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

[grahame]

I think I've now finished the hard structural modelling for this row. Just the fiddly and fragile details to make and add (like down pipes, sticking out shop signs, pub hanging signs, and so on). And the supermarket inside window displays. Plus some tidying up and more weathering/toning down.

 

Phew, it never seems to end.

 

 

 

[Jim Martin]

On 10/04/2020 at 20:18, acg5324 said:

Wavy Line used to be one of the small grocery stores....and VG? Stores.

Wavy Line takes me back! I grew up in High Wycombe and there was one in the shopping arcade near my school (Brindley Avenue shops, for those as know Wycombe). Long gone now, of course, as has the school itself.

 

Jim

 

 

[grahame]

All I've done today, modelling-wise, is mix up the RTV silicon rubber for the mould to produce the footbridge panels and poured it over the master. That needs overnight to set before de-moulding (the mould) tomorrow morning. It'll then need a minimum of a further 24 hours to cure before use. Once demoulded, I'll reassemble the master mould, mix up some more silicon rubber and pour that so that I'll end up with two moulds to use. The first will be ready for use on Tuesday (when I can test a casting) and the second will be ready on Wednesday. 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by grahame

[grahame]

Footbridge walkway panel mould now de-moulded and curing. And the master re-used in a new mould ready to receive the RTV silicon rubber being poured in. Next to mix up the chemicals.

 

[grahame]

The second mould is de-moulded and is now 'curing' - it should be ready for use tomorrow morning. And the first (test?) cast has been made in the first mould which all appears to be fine (although I overfilled the mould which means there's a lumpy back that need filing down). That means tomorrow I should be able to proceed with casting sufficient numbers of the panels:

 

 

Today I shall probably fiddle about with some other modelling and project planning. I might make the shelves and shop fittings for the Co-op supermarket - the large windows mean it is easy to see in to what is currently a bare empty shop (a bit like many supermarkets today in the virus crisis).

;-)

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by grahame

[grahame]

Some shelving units are now made and added to the shop. I've kept them plain and simple with a basic limited colour palette to prevent them being too garish and distracting from the overall scene. After all this is a low relief model that will be located at the back of the layout and difficult to view. However, I've included a 50p coin to give an indication of scale as these N/2mm buildings are pretty small and close-up photos are worryingly very cruel and revealing . . . . 

 

 

 

[grahame]

I'm starting to think about the next building project, and it'll be one of the final ones for the layout having now made dozens of buildings. However, it'll be far from the last structure that needs to be made. 

 

It's in Tooley Street on the south side, so the rear of it will be the side facing the viewing position. Therefore, I need some period photographic reference of it to enable a reasonable representation to be made. It appears to have been quite altered (modernised) over the years. The first pic below shows the period I'm wanting to represent:

 

 

While this pic is the current incarnation:

 

 

You can see that it has quite significantly changed over time and looks less interesting now. The block is also three buildings effectively joined together in a row facing Tooley Street, so I'll probably make it as two separate models. I just need to do some research unless anyone has any suitable or helpful pics.

 

 

[pirouets]

Grahame, I have scanned through the thread but could not see this. What is the size of the layout when you start given a few pages ago you showed the area modelled?

 

I'm going to have another scan as I did notice it looks like you have include St Olaf's House at the edge of your build which was an office I used to visit in the early 90's. It must be hiding somewhere in the 62 pages :-)

[grahame]

The westerly white walled building appears to be two storey and flat roofed, and looks rather like an industrial unit - possibly once some sort of factory. It's difficult to tell from the period photo and I've not been able to find anything else on-line. Consequently this is going to be another self-designed building based on the clues I can discern. I've drawn up a plan for the footprint making sure it fits in with the other models I've made. I'll probably start cutting card tomorrow morning after the first casting of the footbridge panels.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by grahame

[grahame]

4 hours ago, pirouets said:

What is the size of the layout when you start given a few pages ago you showed the area modelled?

 

Hopefully, the scenic area will be around 10' by 3'6". But it's all depending on some factors yet to be finalised. And, of course, the extent of compression. What I'm trying to achieve is a layout that doesn't appear confined and constrained by the usual limitations of size and model railway layout traditions.

 

 

 

 

 

[grahame]

This morning I've made the first casting in the second mould (along with another in the first mould) and all appears to be fine. I've now got three mouldings (each containing four panels) and can produce two at a time. With the polyurethane resin curing to de-mould in 30 mins I should be able to make four an hour, and, of course, doing other things while they set:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[grahame]

And this morning I've made a start on making the carcass for the white 'factory' building based on my rough sketch plan drawing. If I treat it as a factory it is effectively the first industrial structure (others like the print works had been converted in to apartments) although the attached building is residential probably with a commercial ground floor (currently it's a fried chicken shop). However, that street-side of the structure won't need details as it will be almost impossible to see when on the layout, and as Allen Downes said; don't model what can't be seen. So no need to waste time and effort on it.

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by grahame

[grahame]

A bit more mount-board cutting and gluing and the carcase starts to take shape. All the parts fixed on the carcase so far are those that will be plain walls with no windows. The back of the building (facing the camera) is the viewing side and the walls not yet in place will be separately finished and added later:

 

[grahame]

There's just three walls with windows in and that'll require more fiddly work, details and finishing before fitting to the carcase. The tall end white one is cut from brick embossed plasticard while everything else, so far, is from mountboard.

