York station in the 1950's.

[kirtleypete]

I've decided to build the row of terraced houses first which stand on the river bank, 'Earlsborough terrace'. They are built using a mixture of yellow and red brick, so I'm doing the artwork and effectively creating a printed kit:

 

 

It still needs resizing, but hopefully it should look OK once it's built up.

 

 

Peter

[hmrspaul]

Peter

Are you OK for photos. I live very close to all of this and can easily take photos for you. Unfortunately the other (city) side of Scarborough rail bridge has been totally rebuilt twice in recent years - NR offered to do the job all in one but York Council failed to get its act together so wasted an extra million or two once they did get the rebuild done. Mind it is very well done. The bridge supports and abutments haven't been altered very much. 

 

OK I found I do have a few of the footbridge side before rebuilding including

 

 

The hotel model looked great. I looked in more detail at local bricks. There is a lot of use of facing bricks in the town as I mentioned but they do vary in quality and how much weather they pick up down the years. The hotel looks to have been done with some very good ones and they are in good condition. I live in Yorks green square, developed by the NER in the 1850s,  but it seems to predate the use of facing bricks and the house finishes are poor - except for one block which are done with the white facing brick. Those houses on the river front look like they have local bricks but with a lot of detailing. Have you managed to find pictures before the gardens were all redesigned with the flood gates to protect them? York is very dry but suffers from the drainage of the Moors and Dales so the river is much higher much more often than in the past. 

 

As I say the offer is there if you want some photos taken. 

 

Paul

Edited October 11, 2020 by hmrspaul

[kirtleypete]

Hi Paul,

I came up and took several hundred photo's in August, but if I find I've missed anything I'll let you know.  I've looked for pictures of the terrace in the 50's or 60's but haven't come up with anything, but gardens change over time anyway so I'm not too worried. The windows in the houses are modern replacements too, but I can back date those. 

 

I tried adjusting and printing the brick to look more dirty but it just looked awful so in the end I used it just as it was in the photo and I think it looks OK on the hotel with the stonework weathered and dirtied. It's a fine line, and weathering on buildings is very hard to take off again if you've overdone it. 

 

Peter

[James J]

Amazing. What else can I say? I'll be watching closely in awe!

[hmrspaul]

56 minutes ago, kirtleypete said:

Hi Paul,

I came up and took several hundred photo's in August, but if I find I've missed anything I'll let you know.  I've looked for pictures of the terrace in the 50's or 60's but haven't come up with anything, but gardens change over time anyway so I'm not too worried. The windows in the houses are modern replacements too, but I can back date those. 

 

I tried adjusting and printing the brick to look more dirty but it just looked awful so in the end I used it just as it was in the photo and I think it looks OK on the hotel with the stonework weathered and dirtied. It's a fine line, and weathering on buildings is very hard to take off again if you've overdone it. 

 

Peter

Windows. don't talk to me about windows! The Conservation people here said that our facsimile copy of the 1855 houses had to have multi pane windows on first floor - whereas the open Uni programme explains that the large windows are the better off houses using the first generation of Pilkington float glass. Our builder struggled with the weight of multi glazed windows because, of course, they had to be individual double glazed panels. Similarly they considered the numerous (IIRC 47 according to the builder) windows - usually York lights - that look out on the square from the roofs were all replacements and enforced that we couldn't even have flat Veluxes on the side looking into the square. Totally b.ll.cks and it has made our loft room too dark. Mind we have a nice view of the Netto Rail workshops from the rear Veluxes. In your picture the two houses on the right have York lights - a glazed side to the dormer, and have retained the finial. Look original to me. Very nice but difficult to maintain. The ones on the left have been modernised. 

 

Your brickwork on the hotel looks right. As I said at the time I doubt there was much weathering on these high quality facing bricks. South Bank in York has a lot of houses with the white or cream facing bricks, but they vary in quality and appearance. I do suspect some have been cleaned at some stage, but it is more that some are a little rough finished and these do weather - right down to near black at ground level. 

 

Paul

Edited October 11, 2020 by hmrspaul

[kirtleypete]

I've made a start on the terrace. 

 

 

The printed walls are stuck to a piece of 1mm/40 thou plastic card, and braced on the back with square section Plastruct.  The gable walls are 2mm thick as there are no openings.

 

 

The windows are cut from two layers of 20 thou plastic, stuck to a rectangle of 3mm thick clear plastic glazing which gives lots of strength to the building. I added the upper sash from 1mm square plastic strip.

 

 

The curtains are printed on paper (the pictures pinched from websites selling real curtains), stuck behind the windows and then the whole thing is stuck to a piece of black card ready to be cut out when the glue is dry. 

 

 

With the windows stuck in place and the roof in position it is beginning to look like a building. This section is a third of the total length. The white areas are where the bay windows will be. 

 

 

The doors are simply printed on paper but look very convincing. 

 

I'm out tomorrow so the next update will be on Tuesday.

