Reconditioning the Metcalfe Corner Shop

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

Elsewhere I mentioned my reservations about Metcalfe and the need to correct some of the things that detract from the finished appearance of their kits. At the time I mentioned that I was working on correcting the Corner Shop model. I did this last week but forgot to post the results. I admit that it isn't perfect but I think it does look better.

First I removed the provided roof which was a fiddly job as I didn't want to tear the walls. This also removed those over scale dormer windows at the front. I suspect that whoever lived up there was one of Snow White's little friends. I attached some sections of Evergreen square section to the walls with CA so that I had a firm anchor for gluing on Wills slate sections with which I replaced the kit supplied roof and painted the new roof in darkish slate colour and weathered it with my brown/black acrylic wash. I then used various Evergreen sections to add fascia boards, guttering, down pipes and barge boards as well as a simple ridge cap and finials.

I filled the seams at the corners with a local brand of poly filler which bonds well with card and sanded it down with fine paper and then painted it. To cover the seams at the rear of the build where the walls of the courtyard meet the main building I pasted on some advertising signs. I'm still considering ways to fill those sorts of seams without destroying the printed brick detail - as you might see from the seams on the chimneys. I then used some smoke coloured pigment to gently darken the surface to cut back on the rather strong pink shade of the printed brick. I also added a few more advertising signs.

Corner Shop 4 1.JPG

Corner Shop 6 1.JPG

[RogerB]

Certainly looks very good - but I can't remember what it looked like before your refurb. The addition of curtains is a nice touch - and one I nearly always forgot and the adverts on the walls definitely add character to the building. Well done. R-

[teedoubleudee]

Very nice Malcolm. I enjoyed building this kit myself but stuck mostly to the basic kit. I renamed mine Arkwrights and added lighting plus an "Arkwright" and a Mrs Featherstone though you have to look very carefully to see them

[bulleidboy]

That looks very good Malcolm. It's amazing how you can transform a Metcalfe building with a few extra bits and pieces. I built the Mainline Station and added a Redutex slate roof and brick red ridge tiles. BB

[Chris]

looks very good, and does show how the kits can be embellished with some extra time and parts

although you still need bargeboards on the other gable

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

looks very good, and does show how the kits can be embellished with some extra time and parts

although you still need bargeboards on the other gable

Thanks and that is a good point, but despite searching images of barge boards I couldn't find one where they were fitted where a chimney is integral to the wall as in this case. They are fitted if the roof edge is extended beyond the chimney or if the chimney itself was constructed proud of the wall but where the fitting is integral and flush I couldn't find any examples, so I didn't fit them. If you can come up with an example of an integral chimney such as this with them I'd be pleased to fit them. One concern I have is that they would have no protection from water running down the face of the chimney which would then be carried under them and also along their top edge under the roof.

[Bandit Mick]

Great job Malcolm. I recently 'improved' a Metcalf kit I got free from a recent mag. I too added a bargeboard but did not know what to do about the chimney gable wall. Looking around locally it appears that they aren't fitted. Around here the roof slates are simply finished with a bed of mortar to seal them.

[RogerB]

It does seem that chimney gable ends are usually constructed without barge boards. This is the only image I could find and this requires the slate edge to extend beyond the roof line so it may not be possible in your case. R-



Credit: Wessex BPS

[mijj]

I initially thought our's was similar. So I took a photo of it and it stands proud of the end of house wall (is that a gable wall?) We had the exterior wood covered in plastic when we had new double glazing fitted so barge boards are front and back but this end with the chimney looks different. We have had no water ingress in 26 years..........
Jim.

[mijj]

Wot? No image!
Will somebody that can, in words of one syllable explain how it's done. I put the name of the file (in irfanview) in between the bracketed img thingies)
Jim (another learning curve).