Nice review of the kit and some handy pointers in there, thanks. I make up sets of toy soldiers to give away to less well off folks and in the UK the Dapol buildings are the cheapest available. The engine shed is currently on the bench, there was an article in Airfix Magazine in the 1960s combining two kits to produce an L shaped shed, double length on one side, single on the other. The plan is to replicate that to make a large factory building. The last time I did this I used the louvred roof on the short side and a card roof on the long, the spare roof then went on a separate card building along with one of the lean-to's. I glazed the windows and then used a No.11 blade to break some of the panes of glass, the result was quite pleasing but it is easier to do do it from the inside. The thatched cottage can have to outside sanded smooth and covered with 'stone paper', the result looks very like a French cottage I found on line. The country inn can be covered in brick paper, it makes a good 'headquarters' building. You get a lot of windows in te Dapol kits so I fill in some with 2mm card, then use the spares elsewhere. For example the village shop can have the plate glass window back-dated by gluing on some pre-painted plasterer's scrim with PVA. On one I filled in the opposite window with card and covered the lot with brick paper to make a post office and telephone exchange. The roof isn't designed to be removable so I replaced it with one made from card. The same kit can be used for a village garage with one window opened up and filled with double-doors or you can fill both windows and add spare domestic windows from other kits to produce a double-fronted house. The church isn't bad but it is a bit big for my purposes so I fill in the opening for the extension with 2mm card with the stones drawn on with biro pressed down hard (just lots of small circles). Cover any remaining plain bits with teased out pan scrub decked out with dried tea leaves as 'ivy'. The garage is useable as is (but the Superquick is a better model for a railway) and the bungalow works as the garage owners house. I can build an entire village for the cost of a single resin cast wargames building. Being in my 70's this kind of messing around was how I got into modelling, the kids seem to like the results and I get to indulge in some relaxing nostalgia whilst making all the thinks I would have liked when I was ten.
I built my first Airfix shed in the 1960's and I have two or three of them in my kit stash. I have never seen anyone combine two kits together before but having watched your video I am tempted to try combining 4 into a double length two track shed.
Well, in all fairness, the instructions don't actually say that you can do that - I just floated it as a possibility. The instructions do say that you can combine two end-to-end or side-by-side, though, as you can see from this video, they don't really address all of the issues that you'll encounter when doing so. For 2 long and 2 wide, you'd really only need the 3rd and 4th sets for roof parts, as two sets will give you 2 lengths of side wall and 2 sets of front and back walls. Unfortunately the roofs would be a bit tricky to scratch build, given the split slope and the louvres. Good luck with whatever you decide to attempt!
Nice review of the kit and some handy pointers in there, thanks. I make up sets of toy soldiers to give away to less well off folks and in the UK the Dapol buildings are the cheapest available. The engine shed is currently on the bench, there was an article in Airfix Magazine in the 1960s combining two kits to produce an L shaped shed, double length on one side, single on the other. The plan is to replicate that to make a large factory building. The last time I did this I used the louvred roof on the short side and a card roof on the long, the spare roof then went on a separate card building along with one of the lean-to's. I glazed the windows and then used a No.11 blade to break some of the panes of glass, the result was quite pleasing but it is easier to do do it from the inside. The thatched cottage can have to outside sanded smooth and covered with 'stone paper', the result looks very like a French cottage I found on line. The country inn can be covered in brick paper, it makes a good 'headquarters' building. You get a lot of windows in te Dapol kits so I fill in some with 2mm card, then use the spares elsewhere. For example the village shop can have the plate glass window back-dated by gluing on some pre-painted plasterer's scrim with PVA. On one I filled in the opposite window with card and covered the lot with brick paper to make a post office and telephone exchange. The roof isn't designed to be removable so I replaced it with one made from card. The same kit can be used for a village garage with one window opened up and filled with double-doors or you can fill both windows and add spare domestic windows from other kits to produce a double-fronted house. The church isn't bad but it is a bit big for my purposes so I fill in the opening for the extension with 2mm card with the stones drawn on with biro pressed down hard (just lots of small circles). Cover any remaining plain bits with teased out pan scrub decked out with dried tea leaves as 'ivy'. The garage is useable as is (but the Superquick is a better model for a railway) and the bungalow works as the garage owners house. I can build an entire village for the cost of a single resin cast wargames building. Being in my 70's this kind of messing around was how I got into modelling, the kids seem to like the results and I get to indulge in some relaxing nostalgia whilst making all the thinks I would have liked when I was ten.
I built my first Airfix shed in the 1960's and I have two or three of them in my kit stash. I have never seen anyone combine two kits together before but having watched your video I am tempted to try combining 4 into a double length two track shed.
Well, in all fairness, the instructions don't actually say that you can do that - I just floated it as a possibility. The instructions do say that you can combine two end-to-end or side-by-side, though, as you can see from this video, they don't really address all of the issues that you'll encounter when doing so. For 2 long and 2 wide, you'd really only need the 3rd and 4th sets for roof parts, as two sets will give you 2 lengths of side wall and 2 sets of front and back walls. Unfortunately the roofs would be a bit tricky to scratch build, given the split slope and the louvres. Good luck with whatever you decide to attempt!
Great Video.... started my layout in 2020 (Covid year)... still not finished!... Ho Hum....