Brendam Docks Layout Plans

These are some drawings of a layout for Brendam Docks! If I was to make a huge layout, for this section of Sodor, these are a few sections of how I would like to see Brendam Modeled.

Carefully observing how the scenes were filmed on the dioramas of Brendam for Thomas' TV Series in seasons 2 - 10, I tried combining them together into one whole section of the main port, where you can see Cranky, the Sidings, the Unloading Bays in front of the Sodor Shiping Co. Building, and even the Passenger Unloading Dock where Evening Star is a welcome visitor. There is also the Ballast Unloading Dock, with its nearby open air shed, factory buildings, The Supply Shed, and a few other sheds, one by the sidings, by Cranky, and at the end of the quay.

The whole site is dotted with cranes, cargo, and sidings. I have modeled a couple of versions of this location a few times, yet as I come back to the TV series, even the Railway Series, I find intriguing details and beautiful shots I can draw to remember for the next time I model a layout. That is the beauty of making temporary dioramas! You can change or redo any location.

I found some beautiful photographs of the Ramsgate Harbor Railway Station, and a few models of the terminus on flickr, I thought it would be nice to draw Brendam's Passenger Station, seen in a few shots from seasons 2 - 4, just made up of Knapford's building props. This drawing has platforms for buses to pick up and drop off passengers, many benches on the quay for the people to enjoy the ocean view while they wait, and of course a large glass roof. A beautiful scene showing one of the harbor's ferries could be seen in "Gordon and the Gremlin" in season 5, one of Fulton's Car Ferries.

Finally this drawing shows what I perceive to be East Brendam, where Bill and Ben's branchline from the China Clay works connect to the Docks. This layout plan displays many of the scenes shown in season 3, with its tall warehouses and quay, cranes, and canal boats, from "All At Sea" and other episodes with Bill and Ben.

These were fun to draw! I hope you like these. Even if I break them up into smaller, temporary dioramas for photographs and video, these scenes seem to me that they would be beautiful models.

 Click here to see how I made the scenes of Brendam

Boats and Trawlers #1: Fishing Village

One Time I wanted to film scenes of the Fishing Village, so here are photographs of the set I made and the small fishing trawlers docked alongside the waterfront.

I used wooden planks, blocks and boxes to create the hill in the background, so I could lay the row of houses and terraces I made (from scratch with card-stock), in two rows with Woodland Scenics trees. The water is plexiglass laid on top of my green quilt for grass, the edges of the glass covered with garden pebbles. Here you can also see a good view of the painted wall of rolling hills and distant mountains my Dad and I painted for the landscape backdrop.

Here on my desk is the largest one of the fleet, "Burkett Fish." The body made with card-stock, mast with a wooden skewer, and a bit of thread to support it. Generous weathering for paint stains on the hull and bits of rust were added for the finishing touches.
You can also see how I made windows using ink squares drawn on the paper. Now I use clear plastic, and by far, it looks much more realistic, and it is much easier to use a craft knife for those delicate cuts! Crazy glue is used to glue it into place.

Here is the trawler on the set, dropping off some crates of seafood off for Stepney to take back to warehouses at Knapford Yards for the marketplace. This is a personal favorite, and it looked really nice on the waterfront alongside the Railway.

Here were the two smaller trawlers, "Rebecca" and "Susan Lee," simpler in design but are very good for background elements or of course adding variety to the scene, inspired by some of those found in Seasons 3 and 4. Also made from card.

Wagon Loads #1: Timber, Crates, & Machinery

A while ago now, I shared how to paint these flat cars from Bachmann Branchline to look how they might be on Sodor. Here, I will share the loads I made for them.

Freight cars look the more realistic when time and care is taken to weather them, as well as adding loads. It is exciting to make them yourself, and even when you buy them from the hobby shop, cargo looks much better when repainted and weathered too. Loads are important too.

Even in an empty wagon like this one, pastel and chalk dust brushed onto the plank boards inside the wagon gives us a clue that this car has carried coal, or quarry gravel, or what have you.

So here we go for the flat cars. These lumber piles are made from scratch by cutting lengths of balsa wood, and using Elmer's white glue to piece them together with the smaller supporting planks.

Using this technique, you can make loads of lumber for any car you want, using different lengths of balsa, more or less stacked together, and made into smaller sizes for vehicles and smaller cars, or really large sizes for bigger cars! The small load of pipes were made from spare cardboard tubes I found. Any spare part from your plastic kit you want to throw away can be a key element to add interest on your layout!

These crates are made from textured card-stock. I was inspired to create these from looking at Preiser spare parts and loads in my Walther's Catalog! It is amazing what you can create from what little you might have lying in the cupboards of your art studio or in your home! I made sure they were decorated with small stamped stencils drawn with pen, and small colored labels made from copy paper and bits of spare card. Some I made open with foam for packaging, or loaded with something like spare track pins as ties to display the load they carry on a dock or platform. It takes a little time, about a half and hour or so for me, but very easy to make.

