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The Old Blue Last Pub (Mr Brunel's Hat)


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My second entry for the 2012 challenge will be a pub based on the Old Blue Last, Shoreditch, London.

 

Renamed "Mr Brunel's Hat" it will be made of plastic with laser cut card and plexiglass details (thanks to fellow RMWebber unravelled) and resin cast architectural details.

 

The pub will have an illuminated interior.

 

Courtesy of the manager of the Old Blue Last (who gave me a good copy of this photo), here is the original pub

 

post-123-0-75422200-1331824810.jpg

 

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I was pleased to learn that I would be able to enter the Old Blue Last (being "rebranded" as Mr Brunel's Hat) as although some work has been done (on the shell and on some separate castings), I still had not really begun to move forward with the pub - I reckon I have about 75% left to do...

 

Anyway, first up are the absolutely superb laser cut architectural details Dave (Unravelled) kindly cut for me - they are really taking the pub to a new level. Firstly the intricate geometric frieze - the laser cut parts are the coloured cardboard items:

 

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The next is the vertical "stone" walling, again by Unravelled and this time in perspex:

 

post-123-0-16269600-1332090870.jpg

 

I've been a bit busy as well, casting various resin items from my masters:

 

post-123-0-49274800-1332090945.jpg

 

And I've started to assemble the castings and laser cut material onto the basic carcass:

 

post-123-0-20137000-1332091010.jpg

 

And in a burst of energy managed to complete 1 corner and 3 sets of windows, as can be seen here:

 

post-123-0-26632200-1332091058.jpg

 

Only another 7 more window sets and the big semi oval "Old Blue Last" sign and its two accompanying windows to do before heading to the paint shop.... (and it's not over until it's over...)

 

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... Did you carve the masters yourself....

Alas, not carved, but assembled from plastic card, plastic rod and plastic strip and, for the floral frieze, from recycled bits of Faller HO plants.

 

Tedious, time consuming, but worthwhile

 

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  • 3 months later...

A Pub Of Many Colours

 

Progress has been made on Mr Brunel's Hat. I have finally finished the facade (the roundels will be added after painting). First off, a pic taken this March of the real thing and, adjacent, a part of the 1930s photo I got from the manager of the OBL showing the detail and stucco work

 

post-123-0-65884400-1342801485.jpg post-123-0-14080200-1342802792.jpg

 

Now here is (pretty much) the same view of the model:

 

post-123-0-11012900-1342801541.jpg

 

Close enough for Government work, I reckon. The diversity of colours is due to different materials (plastic, 2 types of resin, card, perspex - all of which having been nailed/glued/welded on in the most cack-handed manner [my own fault for working in "mixed media"]) plus unravelled's superb laser cut stucco details (thanks again, Dave).

 

Now here are the left and right side views, catching the essence of the Old Blue last/Mr Brunel's Hat- fairly accurately, but still with some compromises. Which I hope aren't too evident at normal viewing distances.

 

post-123-0-90396700-1342801905.jpg post-123-0-36782600-1342801926.jpg

 

The biggest compromise was the use of white metal windows next to the semi-oval nameboard (but to scratch build the window surround to match the originals would have really set back this project's timelines [and I'm already far behind schedule]). So I used some Dart Casting Georgian Windows, which are acceptable subsitutes.

 

post-123-0-69710200-1342802076.jpg

 

Those RMWebbers who know me, can testify to my occasional lapses of sanity, and I think I must have been on Planet Zorg when I decided to rebuild the Old Blue Last as Mr Brunel's Hat for my layout, 'cos it's a BIG beastie, as can been seen here.

 

post-123-0-09172300-1342802231.jpg

 

Anyway, after cleaning up with a 3M Radial Bristle Brush (heartily recommended for cleanups and fine finishing) the next next step is to spray an undercoat and then get out the filler (or should it be the other way around????) and "make good". I'll then paint and finish the facade (but not in Truman and Hanbury colours, but rather those of my layout's brewery "Morgan-White [Fine Ales Since 1884]").

 

Then comes the fun bit :help: :haha: - adding windows and the interior, followed by the roof and then the pavement and street lamps.

 

As always, comments, criticisms, and witty yet incisive feedback welcomed

 

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Good grief, you want this for the BCB? I am chuffed...

 

This particular model is reserved for my layout and in order to produce a second one I'd have to remake all the moulds and a lot of the masters. Furthermore, I don't want to build another curved frontage just yet...

 

However, having said that, I could utilise a lot some of the MBH elements for a "standard" shaped pub and one that's more appropriate in design for where the BCB is set, something like the Horse and Jockey public house in Bilston Street, Wolverhampton (although after your e-mail Chris I was hoping to build a "dark satanic mill" for the BCB). Let me cogitate upon it.

 

As Joan Rivers says "let's talk"

 

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edited for coherence

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Dark, satanic canal-side rundown industry will probably be on the books Flavio... Just need the polystyrene snowstorm to be finished and folk to work out wot building go where and we'll be sorted.

