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Scratch-built card and styrene structures (based on real buildings around London Bridge)


grahame
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Here's a low relief building, only partially completed, built from cardboard. It's supposed to be a representation of the Hays Galleria entrance building on Tooley Street, near London Bridge, that you can walk through to HMS Belfast.

 

Obviously it is simplified and much compressed. The real building is huge and even in it's reduced form in N gauge 1:148 scale (which this model is) it's still a large structure - probably bigger than most OO buildings on many layouts. It's been given a coat of grey primer which helps spot issues that can be resolved with some filler and filing. The next stage will be adding details but these will probably be from plasticard so will be outside the scope of this thread. Then it's painting and adding the windows.

 

In the colonnaded walkway there is currently a range of trendy shops although the centre arch allows access beyond. Presumably there is office space above now, but once was probably warehousing - the area is famous for once being London's larder.

 

 

http://media6000.dropshots.com/photos/1232909/20160919/083806.jpg

 

G.

Edited by grahame
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I've now made up the shell of the modern rooftop penthouse/apartments. They seem to be built of modern metal panels with a pitched roof. Unfortunately it is difficult to get to see any details from the road especially as they take the building it up to about seven stories and are a little set back from the front edge top cornice. They probably have great views of London Bridge Station. 

 

It's been made, quite simply, from plasticard and with cardboard for the roof. Currently it undercoated in grey primer and placed on the top.  

 

 

134953.jpg

 

G.

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A little progress - starting to get some colour on it:

 

 

101555.jpg

 

G.

You are doing a very neat job with all those arches. It's a shame it's low relief - I should have liked to see a 2mm version of this

 

post-14351-0-50482100-1474845755_thumb.jpg

 

This area was a dock between the warehouses, which now contain shops, offices and very expensive apartments.

Edited by phil_sutters
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Thanks for the kind comments. However, the arches probably aren't as tidy as they look in the photos - but being N gauge 1:148 are small enough not to look raggedy, although that makes them trickier to cut round. I've got a compass cutter (cheap plastic tool) but that really only scratches the surface of the card. It won't cut through the card so the cutting is completed with a fine pointed scalpel blade. Then I soak superglue in which, when it is dry and hardened, allows trimming with a thin sharp blade and filing with very thin sanding sticks. Finally a coat of primer and more sanding helps gets it as smooth as they look.

 

I've started another structure (not low relief but much compressed and simplified and based on a real structure) which although the earlier build stages are on the 'structures' thread I thought I'd continue here on the 'card' thread as the majority of it is basic cardboard modelling. Anyway this is the stage it's reached - the building section above the walkway (supported by the columns) is not fixed and only placed in position to show how it will hopefully look. The steel rule is to provide weight and hold them in position for the photo.  

 

 

093930.jpg

 

G.

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This afternoon I've made up the pedestrian stairway that leads down from the walkway to the street behind the building. This is at the left end of the building. The walkway also continues on and gently down a ramp to another street but this has not yet been modelled.

 

It's a very iconic concrete stairway design that confirms the structure as being from the 1960s London brutalist architectural style - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture  Unfortunately as I've needed to compress the size of the model it is one flight of stairs short (that would complete a second flying landing turn). Nonetheless I hope it still captures the character and style. Here it is just placed in position (not fixed) and in grey primer. There are some details to add, tidying up and painting yet to undertake.

 

152535.jpg

 

G.

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The stairway is a simply but clever design but is fairly complex to scratch-build. It's mostly made from card, although the stairways are plastic mouldings (from the 4D Model Shop) and the wrap around banister wall is cut as one piece from plasticard (it's easier to bend in to tight radius curves than cardboard). Here's a pic that shows the details a little better.

 

160941.jpg

 

G.

Edited by grahame
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  • 3 weeks later...
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The stairway is a simply but clever design but is fairly complex to scratch-build. It's mostly made from card, although the stairways are plastic mouldings (from the 4D Model Shop) and the wrap around banister wall is cut as one piece from plasticard (it's easier to bend in to tight radius curves than cardboard). Here's a pic that shows the details a little better.

 

160941.jpg

 

G.

If you want a hand painting this, here are a couple of guys who know how to do it!

post-14351-0-35789200-1476827741_thumb.jpg

 

Edited by phil_sutters
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Well, it's an absolute nightmare trying to cut out of thick card lots of same sized rectangles with a radius in the corners. So much so that I'm only going to do one column on the far side (that will be tilted away from the veiwing position). And I've yet to do it all again for a second sheet of card to go behind and provide some depth and reduce the apertures to the window size. Plus I've already dispensed with trying to replicate the bevelled edge to the apertures - luckily it's not an accurate scale model and is a compressed representation. Hopefully it still retains some character. The London DMS bus is to give an idea of scale/size.

 

091718.jpg

 

 

G.

Edited by grahame
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I've cut just one column of windows for the final end wall - just some filing and tidying up required - and I think I'll get away with it and not having window apertures in all of it. Once I get all the walls smoothed and finished (none are glued in position and are only held in place for the photo by the elastic band) I'll be able to start on the inner walls.

 

140554.jpg

 

G.

