The Modeler's Forum

I am currently in the process of building a Norwegian HO exhibition layout. The market for Norwegian models is very small. Point of fact, there are more Americans of Norwegian extraction living in the States than Norwegians living in Norway.

The only company specialising in Norwegian is NMJ and they produce a laser cut for a typical 1930's house which I have built. I planned to have a small street of them but as the house covers a plot of 676 square scale feet I would not have the real estate to fit many in. Here is a link  http://en.nmj.eu/1007245.html

So I have hit on a plan using forced perspective to fit about a dozen houses on the new layout in an area of 2 square foot. I reduced copies of the parts on my photocopier to 93%, 83%, 69% and 47% and I will attempt to scratch build the houses. I will have to probably build the windows myself certainly in the smaller sizes.

I hope to post a few progress reports as I go along.

Cheers

Mike :-\

Quote from: madharry on October 14, 2016, 12:28:46 PM
I am currently in the process of building a Norwegian HO exhibition layout. The market for Norwegian models is very small. Point of fact, there are more Americans of Norwegian extraction living in the States than Norwegians living in Norway.

The only company specialising in Norwegian is NMJ and they produce a laser cut for a typical 1930's house which I have built. I planned to have a small street of them but as the house covers a plot of 676 square scale feet I would not have the real estate to fit many in. Here is a link  http://en.nmj.eu/1007245.html (http://en.nmj.eu/1007245.html)

So I have hit on a plan using forced perspective to fit about a dozen houses on the new layout in an area of 2 square foot. I reduced copies of the parts on my photocopier to 93%, 83%, 69% and 47% and I will attempt to scratch build the houses. I will have to probably build the windows myself certainly in the smaller sizes.

I hope to post a few progress reports as I go along.

Cheers

Mike :-\

Mike,

I've always enjoyed following your builds. I'll be watching this one also.


Tom ;D

Have fun with the build Mike. :)

Stay cool and run steam....... 8) 8)

Following along Mike , should be a fairly easy job for you , except maybe the windows , certainly a lot cheaper then the kit price too, wow 58 euro's for a small house.

I bet there must be a few Eastern Canadian Coastal houses that would look the same.

MIke...

I'm along for the ride.

I'm always interested in European modeling.

thanx
Bob

Thanks for following Tom, Bob, Jan and Bob.

The model kit from NMJ is similar to the models from American Model Builders with slotted walls. The shingles were printed on very thick card (scale thickness 3 inches) and were way oversize (more O scale) so I replaced them with some cedar shingles from RS Laser.

Jan, there are 3 companies involved in the manufacture - NMJ, Skipsmodeller and Noch - hence the price.

It is striking how similar the houses are to the ones in North America bearing in mind that most houses in Norway are of wooden construction. I suppose the settlers arrived in America and thought I need to build a house and used the methods they were used to.

I am currently building two examples at 83% which is interesting with my limited access to materials. These will be houses 5 and 6 in the street viewed from the front of the layout.

I will post some pictures soon...

Cheers

Mike

Mike


I just found your thread - I will be following along.

Thanks John.

Here is the completed kit that I will make smaller copies of.

Mike

Here are the copies scratch built at 83%.
Mike

What I want to do is create a street scene with a path rising upwards towards my backscene. here are the houses posed on foam risers to create a forced perspective.

Mike

Onwards and upwards they say. here are the walls for the next house which will be smaller still. This time at 67%. Wish me luck.

As the houses become smaller I have to use more delicate materials to avoid the building looking clunky.

The most noticeable features of the "norwegian" window frame is a upper horizontal supported by the small supports either side of the frame. I am taking my time over the windows to recreate this look.

Mike

Mike,

Wonderful job on the houses. Are you doing a "forced perspective" by building them successively smaller?

I think they are very nice scratch builds.

Tom ;D

Thanks Tom.

Yes the idea is that I have about 18 inches of depth from the front of my new show layout to the back scene. I intend leading the viewer into the back scene by having a small street running uphill with houses either side of a path with steps etc. By having the houses getting progressively smaller I can condense the scene more. My aim is for 10 to 12 houses........... 8)

I will post more pictiures as I go along together with the completed scene or module that I hope to use on the layout.

Thanks again for following. I am really enjoying scratch building the little houses....

Besides I am using up a lot of spare cutoffs and other bits that I could not possibly throw away if you know what I mean (drives my wife mad) .  :)

Mike

Mike,


Great concept. I'm excited to see it develop.


John

It will be interesting to see what you do with the backdrop Mike , Maybe N-scale backdrop would work.

Thanks John and Jan for looking in. More to come over the weekend.

