paulprice

Is the Workbench of Doom, doomed??

Is the Workbench of Doom, Doomed?

Thanks for the information, I still have a lot of detail to add before the model is complete, I don't think it will be a quick process

Mikkel Thanks for the complements, I think as its nearly the weekend it may be time for me to do some actual research so I may venture into an actual Pub, purely for reasons of research you understand

Ian thanks for the information, I think I may do some investigating. Paul

Well all the front windows on the Pub have finally ben glazed, all I need to now is work on the interior?

I'm not sure how this has happened but recently I seem to be finding just enough modelling time to actually make noticeable progress on may latest projects. So much so that the corner Pub I have been building for Lugsdale road now has its front sides fully glazed. I have even managed to apply a little colour to the roof and a little detail on the chimney stacks. As I said in a previous post, I sometimes like to make the roofs of some buildings as a sub assembly to make the construction process easier, and it definitely helped in this case, as you can see there is still a bit of work to complete on the roof, but the applying of "slate" strips ,seems to have added the texture I was looking for (I think maybe I should have based the layout in the countryside, as I quite like the idea of trees over slate roofs ) There is still a lot of work to do on the façade of the pub, as well as the interior, but with the roof plonked on its at least beginning to look like a pub, well to me at least. I have modelled one of the doors open, which means even more of the interior can be viewed (I don't make it any easier for myself) I need to splash a little paint on these once the glue has dried. The problem is with all those windows of that you can see a lot of the interior, even in N gauge, I may just take the easy way out and paint the rear of the windows black?? Still being a glutton for punishment, I have done a little work on segregating the lower floor into rooms, is that what they are called or are they bars? That's where the problem starts, you see being such a good boy, in fact being positively angelic I have never set foot in a pub, so I have no idea what they look like. I believe they even sell this special pop called Beer, I asked the Domestic Overlord about it and I was told that its only for naughty boys and that as I was a good boy I should not think about it. So the problem is what do I do next? How can I progress with this project? If only naughty boys are allowed in Pubs and have Beer, does this mean I will have to be..........NAUGHTY I need to give this some serious thought, I mean how hard is it to b naughty, and how naughty would I have to be to get into a Pub?? Until next time, as ever Happy Modelling

Stunning you will have to make some for my new N gauge layout, so on you know you want too

Well the Domestic Overlord very kindly granted me some modelling time, so I applied a little paint to the Pub to try and get it looking a little more realistic, and I even managed to make a fir some windows........at this rate of progress I may have the street finished in a mere couple of years

Mikkel I tend to use a simple acrylic varnish to seal the surfaces, it gives a good finish for paint to adhere to without the card soaking up too much paint. Hope this helps

Well despite the lack of presents at Christmas from Santa, I must have been a good boy as the Domestic Overlord let me have a little time off from my chores to do some modelling So I got my paints out and decided to apply the final finish to the façade on the corner pub for the new layout, the aim was to portray a stucco finish on the upper floors suitably grimy and well worn appearance. The building was painted using my trusty acrylics, as the base for the buildings is card, I find if you seal the surface first you can build up a good finish by applying a number of thin coats, I think it still looks a little clean though. While the paint was drying, I thought I better make a start on the glazing for the building, I have a couple of differing methods fir doing this, one involves scribing the frames on clear plastic then flooding the area with the appropriate colour paint, but I chose the second less messy option. Similar to the paint technique, I draw out on graph paper the required windows and glazing bars, then a suitable sized piece of clear plastic is taped over this graph paper with the aid of masking tape. Then using a vinyl label I cut strips of various widths to form the frame and glazing bars, then I apply these to the plastic following the plan on the graph paper, to try and save my sanity I tend to work in batches, of either enough windows to complete a floor level or entire building side. Once the widows are complete, all you have to do then is remove the masking tape and cut them down to a suitable size to fit the building. Even though this process can be a little fiddly, it can be quite relaxing, and allows you to produce bespoke widows relatively easy and you can produce something that nobody else has, of you can just give up in frustration and buy ready made ones, but being prudent (some may say tight) I like my method. Now all I need to do is produce another 6 windows for the other side of the building, and then the two doors for the Pub, the roof is almost finished and painted, apart from the chimneys need a little more work. There is only one problem though, with the size of the Pub bar windows, some form of interior will have to be modelled, and to do that accurately I will have to complete some research in a Pub. Being such a positively angelic boy I have no idea what the interior of a pub, would look like, as I have never set foot in one let alone drank any of the thing they call Beer, which apparently they sell, oh what is a chap to do? I guess I will have to just man up and plan an expedition to one of these Pub places, I am if nothing else a martyr to my Hobby Until next time as ever Happy Modelling

