Buildings for 'Bacup'

[Jason T]

Give it a go, you'll find it far more satisfying than kit building. The tools I use (and find essential) are a decent quality set square so that you get the right-angles correct, a decent steel ruler, craft knife and spare blades (cardboard blunts them at an alarming rate) and, if you're going to go down the microstrip window route, then some decent tweezers. That's pretty much all I use, although I did buy an Olfa cutter at the Leamington show yesterday; not had a go with it yet though.

 

It's a good idea to do a mock-up with old card first (cornflakes packet, etc) just to make sure that it looks right and when you're happy with the dimensions, commit to the plastikard / mounting card / other material.

 

This is a mock-up I did for a low-relief warehouse for my old layout, knocked together with some old Metcalfe brick paper / card that I had knocking around. Cost pennies to make and proved worthwhile

 

 

I posted it up on here to get an idea from others as to whether I was on the right tracks and after a few very helpful comments, made a few amendments and then built the one below in Plastikard.

 

[Bolly1965]

Just had a thought - I may actually have a set of plans for the pub on my PC at work - will make life easier if I have.

[Jason T]

As mentioned in my thread in 'Layouts', I'm having a bit of a rethink with the positioning of the buildings on the street and as such, the cafe row will be relocated to the far side of the station and a new row with a pub on the corner and beginning to climb the hill will replace it. As such, I've started yet another row of houses, after I had told myself that I wasn't going to build any more of the bloody things for a while.

 

So, Thursday and most of Friday evening, I started to measure and cut out the exterior walls from mounting card, followed by the dividing walls. I then created the central spines for the houses (for rigidity, etc), made the formers for the chimney stacks and cut all the slots, etc., so that they will fit together. I usually leave all this until later on and dread doing it so whilst I was in card cutting mode, thought I would just get it out of the way. Later on on Friday, I managed to make a start on the pub frontage and this morning, have put in the windows and started the door.

 

Thursday evening - not a bad start

 

 

Friday evening - progress may seem minimal but all chimneys, etc., ready for stonework, centre spine cut to shape.

 

 

The pub will be very loosely based on the Farholme Tavern (thanks to Google Streetview for this; it's on Newchurch Road). As you can see, I got the central upstairs window a bit wrong. I have also bought what I hope is the same nasty green colour paint. not sure if it would have been painted as such in the late 50's / early 60's but I presume people used masonry paint back then as well, to an extent?

 

 

Friday evening

 

This morning

 

And apart from that (and the tiny bit at the back of the pub which is also clad with stone and has the windows in), that's where I am up to.

[Andy C]

I wouldnt worry too much about the dimensional accuracy on that window Jason, after all you are not modelling the prototype. The question is does it look right for the area its supposed to represent, and the answer is a very clear yes. ( I know thats rich for me to talk, someone who has scrapped projects because somethings a mil out!!)

 

I'm enjoying this thread immensely - its nice seeing an area i know quite well coming to life in model form. But to get it REALLY right you need to model one of the Friday night chucking out time fights outside the pub - Bacup and the Stacksteads area in particular are infamous for it, I suspect its something to do with the whole population being related to each other

[Jason T]

What I like most about the photo of the Farholme Tavern isn't the vile green and dirty cream coloured paint scheme, it isn't the old bloke standing guard in the doorway. Neither is it the ropey old Union Jack, wet and bedraggled, blowing in a cold wind; nor the dirty looking sign advertising 'Fine Traditional Ales' when I imagine that in reality it should read 'Badly cared for run-of-the-mill beer in dirty pint glasses'.

 

No, what I really like most, and just may have to model, is the terrified looking straggly cat on the rooftop. Fantastic.

 

The pub is just crying out to be modelled

[Mucky Duck]

Sandside, you've got a very interesting thread here, of an area I used to travel through regularly, many years ago. I'm envious of your productivity… you've done more in the last couple of days than I have in two years! Agree about the moggie on the pub roof and looking forward to seeing your version of it!

[bluebottle]

No, what I really like most, and just may have to model, is the terrified looking straggly cat on the rooftop. Fantastic.

The pub is just crying out to be modelled

Mock not The Cat! It haunts those topers of Bacup who make their intemperate way from hostelry to hostelry... http://www.flickr.co...dey/6246156125/

[Jason T]

Well I never. I was wondering how on Earth it had got up there. Shame it is a recent addition as I really want to put it up there now.

