Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

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Old Man Aaron
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Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Old Man Aaron » Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:58 am

Quite a bit of this was adapted and condensed from my blog, which I keep mainly as a record for my own future reference..

One thing I'd like to do eventually, is to incorporate a street running section of track, as once seen on the cane tramways of Moreton Mill, and as continues today at Mossman Mill.
A prominent feature of such scenes, is often the ubiquitous timber Australian corner hotel & pub - So I guess I'll start with one of these.

The Royal George pub stood on the corner of Howard and Currie streets in Nambour, Queensland, from 1903 until it burned down in 1961. This excellent 1935 photograph, along with a (very) few others like this one, will be my main two references - though my pub will only be based on the Royal George, rather than a scale replica.

The cane tramway ran very closely past the pub, the rails being visible just below the car in the 1935 image. The wide, overhanging cane loads brushing the verandah posts as they passed. Later on, the line was relaid closer to the middle of the street, to help reduce congestion of increasing road traffic. Later still, after the pub burned, the line was again relaid, this time in the centre of the street where it remains today.

That's enough background, on with the build.

21/03/2019
I'd seen and heard a lot about PVC foamboard for buildings, being a light, fairly cheap, easy to work, and most importantly, weatherproof material. I started familiarising myself with the stuff, by making a simple "weatherboard" shed. It turned out well, so I got stuck into designing the pub.

Using my Roundhouse Fowler "Victoria", a 1:24 car, a figure, and photographs of cane trams in Nambour, I started working out the rough size and dimensions. I found it simpler to work with Imperial dimensions, for this job. Considering the emerging design was nearly entirely Imperial, I figured "Imperial Hotel" would be as good a name for the building, as any.
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Using Microsoft Paint, (as it's easier to fix mistakes and make changes) I made up a simple scale drawing for the pub. As the reminder on the drawing says, the non-visible rear walls will be made from corflute, as it's 1/6th the price of foamboard. In hindsight, these should've been foamboard as it's far more robust, but it's no serious issue.
Comparing the drawing to to the 1935 photo, you may notice the shorter leg of the building is a little shorter than the prototype. This is simply to cut down on some work, and to reduce the bulk of this already huge building. The angle of the prototype's front walls was about 105 degrees. I've changed this to 90 degrees, simply to make it easier to build.
Pub dimensions.png
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25/03/19
Dimensions at hand, I started by cutting out the main front and end walls from foamboard. A scrap piece of aluminium angle was checked for straightness, then used as a straight-edge for marking and cutting. 2-4 passes with a hobby knife cuts the foamboard nicely.

I'm cutting the foamboard on my balcony, as it's a 3x4ft sheet, and it's the only suitably large, hard flat area available. Needless to say, a great deal of care was needed to ensure the knife didn't cut into the decking boards. Although the blade never touched the deck, a sacrificial sheet of plywood or MDF between the foamboard and deck, would've made things far quicker and easier.
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The main wall sections were then mocked up, held together with masking tape. I can't make the rear walls or the base yet, as the shop was out of corflute. The angled front wall will be made to fit, once the other walls are assembled on the base.
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27/03/19
I'm going to need a lot of styrene sheet for this and future buildings, and most of the time here in Australia, it's prohibitively expensive. I was able to find a local plastics supplier on Evilbay, and bought five A3-sized sheets of 1mm thick styrene for just $20.

It's quite shiny on one side. Too shiny, this could be a problem for paint and glue adhesion. A quick wet sanding will sort that..
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28/03/19
It's an awfully slow process, scribing styrene, but the front faces of the fascia are done, and the cut-outs, well, cut out. The spacing of the "boards" is 5mm.
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To save a lot of time, effort and frustration, I made a styrene stencil for marking out the doors on the foamboard walls.
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A frame was drawn up to surround each door, the frames being ¼" thick, incorporating a ½" tall fanlight window.
After working out the correct spacing based loosely on my reference photos, the remaining doors were marked out. The frames and lower paneling in each door were then scribed with the screwdrivers and ruler, similarly to the styrene fascia. Foamboard is much easier to scribe - a pleasure, actually.