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Some slow progress today - the inner window walls are now in place (frames and glazing yet to be done) and I've got a basic concrete colour on the high rise part. There is some tidying and touching up to do. The lower section (currently grey primer) is painted white on the real building so that and other surfaces (like roof and walkways) will be painted accordingly. Plus there's glazing, detailing, weathering, varnishing and so on . . . .

 

121611.jpg

 

121647.jpg

 

G.

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Here's a quick update on a little progress. As I need to get the window walls completed before adding the frames and glazing behind and fixing in place, I've now got some colour and a little weathering wash on them. Nothing too fancy and quite restrained as this building will be at the back of the layout. The pic below doesn't actually show the effect. Plus I've started adding some roof details. I've also made a start on the walkway bridge from the station area over the road to the building walkway. So far it's just the basic walkway and roof with a lot of detail to be added. The pic below shows how the bridge connects up with the building to provide a continuous walkway under the building and down a ramp to London Bridge itself at the left end.

 

135235.jpg

 

G.

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Slow progress and not a lot to show, but I've finished the walkway bridge basics and got some old looking whitewash on where required. Window frames and glazing are now pressing so I'll probably have to think through how to best approach making them and get started on it.

 

125100.jpg

 

G.

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Work has slowed to a crawl while I spend some time getting the next issue of the N Gauge Journal completed. However, I have managed to get the windows glazed and next is fitting the internal floors:

 

191844.jpg

 

191747.jpg

 

As the building will be located towards the back of the layout it is quite compressed in size and I've not spent ages getting it accurate or even the most sharply modelled.

 

G.

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With the walls in place - but not yet fixed - it all looks like this:

 

135216.jpg

 

The end of the walkway, on the right and temporarily supported by the rectangle of card, will dovetail in to the railway viaduct to form a passageway from the station for commuters.

I'll probably give this building a rest now - finishing it later - and in the meantime start on another. There's lots to do.

 

G.

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Further forward (from Colechurch House) on the layout and in front of the railway viaduct will be two skyscrapers: New London Bridge House and Southwark Towers. Both no longer exist having been knocked down to make room for the Shard of Glass and the baby Shard. But they were around for the period I’m hoping to replicate (1970s to the end of the 20th century). Each were tall at over 305ft and 325ft respectively. In N Gauge 1:148 scale these both work out at over 2ft tall – which is pretty big for most model buildings seen on N gauge layouts.

A couple of years ago I made slightly under-scale (the tallest is 1ft11ins) basic replicas from foamboard (bus included to give a sense of size) with the intension of adding details from self-adhesive vinyl (cut by a Silhouete Cameo cutter) and Evergreen styrene strip. This has still to be done and I don’t think I’ll yet start on dping that.

 

161214.jpg
 
Instead I’m thinking about making another unusual looking building from the forecourt area that I believe no longer exists and was located in front of New London Bridge House:

 

121216.jpg

 

G.

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As mentioned above I plan to start on another scratch-build edifice. This time it's a strange building at the end of London Bridge Road that leads down from the station forecourt to Borough High Street and is in front of New London Bridge House skyscraper. I say strange as I understand it is something to do with the London Underground station below the area - note the ventilation grills at the front and higher level on the left hand side. I took the photo below around 7 years ago and it is all I basically have as it has now been knocked down as part of the area's development (destruction?). I'm okay with just that as I'm sure I can knock up something reasonable from it - after all, as usual, it won't be a finescale accurate replica and will probably be compressed and simplified.

 

 

071500.jpg

 

 

Nonetheless if anyone has further information/photos they can provide I'll be most grateful. And, with the build plan to use a mix of cardboard and brick embossed plastic sheet I'm unsure whether to continue with updates on this thread. Ideally I'd like to do that so that all the building stories are in the one thread.

 

G.

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To get underway I sketched a rough character drawing at full model scale size to get a feel for the structure and any requirements/issues that might present themselves.You'll notice I've already left out one column of windows in order to simplify and allow a little compression. Most of the other buildings I've made, although based on real ones, are compressed a little but hopefully they still capture the look, character and atmosphere.

 

130420.jpg

 

The first construction stage was to build the framework. I cut three identical floors from card (1.5mm mount board) and internal space walls to hold them apart. These were glued in place ensuring the edges lined up to enable the outside walls to be hung on:

 

152650.jpg

 

Under the bottom floor is some 2mm styrene strip to allow the walls to pass down below the pavement level and accommodate the slight slope.

 

G,

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Next is to cut the brick walls from embossed plasticard and then decorate them with styrene strip to represent cornices, pillars, sills and so on. They will need to be completed, including painting and glazing, before attaching to the framework, as once glued in place there will be no access from behind. I appreciate that this section of construction is styrene/plasticard assembly but the main structure is cardboard and I'll be returning to card for the roof structures.

 

232229.jpg

 

Obviously there still a fair amount of detailing to add, but I often check fit and look to ensure the overall effect is what I'm hoping to achieve. Here are the plasticard walls just roughly placed in position (not fixed/glued):

 

113115.jpg

 

G.

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Slowly, slowly, catch your monkey, cut little bits of cardboard and plastic and stick them in place;

 

164807.jpg

 

I was now at the stage to consider how to make the most unusual aspect of the building - the colonnaded ground floor frontage with huge ventilation grilles.

 

G. 

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