[Jason T]

I'm not sure if it because I have now done quite a few rows of houses, etc. and am now finding quicker ways to build them, or whether my hungover state on Sunday (following a party in a pub in London with a free bar on Saturday) meant that I just wanted to concentrate on something other than my head and stomach feeling like Satan himself had taken a crap in them, but I have moved on quite a bit with the latest row.

 

All external walls, including chimney stacks, have now been clad with stone and the lintels and sills added (inset as usual; takes longer but in my humble opinion is worth the effort as the lintels are then flush). The pub frontage and side have had a bit of detailing added to the lintels using Microstrip.

 

I usually scribe the stonework into the window recesses directly onto the mounting card, or add thin strips of the Plastikard so that it continues round. However, I'm not convinced that the plastikard strips improve the looks really as it's damned hard to line up the irregular patterns in the stonework (easy enough with brick though), the edge of the inserted part invariably shows up and I've not yet come up with a way of using the Olfa Cutter (Skrawker) effectively in such a small and restricted area - must try harder? With the scribing method, it's worked quite well on a couple of the others but for some reason (probably me not checking), this mounting card seems to be of a lower quality than the previous stuff I've used and as such, try to cut into an edge and it just goes mushy. So I've got to thinking that maybe I'm worrying too much about adding in detail that nobody will ever notice and in the process, taking a lot longer to produce the buildings so I made the tough decision to not bother and have instead just added a light wash of yellowy-brown stone colour to them which can be seen on some of the lintels and sills.

 

The backs of the houses

 

Looking down the front of the houses from the pub

 

The pub itself. Just looks like a big posh house at the moment (I grew up in a council house and have lived in flats and terraced houses ever since - most houses look big and posh in comparison).

 

Next job is to add the windows and doors. To say I started these on Thursday, progress indeed!

[Jason T]

Quick question I forgot to ask in the previous thread.

 

The pub side, e.g. that on the street with the houses; would it look better if the upstairs window nearest the corner was 'lost' beneath a pub sign or advertising hoarding as I'm beginning to think that there are maybe too many upstairs windows?

 

Thing is, would a pub sign be that big?

Would a pub have an advertising hoarding on it for anything other than the brewery / establishment itself?

Would a building on a corner with limited window space have more windows on the front and side to compensate?

Am I thinking about this too much?

Should I have modelled a TMD instead and therefore been able to use the mandatory Bachmann shed, Knightwing fuelling jobbie and knocked up a couple of 'backscene triangles' in half an hour?

 

 

Apologies to all fans of TMD's, I'm just being facetious

[Jason T]

Ok, so I tried to leave the window recesses as they were but it was annoying me as I've done something with the rest and this row will be at the very front. A bit of a compromise but I've started to score in to the edge of the Plastikard where it meets the recesses, following the lines of the mortar - still needs quite a bit of tidying up (some are a bit sharp and stick out) but it should blend in better when everything is painted at some future stage.

 

Big question now is, do I do the front of the houses to match? They face away from every conceivable viewing angle.

 

Of course I'm going to; who am I trying to kid?

 

Before

 

After

 

Oh, and I've added all the windows, including strips on the inside so that when the nets and curtains are fitted, they are not stuck directly to the glass.

 

p.s. Now that is a REAL close up and shows up every imperfection

[Jason T]

It's been a few days without me posting up some repetitive twaddle but for once, I thought I would actually make some progress before uploading images, rather than taking a snapshot of every single action; after all, how many times can I put up photos of doors being glued in before everyone loses interest? But, this morning I have got the Farholme Tavern row to the point where the walls are glued together and it actually resembles a building (albeit a roofless one) for the first time.

 

Before getting to that point though, I made a couple of changes to the embryotic structure. I'm afraid that at times (like quite a few of us, I suspect) I tend to rush into things without giving them the proper thought they deserve and on this occasion, as minor a thing as it may seem, it was the doors on the pub. I'd cut them out and affixed them into the apertures before giving thought as to whether an exterior pub door would be glazed. Now I don't want to say "Of course it wouldn't" as I am sure there are examples out there that are, especially in recent times with toughened glass being available but back in the 50's and 60's?

So, I amended the doors from glazed to panelled. Next came the door colour; originally cream but this looked rather anaemic, so then cream with maroon panels which looked completely wrong so I ended up painting them maroon all over (although the door frames - like the window frames - are cream). I was going to paint the stonework around the doors and windows in that vile green colour that the pub is unlucky enough to be daubed in today but looking at various images on Google (a modeller's best friend?), if they are painted at all then it seems to be in black.

 

In other news, after a lot of head scratching and messing around with old bits of plastikard, I finally sussed out what the Olfa Cutter was for. Unfortunately, this was after I had done most of the stonework so only a few of the chimney stacks have been fashioned / cut with it but I'm impressed and will be using it a lot more in the future.

