Kensington Olympia in n scale

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, acg5324 said:

As usual I’ve spotted a bit of a cock up in that the top floor cuts through the top window. I might just remove the top floor and Jack it up a bit.

 

The other option is to cut the floor back around the windows and plate over the top....this will at least mean I can maintain the integrity of the building so far.

I'd go for the second option.

[acg5324]

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I'd go for the second option.

Me too!

[grahame]

One other option is to colour the edge of the card black (I've used a Sharpie in the past) and hope that the thickness of the window frames helps hide it. Or you could trim a little off the bottom of the wall panels and make up for it with thicker coping stones at the top although you might also need to increase the height of doorways.

 

I often make errors like that. Oops, should have made a cut out there. And that should be bigger. But I just bodge and hack my way around them. It's easy enough to cut mountboard with a fine sharp blade even when it's glued in place as part of a structure. No one seems to notice once there's a bit of paint and weathering on it. 

 

 

[acg5324]

Good idea, but I’d already started colouring in the White edges with all marker as the floors cut through the long vertical window. I think it will show to much and the top floor has a walkway around it so I’ll have to hide it somehow.

 

Strangely there are very few photos of Charles House....must be the MI5 or is it 6 connections. Anyway checking a map of the area I have I spotted that behind the building on Warwick Rd was the Radnor Arms pub and there are always lots of pub pictures!!!

https://pubwiki.co.uk/LondonPubs/Kensington/RadnorArms.shtml

 

The pub was demolished in 2010 as part of the Charles House redevelopment.

 

 

This will make a nice little model model in itself......and you get a glimpse of the rear of the building.

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by acg5324

[grahame]

I've drunk in there on several occasions. Used to be a nice little pub and apparently the only Everard's tied pub in London. A shame to hear that it's yet another one gone.

[acg5324]

5 hours ago, grahame said:

I've drunk in there on several occasions. Used to be a nice little pub and apparently the only Everard's tied pub in London. A shame to hear that it's yet another one gone.

I am assuming it was once on a corner of a row of buildings. A VERY along shot I know but can you remember if there were any roof lines for former buildings in the end walls?

[acg5324]

Today’s progress with Charles House...some detail work on two walls and more walls cut out. Nothing is attached yet.

[acg5324]

Too warm to work indoors for much of today..... two more walls cut out and a splash of colour to part of the frontage. Quick coat of grey primer then Tamiya XF59 Desert Yellow. Painting done in the garden with a beer.

The three middle walls are now attached to each other.

Edited April 15, 2020 by acg5324

[grahame]

On 14/04/2020 at 15:48, acg5324 said:

I am assuming it was once on a corner of a row of buildings. A VERY along shot I know but can you remember if there were any roof lines for former buildings in the end walls?

 

The photo you posted is from longer ago than my visits, and, unfortunately, I can't remember any other buildings. It was probably as the pic. I just remember it as a welcome sight and nice little boozer. It occurred to me at the time it'd make a great model.

 

Progress on your building looks good. It's a pretty big model. What's the size?

[acg5324]

1 hour ago, grahame said:

 

The photo you posted is from longer ago than my visits, and, unfortunately, I can't remember any other buildings. It was probably as the pic. I just remember it as a welcome sight and nice little boozer. It occurred to me at the time it'd make a great model.

 

Progress on your building looks good. It's a pretty big model. What's the size?

Thanks any way.....thought it would be a long shot.  I’ve found an earlier large scale map and as suspected it was once a corner pub with a run of terraces, don’t know if they were shops or houses, on either side. It looks a nice little pub to model so I think it will live on. I’ve also the Hand and Flowers to build. Still got a month or so with nothing else on!

 

Charles House is 40cm long and 20cm wide across the wings.

[acg5324]

Another job I did outside was to open up the packets of Metcalfe retaining wall kits.....and work out how to lower them as they are far to high for me.

