Bungalow built

Bungalow finished. For a kit older than Methuselah, it doesn't come up badly.

Apart from the windows, the kit is pretty much built as supplied. Note the curtains by the way, coloured paper cut from old magazines. A door knocker has been added but photographed badly, you'll have to trust it looks better in real life.

One day, I'll set this in a layout set in the classic BR steam/diesel period. When I do, a honking great big TV areal will be added from wire, not the plastic version supplied with the kit.

As a quickie project, this has been great fun. I've tried out a few techniques, some of this will transfer to other work. That's the point of doing this sort of model. You aren't that fussed about producing a perfect result, just having fun making things.

Glazing without pane

Flush glazed windows always look better than those where the front of the frames are 6 scale inches from the sheet of plastic stuck behind them. I know this is easier, but then doing it properly isn't too hard.

The trick is to use Micro Kristal Klear (Yes, that is how you spell it. Americans). It's a high quality, clear drying PVA style liquid designed for plastic plane modelers. The idea is that you take a drop on the end of a cocktail stick, waggle it around the edges of your window and then form a skin covering the hole. The liquid then dries clear (ish) and looks like glass.

If you need to fill a bigger hole, the you need a bigger waggling stick. A small screwdriver is enough for the Dapol windows.

For best results, use as little Klear as possible, that way the meniscus doesn't curl up the edges too much. With practise, once the gap is filled, rotating a small screwdriver in the pool will allow you to pull out some Klear.

When glazing large areas, it's important to let the pane dry horizontally. If you don't, the liquid runs and the bottom ends up thicker than the top.

Mistakes are easily rectified as the rubbery dry skin can be peeled away from plastic cleanly once set, then you try again.

Roof and wall painting without brushes

Normally, we try to achieve and perfectly smooth paint finish on our models. Well, that would be wrong for this bungalow. The walls are rendered and should have some slight texture.

There is a little roughness provided by the pattern-maker in the kit parts, but it seemed a bit random, possibly the result of the age of the moulds. I wanted more.

So, instead of brushes, I painted a base coat of pale cream on by splodging paint with a dense piece of sponge from some leftover packaging. Before it dried, a bit of Precision paint concrete went on too. Once dry, there is texture, but not much, which is the effect I'm looking for.

The roof is tricky and I'm still not sure I'm there, but it's near enough for this model. Aiming for a cast tile effect, I started with a biscuit colour and used a couple of shades of brown. Initially I dry-brushed but eventually decided the sponge works better.

The result looks a bit less biscuit in real life compared to the photo, and not a million miles away from the houses I can see from my office window. They are a bit redder, so perhaps some marronish paint in future? Ideally applied while the other stuff is still wet so it all blends.

Improving Airfix windows

One aspect of Airfix building kits that really bugs me are the terrible window mouldings provided. Great big slabs of things you are supposed to hang on the outside of the model. They look (IMHO) terrible. Certainly not good enough for my model bungalow.

Fortunately, the solution is simple - spin the plastic part around and fit it inside the model. Then add a length of cill using some 1.5mm or smaller plastic strip.  OK, the "back" of the moulding will benefit from a light sand to remove the marks and flash, but that's a very quick piece of work for the results.

Internal walls cure wobblyness

Nice design feature alert - the completed walls slot into the underside of the roof. A ridge provides nice positive location. You can't go wrong, and there is plenty of contact between plastic bits for the glue to do its job.

Unfortunately, as you can see, once dry the walls are still a bit wobbly. The model doesn't sit flat on the board. Bending with my fingers helped a bit, but more work was required.

I had always meant to add some internal walls since looking through a building just isn't right. While not planning on fitting a detailed interior, I had pondered on cutting an archway in the main wall - a popular feature and one you'd be able to see from outside.

On balance, I'm sticking with solid walls from a nice thick plastic sheet off cut. A bit of careful measuring means they push the exterior walls out a bit at the bottom so everything is sort of square and the model sits on ground as it should. 

Improving guttering.

I don't plan to build the bungalow straight from the packet. There's no fun in that.

First improvement involves the guttering. While the bottom of the channels is modelled, the top is flat and since it's the but you see, looks odd.

No problem. Run the Olfa cutter along the middle with the aid of a small steel rule. Then open up the channel using a round needle file. It's not really filing, more gouging out a curved channel. There's probably a "proper" tool for the job but I don't have it and this works fine, which is all that matters.

A little smoothing with some sanding needles and it looks a lot better. Not sure why Airfix didn't do this themselves as the rest of the roof moulding is really rather nice and detailed.

Walls up and wobbly

Those ex-Airfix walls go together nice an quickly. Despite the age of the mouldings, there is very little flash and part fit is generally pretty good. The nearest corner is the worst and yet a touch of filler will hide the join.

Soft plastic means wobbly and slightly twisted components. A teak with fingers is mostly enough to fix any problems and I'm sure as the kit comes together, it will be strengthened by the roof. I'm tempted to add internal walls too.

Handy hint. Pay attention and make sure to identify the right bits. Or at least be ready to peel things apart if you get it wrong.

Inspired by youth

There I was, standing behind my layout at Ally Pally. A father and son arrive in front and start to chat. The youngster has a few questions, and when I look down to answer, I notice he's holding a plastic bungalow.

Over in the children's area, da kidz are being tutored on assembling simple Dapol plastic kits provided by Eileen's Emporium. Talking to the team running the stand, it was very popular and all kits from the range are in short supply as people decided to take one home to have another go.

How so I know this?

Well, looking at the rather well made model, it occurred to me that this is a kit I've never built. Right then though, I decided to rectify this omission. It just took a bit of a search to find one.

 Most of us are familiar with the ex-Airfix range now manufactured in Wales by Dapol. The plastic is now very soft, presumably to save the moulds which are somewhat older than I am. Despite the age and material, the detail is sharp enough and for just over a fiver, a good looking building is promised.

Incidentally, although the card header displays the Kitmaster logo, this was introduced in 1957 by Airfix and doesn't ever seem to have been part of the Rosebud product line.