STEP BY STEP

1

I enlarged the drawings to 4mm:1ft scale, based on a standard door height. Then I drew out the front wall on 2mm thick mount card. Crosses mark window and door openings to be cut out.

2

The job of cutting out followed, using a Swann-morton scalpel with a fresh blade, and a short steel rule. Always use a steel straight edge for safety. Each wall was completed, papered and detailed before assembly.

3

To avoid frayed edges I wrap brick paper into openings and glue it inside. 3M Spray Mount was used to glue the Scalescenes brickpaper to the card. Using the flat handle of the knife helps to obtain nice, crisp corners.

4

I standardised on one shape and size of sash window which I cut from a sheet of postcard. Each sash window consists of two similar frame layers mounted one above the other. A fresh knife blade is necessary.

5

The two casements are fitted with the upper one to the outside and the lower, inside. Once glued together the frames were painted cream and some 10thou clear glazing was added behind them.

6

I then added the rest of the wall details, including the lintels, cut from the Scalescenes TX46 stone sheet, and sills made from plastic strip. The doors were cut from postcard, the different layers painted before assembly.

7

Strips of 1/8in balsa wrapped with brickpaper were fitted to the inner edges of the bays to provide the rebate. I made poster boards from postcard painted brown and added a Welsh Tourist Board sign taken from their website.

8

The canopy was made up from styrene sheet and strip. It was painted and allowed to dry before adding the name from Slater’s letters. These had been painted red while still on the sprue. I used Velo-set to glue them in place.

9

More walls were then made up and installed, using the scale drawing glued to 5mm foamboard as a base. The string courses of engineers blues were cut from a Scalescenes sheet.

10

I decided to use modern doors. A postcard frame and .010in clear glazing were used, with some reflective-faced postcard used to represent metallic trim. BR Western Region signs were made up with a Scalescenes sheet.

11

The base of the clock tower was made up from 2mm mount card faced with more brick paper but the upper parts were assembled from Evergreen styrene sheet and strip. I took a suitable clock face from a Google search.

12

The café needed lots of detail. I used Wills York paving with a dragon (again, Googled, copied, resized and printed) as the floor centrepiece. Chairs and tables were from Auhagen, with diners from Noch and Woodland Scenics.