You'll notice on the right, I got carried away and started scribing the vertical boards, before remembering to get this shot.
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A ruler and knife were carefully used to cut the windows from the doors, followed by cut-down emery boards to clean up the openings.
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The windows were time-consuming to do, but came up well. The vertical boards can now be finished.
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They were marked out in the same manner as the fascia. Again, 5mm width, as it looks about right to my eye, and is easy to mark out.
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Holding the ruler firmly in place, the 6" screwdriver scribes the boards. Moderate pressure applied over a single pass is sufficient.
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It's tricky to photograph this stuff sometimes. All scribing on this larger of the two front panels is done. The process was repeated on the shorter front wall, before moving on.
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A knife was used to bevel the ends of the wall panels, making for a crude "mitre joint". This will allow the very edges of the walls to go together a little more seamlessly, than if I just butted the walls together. I'm really not sure this was necessary, as I'd always intended to cover the outside faces of the joints with styrene trim, anyway. This will also make it more difficult to glue the walls together. It's also all to easy to cut too deep and affect the nice straight edge of the wall.
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Last edited by Old Man Aaron on Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Aaron - Scum Class Works

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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by philipy » Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:02 am

Fantastic job Aaron. Thanks for sharing. Fascinating to see how familiar is most of what you've said. :D Looking forward to the next installment.
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Old Man Aaron » Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:16 am

29/03/19
There's external frame-work all over the front faces of the building, and these are to be made of ¼" wide strips of 1mm styrene.
Cutting and de-burring many feet of this stuff from one of the A3-sized sheets was extremely tedious by even my own standards; I really should've just bought a bulk pack of pre-cut strips for this.
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The end walls were cut out, and scribed for horizontal weatherboards. I don't have any photos of the sides or rear of the Royal George, but I've a photo of the similar Club Hotel over the road, and it's end walls show horizontal boards with no external bracing. The windows are from Jackson's Miniatures, bought through a supplier in Britain called Maple Street. They worked out about $3.50AUD each.
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09/04/19
It suddenly occurred to me, that I forgot to distress any parts to look like timber. A section of blunt hacksaw blade was dragged along the length of the "boards" to make a rough grain effect. Some coarse emery tape was then used to give a finer grain appearance, and blend the much coarser hacksaw "grain" into the surface.
A light sanding with 400 grit sandpaper removed the remaining styrene "fuzz".
The foamboard was more difficult, especially with the styrene strips already fitted. A large steel-wired brush is excellent for distressing the foamboard, and a small brass brush gives a finer-looking grain to the doors. The styrene bracing is handled in the same manner as the fascia.
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A triangular needle file was used to cut tiny grooves into the ends of the "boards". The ends were then roughed up a little with the emery tape. The overall result is a huge improvement, and should look very good once painted.
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Again in Microsoft Paint, I drew up another preschool-level drawing to re-explain to myself for when I inevitably forget again, how I'll handle the lighting of my structures in future.
On the last railway, all lighting was self-contained in each building, running on rechargeable AA or AAA cells. Having to make sure all the buildings' batteries are charged before setting up for a run, just adds to the list of dis-incentives to actually run anything.

So next time, most if not all lighting, will be on a grid network, buried a few inches underground. Due to the higher number of buildings and the potential size of wiring network, I must concede that LEDs would be better suited to the task, than my preferred incandescent bulbs.
Structure lighting connections.png
Structure lighting connections.png (61.03 KiB) Viewed 8832 times

Bunnings now had corflute back in stock, so I could get on with making the floor and rear walls.
Like the walls, this had to be cut out on the balcony. I expect I'll be spending a lot of time working on this thing on the floor or balcony; The latter is where the pub will be stored after it's done. No space for it indoors. The lighting connection recess was a quick job to make, glued together with KS Bond, and tacked with superglue.
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10/04/19
Some ½" wide PVC angle was bought and cut into 1½" long "brackets" to help hold the walls together. This stuff is a moulding, available in a number of shapes, to cover the joints between sheets of plasterboard. (also known as drywall, sheet rock, etc) At $4 for eight feet, I think I'll be using a fair bit of this stuff for buildings..