Additionally, after reading one of Gravy Train's fascinating building threads, I had a look at the painted roofs of some of the earlier houses and sure enough, they were suffering from the dreaded 'planking' so after a bit of swearing, I started to mark in the slate edges again and it seems to have done the trick. With the next row that required painting, it is over 600mm long and whilst considering dry brushing to avoid 'Planking Syndrome', I thought I would experiment instead with numerous coats of thinned acrylic and this seems to have done the trick, although there is a slight colour consistency issue - a problem that can easily be rectified.

 

I'll stop blabbing on now and put up some photos. I'm sure I'll think of more crap to type up later so if you are 'watching' this thread, I apologise in advance.

 

The Farholme Tavern; doors awaiting a second (and possibly third) coat of paint. I think it looks quite elegant in this shot but once through the door, don't stare anyone in the eye and whatever you do, don't knock anyone's pint over

 

Looking up the street

 

A rather blurry shot of the backs of the houses. Maybe one too many pints in the Farholme Tavern?

[clecklewyke]

Did you say what kind of stone sheet you used - it looks like the Slaters sheets I used for some of Clecklewyke's buildings and its different surface levels help the painting process when using dry-brushing techniques but I cannot find it in their catalogue.

 

I think I could use acres of the stuff!

 

Ian

[Jason T]

Yep, it is: 0435 Plastikard: Dressed Stone Grey (Suitable for 2mm scale). Can you tell I copied and pasted that from the order email?

I know it's the 2mm stuff but after looking at many a photo, it seemed to be the best match for the houses and the 4mm stuff just way over scale (although I do have a supply of the 4mm for the retaining walls).

 

(https://slatersplastikard.com/plastikard/embossed.php - number 0435 on there)

 

Not sure how many sheets I have been through yet but it's over ten and I have a few more in my 'Plastikard box' for future builds. I'm after some SE Finecast 7mm plain bond brick as well, as I believe that it is a good representation for stone courses in 4mm.

[clecklewyke]

Thank you. I'll be in touch with Slaters tomorrow.

 

Ian

[Jason T]

Just been messing around, putting the various buildings in their intended locations and thought I'd get a few (poorly taken) photos.

 

This one, showing the Farholme Tavern row (now with basic roof formers fitted), probably looks like a lot of earlier shots when the cafe was sited here. The difference is that the Farholme row starts to climb the hill whereas the cafe row were on the level. The row of four with the bays will now be opposite the boozer; they didn't really fit in with the other houses on this street.

 

Cafe Row will now be on the other side of the station, overlooking it and the disused carriage sidings. In real Bacup, these would be on River Street (although it was the ends of terraces on the real street)

 

Looking down the hill. The finished road will be slightly wider than this

 

Note to self: Stop building houses and get the baseboards sorted and start to lay the track. All the buildings constructed specifically for the layout to date (and a few Skaledales who pushed their way into the photo)

[Worsdell forever]

I've used the Slaters '2mm scale' dressed stone for the stone buildings for Felton Lane and '4mm scale' for the water mill on Greyscroft Mine (see links in my signature). Scale in this situation doesn't really mean much here, it's the size of the stone that matters.

[Jason T]

My thoughts exactly; I've been trying to follow the sage advice of 'model what you see, not what you think it should look like' and although it did seem wrong to be ordering what is labelled as stone for 2mm, it's just a much better match. Shame there isn't 3mm dressed stone (those poor 3mm modellers) as that would be spot on, I imagine.

 

4mm looks right for the mill and when I get round to modelling a few industrial buildings, I'll most likely dig out the 4mm stuff. The one set of houses that I should have used 4mm for is the ones by the station (somewhere way back up the thread) but I didn't look close enough at the photo first and as they will be all but hidden, I'm not about to start again.

[Jason T]

Just a quick update shot from this morning; something I've been putting off for a while as I knew it would be a fiddly job to get the letters lined up but using 5mm Slaters letters, the cafe now has a sign. I *think* I lined them up okay but as the spacing was a bit out (e.g. a bit too far to the left), I added the house number as well in 3mm letters.

 

In it's new location, this will be against the wall pretty much and to see it will require a series of mirrors or having a neck like a swan. Still, if I ever start again with another project, all the buildings have been built with detail on all sides so they are future proof.

 

[Removed a/c]

As they say if it's worth doing it's worth doing right. You certainly have done that! I enjoy reading the updates to Bacup, your work is amazing. Keep up the great work and continue to post us updates.

