BB`s Unusual Canal.

[Beano Boy]

Hi Guys,three days ago I finally started work on my tiny raised canal. The work is going quite well,and a few might remember my narrow boats I made last year? These will ply their trade along the canal delivering wood to the Wood Merchant and pig-iron to Mr Glad Grinds small Foundry,already built.
Presently working on large sections of walls,but they are nearing completion as I type this.



The black undercoated supporting boxes will actually provide space for four railway tunnels, and extra storage space for loco`s in the corner of the bottom section. The large service cut-outs can be viewed in the picture, and will give good access to trains that de-rail, and believe me they will come off at inopportune times as the three railway tracks enter and leave on the constant flow of the Honey Well Line.

The top section not shown here will be placed over the access area,but will lift off easily,and will be a simple affair that is actually the base for buildings to stand on. Once the railway tunnels that simply slot in are fitted the whole area will be landscaped along the tow paths that meander along this stretch of water way. Finally the canal will be cast up and will enter and leave the scene by way of two tunnels set at either end of the flow and eddy of this section. Figures will be added in my own shape and design, along with many a conversion too. Time period covered 1930`s to mid 1960`s

So my unusual canal will simply appear to emerge and disappear into the actual walls in this room.
I figured this arrangement would illuminate waterway endings from being seen and give a good purpose and direction of flow for the narrowboats themselves, and also for the sprawling railway below. This waterway system of modelling could be extended easily too, by simply having the canal emerge elsewhere along that long wall .Which is food for thought!
If there is interest then kindly travel along with each update that falls upon the page. They will not be as long as this introduction to my unusual canal. BB

[Peter]

Landscape building! I'm looking forward to it!

[Beano Boy]

Well Peter I have the stuff needed to do it,and the time,and that medieval bridge I shelved last year will also be finished off too, and go onto the Honey Well layout over a new stretch of sparkling river. BB

[despertaferro]

Once again, you still amazing me for the great imagination show on all your posts.

All the best!

[Beano Boy]

Thank you Desperta ferro,for your comment. Your Forum name reminds me of the old saying,"Strike while the iron is hot."

Just a tiny update.



Brilliant sun shine today ,and I colour washed these temporary railway tunnels that in part support the canal. Being nice and warm means these will dry out very quick. The wash: Dark Brown Emulsion paint, and a teaspoon of water proof P V A Glue.
In spite of not being able to do much actual work on the cannel itself I did however manage to make the Tunnel fronts and a large length of wall.
Taking into account last weeks work,It took a little over 6 hours from the first line marked out for these tunnels fronts up until now with the first colour wash applied. These will soon be fitted. BB

[Beano Boy]

Railway Tunnels ?



They both have much to small a head height for trains.



They are infact the first two canal tunnels,that slot into place onto the waterway as it seems to travil through the wall. The inner bricks have been painted ,and the outer ones will soon be ship shaped colour-wise into Bristle fashion.

___________________________________________An Extra_________________________________________________

As the railway does travel through the new tunnels, and actually runs deep underneath the canal itself ,i thought to share this.






Having not run for Donkeys Years I spent an afternoon of repairs to this special old boiler.
After completely stripping down the electric motor,and replacing the cabon brushes with new ones, re-soldering important points with tin and then cleaning and oiling the Great Western, it travelled well upon brand new track that Mrs B,and i laid . The sight and sound of magic. BB

[Beano Boy]

Just a Little Update



The two canal tunnels are set into the place they will occupy against the walls,but not fixed permanently because everything lifts off this top section. A few gaps to fill in on the rock-face to make this basework complete. This work will be added as a slight extension length wise is added so I can form another tunnel with a tiny roadway running through it. i plan to place rock climbers working their way up area`s of this rockface.



That rather horrid right-angle to this raised area will be no more once slooping ground work is gradually added and most of these temporary walls will not be seen at all.
Work on stone railway tunnel entrances is ongoing. First results look promising, but need just a little more work on the pattern making to make them pop___look much better.

The rough black outlay of the canal will also have a slight adjustment made to its curve,and a lift off base either side of the canal will be modelled and will be incorporated into the slope already mentioned.
All the actual modelling work will be completed on one of my work tables down-stairs in my studio. Well it`s our Hallway in reality,but in fantasy it is my studio,for workwise projects and for film & photo shooting.