The one problem with this stuff, is that it's not made to a 90° angle, rather, it's about 85°. But I guess that's to be expected of something made to hide joints in plasterboard. I can correct the angle of these smaller pieces by squeezing them in the vice, but longer bits have to be used as-is.
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Some 6mm square ABS tube arrived today, and has been cut to 10" lengths, then distressed and tidied up. They'll be the posts along the front of the pub.
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The little angle brackets were pre-fitted to the walls, which made assembly onto the base much easier and more accurate.
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To ensure the front walls are parallel with the edges of the base, the width of the verandah was marked every 6" or so. The walls were then carefully positioned on top of the marks.
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11/04/19
Out on the balcony again, for easier photography. All bar one of the main wall sections have been glued in place. Some more bracing to hold the front walls in place, then I can measure the gap in the middle, and make the missing section to fit.
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12/04/19
The corners were stiffened up with offcuts of corflute cut into triangles. The 90 degree corner of each triangle was cut out, to allow these braces to be fitted over the angle brackets. A drop of superglue here and there helps tack the braces in place until the KS Bond contact cement sets.
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Having bought some more PVC angle, I set about stiffening the tops of the walls. The angle was cut out to clear the fanlights, glue applied to both surfaces, left to sit for a minute, and clamped together for ten minutes. Again, tacking with superglue allows the clamps to be removed sooner, so the process can be repeated on the other wall. The rear walls were then braced to the front walls, using a try square to make sure the front walls are perfectly vertical. The resulting assembly is surprisingly rigid. I can now measure the gap in the front walls, and make the remaining section to fit.
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17/04/19
Weirdly enough, an offcut of foamboard was a perfect fit for the corner section. The top door is the same as those along the front walls, with the bottom door being made a bit wider as per the prototype. The joints of the walls were covered with the ¼" strips, taking a lot of care to ensure it all aligned nicely. The remaining horizontal external framework was then cut to fit.
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Some PVC angle was partially flattened out in the mini vice, to match the angle of the wall joints.
I can't use KS Bond along the walls' vertical joints, as the solvents in the glue would distort the styrene strips covering the joints on the outside; Superglue was run down the vertical joints from behind.
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24/04/19
Preparing to build the verandah/fascia structure. Back to the painstaking job of scribing and distressing styrene. I hate this bit, best to push through and move on. Notches were cut out for the posts, using the fascia as a guide for spacing and dimensions.
The lower deck sections were glued on with epoxy for a dependable bond, tacked with superglue to help prevent the styrene floors from bowing up while the epoxy sets. Even so, the floor sections were weighed down with a piece of timber for at least six hours.
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I f***ed up here. I should've made the fascia and resultant post spacing to match the width of the corner verandah floors, rather than spacing it all based on the wall dimensions. The floor at the corner is much too wide, and will be cut down to match the styrene floor sections as used along the fronts.
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25/04/19
Having glued two posts to the fascia, the fit in the floor's notches is tested before proceeding further. No problems.
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A piece of aluminium angle was clamped to the bench to ensure the posts are all vertically-positioned correctly. Lengths of PVC angle are cut to fit between the posts. They're made to a snug push fit, to hold the fascia straight, instead of bowing outwards. After gluing, the whole assembly is quite rigid.
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Last edited by Old Man Aaron on Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:13 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Aaron - Scum Class Works

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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Old Man Aaron » Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:38 am

Cheers Phillip, nice to hear someone's benefiting from my records. This is actually all a bit condensed, I went into far more detail than was necessary on the blog. :roll:


27/04/19
The floor around the front corner is fitted. I'm hoping the joint lines will blend in better once it's all painted..

Note the post notches in the front corners of the floor - I would've preferred a single post in each corner, with the remaining posts equidistantly positioned. It was my mistake in designing the front corner floor that's caused this, and with the fascias already made, I'll have to live with this post spacing. Not quite what I wanted, but there's plenty of structures built like this anyway..
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The fascias need shortening a little to fit the cut-down front corner. A "splint" of 3mm x 25mm aluminium bar was cut and roughened up with emery tape. Epoxy and clamping the assembly to the bench resulted in a strong, straight joint. The process was repeated on the other fascia section the following day.
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I do wish I'd have used foamboard for the floor/base. It would've been much more durable than this corflute, despite using up a lot of fairly-expensive material. In any case, the front and side edges need covering with plastic angle, distressed to look like timber.
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Epoxy for (hopefully) long-term durability was used, and the sections clamped for a few hours. Fine-tipped applications of superglue were made just under the front edge of the styrene floor to reinforce it all.
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29/04/19
The top verandah floor sections need to be held straight, so some 3mm x 12mm aluminium bar was bought. Like the aforementioned fascia splints, the bar was roughened up and attached with epoxy, tacked with superglue. Some ½" angle was superglued to the back edge of the floor, the side butting up against the wall, to act as a sort of mounting bracket and to hold the floor's rear edge straight.
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Glue set, the pub was turned on it's side, on the bench, then fasica and floor assemblies were test-fitted. A couple of very minor adjustments, and the fit was good. The width of the angle was marked on the wall..
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..So when I applied the KS Bond contact cement, I wouldn't spread it anywhere outside the area the angle will mount. Now the scary part begins. I've only one shot at this, and have to work quickly..
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Some thick superglue was applied to the bottom floor cutouts, into which the posts will seat. Then, the top floor was placed, and the contact cement stopped it falling over while I positioned the fascia/post assembly. Once those were in place, I could start gluing the top floor to the fasica assembly.