Job, its looking good as ever, keep the updates coming

Well despite some people claiming that its been Christmas (my lack of presents suggests otherwise) I have managed to get a little modelling time in between the domestic chores (oh the life of a domestics slave ). Anyway the modelling has been concentrated on the buildings that form street along the front of the layout and trying to get a little bit of interest by working on the roofs and adding my representation of slates, in N gauge. I decided to make a start on one of the more unusual roofs (simple hipped roofs are better the one on the top of the corner pub, so I started by making th roof up as a sub assembly. This way you can make adjustments more easily, without the actual building getting in the way, once its completed and I am happy with it, I think cover it in graph paper so that I have a reference point for adding strips of slates. Then the fun of cutting and applying endless strips of slates begins, which believe it or not I actually enjoy, sometime later after drinking various amounts of booze and the occasional outburst of industrial language I had the below. All I need to do know is add some paint and then get on with all the windows that are needed for the buildings so I better get a move on, I will have loads of modelling time once I have finished the, Ironing, Washing, Hoovering, Dusting, Shopping, Cooking, Washing up, Making the tea, Remaking the tea because it was not good enough....................Oh the joys of life

Not problem, I'm glad you find it useful

Well I have had a couple of days off , because the people at work claimed it was Christmas, but I had my doubts as if it was Christmas that would mean the Fat Man in the Red Suit would bring me some presents. So I laid in wait to see if this Christmas rumour was true, and hoped if it was I would actually get a present this year, or I would spend another year as the "little boy that Santa Claus forgot". Whilst I was waiting to see if I got even the smallest of presents, or if I would be left heart broken for another year I got some modelling in. As previous posts have shown I have ben working on the buildings that will form the street scene that runs along the front of the layout, and my last post saw me considering the production of windows for the buildings. Even though I set out with every intention of doing this, I was scuppered by forgetting where I had put my clear plasti-card. Not being bothered to actually look for the plasti-card I decided to work another task, the roofs for the buildings, so I started with the most difficult roof first, the one for the corner pub. I'm not sure if I'm the only one to do this, but depending upon the building I like to make the roofs as sub structures. As the roof will actually sit inside the buildings outer walls, I first cut the relevant former. To aid with the process I marked out the relevant lines for the various roof panels, then cut formers that would be set at the correct height for the final roof, glued these in place along the centre of the roof. Once this was done, I then cut out the various geometric shapes from card to form the roof, (my old maths Teacher would be proud) and pretty soon, had the basic structure, ready to have some slates adding. This is where the hard part of the process came into play, deciding how to go about this. I like roofs to have some texture as I think it adds a little interest to models, especially as we view them mostly from above. I have seen some pretty good models where the builder has used commercial brick cards but have added a little relief by scoring the tile/slate lines on the roof panels, but never wanting to take the easier option or try anything new, I went back to one of my old, painstaking methods, guaranteed to make you go crazy. Step one is to cover the surface of the roof with graph paper so you can have a reference points for the next stage, of applying slate strips. Then I cut strips of graph paper the correct length for the roof but two squares wide, then the fun bit begins, working lengthways I then cut slits "one square" deep, once each strip is completed, it is then glued to the roof following the guide lines on the graph paper I had applied earlier. Its not a quick process, but as I was lying in wait for the infamous Santa, I thought it would fill in some time, so I plodded on with the task. If you use this approach it does not matter if a couple of the strips are not applied perfectly straight, as is you look at pictures of old buildings you will see that some slate courses have slipped. I know maybe I should have applied a few more courses, but as I work in N gauge, sometimes I think a few corners need to be cut, and its the impression that counts. I even got to work on the roof, for one of the other layout buildings, all I need to do now is sort out the chimney stacks, and apply some paint to the roofs, with the nice new pants Santa brought me for Christmas as I have been a very good boy THAT IS I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO APPLY SOME PAINT, IF THE FAT FELLA IN THE RED SUIT HAD ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO LEAVE ME ANY. BE WARNED SANTA YOU HAVE MADE AN NEMY HERE, IF I EVER MEET YOU I WILL KICK YOU IN YOUR JINGLE BELLS.. Until next time as ever happy modelling

