Gresby - N Gauge Great Central (MS&LR 90s-2000s)

[Kris]

Thanks for that Simon. I used just the same technique on the station building for Avonwick, but it was not as effective as yours.

[MrSimon]

Hi

 

The Avonwick ones look good to me - would they be easy to alter if the mood took you?

 

Simon

[MrSimon]

Hello Everybody

Today I managed to get the last of the brickwork finished on the front and back of the pub - its taken forever and I think I must have breathed in more Contacta than I applied...


Here is the back, the low wall coming out the back will be the conservatory (when I've finished painting the brick) and there will be a fire escape at the 2nd floor window.


The front of the pub. I decided to try and make the windows similar sized to the shop/flats on the other side of the bridge so I couldn't use the etched windows I'm using for the rest of the building - which is why this front has taken me at least 4 hours already


Next job on the front will be to make the pub sign, the entrance and the bay window - but I probably won't fit them until I've finished painting the front.

It all needs to set overnight before I can do any more work

Lots to do!

Simon

Edited August 30, 2017 by MrSimon

[class"66"]

Buildings are taking shape nicely..........

[Kris]

With all the effort your putting into the pub you'll need to make sure that visit one when you've finished .

[Southernboy]

Another character building taking shape there Simon - the shapes formed by the roof/chimney lines already look pleasingly idiosyncratic

[MrSimon]

Hi thanks for your comments guys! It all seems to be taking much more effort than the house took - but I think its looking better and a bit of a shame that it will be hidden by the bridge from most angles!

 

This evening I mixed up a brick-ish colour and gave it its only coat of paint (the rest will be done with weathering and I fancy trying out using pepper like Jim SW did on Birmingham New Street) and I painted all the ratio window frames which are ready to fit. Its a public holiday here tomorrow so I can hopefully get the back finished and make a start on the roof

 

Pics and better grammar tomorrow!

 

Thanks again

 

Simon

[MrSimon]

Morning everyone,

here is a pic of last nights work (except for the sign)


I'm not sure if its a bit too dark but I can lighten it up with some pastels.

Also, i'm going to fire up photoshop later on - but before I do does anyone know a good source of old brewery signs? Its going to be a Mansfield pub, and I've got one or two shots to work from but always interested to see more

Busy day ahead!

Simon

Edited August 30, 2017 by MrSimon

[Kris]

I think that you're right about it being to dark. For the pub sign I feel that a quick google image search under pub sign should do you.

[MrSimon]

Hi,

I think it might be the daylight being a bit dark and blue in those shots, it looks quite light under my desk lamp! I'll be altering the colour when its weathered anyway so I'm not too worried at the moment. I had a look on google and found one or two to use as research but they tend to be taken from the ground looking up so I can't really just print one out and stick it on - which would be lovely!

This afternoon I got the window sills and lintels painted and fitted the etches:

Before I stick it down I need to fit the back door and check the card behind all the windows gives enough clearance for the glazing to be fitted later.

While all that was drying I bit the bullet at took a saucer of warm water to my desk and started work on one of my UFOs:


They only need a some varnish and a quick dab of weathering and they'll be my first UFO completed this year! I'm not sure what will replace them in the UFO Bran Tub. As I had the saucer out and I hadn't put the RMC tray away after measuring it for the pretendolino, I did a few more transfers:


Theres a lot of transfers on these but I don't have any 'untransferred' JGAs left in the tray, so theres a Bank Holiday Bonus

Still plenty to do!

Simon

Edited August 30, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Evenin' all

Its been a busy day for me!

Firstly I got the back half of the pub stuck in place after all the little alterations needed to the card inner shell and then I started on the roof:


Its not stuck down yet, and will probably act as a prototype while I get the dorma windows and the bits around the chimneys right. I also need to get my trigonometrical brain in gear and work out the shapes of the roof coming out of the main roof and going backwards... hmmmm

In other news I hearby declare the first UFO of 2011 officially finished:


The middle one is slightly over weathered for a fish van, I'm going to see about lightening it up slightly before sending it to my Dad.