A small (2" square) scrap of rag is great for quickly wiping and soaking up excess superglue before it dries on the surface. I consider it an essential when supergluing. Once it gets too soaked with rigid dried glue, it's binned and replaced.
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After letting the whole thing sit for an hour, I can turn the building over and apply more glues to areas I couldn't reach before.
The 85° angle of the, well, angle, means the surface contact area between wall and angle is quite small. So the gap here was filled with more KS Bond.
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After letting that sit for a while, I could turn the thing over again. I then stepped back, let the glue set overnight, and looked for any problems before going any further.
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30/04/19
I noticed the afternoon sun was glowing through some spots in the styrene external framing, where it covers the joints in the foamboard walls. A couple quick coats of black aerosol paint had this sorted.
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16/05/19
Front section made/fitted, and the verandah/fasica structure is all but complete.
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Last edited by Old Man Aaron on Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Jimmyb » Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:14 am

Aaron that really is impressive, just waiting to see the conclusion :)

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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by -steves- » Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:16 am

Looks absolutely amazing so far, loving the detailed pictures and descriptions, thank you for sharing :thumbup:
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Peter Butler » Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:28 pm

Brilliant work and clear description. So similar to the HIP material I use which reacts identically to the wood graining technique you adopt....
IMG_5175.JPG
IMG_5175.JPG (111.15 KiB) Viewed 8807 times
As I leave my buildings outside in all weathers, except snow and frost, they are well braced and weighted....
IMG_5207.JPG
IMG_5207.JPG (104.77 KiB) Viewed 8807 times
I also use Jacksons windows, good selection and well priced.
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Old Man Aaron » Fri Jan 08, 2021 9:47 am

Good to hear you're enjoying this saga of a build, there's plenty more to come. And Peter, your buildings certainly appear to be better-braced than mine; I really should have a look at your layout thread again..


Time for paint. I figured "El-cheapo" Australian Export brand grey primer should be fine. Surprisingly good stuff for $4.50 a can. With care, the very fine spray nozzle allows me to paint all the surfaces of the verandah structure, without any runs or thick spots.
The topcoat colours will all be outdoor-grade, UV-stabilised stuff, possibly sealed with a UV polyurethane.

Image


22/05/19
Much earlier in the build, I'd used a program called "GIMP" to colourise one of my reference photos. This was to help decide on a livery before it might affect the process of assembly. I'd like to include the colourised image in this write-up, but what with copyright etc. it's probably more trouble than it's worth.

After changing out the nozzle for a finer-spraying Export one, the first coat of cream was applied.
The paint used was Dulux Metalshield's "Sandbank". About $11 from Bunnings.
I figure the stuff should do fine on plastic, and we use that range (albeit in 4L tins) almost exclusively at ANGRMS, on locos/rollingstock stored outdoors. So it should hold up nicely for this. Although supposedly "semi-gloss", it's come up a very nice flat finish.

