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


grahame
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I've now cut the brick embossed plasticard front fascias - there's two bits as the right hand end was slightly set back and doesn't have an outside sub-basement (in my model). This has been accommodated in the framework.

 

post-33-0-81435700-1504018353_thumb.jpg

 

I now need to work out, mark up and cut out the openings (doors and windows) taking in to account the framework behind - the positions of which is already marked on the styrene sheet. And the further recessed arch on the right hand bay.

 

G.

 

 

 

 

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I often test fit as I go along to check that things actually do fit in place and that the overall building looks as I expect it to. It also ensures progress is on track. Here the front wall is simply held in place by the tight friction fit at the right hand end:

 

post-33-0-44217500-1504027128_thumb.jpg

 

Again it's not an exact replica, with compression and simplification, but hopefully the differences are subtle and the model retains the look and character of the real building. Sometimes expediency dictates changes. 

 

G.

 

 

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It also helps to place part build models against other buildings to check for size, composition and consistency. Small changes can usually be accommodated during the build sequence if necessary:

 

post-33-0-66897000-1504027942_thumb.jpg

 

I hope these tips are of use.

 

G.

 

 

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I've now primed and given the front wall a coat of base colours (as with the previous building in post# 328) which, when dry, will be sealed with matt varnish before dirtying down and weathering. Currently it looks a little bright and lairy, but hopefully it will turn out acceptable.

 

G.

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And here's a pic of that rather bright lairy colour scheme. Hopefully it will tone down in to a more realistic look;

 

attachicon.gifDSC_3234.JPG

 

G

Hi grahame.  Have followed your amazing buildings from the first. I would like to pre-order a copy of your book on model building techniques. Yes, I know you haven't done it yet, but am sure you must. So please put me first.

Regards, Chris.

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The glaziers came this morning and the windows are now fitted:

 

post-33-0-27859500-1504161911_thumb.jpg

 

It's slowly taking shape but there's still much to do. The roof tiling needs fitting but I don't have enough Redutex so it'll have to wait until I can get some more - hopefully at TINGS in just over a week. However, I daren't add any fragile details to the carcass as fitting the roof sheets means quite a bit of rough handling, Also the front wall isn't fixed in place as I need to sort out some internal walls and add drain down pipes and doors to it.

 

G.

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I'm already thinking about the next building in this little group (Railway Offices). It continues on as a terrace but turns right towards the road. Again it's a slightly different style with a more traditional and more steeply pitched mansard roof. There is also a low flat roofed extension at the pavement edge. That'll complete the group with just the courtyard in front of them to add.

 

Hopefully it will look more interesting and more realistic than a short row of Metcalfe terraced houses.

 

G

Edited by grahame
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The glaziers came this morning and the windows are now fitted:

 

attachicon.gifDSC_3237.JPG

 

It's slowly taking shape but there's still much to do. The roof tiling needs fitting but I don't have enough Redutex so it'll have to wait until I can get some more - hopefully at TINGS in just over a week. However, I daren't add any fragile details to the carcass as fitting the roof sheets means quite a bit of rough handling, Also the front wall isn't fixed in place as I need to sort out some internal walls and add drain down pipes and doors to it.

 

G.

It's funny looking at a building I once visited for meetings - on the first floor. It was in the early 90s, I think, otherwise you could have me looking out of a window waiting for the meeting to start. I usually got there early!

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Here's the carcass framework for the final corner section of the terrace. It's quite a bit compressed as the whole terrace including the old church which is joined on at the left end is getting quite long. The more modern low flat roofed extension at the front with a curved wall will be made as a separate structure and tacked in place.

 

post-33-0-41340000-1504195775_thumb.jpg

 

G.

 

 

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The good thing about this part is that there is no sunken sub-basement out the front. But it has got a mansard style roof with a 90' corner. I'll be building the roof tent in place ready to tile with Redutex. There is also a bit more relief decorative brickwork on this building - I'll need to take care and be a bit reserved and restrained with it so that it does not overpower the other sections.

 

G

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The roof formers and supports were cut and added from stout card:

 

post-33-0-85863500-1504208052_thumb.jpg

 

Then covered in thinner card ready for adding the self adhesive Redutex tiling (when I get some more). This will cover any slight blemishes and gaps:

 

post-33-0-78481600-1504208071_thumb.jpg

 

G.

