1:400 BEA/BA Engineering Base - Barison400

[redriveraviation]

Thank you More than anything, I wanted to capture the original and unique essense of these buildings, which made up the atmosphere of the old LHR, which was made up of a variety of 1950s architecture melded with later structures built as airport operations expanded, and facilities extended. Most of this has now been swept away as LHR has been significantly redeveloped.

This is a fact! What a testament to your work.

 

[redriveraviation]

Well done Alex. Here is my model, but alas it's all packed away as I have no room to display it, unless I put it all out outside on the patio during good weather...but always have to watch the skies, so it's a risky business.View attachment 3372

Looks outstanding. I like the windows on the side.

 

[Barison400]

Well done Alex. Here is my model, but alas it's all packed away as I have no room to display it, unless I put it all out outside on the patio during good weather...but always have to watch the skies, so it's a risky business.View attachment 3372

Thanks Adrian, yes I remember you've shared this photo before Shame you can't display it, that's the problem, it needs a lot of room! I wouldn't trust it being outside for an extended period either. I'm going to have a similar challenge when I begin building this part of the model - look forward to sharing the results of that here.

 

[Alzyerpal]

Excellent!

 

[Barison400]

Excellent!

Thank you! More updates to come, this has all been a slow burn but will all fall into place once I've designed everything it needs to work fully

 

[Barison400]

Work on the ground foil is now in hand. A massive job and lots of work lies ahead. I'm starting with the central access road for the TBE base, for delivery vehicles. I'm referencing details from period aerial photographs and then interpreting these into digital art using my own methods of expression This will take a while! As you may notice, details such as paving slabs are also being included. There are no 'cut and paste' generic details being used, everything is being done from scratch in order to reproduce the 1:1 detail faithfully. All roads and markings are correct to UK specifications. This foil will represent the '70s-'80s era, back then there were actually very few markings both on the roads and aprons, unlike today where they are covered in them.

 

[Purpleplane]

Looking great.

 

[Barison400]

A quick preview of another bit of work started - on the Aviation Fuel Services depot, situated in the central area of LHR alongside D'Albiac House. Although dealing with any part of Heathrow Central is a long way off yet, I thought this fuel depot would be a nice thing to have made up as a little 1:400 scale kit, in authentic retro detail. It's use could be flexible for any diorama situation. Two versions will be drawn up with differing fuel company logos, as they appeared in both the 1970's & 1980's-1990's.

 

[redriveraviation]

The detail on this is excellent and very impressive!

 

[Barison400]

The detail on this is excellent and very impressive!

Thank you - yes it's all about the detail in everything I'm doing, which does take time but worth it. Really hoping to create something unique and authentic.

 

[Barison400]

Work is well underway creating the entire ground foil detail for the 1:400 LHR West Base TBE model. This is an enormous task! All of the unique details in the groundworks are being faithfully reproduced in the digital artwork, as closely as possible.

This includes all the services; such as paving slabs, drains, gulleys, electrical conduits, landscaping features, cracks and concrete in-fills in the apron. The concrete slab layout for the TBE/TBD apron is closely referenced from the 1:1. UK road markings and parking spaces are also authentically detailed, as per actual 1:1 specifications.

The details are referenced from period-correct aerial photographs dating from October 1981 to represent the late 1970s - early 1980s for this diorama.

Once completed, the apron design will be printed on a waterproof vinyl material with a matt finish, with smaller sections of it being made available for mini layouts

 

[Barison400]

TBE Apron progress...Viscount House footprint with authentic groundwork detail for the 1952 TBE hangars

 

[Barison400]

TBE/D apron progress, complete with authentic cracks!

 

[Barison400]

TBE/D apron progress, 1952 hangar footprint and period 1:1 comparison with full model artwork

 

[Barison400]

TBE/D apron progress, with Viscount House/1952 hangar area detail

 

[Barison400]

An extremely difficult area was the landscaping around the Viscount House Annexe. I tried to get it as close as I could. This feature can be built up in 3D using scratch-build techniques on top of the printed apron, but I wanted to provide the detail as throughly as I could in graphic form so it's there either way.

 

[Alzyerpal]

All coming on nicely, I look forward to seeing it fully completed.

 

[Barison400]

All coming on nicely, I look forward to seeing it fully completed.

Thanks Al, much appreciated I’m trying to maintain my sanity throughout this whole process and it’s all being done in my spare time. My OCD won’t let me down hopefully Once this major part is done it will finally provide an effective, realistic base for the kits and prove their designs - hopefully it will all work

I’ll also do some mini dioramas off this design, for example a section for a stand-alone Cathedral hangar or Viscount House model, as the whole base is going to require a substantial amount of space! Cheers

 

[Barison400]

Work on the apron design is still well underway and is progressing well - more updates on this to follow.

While that’s happening, I’ve also decided to have a go at producing a 3D model of the Cathedral Hangar in AutoCAD. The designs for this come directly from the 1:400 line drawings created for the card assembly kits, and are being taken a step further as a fully detailed 3D CAD model including all the internal steelwork, referenced from the 1:1.

The possibility of producing the BEA West Base as a 1:400 3D-printed model is being explored alongside the existing card kit designs - whether or not this is feasible due to the sheer amount of detail involved remains to be seen!

 

[Barison400]

The steelwork for the East/West elevations are underway along with the office block which projects into the hangar space…