I've only masked a small spot at the top front corner of the building, as I'm not yet certain how the verandah roof will attach. I won't know that until a long-overdue shipment of more 6mm square tube arrives..
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It's left a lot of dry powdery overspray around. Most of it can be brushed away prior to further painting..
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I'd anticipated problems with over-applying the paint under the verandah, but with the Export nozzle, it went pretty well. Two coats, two hours apart, had the cream paint done - mostly.
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24/05/19
Many of the poles' backsides couldn't be reached by spraying; So some paint was sprayed into the lid, a little thinner mixed in, and the job finished with a brush.
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27/05/19
After 2½ hours, the thing is finally masked and ready to paint.
There's a lot of overspray on my cheap little outdoor table, but it's great not having to worry about it for once. A wipe with enamel thinners on a rag won't harm the glass and powdercoat..
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29/05/19
I knew I'd forgotten something. Turns out that was to buy a roll of low-tack masking tape.
Soaking the tape with the garden hose, helped in allowing the tape to come off, without taking the paintwork with it. Even so, there's a lot of touching up to do.. Now that I think of it, I was also supposed to rub a scotchbrite pad over every surface prior to applying the colour coats. Would've likely had a lot less peeling..
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30/05/19
The cut edges of the foamboard are porous, and will take far too many coats of paint (and time) to colour. Thin superglue was applied to these surfaces, and the excess wiped off with a finger. Seals the foamboard quite well. The downside is a thick coating of dried superglue on my finger..
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The pub's upside down, so the top surfaces of the door and fanlight cutouts could be painted. I was originally going to paint the door frames white, but decided that would probably be too garish. I think they look better in brown.
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18/06/19
During another round of touch-up, I noticed the bottom of this post is in the wrong place.
It's pretty bad, to my eye. But it's not really worth the trouble to fix, and it's not appallingly noticeable. I'll try and live with it.
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20/06/19
Next to do; some railings. Now, matchsticks would've been perfect for the vertical pieces, if they weren't made of warpage-prone wood. A couple packs of 2mm square styrene rod were bought instead. Of course, I needed them all cut exactly the same length. I've neither the money to buy things like a NWSL Chopper, nor the energy to build something equivalent. A simple jig was made of scrap. The 208 verticals were cut to 40mm long.
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21/06/19
After many hours of distressing each piece, they were assembled on another jig, again made from scrap material. Revell's "Contacta" solvent cement was used. The horizontal rails are 2.5mm x 4.8mm styrene. All up, these railings are working out around $45, unexpectedly by far, the most expensive single part of this project.
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While the glue of one railing panel dries, the panel made before it is trimmed to snugly fit it's own space.
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The rails are left a few millimeters over-length, marked in pencil, trimmed back with the razor saw, then sanded to a snug fit - just enough to hold the panel in place, without distorting the posts.
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A small arrow in permanent marker is made on the top rail, so I know which way each panel is to be oriented, to fit it's location.
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As each panel has it's own place, they'll need numbers underneath so I know where to install them once painted. A conical diamond burr in the dremel was used to carefully engrave numbers underneath each panel's bottom rail. The grooves were highlighted with pencil, so they're easier to read.
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01/07/19
After no small amount of sanding, the rail panels are ready for cleaning with meths and a new toothbrush. They were then hung on the painting hooks, (bent from steel bicycle spokes) on a line of tie wire.
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02/07/19
Another jig was made up from scrap styrene, to spot drill the doorknob holes. I'll be using sewing pins (the ones with spherical heads) as doorknobs.
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A test fit looks good enough. I'll trim and paint the pins before fitting.
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04/07/19
Having bought some paint for the verandahs, I remembered they'd need Scotch-Briting prior to masking off.
Image
Last edited by Old Man Aaron on Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by -steves- » Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:42 am

A very patient and skilled man at work, so impressive and that's before it's finished! :thumbup:
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by philipy » Fri Jan 08, 2021 11:17 am

This si one of the best " How I built..." threads I've seen. Thank you.

Those railings are a work of art but would have been a prime candidate for 3d printing.
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Peter Butler » Fri Jan 08, 2021 11:25 am

Great work Aaron, I'm really enjoying your thread. The only concern I would have is the proposed use of polyurethane varnish over paint. The only time I used a sealer coat it ended with water penetrating and discolouring the painted surface. However, our weather conditions are so different it may not be a problem for you.
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Old Man Aaron » Fri Jan 08, 2021 11:41 am

Aye, I've since decided against using polyurethane - the last stuff I used on another project years back, yellows very badly in the sun.

3D printed railings - damnit, wish I'd thought of that. So obvious in hindsight.. :roll:

Thanks again, :)

I used painter's masking tape here, which also turned out to be too strong; and tends to lift the cream paint in places. Too late now, so I'll try and get the painting finished as soon as possible and soak the tape off.
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06/07/19
This is weird. after the first coat, the aluminium reinforcing bars are showing through the paint from underneath. Never seen anything like this. I doubt it had anything to do with the temperature of the bars, as it was all painted and dried in the shade of trees. Two more coats and the floors were all uniform in colour and paint thickness.
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11/07/19
After a couple days to cure, (and some new low-tack masking tape to finish the job) the floors were masked, and the fascia readied for white paint.
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12/07/19
Despite losing a little more of the cream paint when removing the masking tape, it's come up very nicely.
As for the name "Imperial Hotel" emblazoned across the fascia, I'm going to try doing a proper signwriting job of it. I've done a lot of fine, fiddly paintwork over the years, including numbering a trio of bolster wagons at Woodford; albeit with ordinary enamel paint, which wasn't ideal.
I've ordered some small pots of proper lettering enamel in preparation. Needless to say, I'll not be practicing this on the model..
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15/08/19
It was a cold, very dry day when I sprayed the railings white last month. When I returned to recoat them, I found the sprayed paint had dried before it hit the railings, resulting in that awful rough, grainy finish. Considering the huge total surface area, and the prominence of the railings, this was a disaster. The paint had to come off, so I started trying the usual plastic-safe stripping methods.