 

 

 

Lowering the walls was easy as the parapet wall is a separate fitting and should sit on top of the arches. I’ve mounted them on the front of the arches which looks fine. They aren’t quite as garishly coloured as the photo makes them, but they will get a bit of toning down.

Edited April 15, 2020 by acg5324

[grahame]

6 minutes ago, acg5324 said:

Charles House is 40cm long and 20cm wide across the wings.

 

1ft 4" long by 8" wide - that's quite a big model in N/2mm. It should be impressive.

[acg5324]

7 minutes ago, grahame said:

 

1ft 4" long by 8" wide - that's quite a big model in N/2mm. It should be impressive.

I hope so.....

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, acg5324 said:

Painting done in the garden with a beer.

That's a new trick.

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, grahame said:

 

1ft 4" long by 8" wide - that's quite a big model in N/2mm. It should be impressive.

It already is!

[acg5324]

A fairly easy day today, completed the last pack of Metcalfe retaining walls. 4 packs, 16 units, 32 arches.....about a quarter of the number needed.

Back to Charles House tomorrow after I’ve done a bit of work on the next book.

 

With the lockdown continuing as expected my hair will be getting back to 1970s length.....just a bit greyer!

For a laugh this is was it was like back in 1975......I’m the one on the right!

 

[acg5324]

Found some more pictures of the Radnor Arms including this useful one that shows a lot of the rear of Charles House.

From the derelict London website.

The pub will be the next building to be made after Charles House and it will complete a block.

Edited April 16, 2020 by acg5324

[acg5324]

Very little progress today, but what there is has made a difference.

Charles House has had all the painted walls attached to each other and a quick squirt of Tamiya sand aerosol. The combined subassembly slides into the mountboard structure.

The next subassemblies will be the unpainted front walls the end wall and the outer back walls to give a U shape.

 

I’ve also done a test weathering, more of a toning down, of the Metcalfe retaining walls. This has been quickly sprayed with    a Tamiya Battleship grey, then a redddish Brown followed by Halfords satin black. I’m quite pleased with the results and will roll it out to the rest of the arches and the yet to be built intermediate brick pillars. The detailed weathering will be done once they are attached to the layout.

[St Enodoc]

12 hours ago, acg5324 said:

I’ve also done a test weathering, more of a toning down, of the Metcalfe retaining walls. This has been quickly sprayed with    a Tamiya Battleship grey, then a redddish Brown followed by Halfords satin black. I’m quite pleased with the results and will roll it out to the rest of the arches and the yet to be built intermediate brick pillars. The detailed weathering will be done once they are attached to the layout.

 

Those arches look just right.

[acg5324]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Those arches look just right.

It’s amazing what a bit of paint can do.

[acg5324]

Another wall constructed today and the other 14 retaining wall sub assemblies weathered.

 

I’ve included some photos of the area that CH will inhabit once finished. Due to size limitations some roads are rearranged and buildings moved. The garage will live on the opposite side of the tracks as there is more room available.

Edited April 18, 2020 by acg5324

[grahame]

Taking shape nicely. And it's good to see the trains dominated by urban buildings (as of course they are in real life). 

 

 

[acg5324]

11 minutes ago, grahame said:

Taking shape nicely. And it's good to see the trains dominated by urban buildings (as of course they are in real life). 

 

 

Indeed, still have a long way to go to get to your standard of urban sprawl though.

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, acg5324 said:

Another wall constructed today and the other 14 retaining wall sub assemblies weathered.

 

I’ve included some photos of the area that CH will inhabit once finished. Due to size limitations some roads are rearranged and buildings moved. The garage will live on the opposite side of the tracks as there is more room available.

 

 

Looks good seeing all buildings in context. Just one comment - is there enough clearance between the signal box (relay room?) and the track behind it?

[acg5324]

6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Looks good seeing all buildings in context. Just one comment - is there enough clearance between the signal box (relay room?) and the track behind it?

No.....building got moved a bit. Also the timber just behind the first “bridge” is too close to the track. The ply tops that act as the ground level for the big buildings warped badly in storage and will be replaced.