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

[grahame]

Amongst the forgotten about and dusty etches, kits and half made models was a R Parker white metal kit of a LWB transit van. I've assembled and painted several before and they make up in to nice and fairly good looking models although I think the windscreen and rear windows are too small. Here's a pic with the raw unmade and just discovered kit on the left, a made up version (centre in white) and a SWB version from RailNscale (right) for comparison:

 

 

I think I'll check to see if the windscreen does need enlarging (compared with the real thing) and if so hopefully upwards, I'll trim both the Parker versions to suit and hopefully look better.

 

 

 

 

  

[Siberian Snooper]

The buff coloured one on the right looks ok, at least at the front, the  A pillar seems to be ok, but the other two look to be a bit chunky.

 

 

[Ian Morgan]

On 15/01/2021 at 15:24, grahame said:

 I also found an unmade Ratio kit of two SR concrete platelayers huts. These are tiny structures but typical of the SR.

 

 

One simple improvement that can be made to the plate layers' hut is to add a square plate on top of the chimney with 4 small supports, one in each corner. The smoke can then escape through the 4 horizontal slots that then appear on the four sides.

 

Also, when used together, the doors would face each other in the centre.

 

This pair were at Egham - probably still are.

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Ian Morgan
re-loaded image

[grahame]

3 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

The buff coloured one on the right looks ok, at least at the front, the  A pillar seems to be ok, but the other two look to be a bit chunky.

 

 

 

Yes, the A pillar is rather thick but unfortunately it's the thickness of the white metal for both the side and width of the vehicle. I've tried to thin it down a little, in both planes, and open the windscreen aperture a bit but there is a limit and it'll increasingly make flush glazing more difficult. The buff SWB version is a resin 3D printed one so is a little finer :

 

 

It's probably a little improvement, but the close-up pic shows some tidying up is required. Still, N gauge vehicles are pretty small (the van is less than an inch and a half long) and hopefully paint will help cover any deficiencies making them difficult to see.

 

 

 

[03060]

It may just be the angle of the photo but the buff coloured van looks like an early  Mk1 Transit whereas the other two look more like the later more rounded Mk1s with more roofspace above the cab (.....sorry, mispent youth watching The Sweeny, Guv.)

Edited January 16, 2021 by 03060
Correction.

[grahame]

Yes, the front grilles do indicate slightly different Trannie Mk1 variants, but also the two white metal versions are LWB ones which do/did have a higher roof line (than the other SWB one) as well as extended rear wheel arches for double wheels.

 

[2ManySpams]

On 05/11/2020 at 10:33, grahame said:

It's starting to come together. I've prepared the windows for fitting and also dirtied the exterior and matt varnished it. I'll get the windows installed (when they dry) and fix the two main sub-assemblies together. Still the roofs to make, but they should be straightforward being felt covered so for me just a matter of cutting to size, painting and gluing in place:

 

 

 

 

Hi Grahame, great work on the buildings. What's the source of the glazing sheets please?

[grahame]

17 minutes ago, 2ManySpams said:

 

Hi Grahame, great work on the buildings. What's the source of the glazing sheets please?

 

Thanks.

 

They're called Scenesetters glazing bars from Freestone Models. There's a choice of grid sizes.

 

HTH.

[grahame]

I've started to get some livery on the van - can you tell what it'll be? Not difficult as it should look at home in the gasholder station scene I've made.