Several days, to a week, soaking in isopropyl alcohol, did precisely nowt to the epoxy enamel - works okay on normal spray enamel, though. Then a week in Simple Green, which had caused some minor paint bubbling - still not good enough. A week in meths - no better than the alcohol. Moving house didn't help in getting this done.
Finally, I tried oven cleaner on one panel. What a difference that made, with no damage to the styrene. Some "wispy" residue of primer was left behind, but that's no issue. It does attack superglue, though, so the previously-repaired verticals fell out while scrubbing. The panels were then repaired where required, cleaned and repainted in the previous manner. Still a little rough, but now acceptable. I've recently (late 2020) realised it's the Dulux Metalshield paint at fault - apparently it's very hit-and-miss, when it comes to the aerosol version; the stuff brushed from tins is fine.
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29/08/19
A wash of white spirits, black and brown flat enamels was applied to the floors to bring out some detail. This was done again several days later.
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22/09/19
The gloss brown paint needed a flat clearcoat to look right, and as I'd heard of UK modelers using Humbrol enamels on their 16mm buildings, I thought I'd try spraying Humbrol's Flat Clear over the existing brown paint. So I sprayed all the top level's doors, thinned with white spirit.
This was the result.

Yes, I mixed it properly, and yes it's the new stuff made in the UK. I also used Humbrol's Satin Clear on the platework of my Accucraft Ruby during it's overhaul at the time. It had a similarly-disastrous effect - And I tried that with two different tins of that sh*t.
Subsequent further internet research revealed that Humbrol seems to be incapable of making a consistently-useable paint - transparent paints in particular. So I binned the various-coloured 6 tins I had, returned the two brand-new tins for which I had a receipt, and switched to Tamyia's enamels, as I've been using their acrylic range for years on general work, with absolutely no problems.

These doors however, had to be brush-repainted with the gloss brown, then spray-clearcoated with Tamiya's X-22 Clear, flattened with their X-21 Flat Base.
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04/10/19
Railing panels repainted, I could finally clean the paint from the ends of the rails (for better adhesion) and glue them in place; Using offcuts of the 4.8mm wide rail material as spacers.
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Once all but one of the rail panels were fitted, the last panel could be trimmed to final length and painted.
I then started on the verandah's roof structure. I was going to "tack" it together in-situ, then remove the tacked assembly for spray painting, prior to final fitting. But I changed my mind and just glued it to the tops of the posts as I went along, and will brush paint the assembly later on.
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A conveniently-sized scrap of smaller square tube was used as a splint to join the 6mm beams.
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6/10/19
I was going to complete the verandah roof's framework first, but figured it would be easier to build the removable main roof now, rather than later.
Using some scrap material to mock up some roof angles, to see what looks about right. This should do.
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the dimensions for the trusses were scribbled down and transferred to some foamboard. Because the ½" PVC angle used to stiffen the rear walls isn't quite square, Some scrap styrene strip along here, will make this top flange level with the top of the corflute. This will provide a good footing upon which the roof structure can locate.
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08/10/19
All the trusses made up to fit their own spot, and they locate nicely. As usual, the parts were tacked with superglue, then glued properly with KS Bond. 2" reinforcing lengths of ½" angle are helpful here.
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16/10/19
The large panels were measured and cut to suit their respective positions, then sparingly fitted to the trusses with KS Bond and superglue.
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After the roof panels had an hour to set in-situ, the roof could be flipped over and the insides of the joints glued.
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26/10/19
A verandah rafter was cut from 6mm square tube, and used as a pattern for the rest. Three faces of the rafters were distressed, and were fitted with superglue.
The centre lines for the purlins were then marked on the rafters, the purlins themselves cut to ¼" wide, from 1mm styrene, and their undersides distressed.
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28/11/19
It's taken a month to hand paint the verandah frame and rafters - one coat of primer and four coats of white, to cover properly. The purlins were then fitted, though I've not painted them. Their slight difference in colour won't be noticed.
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On the final straight now; if a long one of many jobs left to do.
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Last edited by Old Man Aaron on Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Aaron - Scum Class Works

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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by ge_rik » Fri Jan 08, 2021 2:01 pm

Wow!! That is looking good. Those railings are the crowning glory. Having tried to make my own paling fences, I can appreciate how much effort has gone into making them.

