With the station platform in place I turned my attention to the Stationmaster's house. The Hawkhurst branch had several examples of this striking building: Cranbrook, Goudhurst and Horsmonden, each one a little different from the last. Interestingly the example at Horsmonden had absolutely no windows on the rear side of the house, despite that side facing the station! I'm pleased to say that all 3 original buildings still remain and are now private dwellings.

 

To design the model for this project I had to pull together a variety of information from different sources. The incredible book The Hawkhurst Branch by Brian Hart, published by Wild Swan Publications is, in many ways, the definitive source of information on this line. It even has scale drawings of much of the line's infrastructure! Unfortunately, although the station building itself has detailed plans, there is not one for the Stationmaster's house. There is, however, a basic floor plan alongside one for the station building which I can reasonably deduce the scale of. So width and length are secured, what about height?

 

I took a trip to one of the surviving examples of this fine building and took some quick photos, aware that it was ultimately disrespectful to gawp at people's private homes! I scoured google maps and counted bricks too! Eventually I came up with some plans which I felt reflected the dimensions of the real thing, or at least would pass a cursory inspection. I drew these up in Word and printed them out. They're back to front here, there's a good reason for this...!

 

 

Now I love scratch building. It's not for everyone, I accept, but it's actually one of my favourite modelling past times. There's nothing quite like the feeling of having something on your layout that you know no one else has. Plus, you made it yourself! I'm not very good at it, mind you, so this has been a learning curve for me too. I praised the virtues of artists' mountboard in my last entry and I used to use it as a base for all my scratch building projects. But this particular building showed its downsides better than any other. It's very thick you see, and cutting it is not easy, even with a sharp blade. Windows are a nightmare and you end up with lot of burrs and accidentally bevelled edges. I started this project in this manner and then quickly started again. This time I used plasticard sheet as the backing for the Slaters embossed sheets that form the outer layer. This actually resulted in a much more rigid construction than I could have imagined.

 

 

For my next trick I decided to stick the templates to the rear of the embossed plasticard, hence the back to front printing. Using PVA glue and allowing it to dry fully meant that I could cut along my template lines. Once done the paper just peeled right off, leaving no paper and no glue residue. I was basing my version on the building at Cranbrook from this original photo: https://archive.dulwichprepcranbrook.org/content/catalogue_item/cranbrook-train-station so I wanted to replicate the rendering found on the upper portion of the facade. This would be replicated with good ol' cereal box card for that unique texture.

 

 

I cut the windows with a fresh, sharp blade using a cross pattern to ensure the waste came out clean at the corners.

 

 

The backing was cut from plain white plasticard using the same template method as before. The window portals were cut much wider on these.

 

 

Some lintels were sourced and the embossed plasticard was cut carefully to accommodate them. I'm not so great with a craft knife at these fiddly jobs so some gaps were inevitable. I would compensate with some modeller's filler later into the process.

 

 

Then the pieces are assembled on top of the white plasticard backing. My glue of choice was Revell Contacta Professional, mostly because it was to hand and for the fine applicator nozzle. Plus it works a treat!

 

 

The decorative line of bricks above the ground floor was actually an element from the ever present Wills SS46 Buildings Pack. I have about 15 of these sprues which contain gutters, down pipes, chimney pots etc. I've never had a use for the elements I used here and in truth I don't know what they are! I cut one side away and was left with a fair approximation of the brickwork used on these buildings. It's far from a spot on match but good enough for my eye.

 

 

All sides assembled:

 

 

Next, windows! I purchased these delightful frames from LCUT Creative http://www.lcut.co.uk 

 

 

Because the prototype building has very thick walls and the windows are distinctively set back I wanted to simulate this effect without actually building thick walls. Previously I would have relied on the mountboard to carry the required thickness but that was no longer an option if I wanted to up my game. That's when I came up with this convoluted process! 2mm square plasticard rods formed into a square frame around the window, some with plasticard embossed brick stuck to them. This meant that the windows were guaranteed to fit snugly and the brick would continue realistically around the edge of the window recess. It was fiddly but worth it.

 

 

With these window frames stuck in place on the rear of the walls (you see why I left a larger opening in the plasticard backing now?) the window opening itself could be carefully tidied up with a craft knife, if some of the edges weren't perfectly straight the frame would guide the knife on a truer line. The joins would be tidied later with some very fine sandpaper. Sticking them on the back did require a good eye for whether they were secured level and square; I suspect some of mine are out. I likely won't know until the windows are in properly!

 

 

Finally, I made some French windows by sticking together some plasticard strips.

 

 

 

I noticed, too late, that I had used English Bond brickwork on the rear and regular all-stretcher brickwork on the front and sides! Oops. Looking at the pictures, Slater's Flemish bond might have been a closer match for the prototype. Then again, although I strive for practical realism I am not a rivet counter so this won't bother me too much... he says.

 

Part 2 coming soon!

 

All for now,

Jonathan