LCC Modelling System Kit

[fursty]

Hi Everone.

 

Yesterday I was operating a layout at the Southampton show at Barton Peverell college. While there I bought the following kit from Rural Railways, it is a relatively new product to them and they asked if I would let them know what I thought of it, yes I do know them, so there is my association declared. I have to say I have no association with the manufacturer of the kit though. In the process of recording said info I thought I would share it here as well, quite simply because I was very impressed with the quality. I would also like to say thanks to the Southampton club, a very good show with something for pretty much everyone. Lunch was very nice too.

 

I built the B00-19 Coal Merchant office last night and here's how I got on.

I have only built the the office but it is really good, I probably won't do the staithes as I would personally use strip wood but in the kit you get some sheets of card with the plank divisions cut in, looks fine if you wanted to use them. The instruction sheet is clear and the relief of the brick work is crisp, as you would expect with laser cutting. I didn't fit the door and windows into the recesses as per the instructions but left them on the mount and fitted them inside to give more relief, that was just personal preference though. It looks as though the fit would have been good if I had fitted them as per the instructions.
The walls fitted together perfectly, if you can put Lego bricks together you can build the main structure, it really was that simple. The roof comes as a single sheet which you have to measure yourself so requires a degree of care but certainly no great skill. The windows are fantastic, very fine and look very good.
My only criticism is the roof, in my opinion it is far to thick to look good on this building so I think I would use embossed sheet or some other method of creating the slates. I'm going to remove it and possibly use some corrugated iron sheets but that's just a personal effect I want to create.

All in all really good and even with my minimal modelling ability, a piece of cake.

As far as painting goes I think I will give it a sealing coat with car primer first to stop the card going soggy, I use acrylic paints (water based paint and card, not a great combo). In this case I think it would get into the laser cuts and blow the brick detail.

Here are a few pics so you can see what I have been waffling on about.

 

Here's what you get.

 

 

 

 

Shows the windows and doors fixed inside instead of in the actual cut outs.

 

 

 

Nearly there.

 

 

Still a bit drafty.

 

 

Aaaah, bless. A cute little building.

 

Don't need many tools, No needle files, sand paper etc. NO DUST (I normally make a right mess).

 

The website looks good as well, clear pictures show the kits. There is also a demo vid of the Country station on Youtube so you can watch the build process. Also there is a vid of him painting a kit as well.
 

Once I have get round to painting mine I will post a picture.

 

It would be good to hear if anyone else has built any of the kits from this supplier and what they thought of them, or laser cut kits from any other manufacturers. It would also be helpful to learn if this manufacturing method is good across the different suppliers.

 

All the best

 

Martin

[fursty]

Hi All

 

 No replies but hopefully this subject is of some interest. As I said before, wasn't keen on the roof that came with the kit so have replaced it with corrugated iron.

 

 

 

And after a spray with some primer.

 

 

 

I was a little heavy handed with the spray but the relief of the laser cut brick has survived so all good.

It still needs some detailing over and above the parts supplied, although if it was to be viewed at a distance would be perfectly ok just painted

 

All the best

 

   Martin

[73c]

Looks a lot better after the primer. Hope to see the finished project

[SGTBILKO]

I was worried that the relief wouldn't have been deep enough for the brickwork but it looks ok with the primer on your model. I am building a signal box from LCC but again worried that once it is painted that the representation of the timber siding would be lost under any but the finest coat of paint. Present commitments including a house move preclude me from finishing this kit at the moment. Otherwise it is an easy kit to put together at the right price. Like any kit one can always add little touches to improve, as you have done.

[fursty]

In an attempt to gain the record for longest running topic with fewest posts I thought I would share a few pictures of the LCC modelling system's B00-19 Coal Merchant office.

Having dates on these subjects shows just how long it takes me to get round to finishing things.

Just wanted to show anyone interested that the relief on the laser cut model does show through after the paint job is done, short of a little more weathering and the glazing I'm not going to do anything more to this kit. Hope the images are of use.

 

 

All the best

Martin

[Campaman]

I may be being picky here but just checking out of interest would a building dating to when coal offices were around have been built using stretcher bond brick work?

[bertiedog]

On the primer for the material, the best I found is cellulose varnish, well thinned, which has zero effect on the detail cuts. Rustins do a small bottle of gloss varnish, which when diluted about 50% with thinners leaves a satin/matt finish that takes acrylic or any other paint perfectly. Do both sides and edges with the varnish to stop warping..

 

I did try proofing it with PVA type MDF sealer, but the water based stuff causes swelling and warping before it dries out.

The cellulose dries in moments, as fast as the thinners evaporate.

 

i have several buildings on the go with the system as it works well, especially the windows, which look better than brass etch which is too perfect.

 

Stephen

[fursty]

I may be being picky here but just checking out of interest would a building dating to when coal offices were around have been built using stretcher bond brick work?

Hi Campaman, definitely not picky as a valid point that should be considered. As far as I know the earliest use of stretcher bond was during the mid to late Victorian period (1880's-90's) which is when cavity wall construction was first used. The Style wasn't prolific as was disliked by architects due to the quite boring appearance.

One thing I can be sure of is that my house uses stretcher bond and was built around 1925.

 

Thanks for the reply

Martin

[Gordon A]

I have an industrial building to construct based around their warehouse kit plus additional parts.

I like the quality of the kits and additional pieces I have purchased.

My only reservation is that all the buildings are all in Stretcher bond as opposed to English or Flemish bond.

 

 

 

From my observations the latter bonds are used more often than Stretcher in industrial type buildings.

 

I do like the fact that you can buy all the parts individually.

 

Gordon A

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

Bear in mind that it could well be that the office, only being a basic structure, would be a single skin wall, therefore stretcher bond would be the most practical way to build it.

Having demolished a fair few Georgian and Edwardian outhouses, they were all single skin, although sometimes built using the leftovers of the main house build and having brickwork of all shapes and sizes, but predominantly stretchers.

 

Mike.