It'll look great in situ

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Old Man Aaron
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Old Man Aaron » Sat Jan 09, 2021 3:34 am

15/12/19
I prefer real glass where possible, as the sun won't harm it, and it tends to hold a distinct shine that plastic soon loses to oxidation. My glass-cutting skills are non-existent, but these pieces cut from op-shop picture frames are good enough. I'd ordered some single-edge razor blades for another project, but ironically ended up receiving this pre-mixed epoxy. I'd never heard of the stuff, but some research indicated that it should be fine to use in my windows. The fine nozzle certainly makes it easier than it would've been, smearing two-part epoxy around the pane's edges with a screwdriver.
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23/02/2020
Originally, I was to fit interior lighting and diffuse the windows with baking paper, as I didn't want to model an interior. However, baking paper in the windows looks awful during the day, but I still wanted lighting. So I bit the bullet and started on a crude interior.
After removing most of the internal reinforcing wedges, and the wiring recess, a corflute false floor was fitted. Here, I'm working out the upstairs room layout with skewers, simply because they were on hand.
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Working out the downstairs layout with some old 1:24 figures I no longer need. They'll work just fine for interiors. Some suitably cheap dolls house chairs have been ordered through Evilbay..
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I don't really have the energy to do this interior, (it's a bit like spending money you don't have) so I'm risking a shortcut here with limited use of wood and cardboard in the interior. Worst case, and it rots or something, it likely won't be noticeable. The steps were folded from a frozen chicken box; the railing being coffee stirrers and matchsticks, the latter slotting neatly into the corflute wall. El-cheapo craft acrylics to finish.
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Bar stools were made from googly-eyes sprayed black, for the cushions, with matchstick legs. The beer tap (manifold?) was made by making a 90 degree bend in a piece of coat-hanger wire, threading a scrap of 5mm square styrene over the wire, then bending the wire's straight end down. The handles and nozzles are the shafts of dressmaker's pins - kept after cutting their heads off for use as rivets on rollingstock. The bar itself was knocked up from foamboard and corflute offcuts. Crude, but it'll do.
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The interior received a few coats of the cheap craft paint.
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The "cash register" is just the top cut from a cast resin waste-bin.
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12/03/20
Something I'd forgotten too many times until now, was giving the fanlights an etched effect. I should've done this before gluing the glass in, but the paper mask worked well enough. I've used a lot of paints, but this was one of the worst-smelling by far; seems to have ammonia in it..

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27/03/20
The chairs arrived, and were painted along with a few more 1:24 figures, and simple tables of cardboard and matchsticks. I splurged and bought a piano to fill the corner at bottom right.
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Some 1.6mm copper wire made excellent bus bars for the lighting, supported with skewers and foamboard offcuts. The original intention was to use LEDs to save on current draw, but those I ordered turned out to be a very sickly and unpleasant fluorescent yellow. And of course despite their diffused lenses, their light output was far too directional. Testing with a temporary 12V connection, six grain-of-wheat bulbs provided a much better result.
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01/04/20
With the first floor completed, the second was started. A paper crimper makes reasonable curtains. I figure most of the upstairs curtains would be closed, and this allows me to get away with detailing only two rooms.
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The bed was (relatively) quickly knocked up using a doll's house modellers' method found on the internet. The door is painted on, using a sewing pin for the knob. The dresser is cast resin, given to me by a friend some years back. The lamp is a cheap 12V unit from Evilbay.
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05/04/20
Some of the upstairs windows were blacked-out with black corflute.
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Whilst other windows had a bulb wired up behind them.
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In person, the light is far less orange and looks far more appropriate. There's ten bulbs, which apparently are rated at 70Mah, plus the bedside lamp, don't know what that draws; I should just hook the multimeter up to this thing and see what kind of current it's actually pulling.. So that's that diversion over with, onto the roof.
Image
Last edited by Old Man Aaron on Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Old Man Aaron » Sat Jan 09, 2021 5:40 am

18/04/20
Up until now, I'd been copying-and-pasting from the blog. But this photo was taken nine months ago, and being busy with the caravan and garden work at the time, I stopped adding to the blog draft article as I worked. I can't for the life of anyone, work out why there's extra styrene strips used as temporary support for this verandah roof section. :scratch:

The verandah roof sections were likely glued on with epoxy, with spots of superglue for tacking.
Image


The corrugated "iron" is aluminium roof flashing, that has been run through a homemade corrugator, using the aluminium rollers from a Fiskars paper crimper. This photo was from 2017, and I've still yet to make a proper crank handle for it. :roll:
Corrugator.jpg
Corrugator.jpg (69.1 KiB) Viewed 8702 times

