Another shoot for Hornby: The Collector

Obviously I (Ben) will go into excruciating detail about this on the model making blog, focusing on the miniatures work.  But the short version is; another 'what-if' project, repaints of the Hornby/Lionel "Hogwarts Express" set, and the production of a fake advertising campaign for the models.

The sets as they come, usually available second-hand or on clearance at very low prices.

Repaints underway (including the Thomas the Tank Engine sets).  Spray paint after masking details, then some finer painting with Citadel acrylics.  But like I say, I'll go into detail about the models work, this is more about the shoots.

I tried doing some shoots outdoors (because of how many models I had to shoot, I wanted to stay close to home), but I was limited with angles.  The lighting wasn't great either.

So instead, it was back indoors for an improvised studio shoot.  White backgrounds, to produce catalogue-type shots...

...such as this...

...and this, a little photo-shoppery to deliberately copy the style of vintage Hornby catalogues.

Like so.

Then it was out with the trusty backdrop boards and hanging basket liner.

Some Britains figures too, and plastic trees, as set dressing.

I wanted to do a fake train set box too; feeling the effects of a grim, horrible winter and missing the seaside, the plan was for a holiday-themed set.  This was a plan that went all the way back to the earliest plans for the project, drawn up whilst on holiday in Minehead, sat on the platform of the heritage station right on the promenade.

Artwork drawn up for the box, done with markers.

Box artwork.

Done, printed out to size, cut-out, and glued to the box.

I had another unusual shoot to do; with the idea of having a kid-friendly junior starter set, I was lacking for a suitable location.  

Luckily the library where we do scouting had a kids corner, and I improvised some set dressing.  The beachball is one we use for games with the younger section, the teddy was taken along for doing "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" with them that evening, the plastic horses were out the charity bag in the car (Younger Child now being a super-cool grown up nearly-teenager who doesn't need the kid stuff), and the cuddly husky is mine (because I'm not a super-cool nearly-teenager, really like that husky, and it's appeared in about 2-dozen projects since Uni).

I thought I'd do another outdoor shoot right at the end of the project, but the weather was appalling, with random downpours between the sun.  I tried to make some use of the somewhat-neglected garden line.

In the end though I didn't use these photographs, I'd managed enough from the other shoots.

So that was that; a really fun project, doing a 'what-if' job, and it was enjoyable doing all these fake catalogues, posters, and so on.