Mikkel Good idea plus it give me the opportunity to buy some new things, sorry I mean test some new ideas

It might just be my glacial pace, but the construction of the buildings on Lugsdale road is taking slightly longer than I planned, but they have got to the stage of getting their first coat of colour. I'm looking to create a typical urban look of an average town in the Northwest, so a bit like me the shabby look is the one I'm aiming for, so the first building to get some attention was the corner pub. The first couple of coats have been applied to the pub, and I think it looks like a building that is need of a nice new clean coat of paint, but as long as it serves a decent pint the local are happy. Next to the pub is a row of shops, with various shades if stucco applied in an equally run down state, maybe the shop owners are waiting for the ones next door to splash out on some paint before they do? I have tested trying to build a shop interior for one of these and I'm still undecided if its worth the effort or if I should use some of the printed products you can get for this. The row of 4 shops next to the pub will have an alley way separating it from the final shop that will be attached to the start of typical 2 up 2 downs, which I thought might add a little interest due to the height differences and the roof profiles. So once this building is complete on that side of the road it will be terraces for as long as my sanity will allow, on the opposite side of the road will be similar shops and a "posh" Doctors house, but the viewer will just see the backs of these, but there is a front to them. What I need to do now is to start constructing the widows for the buildings, I'm refusing to count how many I need, because I don't think I can count that high and then I need to start the roof tiles. So basically that's it, what I really need to do is some serious modelling, but that would mean I would have to be sensible, I think and having tried it once I find it a vastly overrated experience.

Brilliant thanks for the info, one more question (I sound like Columbo) but what is the min radius these chassis will negotiate?

I have even managed to get the first coat of paint added to the corner pub, my aim is to portray a typically grubby stucco face frontage, I am still working out what colour to paint the pub frontage. I still need to work on a few areas, but I think its looking a bit grubby. The big question is what name should adorn pub, but I think I will have lots of time to decide this

Well I did a little work at knocking together a shop interior, I think I may have to rethink this...... Thankfully I have not permanently attached these to the model, still it give me space for improvement, I suppose a good start would be to decide what the shop sells....I need help, perhaps I should call on the Domestic Overlord for assistance?

Well the front of some of the buildings have been given a coat of acrylic varnish to help seal the card and provide a base for the paint. You know what this means, if I'm nearly at the painting stage, the Domestic Overlord will kill me, due to the inevitable mess, I can walk past B&Q and get covered in paint

BARRRRRRRR HHHUUUUMMMMMMMBBBBBBBUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Thanks for the tip, I might have a look.

The frequency of the posts will slow I think, apparently its nearly Christmas, and there are other things I should be doing? As for the D.O, the Photographer has already taken the 8x10 photos and autograph sessions have been scheduled.....

Jim I tend to use 16th of an inch thick card for the bulky work, and then use laminations of postcard or cereal box card for some of the other detailed bits, and even a little plasti-card Hope this helps?