I went to my to-do list and selected the next UFO on my list:


Its a dummy class 20 made with an Ian Stoate Dummy Chassis and Mr Taylor's excellent detailing kit. It needs transfers, weathering and the chassis fettling. When I was putting it in my UFO tray the body came off and I noticed this:


Does anyone know how to un-bend Resin?

I've moved all (most) of the stock work over onto my workbench thread (see link below)

Simon

Edited August 30, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

I've had a quiet few days, mainly because I somehow put the flanges of one of the wheelsets on the class 20 through the tips of my thumb and index finger while I was filing the axle ends for better running The bogies run well now though

Today I started to prepare the pub for its final fitting on Gresby:


The main issue i have is that there is a bigger gap than I would like between the pub and the bridge, and one of them seems to be wonky


Despite the buildings being a bit crooked, its starting to look OK - will be better when the pub front is finished (must make a note to fix the bump in the road!)


Here is the back of the pub and the beer garden. Despite measuring the site many times i didn't realise just how invisible the lowest row of windows would be, so I popped out the etches on the bottom row to use again on another building. I'll give the viaduct side a weather before sticking the pub down.


Just the door and front window left to do... and the signs and the interior...


One of the crazier things I've spent hours doing for the layout... the conservatory! Bringing the beer garden into the dining room I need to wait for the plasticard to harden before pushing it totally into shape and then it needs painting and furnishing; then I want to make a set of fire stairs.

I've been spending a bit of time on photoshop sorting out all the signage for the pub and the garage area, then I need to get it printed out so I can call this end of the layout finished.

Lots to do!

Simon

Edited August 30, 2017 by MrSimon

[taytrain]

fantastic work on that pub building, transfer's look great too

[MrSimon]

Thank you Taytrain! Doing transfers is the only part of modelling I don't enjoy

 

Hoping to have the pub finished soon so I can move on to the station

 

Simon

[Kris]

That 20, well they aren't called choppers for nothing.

 

Pubs looking the part on the layout.

[Southernboy]

Very nice work - especially the conservatory.

 

I like the second picture (view under the bridge) - very atmospheric.

I don't think buildings like this being slightly crooked is necessarily a problem: you often find older premises sagging and leaning a bit - all part of their charm really

[McRuss]

Hello Simon,

 

good looking progress. By the way, I don't know if it was mentioned earlier. What did you use for your brick- and stonework?

 

Markus

[MrSimon]

Hi
 

That 20, well they aren't called choppers for nothing.

Pubs looking the part on the layout.

Haha yes, I've now got much more distinctive fingerprints thanks that chopper Only hope I don't get similar injury when I get round to sorting out the wheels on my dummy class 37s!

 

 

 

 

Very nice work - especially the conservatory.

I like the second picture (view under the bridge) - very atmospheric.
I don't think buildings like this being slightly crooked is necessarily a problem: you often find older premises sagging and leaning a bit - all part of their charm really

Thank you I just need to finish the front of the pub and I can take pictures going the other way. The crooked houses look ok - I'm just a bit worried about the bridge piers looking crooked - I can't tell if they actually are crooked or its just some sort of 'fish-eye affect' from the camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Simon,

good looking progress. By the way, I don't know if it was mentioned earlier. What did you use for your brick- and stonework?

Markus

I think its by Slaters and comes in A4 sheets - but most of the plain stonework is just plain plasticard/evergreen strip filed into shape and painted.

I've spent the last few hours making the dorma windows for the pub... won't be making any more of these! I decided to make them all different, mainly because I had to after they all turned out different:


I think a tickle with the file and a lick of paint and they should come out OK.

Lots to do

Simon

Edited August 30, 2017 by MrSimon

[McRuss]

Simon,

 

thank you for your answer.

 

Markus

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

Its been a busy few days here in Helsinki, I managed to get some modelling time in and have finished off all the plasticard work on the pub - it seems to have taken forever!


The door frame, this took two goes to get right - the second step came about because I got confused about the step and the pavement and left space for the step twice but it looks OK and so its staying!


I abandonned the idea of a bay window after I couldn't get it to look right, so I based the windows on a pub I used to live oposite in Manchester.


I need to tone down the gold (I thought it was brass) and weather it all.


The front of the pub! I'm going to paint it later on today.


