. In short it helps to give Tellynott personality. I was quite keen to keep this structure as a watchmaker or jeweler, and so went about searching for New Zealand Jewelers, historical, on Google. Now a name is everything and as many of you will know we have for many years had Bullmastiffs. Their kennel name is Little Ridge. Paired with this my son has a sharpei called John. So when I found a New Zealand jeweler in the correct time frame called 'Littlejohn and Son' I was over the moon! Some of the information I could find out about this company also worked well, and helps with signage, details, shop layout and wider tangents within the community. Littlejohn and Son was established in 1879 and is a maker of jewellery, chronometers, clocks, watches, instruments and optical goods. Machinery includes lathes and planing machines. The optical department is kept separate and has contrivances for lens grinding, drilling and other needs. The building is three stories high and employs 16 staff. Littlejohn and Son is responsible for many of the recognisible clocks seen around New Zealand, particularly many of the turret clocks seen on post office buildings. Lots of cool ideas here!

More soon, cheers, Mark.

Cool stuff as usual Mark!

Great looking kit bash. And, getting all pieces to fit in somewhere as well. I believe mock-ups are always worth doing, saving time and dreaded changes down the road. That fits in well Mark.

Mark,

You have made real progress. Your developing urban scene is fantastic. I like the new kitbash and the historical information you dug up.

It's inspiring seeing your work again.

Mike

Great work Mark. Nice to see this thread going again. I really like the way you're fitting everything in, and all the different levels

Mark

Great work!

Mark, Littlejohn and Son, really, what a coincidence. I see your work is jumbled up as ever, and I mean that in a GOOD way. You're the master of jamming structures together.

Mark I just got caught up on your progress. The cannery and tank looks fantastic, well done!!

Frank the canary is coming along very nice. I like the way it is all cut up with lot of different angle and heights. Great work.

Nice looking !

Mark,
It's great to have you back on the forum.