Brigade Models

Today we have a new addition to the Small Scale Scenery range’s railway collection. This is a large British Terminus station, based on the one in Norwich. A Terminus Station is one where the line ends – trains either have to terminate here, or reverse direction to continue their journey, there are no through trains.

This example dates from the mid 1800s and has an ornate facade with a cloister vault roof over the central entrance. You’ll need some work with a fine brush to pick out all the detail on this one !

SSS-8232 – British Terminus Station – £4.00

More extracts from the report by Lt Algernon Carmichael-Jefferies (22nd West Kent Lancers) on his Mars expedition.

Mars is sparsely populated compared to Earth, so we were able to infiltrate ourselves by patrol cutter relatively easily and set up a surveillance post overlooking one of the larger known cities in the region. The southern hemisphere appears to be heavily marked with craters, canyons and other rifts and in the main the larger population areas are based in these lower zones. We set up a post on the walls of the high cliffs around the city, many fathoms above the roofs of the buildings on the crater below. The dwellings of the Syrtians resemble those of the grand old cities of Earth; many would not look out of place in Venice or Vienna. The buildings are made from the local stone but with roofs of a jade coloured material that we did not recognise – it may be of a local equivalent to slate, or coloured tiles, we have yet to find out. The city had a high defensive wall with armed turrets and fortified gates. Small defensive towers were dotted around the city with guns pointed toward the sky, indicating a state of defensive readiness and expectations of attack at any time.

This week we have two packs of tiny resin buildings from which the Syrtians can build their great cities. The first pack has ten larger buildings – civic buildings, temples, homes for the arts and so on. The second pack has 20 smaller dwellings of various types and sizes.

We’ve already released our Syrtian fortresses and castles, so you have all you need to build the city walls. And, in keeping with the prevailing scientific view of Mars at the time, we also have canals.

SSS-1000 – Syrtian City Buildings (x10) – £3.00
SSS-1001 – Syrtian Dwellings (x20) – £3.00

Phil is rather proud of his Welsh heritage, which is why we have a small Welsh fleet in our spaceships range. Recently he’s turned his hand to modelling some famous Welsh castles, the first of which are up for release today.

We’re starting with one of the most famous, Harlech Castle in Gwynedd. Built between 1282 and 1289 by Edward I during his invasion of Wales, it withstood a siege during the uprising of Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294-5 but fell to Owain Glyndwr in 1404 before being recaptured in 1409. It was besieged by the Yorkists during the War of the Roses, and then during the English Civil War it was the final castle to fall to the parliamentarians.

The castle has concentric walls with a large gatehouse and four great towers on each corner of the inner wall. It doesn’t have a conventional central keep, instead the great hall and various service buildings were built against the inside of the inner wall.

Our second castle today is Criccieth, also in Gwynedd. In fact we have two versions, early and late, as the castle was substantially extended after the initial build. The inner ward and gatehouse was built in the 1230s by Llywelyn ap Iorwert. The outer ward was constructed by his grandson, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd beginning in around 1255. The castle was captured by Edward I in 1283, after which further improvements were made. It was besieged during Madog ap Llywelyn’s revolt of 1294-5, and captured in 1404 during Owain Glyndwr’s uprising (and possibly burnt). Our models represent firstly the initial build of just the inner ward, while the later model incorporates the extensions and the outer ward.

SSS-8230 – Harlech Castle – £5.00
SSS-8231a – Criccieth Castle (early) – £2.00
SSS-8231b – Criccieth Castle (late) – £4.00