Tuesday 30 June 2020

More stonework, slates, and slabs at Hexworthy

Since my last post I have revisited the stonework of the bridge and walls, touching in some stones with lighter shades of brown to lighten and increase the variation in tone. I think I overdid the washes to unify the colours which were too dark. The effect is subtle, probably the tone could be a little lighter still, but I am much happier.


Looking at photos of the real bridge I decided to add some lichen using dry-brushing of mint green paint, yes that really is the colour seen on the real thing (see the last post), and a hint of darker moss green at the base. 


The little culvert also looks lighter now.


The station stonework looked a little "fresh" by comparison, so I went over the mortar with more weathering powder/talc mixture but this time slightly more brown in colour. It is surprising the effect this has had in changing the tone of the building. I also painted the roof 


You may notice a few other changes to the station. 

I painted the roof - after finding building Loctern Quay that the York Modelmaking slates although grey paper, benefited from painting, I used the same approach here. Individual tiles were picked out in a few shades of grey-blue, then the whole roof given a wash of mid grey - this colours any remaining tiles and tones it all together. Perhaps the variation is too much here, but to me it looks much better than the plain uniform grey before, and hand cut slates can vary in colour much more than modern manufactured slates. 


The platforms last seen being laid from individually cut slabs has been painted. I started with a waft of Halfords grey primer, painted a similar grey with a slight hint of beige, then picked out a few slabs in slightly different shades - much less variation here though. A wash of thin beige and more weathering powders to fill any gaps finished the job. 

The other change is the addition of the canopy, made from some valance I had in stock (possibly Slaters) and plasticard, it has wire (paperclip) rods set into it that poke into holes in the foam building walls through into the foam-core of the intermediate floor. Although just a push-fit for now as it needs painting 


A little way to go with the ground coverings but the station area is starting to take shape. 

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