 

Regards

Scott

[Captain Kernow]

Only just caught up with this thread, and it's massively impressive what you've been doing here. I take my hat off to you for your sheer patience and courage in tackling such repetitive tasks and doing it so well. Really looking forward to seeing this layout and townscape develop!

[Jason T]

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement folks, it really means a lot. Many of you who have commented on this thread so far are modellers whose work I am in awe of and have been for a number of years and the fact that you have taken time to look and comment on my efforts in very encouraging.

 

A few years ago, I was a real 'out of the box' type of modeller but it struck me that if others can create their own buildings, build their own track, construct locos from kits, then there is no reason that I can't do it myself ; after all, measuring and cutting Plastikard or wielding a soldering iron isn't a super power that is only bestowed on certain individuals but never give it a go and that doubt in ones mind will always be there.

 

What is really great about this forum is that you get feedback, help and constructive criticism, as well as picking up tips that encourage you to take that next step; something that magazines can never really offer.

[Jason T]

Time for a post in this thread rather than the Layout one, as the subject is more of a question and I reckon it stands more of a chance of being answered here......

 

Retaining walls. I've got quite a lot to do and have been pondering the best way to do them for a while now. Basically, I don't want to use any off-the-shelf items as they just wouldn't be right for the location (and I want individuality) so it means making my own. Having read other people's posts on the subject, looked at photos, etc., then I realise that the wall needs to slope inwards towards the top to offer structural strength and integrity, and have chosen to place more upright 'columns' every 90mm.

 

So, after a bit of head-scratching as to the best way to slope the wall in (starting with mounting board - not a great success), I returned to an old favourite, Plastikard. Basically, there is a back sheet of .060 that is 93mm tall (the height of the lower baseboard to the top of the wall that will run alongside the railway), of which the top 20mm is the dividing wall that sits on top of the retaining wall, if you will. So, it slopes in from 0 to 72mm tall, there is then a course of stones that project slightly and then (and herein lies the main question), the vertical dividing wall above this.

 

To get the slope consistent, there is a 72mm tall sheet of .020, with a 35mm sheet of .060 at the base, with 5mm deep strips of various thicknesses from bottom to top (starting with .060 at the bottom down to nothing at the top). These were filed in vertical movements to give a consistent slope and then the embossed stone affixed. The separators (columns? I really should learn the technical terms for all these things some day) are built to be level with the base and using the Olfa Cutter, have the stone wrapped around them so there are no edges.

 

A big problem is that the height from the scenic formers to the trackbed is not consistent, meaning that whilst the 93mm is the correct height for the walls at ground level (e.g. bare lower basement), they are closer to 60mm at the top of the scenic formers. So, to ensure that the angle of the wall is consistent, to an extent I will need to make all the sections to the same 93mm dimensions and then trim them to suit before joining them together - an absolute nightmare. As such, and as there is a lot to do, I am thinking that rather than buy, cut and glue a absolute ton of Plastikard, I would use the section I have made already as a mould and look into getting them made in sections in a material that whilst rigid enough, is also easily cut and manipulated.

 

Which leads me on to my questions. First one is easy and just requires your feedback (please). The dividing wall; large stone courses or small? See below photos.

 

Second question is, I've never moulded anything in my life and may yet get them made professionally, but what material would people suggest, given the above requirements for rigidity, longevity and ease of cutting?

 

Thirdly, am I on the right tracks here? Do they look right, even though they are quite obviously in their raw plastic colours?

 

Dividing wall with large stone:

 

And with small stone:

 

Thanks in anticipation for your advice,

 

Jason

[clecklewyke]

I think I have written about this before but have you tried Easiprint? This is plastic foam sheet without any card facing so can be easily textured. Here is an example of it on Mill Gill

 

 

You will find more information in the later posts on my Bradford North Western thread Here

Ian

[Jason T]

Ok, as mentioned elsewhere, here is my step-by-step guide on how I make the buildings on my layout. People who are actually good and know what they are doing should look away now as some of my methods (and results) aren't the best, but they come out ok.

 

Obviously this may take a couple of weeks to complete, especially as I have only started the building I am making (and photograping) today and things like painting, etc., take time, but it'll all be in here, in order and hopefully be of some use. any questions, comments, piss-taking, etc., is more than welcome

 

And so we start:

 

 

 

I should start by saying that I already had the dimensions written down for the example here, but they were basically taken by using a Skaledale terraced house and then looking at photos of the real thing(s) and expanding them accordingly (the Skaledale is somewhat diminutive in almost every aspect)

 

Materials, etc.