Here is part of my stash of modelling stuff, Hairspray & Baby Powder, and i intend to keep them here but model an old factory building that double up as a storage unite. So it will be the Hairspray factory as the stuff was useful for hairstyles of young teenage girls in the early 1960`s. So it will fit nicely into the theme of the layout. See Ya LaterBB

[Beano Boy]

Last Tuesday work began in the laying of Polystyrene Insulation Boards to entire railway layout. These boards are for cavity wall insulation and builders slot them into place as the brick walls are being built. So I seized on the opportunity to purchase a load from WICKS here in Norwich. The total cost of £70 came in at a third of the cost of more expensive boards,and these are much thicker and interlock into each other. Although a joint effort on our part it was Mrs B,who did most of the shuffling into place workwise. So deserves the full credit on this start of a massive scratch build.







I still have 4 Polystyrene Boards for landscaping purposes.

I decided to reroute the Unusual Canal and it will now be cut out into the new base board and therefore it will be much longer and the flow of it will still seem to go through the walls. This has given me so much scope that more narrow boats can and will be built.



New railway track laid a week or so back, will still enter and leave through the tunnels and the top will still lift off with relative ease revealing storage space. With the raising of the layout base it made this corner at the back of the room to dark to keep with the original plan. However Plan B, will be much better and the canal will actually pass through the little town of Honey Well.

[Peter]

With te rails at teh bottom of picture two is something wrong I think!

For the rest this start looks excellent! Congrats to Mrs B!

[Beano Boy]

Hi Folks,Plan B has been scraped!__________ So back to plan A ! This work on the base and the actual canal will take place down stairs on one of my large work tables where there is plenty of room and no need for me having to lean over a great big layout, and I will be much nearer to the kettle to make lots of hot sweet tea to dunk biscuits in. See Ya Later BB

[Peter]

Do I see some Jean Höfler figures ready to be paiinted on that table?

[dykio]

Hi Paul,

I must confess that i'm a little lost what plan A was but it still is great funn to see how busy you are with al your projects !!

ps. Did you finish the stroopwafels yet ?

[Beano Boy]

Peter,as ever you are most keen of eye. Yes indeed my fellow collecter and internet allied friend. Cowboys & Indians stretch out a plenty ,and sweep along before the camera`s eye. No painting planed yet,much to busy,but the cleaning up of these rather farm fresh items bought for a song,
( Cheap! ) has made them look like brand new.

Well as 4 stroopwafels I did eat mine and felt like bumbling around the house like a 14 Stone Honey-Bee that's for sure. Mrs B,still has here share somewhere stashed away out of my sight.

To let everyone in on my reply
dykio, ( Ferry! ) kindly sent us some Honey Filled Biscuits,called Stroopwafels,which are very sweet indeed,and which I had with several cups of Hot T!

Plan A,being the first design dreampt up by me,was placed aside with the prospect of plan B,but B was much to complicated 4 my little head to inculcate a successful ending to the canal itself,because a railway bridge would obscure each canal tunnel as the waterway passed under it and spoil the effect. Metaphorically,it would be like painting a picture,that is then covered over with black paint so none could gaze upon it.

So back to the first plan A already in part built up,or in another way of looking at it built down,because since starting that we have completely replaced the model railway below it.
i realise only to well that my topsy turvy head of such roadway wonderings is very hard for others to grasp in way of understanding and in writhing this i imply no slight what so ever.
So actions a plenty will hopefully soon light the pathway of understanding upon my unusual canal through the work as it proceeds along this dream-like watery scene. BB

[Beano Boy]

Almost a blank canvas. Well a black one anyway!



i cut the bend down making it look capable of allowing room for a narrow boat to maneuver safely around it.



Some narrow boats were as long as a railway carriage,but even though I have made some that length I decided to shorten others by a third in order to save space.



Forgive chalky dust marks.



Removable tow paths allowing access both sides of the boats for horses .



Left a few weeks to dry out to a nice white the entrances and the inner brickwork can be sealed by dipping into a wash. This will rid each piece while handling it leaving chalky marks everywhere .









Old George and his dog seem not to mind a little bit of dust. George will be converted using pins and other stuff.



Thanks for looking BB

[dykio]

Hi BB (busy bee) Paul,

I was just looking at this post again and esprecially the fantastic scratchbuild houses you've made. They really are amazing just like this whole project. I do however have a question. I was searching for the recipe to make the rubber moulds but got a little bit lost in al the tutorials. You use babypowder, siliconekit and ? And in which quantities?

Thanks in advance for youre help and good look with the terrainbuilding !