 

Peter

Edited October 11, 2020 by kirtleypete

[Rowsley17D]

Great stuff. What do you use to bond the paper textures to the plastic card, please?

[RichardT]

Pete

 

My dad started work in 1944 for the LNER at the Royal Station Hotel as an apprentice French Polisher (in the days when the railways employed French Polishers for all the woodwork in hotels, refreshment rooms etc). 

 

He's still with us, aged 90, and I showed him the photos of your model when I visited him back home in York.  He was amazed, as am I, with the workmanship and how you have captured the feel of the hotel, and you have two thumbs up from him!

 

Best wishes,

Richard

Edited October 11, 2020 by RichardT
Added sign-off

[kirtleypete]

That's great Richard, it's made my day! 

 

Jonathan, I use an impact adhesive such as Evostick...I use the cheap version from Wilkos which works very well. Ignore what it says about letting it go tacky, just put the glue onto the back of the paper and put it straight onto the plastic, pressing it down with your fingers. A clear tube glue such as Bostick or UHU works just as well. 

 

Peter

[Rowsley17D]

Thanks for that, Peter. I'm sure if I did it there would be creases and bubbles all over the place. I'm a card modeller myself so I use glue sticks and an ink roller.

[kirtleypete]

The row of houses has moved on a little.

 

 

 

I'm not sure what's happened to the missing rows of red brick! it's not a problem, I can put on overlays. 

 

The white line won't show where the two pieces are joined; a drain pipe and a big tree in the front garden will see the that. I'll make sure all the red brick courses join up too. I'll leave the chimneys until the whole terrace is complete and then do them all at the same time. 

 

Peter

 

 

[Rowsley17D]

Those slates look great - as does the rest of the building - are they photo texture and really just "flat". Thanks.

[kirtleypete]

Yes, just a flat sheet of paper but the image is a photo of a real roof so the slates look  three dimensional.  I do a range of building papers which I e-mail to people free of charge; they are 7mm scale but it's easy enough to resize them. Have a look at www.kirtleymodels.co.uk for pictures of them. 

 

The bricks are the same, taken from a photo of a real brick wall...it really is much easier than painting them!

Peter

[Rowsley17D]

Hi Peter, I know all about your free stuff, I was the cheeky so and so who you kindly sent the terraced stone and brick house backscenes to FOC, thanks again!

[kirtleypete]

I should have realised Jonathan - sorry. What I am doing with the terrace is pretty much the same thing, but three dimensional rather than two. 

 

Peter

[kirtleypete]

I've begin work on the four bay windows on the middle section of the terrace. 

 

 

I made up the basic shape using three pieces of 3mm clear plastic. 

 

 

While they hardened off I added the roof and steps. 

 

 

Next three pieces of 20 thou plastic card were cut to size for each window and stuck in place with solvent. The glazing bars were added at the same time.

 

 

Brick paper was stick over these leaving a white window frame showing, followed by the window sill from square section Plastruct, and the roof form three pieces of 40 thou.

 

 

The stone band above the window is a strip of paper. The are gaps in the window sill that need filling but I'll do that when all four are ready. When I've finished the bays there are four dormer windows to add as well,

 

Peter

[kirtleypete]

Two more pictures:

 

 

 

Peter

[kirtleypete]

I have put the terrace in place on the baseboard just to make sure it fits, (it does!), and to photograph it for my customer.  I think a job that needs doing soon is to put on the backscene as it needs doing before anything else is fixed to the baseboard, but in the meantime there is the bridge to construct. 

 

 

The separate piece on the right will be attached securely and the backscene will continue behind the terrace.

 

 

The terrace will be at a higher level, of course. 

 

 

 

I should finish the terrace today, and then work begins on the bridge.

 

Peter

 

 

 

[Rowsley17D]

Will be very interested in the backscene as I may pinch some ideas for my own!!

[kirtleypete]

I'm waiting for the go ahead from my customer, but my preference is for the self adhesive vinyl sheets from ID Backscenes.  They won't stick to the MDF so I glue a thin sheet of aluminium in front of that and the vinyl then sticks beautifully.  The aluminium can be ordered cut to size and curving it isn't a problem; the cut out for the tracks can be done with a Stanley knife. I will probably go for the 0-9mm thickness.

 

I don't see the point in trying to paint something that will end up not looking as good,

 

Peter

Edited October 18, 2020 by kirtleypete

[Rowsley17D]

On a former layout I painted the MDF with emulsion and the ID self-adhesive stuck okay. The ID scenes are very good but don't fit what I want for my last great project. Some of your terraced housing photos will be used though.

[kirtleypete]

I've added the front gardens and footpath; there' scope for a lot of fun detailing these, but I'll have to do some shopping first. 

 

 

 

Peter

[Rowsley17D]

Superb.

[richard i]

I am adverse to brick paper at heart, but your buildings are great and are making me rethink my prejudice to the method of construction.

richard 

[kirtleypete]

I couldn't paint those red brick decorative courses as neatly as the printed walls Richard. Even better, if you mess up a bit you just glue a new piece over the top!

 

Peter