 

Before I get started, here is a list (and photo) of the tools that I use:

 

1. A3 cutting mat

2. Steel edge rulers

3. Olfa cutter

4. Scribe

5. Decent files

6. Decent craft knives and a supply of new blades (and one blunt one)

7. Retractable pencil

8. Decent set square

 

 

And here are the glues:

 

1. PVA

2. UHU

3. Vitalbond CA Superglue (10 second cure, clear)

4. Mek-Pak or similar, and an old paintbrush to apply it

 

 

The materials I use are:

 

1. Mounting Board, available from stationers and art shops, usually around 4 quid for an A1 sheet but I buy in bulk (25 quid for 10 A1 sheets)

2. Embossed Plastikard of choice (I use both Slaters and SE Finecast)

3. 10 thou and 20 thou plain Plastikard (you won’t need much of this, just off-cuts)

4. 20 thou clear Plastikard

5. Microstrip (the multi-pack will suffice unless you are building a town like I seem to be)

6. Half-round and full round Evergreen rods (for gutters and downpipes)

 

 

Getting started

 

Obviously the first thing we need to know is the structure we want to build and it’s dimensions; not only it’s footprint but also:

 

1. How tall will it be

2. What size are the windows and doors

3. What are the distances (both horizontally & vertically) between them in relation to the ground, the roof, the edge of the building, etc.

4. Where would fireplaces and as a result chimneys be located (I messed up here early on and started to build a row of houses with the chimneys on the wall next to the front doors – the fireplace would have had to be in the hall....)

5. Where would the staircase go up and end up on the upper floor

6. Where should windows and doors be placed in relation to each other (e.g. should the back door be in line with the front, diagonally opposite, etc)

7. Is the building going to be sat on the baseboard or sunk into the scenery – if the latter (and quite a few of mine are) then you need to take into account the foundations when calculating and drawing/cutting out the walls

 

Once I have all this, it is best to write the measurements down so that we can refer back to them. I use Excel, handy if you need to adjust them for any reason (or repetition), by adding simple formulas, etc.

 

We are now ready to mark out our building and begin cutting. Many people make a mock-up first, to test the structure looks ok, etc., but I have made so many of the damned things now that I just cut to the chase.

 

I start by taking the longest dimension I have (usually the height from ground to chimney) and then cutting a full width or length section from the mounting board. Experience has shown that this is less wasteful and although there are inevitable off-cuts, I do tend to use these all up.

 

Once I have this, I start by ensuring that I have a square edge to measure from and then measure the basic dimensions of the walls of the structure onto the mounting board. This is done using the steel rule and measuring from what I know to be a square edge.

 

Once I have my points marked, I then lightly scribe the outline onto the mounting board with my craft knife; not enough pressure to actually cut but just to leave a mark (obviously you could use a sharp pencil too). I remove any excess (e.g. cut it away) and I am then left with the shapes of my structure. As can be seen from the below photo, where measurements are shared between sides/walls, I keep them together whilst measuring up for windows, etc., to save time.

 

If the structure is to be set into the ground, I start by marking on where the ground level will be (e.g. 5mm from the base of the mounting board).

 

Using the measurements taken and noted earlier, I then measure up where the windows and doors will be using the steel rule. After checking and then double checking I then, using the steel rule, lightly score the surface until I can see the outline of the features rule and tend to write on with the pencil what each feature will be (e.g. W for window, D, for door, etc).

 

Once happy with their position, I then pop in a new blade and carefully cut along the score lines until I have my openings.

 

 

For the end walls (and any internal ones), I measure the full width, height to roofline (e.g. where the gutters are), height to ridge and height to the top of any chimney stacks. I tend to make the ground-to-roofline measurement a couple of mm higher than the building sides, to allow for the thickness of the walls and the fall of the roof, otherwise when you come to fit the latter, you may find that it doesn’t quite fit because of the step-out of the walls. It could just be the order that I glue the walls together that cause me problems though

 

Once these are marked, I mark a faint line between the roofline points (A on the photo) and then measure the half-way point. Once I have this, using the set square, I mark on a faint vertical line and where the two intersect, this is the point of the ridgeline ( B ).

If there is a chimney stack, I use this vertical line as the centre and measure an equal distance either side, and then use the set square to draw on the edges of the stack ( C ).

 

With all these completed, I then align the ruler between A and B and then cut, remembering to stop at the vertical line of the chimney stack rather than cutting all the way to point B.

 

 

I then end up with the basic outside walls of the structure, along with apertures for the windows and doors: