Page 26 - NMRA Roundhouse November-December 2019

Petite Properties - OO Scale Kits
Mike Carter
PRODUCT REVIEW
t Ally Pally I came across a stand selling some inter- esting OO scale kits.The company – Petite Proper-
ties – originally started out making dolls houses. However recently they have branched out and now produce kits in various scales. I purchased a few and put them away for a “future” project. How- ever my interest was sparked by their latest offerings which I discovered at the Warley show.They now produce ten low relief or background kits called “Memory Lane” and a further eleven full size kits.
Apart from their church which my wife Jenny considers takes up too much pre- cious “real estate”, I have purchased the complete range. Compared to the Amer- ican kits I am used to buying these little beauties are really cheap! They range in price from a charming kit the Old Lych Gate priced at £2.99 to the Blacksmith’s Arms at £13.99.
All the parts are laser-cut and consist of walls in 2mm MDF, card for roofing, fas- cia panels and window sills together with printed acetate windows.A plastic tube is supplied to make the chimney pots. You could decide to upgrade these by purchasing some cast pewter chimneys as sold by Freestone Model Accessories – four nice pots for £2.00.
Everything fits together perfectly and
I suggest a fine tipped applicator filled with PVA.The floors come with pre- drilled holes to allow you to illuminate the interiors.The “shops/businesses” are also furnished with a window display interior for you to decorate.
The thing that sets these kits apart is that you the modeller have to provide or decide how you finish the walls and roofs. Being 2mm MDF the walls will not warp and you could use a fine skim of plaster and then scribe the walls to replicate a stone finish.
In the simplest way you could just use a brick paper. A more expensive option would be to use one of the many excel- lent finishes offered by Redutex sheets. For tiling the roof there are several options.You could make your own tiles out of card. Chris Nevard of Model
Rail decorated his model of Blackberry Farm using tiles made from “junk” mail. You could also use Redutex finishes or a cheaper option would be the download- able tiling from Scalescenes.
The instructions in the kits give guidance how you cheaply replicate various wall treatments. On my pub, the Blacksmith’s Arms, I have tried thatching the roof. The roof on this model is 2mm MDF and thus will not warp.The kit instructions suggest using DAS Air Dry Clay to repli- cate the thickness of thatch followed by a liberal sprinkling of Woodland Scenics static grass.
Here are the contents of the kit. I glued the walls together and then painted the window surrounds and quoins clay.
Example of a build - Gardener’s Cottage. The following is a step by step guide
to constructing and decorating one of these fine kits.This one involves a simple pebble dash.
I added some brick paper sheet to the front porch area before gluing the quoins and window surrounds to the cottage.
I added a similar brick covering to the back porch before securing the windows inside the model.
26 ROUNDHOUSE - December 2019
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