The arrival of a French lady

The Rust and Steel Train Maintenance Facilities welcomed two very special arrivals to their 'workshop' within the time frame of just one week: a pair of beautifully streamlined locomotives, belonging to the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français), or French Railways. The first one to arrive  (shown in the below images) came from an owner in The Netherlands, while the other one, sporting a darker blue livery, made her journey from France.

'Plumes of white vapor escaped from the engine as it shut down. It's always impressive to see such a mighty beast, sitting on the main maintenance hall, still hot from her long voyage, making all kinds of creaking sounds as her metal body cools down,' a worker commented, as he stood next to the loc, looking up at her as if she was a film diva.

The 'Blue Lady' is part of a rapidly growing collection of vintage locomotives, wagons and coaches. New arrivals spend some time at the R&S 'workshop', before moving to temporary storage, where they await a decision on their future. But for now she will simply enjoy a well deserved rest, sitting side by side with her 'twin sister', and other vintage trains.  Sweet dreams, beautiful Blue Lady!

Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic, update XIX: a roof for the attic (part two).

In this update we'll continue where we left last time, and will focus on the attic's roof. As with everything else, designing it was a journey of discovery, as well as a big challenge, and although I had a rough idea of what I wanted, the final outcome was still a big question mark.

After much thinking and deciding what the shape of the roof would be like, and where the dormer window would be located, I started with the actual execution, beginning with placing the wooden tiles, all 400+ of them, one at the time!

Each time I finished a row of tiles, I gave them a first coating of grey paint, to be the basis for all the other stuff I threw at them later on. 

The roof has a flat top, divided into four sections. Please don't ask me why it was done this way, I just came up with the idea and liked the result. The chimney stands in a corner, directly above the place where the stove will be located. The above and below images show the roof with its first layer of coating, and only very slightly weathered. Note also that the surface of the walls was still plain cardboard at this point in time.

Below is a selection of pictures of the finished roof. There is not much else I can tell you about them, other than that the weathering of the tiles was done in a very irregular way, using all kinds of stuff, including sand from the Black Sea (again) adding an element of diversity to them, which becomes apparent as one lets their eyes wonder through the roof's surface. I also painted little light green 'patches' all across the roof, simulating lichen (Latin: Lecanora muralis), a species of moss that is usually found on stones, walls, and roofs.

I don't know what those roof tiles feared the most: the inclement weather to which they are subjected, or my weathering! But they should not complain, and look at it from the bright side: when I was done, each of them had acquired a unique 'personality'. Much like the colorful autumn leaves, no two are the same!

That will be all for the attic's roof. I hope you like the results! Thanks for visiting, and... SEE YOU NEXT TIME!!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic, update XVIII: A roof for the attic (part one).

The roof of Jane's attic is completed, and, with it, the attic itself. From now on the focus will be on furnishing it (read: stuffing it with junk), which should be a lot of fun! In the meantime, I will continue to share with you other aspects of the attic's structure, as well as the progress inside of it. Here we will discuss the ceiling, while the roof will be reviewed in a separate blog. Needless to say that it was another big challenge, and every aspect of it a 'first' for me!

The attic's ceiling, with the dormer window attached to it.

The ceiling has two different coverings: the main attic room is done using very old jute (sackcloth) which I weathered a little bit more than it already was, just to give it that extra 'bite', or appearance of decay. 

The supporting beams give the ceiling a sturdy look. The beams supporting the main, slanted roof are a bit separated from the central beam running across the top (look carefully at the above images and you'll notice a space). This is done to allow the roof to bend into place. These images show it in a 'flat' position.

The ceiling of the main attic room, with on the left the dormer window.

The ceiling of the small room (hall) is covered with long, thin boards. I opted for a more elaborate finishing here, because the hall looks more 'posh' than the main attic room, even in its dilapidated state, with its wooden wall paneling, stair case railing and elegant wall lamp.

As with the beams in the main room, the space running along the width of the boards (see above and below images) allows the roof to bend into place when positioned on top of the walls.

This brings us to the end of this update; I hope you enjoyed it! Next time we'll be checking out that big attic roof!