Mike

Looks great Mike.....I'll be watching.  8)

They look really well Mike! ;)

Thanks Greg and Pol.lux, I appreciate it.

Mike

I've always thought that this concept produces such a great effect that it is surprising it isn't utilized by more modelers. This is looking great Mike. I am curious as to how you are downsizing the windows for the 83 and 69% versions. Maybe they aren't styrene and you are building them board-on-board?

Very nicely done Mike. :)

Stay cool and run steam..... 8) 8)

Thanks Bob. I appreciate it so much.

Mike I'm finding the windows the biggest challenge my friend. First off I am doing an Earl Smallshaw. So I am only cutting windows into two walls, the unseen walls on my diorama do not have windows. The plus side is no one can say the house is not scratch built...

So far on the 69% copies, I have cut the mullions from plastic Tichy window frames and fitted them into the window spaces and then framed them with scale wood (2x4). A bit of a cheat but I fear I will have to go deeper on the 47% copies. But that is for another day.

Thanks for asking.

Mike  :)

However you are doing it they look great! When you get to the 47%, wouldn't "N" scale be about right? I think both Grandt Line and Tichy Train group sell them. I'm looking forward to the final scene- I'm thinking it will be a show-stopper. Maybe we will get to see it at the NMRA convention in a few years- in the meantime we will settle for some photos.

Yes Mike, the 47% ones should be close to N scale. I think I will have to scratch the windows though as supplies of Tichy windows in the UK are few and far between.
Thanks very much for the kind words.

Mike

Following on.

Here are the parts of the next house painted and fitted with windows. The walls that will not be seen have no windows a la Earl Smallshaw.

Previously on the 83% houses I used 0.5 mill plasticard to form the white gables. However this looked too large on this house so I have resorted to using 167 gm coated paper instead. Tip: I have found as the parts get smaller they seem to flick away on cutting them. Never to be found again. Now I cut the part covered with a polythene bag to prevent it being lost.

Mike

Nice tip on managing tiny parts!


dave

Thanks Dave we learn as we go along...........

Mike :'(

Moving on......... here are the parts for the next house to be completed.

Mike

The house goes together quickly........ the dormer is the most tricky thing to get right.

Carrying on.................. the rafter rails are attached extra long and when dry cut back. The concrete base is then attached finaly.

Here are the little houses so far........... 100%, 2 at 83% and 67%.

I need to complete another 67%, 2 at 47% and possibly one at 93%.

It is a bit like ground hog day!

Mike

These are some beautiful buildings.   It's a great idea making each one a bit smaller to give that illusion of depth.

Thanks Mark, I am really enjoying the challenge. I have to approach each size a little differently as the materials I have to use vary depending on the size of the windows etc..

Mike ;)

Here is the wall of another scratch built cottage at 67% of HO scale.

1. First the window apertures were cut from the wall.
2. I then glued acetate behind the windows on the back of the walls.
3. I then cut the mullions from scale 2x1 wood and secured with a small amount of glue.
4. I then then framed the windows with scale 2x4 wood.

Now just another three walls to go..................

Mike

Mike,

Great Job on the houses.

Tom ;D

Thanks Tom I appreciate it. My little town is growing all the time..............

Mike  ;D

Mike:

Great job so far and I'm following along.

Karl

Thanks Karl, I am enjoying the trip.............

Mike ;D

Continuing.......... here the completed with their scratched windows.

The Norwegian houses have little supports under the top of the frame. I make them by cutting a 2x8 into small triangles.

Before I finish the windows I add curtains made from plain white paper which I apply to back of each wall.

Here are completed walls. Note where the tip of my blade is, I have bevelled the top of the walls to better accept the roof. Also I have bevelled the bottom of the dormer wall to allow to sit correctly on the top of the roof.

Mike

Looking really good so far.
Excellent work Mike ;)

Thanks very much Pol.Lux.
MIke :D

Continuing.............

I added bracing using scrap wood to the rear of the walls at the sides and on the roof............... Then the fine corner posts which I attach long and then cut back and file to length.

The corner posts are some spare wood from an SRM kit - so probably by Mt. Albert - and measure 1/32nd square. Before I painted the wood I gave it a good sanding to remove the "fuzzies"!

Mike

Continuing......... here are the completed walls.

Next the dormer has the same treatment and the bevelled lower edge is cleaned up for a good fit on the roof.

The dormer sides are glued to the window wall and then the four walls are glued together.

Hopefully house #6 will look as good as house #5.

Mike

Very nice Mike , you do realize you'll have to do the whole layout in forced perspective don't you , that will be a treat to see .

