grahame

Ooops, noticed I'd missed a bit off, which I've now corrected. But there's still other details to do. And it won't be done tomorrow as I'm off to TINGS.

Managed to do a bit of cutting and painting in front of the Italy Namibia game. In this heat everything dries so quickly. Also matt varnished, windows fitted and Redutex tiles added. Still need to make and add some basic details like the ridge tile strips and the balcony fence.

There's still plenty to do such as the balcony fence, painting, adding down pipes, an AC unit, pipes, installing the windows, tiling the roof with Redutex and so on. However I'm not planning on a super detailed model - it's near the back of the layout and not prominent, plus the surrounding structures aren't finely detailed. The aim is to fill a gap with something fairly generic and impressionistic.

But now the rest of the day features live world cup rugby and international football. I'll make a pot of tea and settle down.

This morning I've started to detail the two front facing wall panels. Here they are currently just resting in place - they won't be glued until completed. The windows for the top floor can also be seen ready for installation after painting:

I've cut three wall panels from brick embossed styrene sheet. Just the side one is glued in place - the other two will need window apertures cut, details added, painted and windows fitted before being fixed in place.

Then I gave it a dusting of grey primer (without the two front brick panels) and again tested it in place:

That'll be it for today - I need to get some lunch, have a shower and get ready for the regular Friday afternoon session in the local.

Next I added the roof tent frame from mountboard:

Then I added the roof panels from thinner card ready to have Redutex self adhesive tiling applied. And knocked up the lean-to part of the building from mountboard with a plasticard sloping roof (to make it easy to apply any detailing panels with solvent adhesive). I then check that the structure will fit it's intended location on the layout and found it to be a good fit. The space for it has effectively been formed by extending the low relief cathedral back to the side backscene board (see earlier in this thread).

The front wall will be cut from brick embossed plasticard and detailed with styrene strip, etc.

First I marked up, and cut a kit of parts from mountboard to form the carcase:

Then they were glued together with superglue to form the carcase, ensuring it was as square as possible:

Here's a pic of Montague Chambers (by Jim Osley and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons). It's a delightful little building tucked away and hemmed in. The white building on the right is Bank Chambers (Barrowboy and Banker) and on the left is part of Southwark Cathedral. The railings go around the cathedral kitchen garden (yet to be modelled) in front of the lady chapel and below Borough High Street.

The next building project for the layout is Montague Chambers. It's a small, but interesting building, crammed in next to Southwark cathedral and partially behind Bank Chambers (now the Barrowboy and Banker pub but previously the first ever Nat West Bank). It should be viewable on the layout and will help fill a gap.

I measured the floor plan area to fit the layout and sketched the front elevation to size. Next I'll draw it up accurately on card ready to cut. 

I made some N/2mm  Warwells and Warflats from NGS kits a while back. They were fairly straightforward and I'm pleased with the results:

3 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

I think you need a 2nd layout based on Exeter St Davids to Exeter Queen Street. 😆😆

 

Or the Bricklayers Arms goods depot.

"I'm still waiting for my Accuratail model of that loco cat."

There! I've corrected it for you.

;-)

Here's a composite aerial view of the station before rebuilding and roughly of the area of the layout and fairly close to the period - there are a few new buildings as part of the 'more London' developments in the photo that are not in my model but it gives a good idea of the locality including many of  the buildings since demolished.

25 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

 No 'flat earth' here...........

 

Of course the earth is flat. If you sail to the edge you'll fall off. 

Doncha?

I've finally got the windows fitted. I can now put this project to one side (for later final detailing and weathering) and concentrate on the layout.

So sad to hear this. George was an inspiration, a great guy, and always with a friendly word.

I've now got some paint on the block. And painting those thin lines by hand wasn't easy nor are the result particularly neat but it'll have to do. The windows are yet to be fitted and is likely to be another tricky and fiddly job.

On 24/08/2023 at 14:57, mullie said:

When I first became a head of music in Essex during 1999 we appointed an excellent second in dept who had come up from Cardiff to take the job. He had been to London a few times, I asked him what he thought about it, his response "it will be good when it is finished."

 

I don't think it's a matter of being planned to be finished. It's more a case of persistent evolving, upgrading and change for development and improvement as buildings fall in to disrepair and out of use. I doubt it'll ever be the case that London is ever finished.

On 23/08/2023 at 13:34, The Lurker said:

Colechurch House currently has a bar on the top floor which can be very nice in the sun...but you have to pre-book. It doesn't look very promising (rather like the whole building).

 

I used to work in the Cottons Centre which I can see is set too far back to be in your Tooley Street scene. But was the "sky bridge" over Tooley Street in period? It's gone now but not sure when it was built and the aerial shot you posted was not clear enough for me to spot it. Now they've moved us to the News Building

 

The buildings you have built really capture the scene, even now after all the development in the area, this thread feels a little like looking out of the window

Thanks.

I did see the Google view of the Colechurch House roof bar. It doesn't look like the sort of place I'd go but it probably would be interesting for the views and experience.

I've mulled for long over the foot bridge across Tooley Street - it would have been in period (at least for some of it) but I've cheated a little with the buildings. I've missed one out (due to lack of space) and the other I've made is Dominion House which has been demolished but was better looking (architecturally) than the replacement. Consequently I've deemed Cottons Centre as too modern (and too large) to include.

On this site you can see a pic of Dominion House in 1980 (it's copyright protected) but it was soon demolished: https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/view-item?i=54218&WINID=1693207284495 Notice the roof top advertising hoardings to be seen from the trains on the viaduct. I've yet to make them. Here's my model version of Dominion House:

I remember using the bridge with the escalators down on the north side. You used to be able to then go through the Cottons Centre ground floor, with its art gallery, to the river but they blocked that route off and forced you to Hays Galleria. You also used to be able to go down and take a subterranean passage which eventually came up in the No.1 LB (PW?) reception area much to the annoyance of the security people. They also quickly prevented that route.

Finally, I've got all the brick panels on. It's now the homeward straight - painting, windows/doors and any extra details.

As a break from the tedium of panel bashing, I decided to make the roof top building (that accommodates the lift winding room, water tanks and so on) this morning. I was surprised how tall and large it was from the plans I have (12ft tall and 32ft long). I knocked my version up from plasticard sheet, gave it a dusting of grey primer and glued it to the roof: