Pub Time

Entry posted by KH1 August 5, 2020

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Although modelling has now officially ceased until the end of the house decorating season I did manage one little project that had to be kept secret until now.

My friend who is very generous with his cottage in Southwold had a significant birthday so as something a bit unusual I decided to make a model of the pub nearby which I know he holds in high esteem. From a picture I taken some time ago I was able to rescale it into approximately 7mm and drew an outline plan in PhotoShop. Several copies of this were printed off and used as cutting templates in my usual fashion. I used a compressed relief so the maximum depth is just 20mm - 4 layers of foam board but as it is designed to be viewed just from the front this works very well. The foam board was layered up and brick embossed plasticard used as the outer covering. The roof was from Redutex tiles which I also had in stock. The windows seem to take forever as I soldered them up from brass rod filed flat once finished. I did not glaze these but just painted up some card to go behind to give a warm welcoming glow.

The sign written name and logo were again scaled and isolated from the photo and printed onto decal paper and applied once painting was finished. After much messing about with frames I settled on something from The Range which was being sold off for £2.50 which was very welcome.

Last weekend we visited said friends at the cottage and the pressie went down very well even if it was a couple of weeks late. Only real disappointment was that the prototype has not yet reopened so I didn't get my pint (or two), of Blackshore Stout.

All this is not without a railway connection of course as the 3 foot Southwold Railway harbor branch ran just behind this pub and there was a spur right in front of it. One day I might get around to modelling it properly but getting enough operational interest would be very hard as the branch was hardly used as by the time it and the First World war were finished the herring trade which it had intended to serve had moved on.

I am now much involved in the restoration of our front room and the rejuvenation of the wooden floor - a carpet would be much cheaper and easier - so there is not going to be any modelling done for a while - very frustrating!