The complete building. I've got the detail work to do after the I've finished the signage, and it needs weathering and the internal deatils for the front and back need doing, but I'm going to have a break from the pub for a while. Its been a long build, and I think I would have rather done it in stages with a little break in the middle. Ornate buildings take so long to build in N (the pillar on the corner of the ground floor took 25 minutes, the doorway four hours etc) but on the boards I have now there is only one more ornate building required, I'll have a break before making a start on it though!

Still lots to do though!

Simon

Edited August 30, 2017 by MrSimon

[millerhillboy]

Absolutely different class, I guess this must have taken you a good few hours, but I can assure it was worth it. Its so interesting to see unique non-RTR buildings in N, I love layouts where buildings are all uniquely made.

[Steven B]

I might have missed this in an earlier posting, but which brand of plasticard are you using for your brick work?

 

The pub would look quite good with stained or etched glass windows.

 

Happy modelling.

 

Steven B.

[MrSimon]

Hi, thank you for your comments!
 

Absolutely different class, I guess this must have taken you a good few hours, but I can assure it was worth it. Its so interesting to see unique non-RTR buildings in N, I love layouts where buildings are all uniquely made.

Thank you - I've always liked building buildings, I did consider using some ready made ones but because of the angle the viaduct crosses the board all the buildings need to have non-square foot prints which made me abandon that idea pretty quickly - also, I couldn't find any that were right for what I wanted. I'm glad theres only a few left to build though!
 

I might have missed this in an earlier posting, but which brand of plasticard are you using for your brick work?

The pub would look quite good with stained or etched glass windows.

Happy modelling.

Steven B.

The bricks and the 'pantile-esque-bumps' are slaters (I think they're slaters, they're the A4 sheets sold in model shops) I've used Ratio roof tiles too, the pavements are Artists Mounting Board and all other bits to look like stone are either plasticard sheet cut to shape or Evergreen Scenics plasticard strips - I also file all corners down slightly to take the edge off.

I've planned on etched glass on the bottom half of the ground floor windows, I'm thinking maybe stained glass in the top lights of the ground floor and in the firsdt floor windows, but I'm not sure yet - I have to keep reminding myself its going behind a bridge!


This afternoon while I let my eyes un-bozz from the windows, I did some messy work - and it was great fun being able to a) work quickly and not be precious about the job in hand


Its the embankment from trackbed level down to the disused land behind the car-lot. It was my first time using Finnish filler - it was foamy and quite hard to get in the right place - almost like blancmange!


I cut a piece of mounting board to the shape of the embankment and filled up to it, I had to pat the filler down every 10 minutes as it set a bit more - I'm not sure how long it will take to set


While I had the filler out I also filled between the rails in the hard-standing area. The wagons were being used to cut the flange-ways. I'll sand it down later when its dried. The good thing I found with the blancmangey filler was it left bubble holes and scars when I was scraping it down, these will be used in weathering, but others will be re-filled. Just waiting for everything to dry now...

Lots to do!

Simon

 

Edited August 30, 2017 by MrSimon

[Southernboy]

Your pub is an absolute delight Simon - especially with the ground floor detailing. The time and effort you've invested really makes all the difference

 

"I need to tone down the gold (I thought it was brass)... "

 

I think clean and shiny metals such as door handles and kick-plates can be difficult to get right in N gauge. Possibly mixing (for eg) brass with brown or tan would reduce the brightness too a realistic 'scale colour' (so it has fewer reflective particles in it) ??

 

Either way - thanks for the updates, I always enjoy them

[MrSimon]

Thanks Mark!

I've enjoyed making the pub so I'm glad its turned out how it has I'm giving it a rest for this week so I can come at it with fresh eyes.

So far this week has all been about board 2; mainly the hard standing but also cable ducting and point motors on the mainline. Last night I started laying the top layer of hardstanding:


Its supposed to represent concrete that has been laid in 6 meter squares blocks. Some of the edges need filing so there is less of a bump. I used Games Workshop paint, with has given quite a good texture to represent how concrete sometimes has the lines in the top. Today's job will be the sections up to the edge of the track and then cutting holes for drains and man hole covers etc.

Lots to do!

Simon

Edited August 30, 2017 by MrSimon