 

The white was from an aerosol but the blue is hand-painted (no masking tape) with a hairy brush. The pic shows that some tidying up is required and details to paint - as well as the two lighter blue bands on each side to add. I think I'll paint some transfer paper, varnish it then cut the stripes from that as I'll never be able to paint them neatly by freehand or even using masking tape. Then the tricky business of glazing;

 

 

Gas vans livery is a tricky subject. I found this b&w pic of a Mk1 Transit out side the Old Kent Road gas works site regional training centre (the school was built in the mid/late 60s - I recall attending a couple of courses there in the 70s) but before the petrol station was built in front of it:

 

 

The colours were probably the fawn and grey combo as this pic below shows - note the Mr Therm figure on the door:

 

 

There was also a two tone green livery although that might have been for conversion (towns gas to natural gas). The engineer contractors who were part of the OKR Post Conversion Unit that I ran in the mid 70s had those liveried vans. An example is in the pic below (apologies for the poor quality as it's a crop) at the entrance to the site:

 

 

But by the end of the 70s the vast majority were in the (iconic) white and blue livery. It seemed that in the 80s there was never an outside news report broadcast where at least one of those vans couldn't be seen driving past in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

[Siberian Snooper]

The van looks better now that it's had a lick of paint.

 

 

[grahame]

I've open out the windscreen and door windows/quarter lights on the other (all white) van to try and match the BG van but it means that will now also need re-glazing. And my painting is increasingly looking rough, wobbly and blobby, especially in close-up photos, although it's not quite so bad in real life. But overall, being white metal castings, they're probably acceptable and probably more so than some of the older solid ranges that used to be commonly available

 

 

 

[Gedward]

WB office. Still more details to add after it's been installed.

 

 

[grahame]

I'm considering making a diorama - primarily for photography (of rolling stock, etc.,) but also as a lockdown modelling project. I've already got a small one but that was made many years ago and has been used a lot, so something new would be welcome.

I like the idea of the old Holborn Viaduct station as it is bordered on three sides by tall buildings which will help contain it and provide a backdrop. It also includes the slope down to Snow Hill tunnel as well as the small terminus station and therefore should give a good choice of view angles. I've got a few sheets of foam board that I can use for the baseboard/formwork structure and will draw up a few ideas.

I'm not envisaging building the whole station (or an operational layout) but something based on and reminiscent of it. There are a lot of pics of the station through the years for inspiration and here's a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[grahame]

I'm still thinking through and planning the diorama, but today two N gauge 3D printed 1981 Ford Cargo box bodied trucks I ordered from Shapeways arrived. There was no extra import duty or VAT charges to pay for them. I asked the designer to rescale 1:160 to 1:148 scale and make them RHD which he did. 

 

Each consists of three parts (cab, chassis and body) grouped and joined together. I've cut them in to the separate parts, trimmed the joining sprue remnants away, cleaned them up with a toothbrush and cream cleaner and rinsed in warm water. They were dried in front of one of my central heating warm air registers and then given a dusting of grey primer to make it easier to see the details.

 

 

I'll probably look to scratch-build a different body for one of the trucks so have not prepared the box body for it. Perhaps an open back/tipper something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[acg5324]

2 hours ago, grahame said:

I'm still thinking through and planning the diorama, but today two N gauge 3D printed 1981 Ford Cargo box bodied trucks I ordered from Shapeways arrived. There was no extra import duty or VAT charges to pay for them. I asked the designer to rescale 1:160 to 1:148 scale and make them RHD which he did. 

 

Each consists of three parts (cab, chassis and body) grouped and joined together. I've cut them in to the separate parts, trimmed the joining sprue remnants away, cleaned them up with a toothbrush and cream cleaner and rinsed in warm water. They were dried in front of one of my central heating warm air registers and then given a dusting of grey primer to make it easier to see the details.

 

 

I'll probably look to scratch-build a different body for one of the trucks so have not prepared the box body for it. Perhaps an open back/tipper something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They look good,....Do you have a link to the seller Grahame?

[grahame]

16 minutes ago, acg5324 said:

They look good,....Do you have a link to the seller Grahame?

 

I'm on my tablet ATM and can't seem to copy and paste links on it, but I did link it in a post in the 3D printed vehicles thread on 21st Jan. It's the only one in 1:148 scale. The designer is Axel's Bazar/Axel_Vega.