Thanks for visiting and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic, update XVII: Building those walls!

They say the best things in life are for free, but that certainly doesn't hold true for Jane's attic. Because 'for free' implies that you get it for nothing, effortlessly, while, by contrast, designing and building the attic has been a lengthy, challenging process that required lots of planning, dedication, discipline, patience, and above all, perseverance!

Carving the individual bricks, one at the time.

The images in this project update show the outside surfaces of the attic walls, consisting of bricks carved on cardboard, covered with plaster, and finally weathered for a more realistic effect.

As with the rest of the attic, when it came to making the walls look realistic, 'cutting corners' was never an option. For instance, although most of the bricks would be covered with plaster, leaving only a few of them really exposed for view, I decided to carve all four external walls from top to bottom, not just the places where the bricks would be seen. This meant that I had to carve more than one thousand individual 'bricks' in all.

The 'ghostly' silhouettes of the bricks showing underneath the plaster.

The reason for this is that the thickness of the layer (or layers) of plaster would not be equal across the entire surface of the walls, allowing the bricks underneath the plaster to be distinguishable at those places where the plaster is thinner, as shown in the above image. This is something that some real, plastered walls also show. Again, no concessions were done even if this meant a lot of extra work. The result, however, was worth the effort!

The weathering of the walls was done in an equally meticulous way. The 'moss and dirt' shown on the image above are a testament to that!

 

The dilapidated window with the shutters blends perfectly with its companion, the 'ancient' back wall of the attic. Together they've endured Nature's tantrums, tempests, rain, scorching heat and many an autumn storm, leaving them both heavily battered, yet unbeaten.

The irregular layers of plaster on the walls creates a three-dimensional, uneven surface, which breaks the light that shines on them in very interesting and unexpected ways, resulting in an ever changing symphony of shadows and lights which is a joy to look at, let alone photograph!

In all, I'm very happy with how the external surfaces of the walls ended up looking. They are the 'skin' of the old attic, its scarred carapace, so to speak. They were a pain in the eye to do, but all that is forgotten now, and the only thing remaining is a big, BIG smile on my face!

Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic, update XVI: Mister Han Goergen's wheel chair.

During my last week's visit to the miniatures fair in the city of Arnhem, I had the privilege to meet the elusive, and very talented miniaturist, mister Han Goergen. I say 'elusive' because mister Goergen keeps a very low profile of himself, to say the least. He has no web site where one can admire his wonderful work, nor is he active on social media (despite being a very social, friendly gentleman). So, basically, the only way to enjoy his work is at miniature fairs, that is, if you're lucky enough to run into his booth.

The wheel chair measures 10 x 6 cm, or 4 x 2,6 inch.

Among the items on display was this stunning, vintage wheel chair. I knew from the second I saw it that the thing was meant for Jane's attic. What's more: mister Goergen had unwittingly produced an item without which the attic would simply not be complete!

The 'cherry on the cake' was the awesome pair of crutches, which could be bought separately to add to the wheel chair. 

Another cool feature are the leg supports, which can be moved individually, allowing them to be adjusted to any desired position. 

Perfect as it is, there are a few tiny thingies that I want to alter to it, before using it for its intended purpose. It's not much, and I'm sure mister Goergen won't mind, since I know now that he loves to experiment, and try new things!

I'm extremely happy with this unexpected, 'meant to be' find, and can't wait to include it in the attic, and make great photo's of it! Yesterday, I took advantage of a beautiful autumn afternoon sun to do a little photo shoot, in an otherwise empty attic. Since the walls can be removed, I was able to allow the sun light to enter the attic room in a particular way, resulting in the images presented here.

This blog is a small tribute to mister Han Goergen's amazing talents, as well as a 'sneak preview' of things to come, when the attic is finally finished. I hope it will excite you as much as it does excite me!

Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Strange fellows

During a visit to the city of Arnhem (of 'A Bridge Too Far' fame) I encountered these -rather peculiar- fellows near the five centuries old 'Saint Eusebius Church'. Magical, hiding in plain view, but only visible to those with an eye for it...

Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.