O Molesworth Street, Wadebridge, 7mm backs of buildings

[2ManySpams]

After Christmas I gathered the info and inspiration for the next Pencarrow building. Pencarrow is my 7mm BLT layout which uses for inspiration the old BR(S) station at Bodmin North, now lovingly referred to as Sainsbury's carpark. 

 

A true scale model of Bodmin North would take up twice the length and width of scenic board space I have (approx 1m x 4m) and so it's more a 'based on' affair. Compromises mean that I was looking for a row of building rears for the back of the layout and wanted something more interesting and challenging to build than the cottages at Bodmin North.

 

Hence I've gone for taking as inspiration a row of buildings in Wadebridge that back on to the west end of the yard/shed and face the main road approach to the Camel bridge. Going to be a good 300mm deep and 900mm long.

 

 

 

Some time spent on Google earth getting plan dimensions and then searching through the planning authority website for applications containing plans. One of the best hits though was a shop in one of the buildings that had a Google Street view tour of the interior, all floors!

 

So I now know what the buildings look like inside and out, the room layout, the fireplace layout, where the stairs go and what windows and doors go to what rooms. Important in this case as the buildings are split level with 5 different floor levels. Really helps me get my head around what I can play with to suit my situation.

 

As usual some quality working sketches...

 

 

The plan area of each element and overall footprint were worked out from GoogleEarth. I'm not modelling the front but used current day photos of that to work out the building heights. Rear shots are few and far between. Verticals were calculated by doing some perspective correction of a Google Street view image.

 

 

I know GIMP can do this but I can't install that on the work laptop.

[2ManySpams]

The more I worked through the various photos and calculate the various dimensions, the more curious features I spotted.

 

The centre three units were built first and are stepped to match the levels of the approach to the river bridge. They are also split level front to back. They seem to date from the early Bodmin and Wadebridge days and can be seen below behind the B&W office and clock tower. Snippet of photo from the Bradford Barton B&W book for illustrative purposes:

 

 

Presumably when Wadebridge was LSWRised, and the B&W buildings demolished to make way for the extension to Padstow, room was found to add an extra shop unit to the left of the existing 3. Although similar proportionally, this new extension looked different. Interestingly, the extract below shows at least the left hand original building to now have slate clad walls.

 

 

Also, at some stage after the B&W went, an industrial building was tacked on to the right hand side of the original 3 units. There's a whole bank of windows in the rear elevation above workshop style doors. 

 

 

Eventually the whole lot looked like this (extract from much larger Britain from Above image):

 

 

To suit the situation I have on Pencarrow I'll be making some changes in the arrangement. The original 3 units will be as per the prototype, sloping up from left to right. The extra shop unit will go on the right, next to my bridge. The industrial extension will go on the left and be reverse handed - this will place it in the goods yard.

 

(All photos are extracts, often quite a small section, from larger photos. You seldom get photos of this type of building where they are the subject matter.)

[2ManySpams]

A satisfying few hours working up the rear elevation of the group of buildings and adjusting them to suit the layout resulted in this:

 

 

 

I've took a few liberties with the big lean-to on the left hand side. The arrangement of the big slate roof should help hide the fact that there's 2" missing from the depth of the terraced shops. I also moved the ground level garage doors from the rear to the side.

 

And a foamboard mockup followed...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only concern I had was that the group of buildings was turning out to be quite a large mass. The mockup  helped identify how it sits with the rest of the buildings. Whilst I was happy that the drawing is more or less to scale, I pondered applying a bit of a perspective reduction, and building them 90% true size. 

 

Having got that far, there were a number of changes and modifications I decided to make to the actual build, but that's the whole point of the mock up.

[2ManySpams]

So... The outcome was that I'm going to reduce the overall height by about 2". It was slightly too imposing in context with the rest of the layout.

 

This was achieved through...

1. Reducing the main roof pitch by 5deg which lowers it by 15mm.

2. Sinking the houses into the ground by 20mm.

3. Reducing the height of the house elevations by 15mm.

 

The industrial unit will stay at ground level, have it's elevation reduced and the big roof pitch reduced as well. The adjustments will align it with the house end elevation nicely.

 

Original top, redrawn at reduced height below:

 

Definitely sits better in the scene IMO.

 

Cutting plasticard commenced...


Drawing it out, making the mock up, and redrawing proved to be well worthwhile.

To build this little building I've had to set up a new temporary workbench as the walls that flank my normal one are getting in the way.

 

The posh bit on the RHS has ended up going 3d first...

 

Walls stiffened up on the inside using 10mm wide strips of plasticard stuck on end. These also provide the ledge the roof modules sit on and something for the floor to fit up to.

 

 

 

 

 

So the best colour shot I can find of the rear of the buildings is courtesy of Google Street view.

 

And another showing the stonework at the end of the building.

[2ManySpams]

Design on the go, revised idea for the end lean-to drawn straight onto the plasticard and cut.

 

Sadly I'm quite excited by this building as it is predominantly brick. Yay, a building that isn't stone!

 

 

 

Just the shell has taken what would have been 4 sheets of 40thou. Thankfully I've had some big 3' square sheets stashed away for these big buildings. 1½ of those gone so far...

 

 

 

[2ManySpams]

Next was the carcass for the steps and the framework for the roof module.

 

 

 

The roof, as on the majority of other buildings I make, is a separate module. This helps construction / painting and also enables the interior to be accessed.

 

 

Starting to look the part. I'm pleased that I changed my mind on the buildings for this location, going to add a lot of visual interest when complete.