Dimensions are determined, and transferred to the sheets using poor man's marking blue. Cleaning it off with meths is a bit fiddly, so it's sometimes easier to wait until it's all been fitted.
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24/04/20
The main roof panels were fitted with KS Bond, tacked as usual.
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Could've been a little more accurate cutting the sheets, but the capping will hide that.
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13/09/20
Five months since the pub's last progress, and I've settled into the new workshop. Needless to say, the pub's size makes movement, erm, interesting.
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14/09/20
I'd have preferred using brass channel, but that would've cost far more than it was worth. Had a hard time finding suitable channel etc. through stained glass suppliers, too - everything either too small, or the wrong shape. In the end, I cut the gutters on the 2" table saw, from 8.5mm square styrene tube.
Not interested in functional guttering, it just needs to hold up in the weather. We'll see how this goes..
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The gutters were fitted with the usual epoxy and superglue method, reinforcing joints between sections with styrene splints.
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Capping was made by cutting strips of flashing, then bent with a small hammer over the edge of the bench. The kitchen doubles as workshop overflow from time to time.
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Marking out for trimming to length.
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Most people restoring old aluminium caravans in Australia, have come to use an outdoor-grade polyurethane sealant, called "Sikaflex Pro". Supposedly lasts well over a decade, provided you don't skimp on surface prep. So if it's good enough for my own and many other's old vans, it should suit my aluminium building rooves, too. Like with caravans, you want a little excess sealant being squeezed out from under each strip as it's pressed into place. The excess is cleaned up with turps.

As always though, spots of superglue were needed to tack each piece into place - the purple tinge in the superglue is residual permanent marker I must've missed during cleanup.
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15/09/20
Once cured enough to handle, I went around mashing sealant under any sections of capping, that didn't originally receive enough to squeeze out. With the excess cleaned up, I'm pleased with how the roof has turned out.
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Whilst the Sikaflex was on hand, the gutters were pre-drilled then reinforced with dressmaking pins, fitted with a blob of sikaflex, which should prevent any water from entering the 6mm square tube to which the gutters are fitted.
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16/09/20
The roof was carefully cleaned with meths, then etch primed.
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18/09/20
Oxide red makes for a slightly garish livery, but it suits these old pubs - this is essentially as the Royal George was painted in the '50s. Apologies for the weird photoshopping; all the bright white of the fascia, and fibro platform upon which the pub was sitting, made photography very difficult, and this was the best I could manage.
Image


I can think of five tasks that remain:
  • Sign-write the fascia with "Imperial Hotel" across both "fronts", and possibly an owners' name or something over the corner entrance
  • Fit the downpipes which have been made of styrene tube
  • Brush prime/paint gutters and downpipes
  • General paint touch-up
  • Seal the roof onto the building. Would prefer to retain it's removability, but we have coastal brown ants here, which are invasive and would love to nest in this thing.
That brings the thread up to date. I'll update it again when I work up the audacity to attempt the lettering on this monster. Having said that; the bigger the letters are, the easier they are to paint - and these letters will be the largest I've done with proper lettering enamel, so far.. Oh, and I still need to buy some flattening paste - can't have glossy letters on a flat surface. :roll:

Thanks for reading.
Last edited by Old Man Aaron on Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
Regards,
Aaron - Scum Class Works

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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by ge_rik » Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:18 am

Well, for someone who says he doesn't like doing interiors, the inside of your hotel is just as impressive as the outside.

Wonderful!!


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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Peter Butler » Sat Jan 09, 2021 11:18 am

Magnificent.
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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by FWLR » Sun Jan 10, 2021 8:46 am

This thread was a joy to read. :notworthy: It has brought back so many memories on my own builds and mostly what I do with them.

A truly superb building and some very well detailed photos.... :coolphotos

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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by RobRossington » Tue Jan 12, 2021 3:30 pm

Oh Most excellent!

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Re: Imperial Hotel - a Queenslander pub

Post by Lonsdaler » Mon Mar 22, 2021 6:26 pm

Just catching up Aaron - what a wonderful build :thumbright:
I note that you have fallen into the same trap that I fall foul of - plan what you want to do and then get lost in the embellishment :lol: but my word that interior is marvellous - what a surprise for those who decide to peek through the windows.
i felt your pain when cutting the 45 degree mitres - a brilliant tool which I have from when I framed my own photographs is a mat cutter - it is meant for photo frame board, but works well on foamboard up to about 5mm thick.
Like everyone else, I can't wait to see the finished result in situ :notworthy:
45degreematcutter.jpg
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