OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

A forum that is covering an African profile OO/HO scale model railway being built in Kenya by John Ashworth
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OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

Post by John Ashworth »

The cricket clubhouse/pavilion. I think it's a Peco wooden kit.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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I decided to try my hand at scratchbuilding a primary school and a clinic for our shanty town. I haven't done any for nearly 50 years, so the first attempt, the school, was not a success. I'll probably just use it as a placeholder on the layout until I (or perhaps my wife or my niece) can build a proper one. Lessons learned included not to use an old cereal packet! I also realised that my windows were too big and the whole building was probably too tall. I went out and bought some decent card from a stationery shop, and things got better after that. I used the card for the school roof. But I'm quite pleased with the clinic. The walls are card, and the roof is plastic imitation corrigated iron, I think from Peco. Next scratchbuilding task is some pit latrines to go with school and clinic.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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Scratch built open roof pit latrines for the school and clinic.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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The town hall. This is a wood and card kit by Sarissa, which mainly makes models for wargamers. It's a neat kit which fits together very easily and accurately. It's part of a series of north African style buildings, presumably intended for World War II Afrika Korps and Desert Rats war games. I have no interest in wargaming, but some of their kit is useful!

This will form part of the town square, with the station building on one side, the town hall opposite, and the railway hotel (which I've just started building from a Superquick kit) in the third side. The fourth side, at the front of the layout, will probably remain open, or perhaps with a low building, to allow a good view of the square.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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Another neat kit by Sarissa. A row of shops or offices. Very quick and easy to build.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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The bank. A Metcalfe low-relief card kit.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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The low-relief shop which comes as part of the same Metcalfe kit.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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The circket pavilion
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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A few more Sarissa buildings.

The western-style bungalow is a plastic kit - can't remember where from.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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These are a couple of buildings which I downloaded free from the internet, just to see what they're like.

I'm quite pleased with the fire station. Note the Green Goddess. Surplus Green Goddesses were sold to various African countries, although probably not until later than the period depicted in the layout.

Monty's garage hasn't come out so well. I tried to make it too low-relief, I think. Need to print it out again and make a slightly deeper and more substantial version. In terms of authenticity, my Land Rover has been repaired in Nairobi by a bloke called Monty...
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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A plastic kit of an "Arab house" by Italeri.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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Yesterday my eye fell upon two of the KLM china houses which you get free when you travel business class (disclaimer: I was bumped up to business class - I didn't pay for it!) We haven't opened them so they're still full of Bols. I decided to see how they would look on the layout. They don't look too bad up on the hill behind the church. In terms of authenticity, Cape Dutch is a common building style in South Africa.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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An old Triang signal box which I picked up dirt cheap in a secondhand shop in Brighton, UK. I decided to detail the interior. The top half came off fairly easily. I did a little painting, stuck a public address loudspeaker on the front of the building, installed some levers from a ground frame kit, added a flue for the stove, and put in two figures, one sitting drinking tea and the other operating the levers. Oh yes, and a couple of monkeys on the roof. When I decide on a name for the station I'll add that to the front of the signal box.
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The original interior, after painting the stove, chair and two tables but before adding more detail.
The original interior, after painting the stove, chair and two tables but before adding more detail.
The detailed interior before refitting the top half of the building.
The detailed interior before refitting the top half of the building.
Finished product.
Finished product.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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Four hotels. Note that in Kenya "hotel" often refers to a bar or cafe, not necessarily somewhere with accommodation. There's a fifth one under construction at the moment, which I will post when it's more or less finished.
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The Railway Hotel
The Railway Hotel
The Albion
The Albion
The Glory Hotel in the shanty town. I often used to have my lunch in the Glory Hotel in Nairobi's Kawangware shanty town when I worked in that area about 25 years ago.
The Glory Hotel in the shanty town. I often used to have my lunch in the Glory Hotel in Nairobi's Kawangware shanty town when I worked in that area about 25 years ago.
A kiosk bar in  the shanty town.
A kiosk bar in the shanty town.
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Re: OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 09 - miscellaneous buildings

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This modern multi-storey hotel is branded as Gaugemaster OO scale, but I suspect it is Faller or some other European manufacturer and I think it is HO - and even then, maybe slightly under-scale. The door is 20 mm high, which would be only 5 foot in OO and not much more than five foot six even in HO, rather small for the main entrance of a big hotel. It's a nice plastic kit in different colours - I painted over them only to take a bit of the gloss off them - and assembly is easy enough. Clear plastic for the windows is supplied, ready cut to size. All in all a good addition to the main town, I think. I like the external glass lift shaft.
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The Grand Hotel
The Grand Hotel
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