 

 

In my now usual method, the 20thou was cut in to ruler-width strips and those were applied in a lattice to the roof formers. Photos show work part way through...

 

 

 

[Mark Forrest]

Having had the pleasure of seeing these in real life (the model, not the real thing) the photos don't do justice to just how big they are!

I've used your strengthening strips method to straighten out a warped building that I'm working on, worked really well.

[John Besley]

Intresting looking project, how many sheets of Plasticard have you got through so far...

[2ManySpams]

5 minutes ago, John Besley said:

Intresting looking project, how many sheets of Plasticard have you got through so far...

 

Probably about a dozen and counting...

[2ManySpams]

18 minutes ago, Mark Forrest said:

Having had the pleasure of seeing these in real life (the model, not the real thing) the photos don't do justice to just how big they are!

I've used your strengthening strips method to straighten out a warped building that I'm working on, worked really well.

 

I think this may aid a sense of size... A 00 Prairie tank sat in front of the buildings...

 

[John Besley]

1 minute ago, 2ManySpams said:

 

I think this may aid a sense of size... A 00 Prairie tank sat in front of the buildings...

 

 

That's got the makings of a Iain Rice Cornish BLT.. if I may say so

[2ManySpams]

Obviously (me being me) I found a (not very) quick and easy way of stone cladding the buildings and doing the brick window surrounds...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[2ManySpams]

On 18/03/2023 at 14:31, John Besley said:

 

That's got the makings of a Iain Rice Cornish BLT.. if I may say so

 

Cheers John,

 

Here's an overview of the layout in 1/12th of 1/43rd, complete with stock. The building I'm currently making goes rear right and replaces the Bodmin North cottages.

 

[2ManySpams]

I tackled the building cladding and the tricky window openings by doing a bit most mornings before work.

 

 

Lots of offering up and subtle adjustment cuts and the final section is cut. And then fitted...

 

 

There were bits of filler and making good required in a few areas but on the whole was pleased. Maximising the embossed plasticard sheet has meant that the end gables have automatically been cut.

 

First rear extension progresses...

 

 

 

 

 

[2ManySpams]

And there was more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[2ManySpams]

And a few shots of the whole thing back on 6th March 2023...

 

 

 

 

And rear of the extension showing the split floor levels...

 

 

[2ManySpams]

It was at this point I realised that the building was becoming quite complex shape-wise and was going to be difficult to paint and and then add windows if all the modules were stuck together. After some discussion the idea of using magnets to hold the modules together was born.

 

Some 10x5x3mm n52 neomydium Magnets were bought from a well known auction site and experiments carried out. I ended up installing them in 6 locations, spaced equally up each vertical interface. To get sufficient grab some of the locations had the magnets doubled up.

 

The result is that you can pick up the building by the extension and there's no fear of it dropping off.

 

 

To get a positive location I added strips to the main building...

 

 

...so that the extension effectively sits in a slot.

 

 

I did try metal on one side instead of a magnet. In practice though I found the metal to magnet attachment weaker than the magnet to magnet, requiring the magnets to be doubled on the non-metal side. So overall no saving in magnets.

 

A definite downside though is that the building now routinely collects the metal tools I'm working with...

 

 

[2ManySpams]

The far right lean-to shell was then fabricated. This central, 3-house module was really starting to take shape and oozing character (and windows).

 

 

 

It's also showed the issue I'm going to have with painting and finishing... A lack of access, particularly in these backyard areas.

 

 

Could have been tricky getting a paint brush in there - hence the approach of using magnets.

[2ManySpams]

And the next rear extension...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With an update from 11th March to show what it looked like all together...

 

 

 

[Stubby47]

That is rather impressive.

[2ManySpams]

2 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

That is rather impressive.

 

Cheers Stu. It's turning out to be a lot more complex and involved than I thought when I first saw the prototype buildings and thought "those are interesting"!

[gwrrob]

8 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

That is rather impressive.

 

Without going overboard his work has the touch of the late, great Allan Downes about it.

[2ManySpams]

A few extracts from much larger photos of the real buildings. Always in the background, or hiding behind something, takes a keen eye to spot it sometimes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[2ManySpams]

And today, after sorting out coursing at corners, I've spent time modelling stuff that probably won't be seen...

 

 

 

The first of the three courtyards, including steps and wall and bricked yard.

 

 

[2ManySpams]

As well as the courtyards, I've been making a start on the roofs. The main profiles have been added - that's another sheet of plasticard gone.

 

 

I then started thinking about chimneys. I want these to be part of the roof structure and not added afterwards. So a bit of planning involved and thinking about construction sequence. But first a bit of fag packet sketching:

 

 

Two different heights, four different depths, same width. Plus a reminder to self that my two outside stacks will be different to reality as I've tacked the newer building on the opposite end.

 

A few photos from GoogleEarth of the remains of the real chimneys....

 

The 4 potter which is at the lean-to end, but which needs to be a 6 potter on my model.

 

The 2 potter which will stay as is.

 

The 5 potter (one missing) with added seagull which will stay as is.

 

The somewhat knocked around and decapitated 6 potter which will be a 4 potter on the model.

 

I've made a start on the 5 potter first, just to sort the method. It's made like a glove and fits snugly over the roof former. The coursing at the joins needs adding after the solvent has set.

 

 

 

And on place on the building. Not glued yet though.

 

 

 

From left to right in the above photo, the chimney stacks will be:

- 4 potter tall

- 5 potter tall

- 2 potter shorter

- 6 potter shorter