Finally here are a cluster of covered machinery from Chooch Enterprises. Painting can enhance shadows and lighting effects in addition to wear and tear as well! I painted them using light gray acrylic, then lightly brushed them using the same paint mixed with white to bring out the folds of the tarp. I might also slam dunk them in a mixture of equal parts of water and india ink to enhance the shadow, and a little grime.

There's loads for you!

Behind the Scenes: Brendam Docks

The Docks have been a common theme for my last two uploads, so to fulfill requests, here are some photographs of this set and how I made them:

This is a photograph based on the opening sequence of "Horrid Lorry." Just like the Narrow Gauge engunes such as Sir Handel, Rheneas and Skarloey, all of the buildings, open-aired sheds, cranes and ships are made of card-stock, glued and assembled together. Even the clay figures I've sculpted myself (more on that on another post, stay tuned!). Gordon is shunting Bachmann Branchline Vans in the siding.

Here is one of the ships. This was featured many times as different characters on TUGS, and it took quite a bit of searching to find the right pictures to work from, but it was well worth the extra effort!

This ship is also made of card-stock paper! Balsa wood was used for the masts, with black thread to tie them together and decorate them. Glass is plastic egg carton, so you can see the interior. The ship in the background has a light, and you can see it in the previous posts and in "Something in the Air," and "Cranky Bugs!"

 

Here's Percy, waiting for his cars to be coupled. The chain is a spare Lego chain.

Here is also the Salvage Barge seen in Thomas' "Horrid Lorry" and "Bulstrode" episodes. The crane's cab can turn, and the arm is adjustable, too.

From the Flying Kipper scene, here are some open wagons from Bachmann Brachline, and of course the Ertl die-cast Crosby Truck! I used lights for the night scenes in warehouses and sheds. This one in particular is from the original "Flying Kipper" Railway Series illustration, with its long platform.

These pictures are from Tidmoth Yards, but shown are the cargo I have modeled and made from scratch out of card-stock paper. The skids are painted and weathered balsa wood strips, with many painted spare parts and Woodland Scenics kits. You can also see a better view of the tiny HO scale clay figures I have made from Sculpy clay.

 

Here is a clay face I made for one of the vans! First getting the vans, I really wanted to see what they would look like with a face on. So studying from the pictures here, I sculpted and carved the face using Sculpy. I think this is the best Troublesome Truck face I ever did!

 

I will be posting "Horrid Lorry" in a week after my collage classes, so you can see more of the lorries on these flatbeds! Each are Base Toys from ehattons.com, and I even made their classic faces too.

Happy Modelling!

Behind the Scenes: The "Flying Kipper's" Rolling Crane

A viewer recently asked how I made the crane in the Flying kipper sequence. The rolling crane has always been one of my favorites, so here are the photographs:

Studying from the video, I made the main body out of balsa wood, using the Atlas track knife to make smooth cuts. White glue was all that was needed for assembly. the crane's base is the grey card-stock.

I must say it was a challenge to make the wheels!

I wrapped strips of card-stock around a pen, then glued it together. Next I glued the roll onto paper, then cut it into a larger circle on each end to make the roll into a wheel.

I had to punch into the wheel holes to insert the axle into place, which is made out of cut toothpicks! Gluing the axle onto the axle boxes, leaving the wheels unglued, allowed the wheels to actually roll!

This was tough, but it was well worth the effort:

Here is the finished product! I made the cab the same way as I do with the buildings, assembling it with tape and using balsa wood braces to make it square. I also made the crane hoist out of wood and paper. You can also see both the cranes I made based on those used at Brendam Docks' quayside, as well as the warehouse seen in the original "Flying Kipper" story in the Railway series.

The track which the crane rolls on is also made from balsa wood. This allows the crane to cover longer distances as it loads the trains and ships with their cargo.

So this is how I got the crane to move. I taped fishing line onto the base of the wheel supports...

...Then looped the string around the coupler of an engine for very smooth motion. This worked really well and it came out beautifully in the final footage...

As a special surprise, here is a picture I took while filming the scene. Henry looks on as the workers load the fish into his Bachmann Branchline and Dapol vans, the light from the ship's cab flaring, cargo lying alongside the track, and the moonlight generated from a large office lamp looms over the quay. I put a light in the ship and controlled it with a cheep remote controller.

If only I had fog!

This scene is actually from "Thomas and the Spaceship," when Thomas was trundling along the forest with his long line of mail cars. That reminds me of those gorgeous promotional posters of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, and how beautifully modeled the diorama was made with the colorful lighting. Cool stuff!

There is a long, thin wooden plank wit a strip of textured green paper, which lies underneath the loosely ballasted track and protects the afghan quilt. I usually just lie the track on the quilt I use for the countryside, especially for branchline scenes, but for mainline sets like this, I had tried using this method, which looks much nicer! The Woodland Scenics Trees have their bases popped in place through the large holes of the quilt, and the dark green lichen is from A.C. Moore craft store.

Never Stop Creating!