 

 

[grahame]

I ordered some 3D printed street junction boxes from Smart Models recently and they arrived yesterday. All I've done is to file the bottoms smooth with a sanding stick so that they stood upright, glued them to a wooden spatula and given them a dusting of grey primer to discern the details. I think the backs will require a little work and then a top coat of green. They are tiny things and consequently, as with all 3D printed stuff, there is the typical stratification effect:

 

 

 

[Gedward]

 

Just trying to get hold of some roofers before it starts raining. Oh, too late.

 

 

 

 

[grahame]

A quick tidy up of the boxes then a coat of black followed by brunswick green (I happened to have some in an aerosol and painted them black first to darken the finish) and a coat of matt varnish, and they're just about ready for plonking. I should have dusted them before photographing . . . .

 

[grahame]

From a suggestion on the road vehicles thread I've gone with bashing a scaffolding truck for the second Ford Cargo. I've knocked up a typical scaffolding company body of the era with drop sides from plasticard and given it a coat of grey primer. Once painted and loaded with scaffold poles and boards it should, hopefully, look the part:

 

 

 

 

 

[03060]

Don't forget to tie a bit of rag to the end of one of the scaffolding poles, we wouldn't want anyone to get hurt .....this is the 1980s you know !! 

[simonmcp]

The long poles were 25ft, and as I'm sure you've seen were carried diagonally and would probably be up over the cab. They usually also made a frame of poles to carry the medium length ones and the scaffolding boards would be flat on the bed. The clamps would be a challenge in 2mm or N gauge.

 

[grahame]

Thanks. I did check on-line to find out how long scaffold poles and scaffold boards are as I was struggling to remember from when I unloaded a couple of scaffold trucks about 40 years ago (although it was cuplock scaffolding). Most sites say the longest are 20ft (although a couple mentioned 21ft) and with various shorter lengths including 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 13ft. Boards seem to be a max length of 13ft with 8 and 10ft options. Thickness is 1.5" and width 9". Should be easy enough to replicate.

 

 

[GRUNFOS]

On 16/01/2021 at 16:29, grahame said:

I've started to get some livery on the van - can you tell what it'll be? Not difficult as it should look at home in the gasholder station scene I've made.

 

The white was from an aerosol but the blue is hand-painted (no masking tape) with a hairy brush. The pic shows that some tidying up is required and details to paint - as well as the two lighter blue bands on each side to add. I think I'll paint some transfer paper, varnish it then cut the stripes from that as I'll never be able to paint them neatly by freehand or even using masking tape. Then the tricky business of glazing;

 

 

Gas vans livery is a tricky subject. I found this b&w pic of a Mk1 Transit out side the Old Kent Road gas works site regional training centre (the school was built in the mid/late 60s - I recall attending a couple of courses there in the 70s) but before the petrol station was built in front of it:

 

 

The colours were probably the fawn and grey combo as this pic below shows - note the Mr Therm figure on the door:

 

 

There was also a two tone green livery although that might have been for conversion (towns gas to natural gas). The engineer contractors who were part of the OKR Post Conversion Unit that I ran in the mid 70s had those liveried vans. An example is in the pic below (apologies for the poor quality as it's a crop) at the entrance to the site:

 

 

But by the end of the 70s the vast majority were in the (iconic) white and blue livery. It seemed that in the 80s there was never an outside news report broadcast where at least one of those vans couldn't be seen driving past in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

In the mid 70's West Midlands Gas had red LWB Transits, with liftup back doors and the sliding front doors that often used to fall out of their runners onto the floor, what a way to make an entrance when dealing with an emergency. Ours were bull nosed with  diesel engine fitted. Can't find any pictures though. Keep up the great work, its inspiring.

 

Regards Paul

[simonmcp]

The posher scaffolding boards have metal ends, might be difficult to replicate in 2mm though. I had a brother in law who was a scaffolder and helped him a few weekends in the late 70s. I remember that those 25 foot poles dug in my shoulder when carrying in them.