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Flavio, it is interesting to see the pic of the prototype in its present-day setting. Clearly it once dominated its surroundings before that modern monstrous edifice was constructed. I imagine that it is to have a suitably dominant situation on the layout for a backstreet pub it ain't. It reminds me of a pub at Hammersmith Broadway, just along from the H&C station, which is similarly on a corner. Perhaps fortunately, one could not see much of the interior from outside, though I dare say it is better lit today, but what could be seen was overwhelmingly dark wood.- oak or mahogany, not as dark as ebony - and brass rails. Have you thought about the interior of the OBL/MBH or will the shell and architectural niceties be enough this time?

 

What you have captured, very well, is a late Victorian pub just far enough from the territory of Jack the Ripper for the patrons of the day not to worry too much about where he would strike next. How much was done to it in the 50 or so years between its construction and the time when the landlord's pic was taken is one of those Good Questions but I suspect the answer is 'very little'. Today it might be in danger of becoming a yuppified wine bar if it were in Notting Hill, but thankfully for the world it is not!

 

From the photos you have posted it seems that you have hit upon a mix of materials and techniques suitable for the result you desired. I have no experience of resin casting but it seems to me that time invested in preparing the masters can be repaid handsomely in the results, even if the task of making the masters is a PITA. This what an old gaffer of mine used to call "applied laziness"!

 

My only reservation is the proposed name. "Mr Brunel's Hat" does not sound very 30s to me!

 

Chris

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Thanks for the kind comments, Chris. The pub actually dates from 1700 and was rebuilt in 1876, so a mixture of Georgian and Victorian methinks.

 

I had planned on installing a rudimentary illuminated interior, but this may run into some technical problems asI first have to figure out how to install decent windows and interior in the curved part of the structure (flat sides are easy-peasy).

 

My only reservation is the proposed name. "Mr Brunel's Hat" does not sound very 30s to me!

Hmmm, what would be a better name? "The Brunel"? "The Engineer"? "Ferret and Trouser Leg"? (just joking on the last...)

 

Thoughts on a pub name, anyone? Whilst awaiting suggestions from RMWeb, I will be perusing here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub_names, for inspiration.

 

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Our immediate "local" was the "Hutton Junction" - no one called it that, it was just "The Junction".

 

Can I suggest another famous name? "Eagle and Child" - one near where I used to live and THE famous one in Oxford, where JRR Tolkien would read extracts of "The Lord of the Rings" to his cronies (!). In both cases they are known locally as "The Bird and Baby".

 

I think that would suit your beautiful model Dottore...(by the way my Inlaws named me "Il Pigro" - which is not what non-Italian speakers think it is).

 

Best, Pete.

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If IKB had a coat of arms you could have the Brunel Arms. I'm not at all sure that he did though. I understand that if one receives a peerage one is expected to adopt an armorial device following lots of helpful advice from the College of Heralds. Brunel was never ennobled, which is a pity as what a contribution he would have made to the House of Lords!

 

Chris

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by the way my Inlaws named me "Il Pigro" - which is not what non-Italian speakers think it is).

 

Best, Pete.

 

Il Pigro? surely a "stretchy coverall garment, worn by very young, sick, creatures of the porcine genus - see "The Uxbridge English Dictionary"

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Our immediate "local" was the "Hutton Junction" - no one called it that, it was just "The Junction".

 

"Eagle and Child" (...) THE famous one in Oxford, where JRR Tolkien would read extracts of "The Lord of the Rings" to his cronies (!). (...) known locally as "The Bird and Baby".

 

Also: "The Fowl and Foetus"

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I must say this is top modelling of a very interesting building.

I've taken the liberty of slightly Photoshopping your March pic of the real thing - hope you don't mind.

On a seperate issue, buildings like this are often "Listed" meaning they can't be touched whilst adjoining sites are redeveloped with monstrosities of the type immediately behing this pub. I think this tends to make the listed building look somewhat lonely surrounded as it is by modern buildings. A classic example of this is the Albert pub in Victoria Street, London SW1.

Regards,

Brian.

post-1115-0-81749000-1343217256.jpg

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... I've taken the liberty of slightly Photoshopping your March pic of the real thing - hope you don't mind...
Not at all, it was a quick snap taken on a smart phone (and the only one to hand when I made my post).

 

If you look carefully at the left and right hand sides of the photograph in my first post, you will note how seamlessly the pub merges with the buildings adjacent to it, right now, in isolation, it's about as out of place as a pimple on a supermodel's bum. Pity, as the adjacent buildings also seem to have been full of character (although, in a way, I'm thankful that those other buildings aren't still standing as I would have never have stopped building...)

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That's what it says online but I've never personally heard it referred to as such, my Lord.

 

Best, Pete.

 

I didn't realise it was online, Pete. That's what we called it in the late 70s/early 80s.

 

Dottore, as far as names are concerned, if this is for St Cuthbert's, how about something on the lines of the Molesworth Arms. Or more plausibly, the Grabber Arms. Or even the Skool Sossidge!

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Dottore, as far as names are concerned, if this is for St Cuthbert's, how about something on the lines of the Molesworth Arms. Or more plausibly, the Grabber Arms. Or even the Skool Sossidge!

 

Are you not thinking of St CUSTARD's, Your Grace?

 

Chris

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