Yard Office Modification and Some New Approaches

[iL Dottore]

I am currently clearing off my workbench in preparation for building my baseboards and have just completed a modification of the Ratio Yard Office: I added an extra window, a smoke unit for chimney, interior detail and lighting.

 

This time I tried out a number of new approachs:

 

• Adding a "cellar" out of plasticard in order to provide a handle whilst working
• Using brass wire for lighting
• Adding a working chimney

First up is a photo of the wiring set up and a sketch of the wiring:

 

 

This worked out quite acceptably and although a bit fiddly with the surface mount LED, avoided my usual problems with spaghetti wiring. This will be an approach I'll be using again in future. The next photo shows the interior illuminated and the plasticard "cellar"/handle:

 

 

Whilst useful, the "cellar"/handle was sometimes forgotten and I held the model by the sides . The installation of the working chimney was pretty straightforward (it is a Seuthe unit), although I had to extend the sides of the chimney breast brickwork using embossed plasticarc - just acceptable, I'm afraid as I couldn't get the brickwork to quite match.

 

 

Finally, I installed the roof, guttering, downspouts (from brass rod) and touched up the paintwork before weathering:

 

 

 

As you will note, I [a] don't have any chimney pots on the chimney and don't have the smoke unit working. This is because [a] I won't know whether or not to add a chimney pot until the smoke unit is working - which it won't until I get a 16v - 18v DC output transformer.

 

As always, comments, criticisms and ribald witticisms are welcome!

 

F

[Paglesham]

I like the interior, but the problem with these kits is the bricks are the wrong size and the bond is wrong for an old brick building. It would almost certainly have been a 9 inch wall using Flemish or even English bond. The lack of headers in the bond stands out. The cellar is a good idea to avoid handling.

Cheers,

Martin

I am currently clearing off my workbench in preparation for building my baseboards and have just completed a modification of the Ratio Yard Office: I added an extra window, a smoke unit for chimney, interior detail and lighting.

 

This time I tried out a number of new approachs:

 

• Adding a "cellar" out of plasticard in order to provide a handle whilst working
• Using brass wire for lighting
• Adding a working chimney

First up is a photo of the wiring set up and a sketch of the wiring:

 

 

This worked out quite acceptably and although a bit fiddly with the surface mount LED, avoided my usual problems with spaghetti wiring. This will be an approach I'll be using again in future. The next photo shows the interior illuminated and the plasticard "cellar"/handle:

 

 

Whilst useful, the "cellar"/handle was sometimes forgotten and I held the model by the sides . The installation of the working chimney was pretty straightforward (it is a Seuthe unit), although I had to extend the sides of the chimney breast brickwork using embossed plasticarc - just acceptable, I'm afraid as I couldn't get the brickwork to quite match.

 

 

Finally, I installed the roof, guttering, downspouts (from brass rod) and touched up the paintwork before weathering:

 

 

 

As you will note, I [a] don't have any chimney pots on the chimney and don't have the smoke unit working. This is because [a] I won't know whether or not to add a chimney pot until the smoke unit is working - which it won't until I get a 16v - 18v DC output transformer.

 

As always, comments, criticisms and ribald witticisms are welcome!

 

F

[chrisf]

I like the interior too - very much in fact - and the cellar will not only help in handling but with bedding into the surroundings.

 

The size of the bricks is a good point. Someone on here is bound to know but I don't: how long have bricks been a standard size? Many millions of them were used when the railways were built and most of them must have been transported by rail from those holes in the ground that used to be Bedfordshire or Peterborough. However, before all that, were there not more localised brickworks on a small scale? For once, this is a serious question!

 

Chris

[Paglesham]

Hi Chris, yes bricks have been more or less standardised for a long time, but Tudor bricks were somewhat thinner as were Roman bricks. Also, paviour bricks as used for floors and paths were much thinner since they were only going to be used for one thickness.

But, generally you can reckon on a brick being about 9" long and 4 1/2"wide and three inches thick, allowing for variations in mortar thickness.

What really varies is the finish and even the very construction of the brick, from old soft stocks in red and yellow through the brittle, rather utilitarian Fletton and sand faced to the glazed Staffordshires and Engineers' Blue with their incredible compressive strength, hence their use in bridge building.

But for most of our needs, if you have a clear picture of a building in brick and can count the courses and numbers of bricks, you don't need to measure it.

Be aware though, that the older a building is, the less standardised will be it's construction, especially around things like doors and windows, but in terms of its brick buildedness(!)it will have to comply to certain sizes because of there being certain ways in which a brick building HAS to be put together, which is where we come into Queen closers and half butts, but that's quite enough of that.

As ever, observation is the only cure for ignorance (and I use the term in the nicest possible way). I am still delightfully ignorant of so many things which is why I love to just look around me, wherever I am.

That, of course, leads to a condition known as ...modelmaking!!

Aargh!!

Paglesham