Buildings
The buildings were constructed from a variety of materials, determined by the type of surface required. As already described above, I believe that to help trick the viewer’s ‘eye’ certain aspects have to be over-emphasised. For this reason, I used embossed brick plastic sheet for brick structures, even though in reality mortar is flush with the brick surface. For the same reason, stonework is scribed with larger gaps than would occur in real life. To give a realistic surface texture, plaster is used for stonework, timber stripwood (where possible) for timberwork and a mixture of plastic and metal sheet or wire for metalwork.
Photo by Terry Onslow: Outside the Post Office there is a hive of activity as the days business gets underway. Note the careful grouping of figures by ASS, branchline and Omen. Beyond the Telephone kiosk can be seen the railway waiting room based on the one at Pontfadog on the GVT. This is prototypically positioned across the road away from the station itself. The spear fencing and gates are Scalelink etchings.
Brick and timber buildings were constructed using ‘normal’ techniques, where a shell is built up and covered in embossed brick sheet or timber strip. Care was required with brick structures to ensure that corners and openings for doors and windows lined up with the vertical joints; otherwise the brick effect is spoilt. Once in place, the corners were smoothed and slightly rounded. The mortar lines around the corners were hand scribed.
Door and window frames were added from wood strip or plastic sheet and other details such as chimneys and gutters taken from the ScaleLink or S&D ranges. Roof bases were constructed from plywood and covered in either thin separate card slates or Slater’s embossed tile strip. This latter was used to save time during the run up to the first exhibition and was intended as a stop-gap measure. Needless to say, the roofs covered in tile strip were never replaced.
I found the easiest way to paint embossed brick was to paint on a mortar colour first and then apply a variety of ‘brick’ colours to the individual bricks, using an ’00’ paint brush. This is not as bad as it sounds and is quite a rapid process. Further colouring and weathering was applied using dry brush techniques. This left the mortar colour in the joints (where it should be) and gives a fine control over the final effect.
The coal office, although a brick building, was modelled with cement rendering. This was represented by covering plain plastic sheet with fine sand (sifted silver sand).
Stone buildings required a little more effort and I found it was useful to produce an outline drawing to scale first. The drawing was used to form four moulds, one for each wall. The moulds were built up from plastic sheet and included the door and window openings. Plastic was chosen for its durabilty and stability. Each end of the mould was angled at 45 degrees to form a mitred joint at the corners of the building when assembled. Walls were cast a scale two feet thick to give both strength and realism. After the moulds were made a thick mix of household plaster was pressed well in, ensuring that all the corners were filled and air gaps kept to a minimum. A full mould was left for at least three days to completely dry out before dismantling.
Photo by Terry Onslow: The garage workshop is fully fitted with workbench and tools. The mechanics are from the ABS range. One is lying under the local doctor’s car, while the doctor (ABS) is kneeling beside him. He (the doctor) is not very impressed since the necessary spanner to fix his car cannot be found, despite the frantic efforts of the two searching in the workshop. In an attempt to pacify the doctor (a valued customer) the garage owner is making a fresh pot of tea in the office. The petrol pumps, junk and bits of vehicle lying around are from the Ascott range.
I have cast complete (hollow) buildings in 4mm scale, but I didn’t think that it would be very easy to do this in 7mm scale. As it transpired, I think that it was easier and safer to handle the walls separately. After cleaning up the wall, it was attacked with the scriber and wire brush as previously described.
When the desired surface texture was achieved, the walls were assembled onto a plywood base. Since the buildings are somewhat heavy and not particularly impact resistant, they were made removable for transport purposes. The plywood bases were sunk into the scenery and this removed the otherwise obvious joint line.
Details were added in a similar fashion to the brick buildings, but painting was slightly different. Since plaster is porous, the colour was built up with water colour paints. These were used to tint the base colour of the pre-coloured plaster. The colours were applied slowly, tinting the plaster gradually until the desired effect was achieved. To save more time some of the stone buildings were whitewashed (as often happened in reality).
The story continues on the Interiors page.
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