Laterrrrr

[Hellboy]

BB, what a fantastic project! Many thanks for the many informative and beautiful photos. The river and the ship are an eye catcher! Great!!
I wish you during work on the project a lot of fun and success. Looking forward to more pictures ...

[Beano Boy]

Bases are ongoing for an aqueduct of rough, tumble and odd sorts to be added.Polystyrene came in cheap and made me cheerful, as Mrs B,brought a load home costing nothing at all.
i was going to use expanding foam,but at £4.00-£8.00 a can i thought beter of it. True i could have finished the job in hand in 10 minutes,but like Mrs B,said,"Where`s the challenge in that?" She knows me well,so i spent a couple of enjoyable hours cutting pieces of poly up with my electric cutter,and glued and pinned each piece into place.



Lots of bases are ongoing to be built up while others like these were being built to go down.
"Crazy Stuff BB."___ " I`m thinking,but confused." ____:eh: "Me Too"



The Mystery Revealed
See they sloop down. " Yes while sliding up."_



All removable sections. " Allowing for other crazy interchangeable stuff to be added instead."
" I`m still thinking on how it all works."____ " It`s topsy turvy!" said the Cowboy who always sleeps in his boots.





The pieces are slipped easily into place.



The first bridged section is nearing completion.
An illustration of fun follows. " It`s called playing BB."__ " The year is 1871,and the Rocket is riding upon the rails." ____ " Yip! While the Adler of 1834 ambles by."



The narrow boat passes by overhead.



I will be needing a crew for the little German Trix Train.



Detail on the metal top to do next.
Time for Tea. So hope to see you all soon. BB."

[Peter]

You drink to much tea!

Looking very good! All is coming really nice together!

[Beano Boy]

It`s not surprising really Peter,i`m Tea Total!
" T-Total Mathematics is what BB,applies in all his scratch building programmes."
"I once had a horse that could add up and take away." ____ "I`mm.what happened to it?"

" He ate it! "___ "It were a dinner I wish not to remember."___ "Y`s that?"

"Well the Yorkshire Puddings never rose." ___ "And there were no onions in the gravy."

" By the way BB, ment a Viaduct in the last posting!"___ " Very True, Mrs B,are there any biscuits ?"____ "No Paul." _____ " I ate e`m,along with the onions!"

" I need a little something to bridge the gap before T Time."



"How`s about this Paul."_______________" i Love it. " BB

[Beano Boy]

The supporting walls were trimmed using my electric polystyrene cutter, then scraped roughly down with my craft knife. i seem to have mislaid my little wire brush. Then as can be seen brown paint was applied to give the slopping ground a good dark brown base.This will be covered later with wicked overgrown brambling stuff and ivy.

i realised that i was nearly out of brown paint,and it being a Saturday Mrs B, kindly said, " I`ll fetch you some back from Anglia Square on my way home from the city." Thank you",i replied as she went bright smiling upon her trip to the city centre of Norwich.

So i decided to write a little chapter
and then play a lot
and then adding
write again here in this unusual topic.



Having designed an interchangeable system of universal castings a large double sized railway tunnel entrance was added to the same bridging piece seen earlier with the planned viaduct passing overhead. Another same sized entrance could have been added to the other side,but would not have been seen by the camera so it was not. By removing this entrance,and replacing it with the smaller tunnel entrance already shown it is possible to have the canal system below too.

It took about two months to produce all these universal fittings and ideas are now flooding in concerning the waterways and the railway lines and how best to use my castings.
These things cannot be rushed, for my rushing fast times are over and will never return.

The medium sized walls placed in this dry run are for extra support only in this imaginary playtime of fun, and are not intended to be placed for a certainty on the actual layout table like that. My odd style Beano Boy Café,has also been pressed into service along with a few of my ancient home-grown trees i grew from a wire-wool pip over 15 years ago.

A Tip From Mr Green
" One has to water a sample of the wire-wool before such an enterprize in order to make sure for certain that the stuff will not rust and fall to pieces." ___ " Hundreds of BB`s tree`s all shapes and sizes horridly rusted up and fell to unimaginable bits on their rustic way down."__ "A disaster,i think."________ " Yip He should have made cactus, no leaves needed." The Cowboy who sleeps in his boots sang out.__________ " But there`s no cactus in the leafy green of Fiddle Wood."________ " Or Hougoumont, i think."________ " So stainless steel wire-wool is needed!"









O`ll George`s narrow boat,and Stephenson`s colourful Rocket helps further to set my little scene.

See you guys later BB