Edited by grahame
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The top two floors of this section have curved top to the windows/lintels. So I marked up a sample on some SceneSetter's glazing grid with a white paint pen and used that to measure and mark up the cut outs. First I cut a rectangle and then added the curved 'extensions' by carefully cutting with a sharp blade by eye and finished off with a round file. They look about right and any differences need close scrutiny to spot:

 

post-33-0-53854200-1504259241_thumb.jpg

 

G.

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The glaziers came this morning and the windows are now fitted:

 

attachicon.gifDSC_3237.JPG

 

It's slowly taking shape but there's still much to do. The roof tiling needs fitting but I don't have enough Redutex so it'll have to wait until I can get some more - hopefully at TINGS in just over a week. However, I daren't add any fragile details to the carcass as fitting the roof sheets means quite a bit of rough handling, Also the front wall isn't fixed in place as I need to sort out some internal walls and add drain down pipes and doors to it.

 

G.

 

 

That is very, very nice. I have to keep reminding myself what scale you are working to. Outstanding modelling, Sir.

 

Chaz

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I need to work out the end wall and the windows postions but unfortunately I'm now out of large enough sheets of the 2mm brick embossed plastic sheet to cut the covering for the card wall - so I'll have to add that to my shopping list of Redutex (and other things) at TINGS. I'll need to cut away some of the card where the windows will be, but want to use a completed plasticard brick overlay for that. So I've started on the single story flat roof extension:

 

post-33-0-04969200-1504265206_thumb.jpg

 

Oddly enough I can't seem to see any chimney stacks for this building (on the pics I have and Google maps scenic view) but presumably it would have been built with them. Does anyone know if that is the case, where they were and if they were still there on the 1980s? 

 

Cheers in anticipation. 

 

G.

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I need to work out the end wall and the windows postions but unfortunately I'm now out of large enough sheets of the 2mm brick embossed plastic sheet to cut the covering for the card wall - so I'll have to add that to my shopping list of Redutex (and other things) at TINGS. I'll need to cut away some of the card where the windows will be, but want to use a completed plasticard brick overlay for that. So I've started on the single story flat roof extension:

 

attachicon.gifDSC_3246.JPG

 

Oddly enough I can't seem to see any chimney stacks for this building (on the pics I have and Google maps scenic view) but presumably it would have been built with them. Does anyone know if that is the case, where they were and if they were still there on the 1980s? 

 

Cheers in anticipation. 

 

G.

Looking at a very grainy Britain from Above photo, in the 1930s, there was a building beyond this, one almost double its height. There appeared to be a large chimney from your building running up the blank end wall of that building, roughly at the centre point of the party wall. I can send you a copy of that section but it is very indistinct and the roof and any features on it are not discernible. When the neighbouring building went, would be the time that the new roof was installed I guess. Perhaps maps of your period would indicate what was adjacent to your terrace then.

edit Looking at another view from 1946, from the other direction, that building had gone and the immediate area was flattened - bomb damage perhaps. Again the roof is very indistinct but there look like chimney breasts on the outer wall of your building. My guess is that the current and 1980s structure date from the immediate post-WW2 rebuilding era.

Edited by phil_sutters
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 My guess is that the current and 1980s structure date from the immediate post-WW2 rebuilding era.

 

Thanks - that sounds plausible. I'll go with that as an explanation for no chimneys. And there's a heck of a lot of strange roof surfaces behind the centre line that I've not modelled.

 

Probably some huge ancient boiler was installed in the basement to provide a primitive commercial district heating scheme at the time of the war damage repairs and re-building. I remember similar in the old building of the Old Kent Road gas works when I started working there in the early 70s. However, the roof does look quite new so has also probably been replaced/upgraded again relatively recently.

 

G. 

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This is the extent of the terrace although there's still a lot to do. None of the front walls is yet glued in place, the buildings all need butting up to one each other, the end wall is yet to be added, the roofing is incomplete and details like chimney pots, doors and drain pipes need to be made, and there's a single storey flat roof extension at the front of the right end wing, but hopefully this gives an idea of the overall structure and progress to date:

 

post-33-0-34919900-1504458366_thumb.jpg

 

G.

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Including the old church which is also part of the terrace, the whole structure is about 19" long. In OO/4mm that would be over 3 feet long which is why N/2mm is such a good scale for creating realistic and dramatic scenic locations with the trains running in the landscape. The railway will run behind these buildings up on a viaduct and to their right will be the terminus part of the station.

 

post-33-0-64057300-1504467086_thumb.jpg

 

G.

 

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