TERRY SMITH builds the Fordhampton OO Scale Farmhouse/Holiday Cottage.
The GM411 Fordhampton Farmhouse is another versatile kit that can be used in many locations, but obviously in a more rural setting. That said many towns old high street still feature a thatched cottage amongst more modern buildings.
The most obvious use would be of a farmhouse on one of the smaller farms that are such an integral part of our green and wonderful land. A cameo like our header shot would make a nice corner filler, just add one of the many OO barns available and the scene is set. The Holiday Cottage idea came from Ian, who stayed in something similar on a family holiday to the West Country not so long ago - a thatched roof cottage should be able to find its way onto most layouts, regardless of era or area.
Alongside the kit there are a few, but not so expensive things you will need to help you during the kits construction, some of which will be of use for many years to come. Shown in the picture above is a A4 Cutting Mat, a single knife out of the Triple Pack Trimaway Knife Set and a Flexible Steel Rule. Also shown are various Humbrol paints a small to medium paint brush and my own personal choice of adhesive the Faller Expert Glue. You of course may have your own favourite brand but I like the control you get from the small steel applicator tube on this glue.
This kit is a lot simpler to put together compared to the GM411 Fordhampton Surgery but does included two free standing buildings which are built separately, the main farmhouse and a smaller out-building. The mouldings are in just two colours – white for the walls and a beige colour for the thatched roof parts. The sides of the building just butt together and the cutting mat has a useful grid to make sure it all is square.
Again, we feel it is easier to paint what you need to with the parts still attached to their sprues. In the top picture above we can see the before and after of details on the out-building have been picked out in Humbrol AXA0237 Gloss Black paint. The next picture shows how some of the patterns on the thatch can be highlighted by dry brushing in a darker matt brown. Finally, the chimney pots can be detailed using a brick colour for the pots and the brickwork then using the stone coloured paint for the pointing -same as we used in the Surgery build up.
The porch on the main building has had the lower brickwork and the roof picked out with Humbrol AXA0775 Brick Red, while the door has been painted AXA0237 Gloss Black.
Finally many cottages end up covered in ivy. We have just treated one corner of the building, but just look at real ones when you are next out in the countryside - some of them are almost covered all over, even the roof! This effect is easy to apply, just paint on a white glue such as Speedbond exactly where you want your ivy to be, and then sprinkle on your foliage of choice. In this case we used Dark Green Leaves from the Gaugemaster Scenic range.