 

[grahame]

A little progress. I'm holding the window walls in place as they need to be detailed and finished before they can be fixed:

 

[grahame]

Windows cut out of the 4-storey residential building, roof tent made (ready to be covered with Redutex) and corner flue stack added to the factory. I also found some white primer (handy as much of the factory walls appear to be white-washed render) although I seem to have got more of it on my fingers:

 

[grahame]

This morning I've got some basic blocks of colour on. It's looking very pristine, clean and freshly painted, and crying out for some dirtying down to make it look more 'lived in' and realistic. But that'll have to wait until I've made and added all the other details like ridge tiles, chimney stack tops (flaunching, pots, etc.,), vents, gutters, drain pipes and so on. And fitted the windows/glazing, so still much to do. The various sub-assemblies are not glued together and are just resting in place for this photo :

 

 

 

[grahame]

Some more fiddling around this afternoon including making and adding the chimney tops and fitting the factory windows.  But there is still more to do particularly on the 4-storey residential building:

 

[grahame]

Ridge tiles and windows have now been fitted to the 4-storey residential building so it's getting there. Just a few things still to make and add like gutters and downpipes. Here's the traditional helicopter view that many seem to like, or at least frame up when taking snaps of model railway layouts:

 

 

 

[grahame]

Certainly birds-eye helicopter photos can give a general overview but don't give a very realistic, 'down-to-earth' scenic view from a more appropriate position. Here's a lower angle shot, taken at the same time as the helicopter view, and AFAIC it is far better and allows the viewer to engage with the subject on a more appropriate and personal level :

 

 

One detail that I still need to make are skylights for the factory flat roof. I can just discern one on the hazy period photo but thought it probably more appropriate to have a few. Consequently I've started to make three from styrene strip and sheet. Here's the steps I've undertaken so far. They are not complete and glazing bars will be cut and added to break up the length in to smaller panes:

 

[Siberian Snooper]

The building looks a lot better from that lower view point.  I always try and take photos from as near eye level as I can get the lens, to get that line side feel.

 

 

[pirouets]

On 14/04/2020 at 23:55, grahame said:

Hopefully, the scenic area will be around 10' by 3'6"

 

So I see a trend in your layouts then. When I came back to the hobby about 20 years ago you had Hedges Hill cutting (In the foyer of the Farnham MRC exhibition) which overall was about 5*3 and not sure what the scenic area was, but then Stoney Lane Depot came along with around 7 * 2 (I think - couldn't find the copy of the toddler in the shed) for the scenic area and 10*3 overall (I think) and the scenic area is doubling again this time so based on this in 100 years time if we apply what I will now call the Hedges layout growth law that the scenic area doubles every 10 years, you will have 30,000 sq ft to play with.

 

Any idea's what you could do with that? :-)

 

Seriously though, what I find most impressive is the consistency of the models in terms of their build. I guess you will need a fair few people to populate this layout so it will be equally interesting to see how the various cameo's come together when it gets to that point.

[grahame]

9 hours ago, pirouets said:

 

So I see a trend in your layouts then. When I came back to the hobby about 20 years ago you had Hedges Hill cutting (In the foyer of the Farnham MRC exhibition) which overall was about 5*3 and not sure what the scenic area was, but then Stoney Lane Depot came along with around 7 * 2 (I think - couldn't find the copy of the toddler in the shed) for the scenic area and 10*3 overall (I think) and the scenic area is doubling again this time so based on this in 100 years time if we apply what I will now call the Hedges layout growth law that the scenic area doubles every 10 years, you will have 30,000 sq ft to play with.

 

 

Interesting thoughts and creative extrapolation. But I doubt I'll last for another 100 years.

 

The skylights are in place although they do look a little like garden cold frames/cloches. Just a little detailing to do on this one now such as a gutter for the pitched roof (although I'm now out of half round styrene strip that I normally use), some down pipes (for both buildings) and a back door. However, now I'm itching for the next modelling project . . . . .

 

 

[Stubby47]

As ever, a stunning masterpiece in miniature. 

 

The build shots really help to see how you approach each stage.

[grahame]

One structure I do need to 'finish' is the former warehouse row along Holyrood Street which is just on the north side of the railway viaduct. It will partially serve as a backdrop to the trains on the viaduct approaching or leaving London Bridge station. Here's a couple of screen grabs of how it looks currently - a narrow road between the arches and buildings, still with cobblestones and that time seems to have forgotten . . . . 

 

 

. . .  However, although they are from slightly different times, they are both quite recent views. Below is an older shot from the period I'm trying to replicate which is taken further back along Holyrood Street at the junction with Magdalene Street. The corner plot behind the curved wall has since been build on (modern apartment blocks) and my model is attempting to represent the location as the black and white pic.

 

 

This is my model of that corner location (so far) . . . . . 

 

 

. . . and you'll notice that the warehouse building stops at No.7 and doesn't extend further down Holyrood Street as in the screen grab pics. Therefore I need to model this block and I'll give it some consideration as the next project build.