A group build....

Dave, clearly it was an observation.

When it was first produced, buy British reigned supreme in the commonwealth. Model railways were in their infancy. It was (acceptable?) practice that Triang would rebadge items for NZ/AUS etc and they would sell as local trains. Very collectable items now but not up to todays expectations. No doubt back then it may have been used for some forced perspective modelling. Since it is nominally 1:76, it is ideal for out the front in a 1:87 environment to achieve this.

As the subject of this thread, the kit has no doubt graced many a model rail around the world over the years. Like this thread this model has no doubt been altered to the different extents show in this thread.

This is not like physics, there is no right or wrong way, there are just different degrees of how to finish it. It's a plastic kit, glue it together and it is perfectly acceptable to some people, to others it needs interiors, others want to paint/weather it, others want to kit bash it. There are various degrees that people want/are able to do with it.

As long has people received enjoyment out of participating then that is fine. Personally I don't have a problem if someone was to start building one now and put their pictures up of the build if that is your thing.

Cheers

John

Jaz the biggest critic of your work is the camera. It is also the most useful tool. What the eye sees in the flesh compensates but put it in a photo and you go how did I miss that!!!!

Anyway another trick is to give the walls an undercoat first. Now by being a bit clever here you can vary the colour of the under coat and when the top coat goes on it can be lighter or darker in patches depending on the colour of the under coat that is under the top coat (I hope this makes sense) so if you have a white undercoat the top cot will be a lighter shade than if it is a dark grey undercoat.

I have found that the more espensive the kit the better the quality it is, at least that is the way with german kits

I think it is better to spray/paint all the bits before putting it together then touching up the seems afterwards. Plus when you think about it if its prepainted and you use filler to fil the seems then paint them its going to look like its repaired. Tamya plastic putty is good for this.

As for the aerial, its an interesting thing. In some shots it looks really good, but in others not so good, and its only in the head on shots that it looks out of scale, so maybe its a placement type thing. However that being said, it you put more of them on the rest of the buildings remember to point them all in the same general direction!!!!!

Now if you want to greate a rough cast effect apply a coat of paint, while it is still wet cover it in ground white pepper, leave it a a little while to stick then gently tap to knock the excess of. The building will reek of white pepper so now is a good time to leave it outside to dry. Once dry a top coat can be applied which seals the pepper and the building no longer reeks of it.

How were you applying the weathering powder? It may have been the direction that you were applying it if verticle were you going just up or just down with your brush strokes or both up and down? I dont think brushing horizontally would not workk. I hope this doesn't seem to obvious but some times rather than brushing up only its easier to turn the building upside down and use downward brush strokes, which gives the same effect as upward strokes when the building is the right way up!!!!

Another way to darken the paint slightly is to paint the interior surface. Painting it light grey will give it a lighter shade than if the interior is painted black. Another bonus of painting the inside is that should you light the building it will help prevent light bleed through the walls.

As I type this on TLC they are making a life sized ginger bread house on a program about Disney holidays. Now I wonder how good icing sugar would be for a light dusting of snow!!!!!!!!

Cheers

John

My wife and I have been together for 20 odd years, and while I may have found alternative uses for her emery boards, even thinking of using her make up is likely a step to far.

Its funny sometimes we naturally overthink things and the simple answer is well to simple that we dont even consider using it. I have a friend who is a pretty clever modeller. Did you know that the dirt under your house is generally very very dry and the top layer is actually very fine so it can be used as a modelling medium.

Always travel with some plastic zip lock bags, because when you are out and about you might find some sand or dirt that is the colour you are looking for.

I have no problems using commercial products but for some things natural stuff is ideal, the difficult part of it is finding it!!!!!!!

While I think about it wood ash is another good medium to use for weathering so again maybe see if you can get some and have a play with it.

Never be afraid to look outside the modelling shop. Craft and art shops have some neat stuff in them and its usually cheaper to purchase it from them rather than the model shop.

But alas its bed time, lost a squash 3-1 tonight, but it could have gone either way.

John

well Jaz I have a friend who was using his passport as a measuring unit!!!!! No harm done to the passport but holding it against a bridge with a river below.

I use a scribe to indent the DAS. Not sure what Richard uses. Not the quickest of methods but quite soothing never the less.

Richard I have used both the terracotta and the grey DAS. yes the terracotta one is rather messy. Funny you should mention the reason for shrinking, I didn't realise that I was stretching it rather than rolling it.

Now while nothing beats evergreen and such like manufacturers of small size styrene, it is worth seeing if you can find a plastic former in your area. Their ABS off cuts are great for modelling. The sheets I get are between 2-3mm thick, about 40 cm wide and 1800 long. They throw these off cuts out!!!!!!

On Friday night I was given some Mitsubishi heat pump signs that are about 6mm thick foam board. Don't know what I will use it for, but it was free and could make some useful building sides.

Onwards and upwards

Lets be honest, some people have done some pretty cool things with this model.

However the thread has high lighted a number of things.

There is not a right way or wrong way to build this or any kit
As a test bed the kit can be modified in a number of ways to try out different things
It is made using old technology and IMHO if was released as new today would be badly panned in the press as being to a very course scale.
real buildings have a bigger foot print than most kits
Todd Blackadder should go coach Scotland and the Crusaders will be all the better for it
Building kits and adding things proportionately the same size to them does make a difference
Sometimes there are better places to source modelling items rather than the hobby shop
Jury is out whether the English/Irish lions will beat the Wallabies*
Never be afraid to experiment, it is better to fail than not try

Maybe we should have a scratch building group build thread!!!!!!

John

* both teams have their fair share of Fijians, Samoans, Tongans and Kiwis in them