Hey you are ahead of me! Yes that is my intention. I have photographs of both Bergen and Stavanger. They use mainly pantiles for roofing so I am going to buy some and continue the scratchbuilt story of Norway.

Thanks for looking friend.  ;)

Mike

Here are some more buildings I am hoping to copy..............

Mike

Mike


This is a really cool project.  I will be following along. The depth you are creating with the forced perspective is amazing.

Mike,

This just gets better and better. And, smaller and smaller. Great job my friend.

And to think, you and I finished way down the list of the old Forum Build Challenge.

Tom ;D

Thanks John. Originally I was going to use the standard photocopy reduction ratios of 93%, 83%, 69% and 47%. However as I have got more into the project I have decided to up the ante. Photocopying a 93% @ 83% creates a 77% and 83%@69% creates a 57% etc...........I could go on and on and on.....................

Mike  ;D

Thanks Tom, yes I agree just fancy...........All competitions are subjective and I am just doing this for myself. Thanks for your kind comments which I appreciate very much.

Mike :)

The houses look great.  I think it would be weird to build the same structure over and over.  I'd probably make the same mistakes over and over as well.   :) In the picture of the red shops, the one on the left appears to be tilting, is it just the picture?


Jeff

Jeff, the shops are in Bergen and yes it is tilting. While we were there they started shoring the building up with piling. They were originally old warehouses next to the shoreline and I think the waters are still seeping into the footings.

In actual fact my little houses are getting better as I make fewer mistakes. I do not find it boring as I have to constantly resize components to ensure the resulting house looks to scale.

Thanks for the questions.

Mike ;)

Following on..................... time to do the roof. The shingles were left over from an old SRM kit. I use double sided taped to affix them the roofs.

Continuing............... The gables were cut from plastic coated heavy paper. Before attaching the roof I painted the roof edges white and marked with a pencil where the rafter rails would be glued.

Continuing... the dormer was offered up to the roof. Care is taken to make sure it sits well before attaching it. The fancy cross pieces are added to the gables using very fine plastic microstrip. The rafter rails are applied long and then trimmed when dry.

Finishing up.............. here is the finished house with its grey twin at 69%.

And..............here she is with one at 93% that I finished while I was building this one.

Mike

I have just returned from the British NMRA Convention run by Kathy Millatt.

I picked some bargains including 11 packets of N scale strip wood and 3 packs of bass wood walls. It feels like I have won the lottery!

Now I can get started on the 47% size houses with the correct size wood.........later

Mike :D

Continuing...

It is getting harder. The start of two houses at 47% using the finer wood I was able to pick up yesterday.

The coin is a British Pound.

Mike

Looking good Mike..... 8)

Thanks Greg, the wife asked me would there be any smaller than these? I said without you buying me a digital  microscope, the answer would be no.

Mike

The windows and window frames have been scratch built. But before joining the walls together I decided the check on the width of the walls.

In the picture the cream walls are correct but the blue walls near the black pointer are not the same and need correction. This is the first time I have worked in anything but HO scale and the tolerances are very fine.

Mike ;)

Continuing..............

Here are the two 47% scratches with their walls glued together. After some careful fettling they are accurately square.........

The grey house is the original at 100%.

That's it for day I'm going to have a nice pale ale.

It has been awhile but here is the full complement of houses I intend building before the layout is constructed and I can visualize how they will fit into the scene.

Apart from the original kit - nearest in grey - the rest of the estate cost me nothing but time as I had all the wood and shingles lying around in my "never throw anything away" box.

Mike

Can't wait to see this on the layout Mike.

Thanks Jan. Let me know when you get your parcel.

Mike

Mike,

Those are really nice.

Tom ;D

Quote from: madharry on December 04, 2016, 03:33:29 PM
Thanks Jan. Let me know when you get your parcel.

Mike

They tried to deliver on Saturday but was not home , I can pick it up tomorrow .

Quote from: ACL1504 on December 04, 2016, 05:18:47 PM
Mike,

Those are really nice.

Tom ;D

Thanks Tom, my friend.

Mike :)

So many houses!  They look great.  It will be cool to see how they fit into the scene.

Jeff

hanks Jef, I am really looking forward to the challenge of placing them into a scene.

Mike  ;)

Mike, I love the idea of having all those small houses in the diorama.

Marty

Thanks Marty, I appreciate it.

Mike  :)

HI Mike:

You've been a very busy man. They all look grat.

Karl

hanks very much Karl, I really enjoyed the challenge of making them progressively smaller.
Mike

Mike,
Nice work !  ;)
Tommy

Thanks once again Tommy.

Mike  ;D