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Sorry for the length of this post guy & girls, but in view of the interest on the forum in card kits, I thought a review-type “How to” would be useful. It’s compiled from tips I’ve picked up along the way, what I’ve learned from making a few kits and knowledge gleaned from using other materials.

Building The Metcalfe Parish Church
With some background to my learning exercise
Up to now, except for a few Superquick kits made about twelve years ago, my use of card has been limited. All I have made, as far as card is concerned, has been a couple of Metcalf Terraced Shop Fronts and a couple of Metcalfe Terraced Houses Fronts. Even these did not have their bay windows fitted. Not because I was incapable, but because the area I’m modelling were ex National Coal Board Houses and didn’t have bay windows.

As a virtual “card modelling virgin”, I thought it would be useful to record my attempt and make some helpful (hopefully) comments.

Preparation
And some of the things I’ve learned

1) Forget Metcalfe advice to detach all the parts from the sheets before you start! As far as I am concerned, all that does is take up time and leave you with a confusing heap of card pieces. Instead, detach the next set of bits whilst you wait for your work to start drying.

2) Do take heed of the advice to thoroughly check the kit and read through all the instructions. It really does help to know what you will be trying to achieve.

3) Forget the recommendation to use UHU clear adhesive, even with a narrow nozzle. Instead have a pot of water, a fine (I used a No3) brush, a tile or piece of glass and some Evo-Stick wood adhesive (any PVA adhesive will do, but Evo-stick grips quicker than most). When you are about to start gluing, squeeze a little glue onto the tile and use the brush to carefully apply. The water is to wash the brush as necessary and to thin the glue on the tile as it dries out and becomes impossible to use. Make sure you dry the brush on a rag each time you clean it, or you’ll dilute your PVA, which will become useless.

4) I found it useful to have a fine file, which I occasionally used to gently remove any card “flash” when pieces had been removed from the sheet.

5) Do take the advice Metcalfe give and use a modellers knife to remove the individual pieces from the sheet, it will make the above point much less necessary and lead to a good, clean job.

6) A couple of clothes pegs and a small tweezers (of the type that’s always closed when not in use) are a great help when you get to the stage that three hands would be useful.

A Review of The Church Kit
My thoughts and observations

I thought that this kit was quite a bit harder than the shop fronts and certainly harder than the house fronts!
Particularly fiddly was the construction of the Buttresses and I ended up having to repair one of these by gluing a piece of thin card inside one of the folds that I had broken!

I was unhappy with the look of the small Buttresses when I offered them up to the Tower and ended up using the on the chancel end of the Knave. I think they look right there and as it’s my model, I don’t care if I’m wrong!

I tried to make a stained glass window effect using the large East window, but after a spectacular failure, which resulted in my window looking like an abstract painting, I gave up and fitted the standard glazing. Perhaps I’ll come across some suitable pre-printed stained glass windows one day!

I thought that the instructions on fitting the Aisles to the main structure were a bit vague and would have preferred an exact indication of where they needed to go. A better way of attaching each Aisle (maybe like the way the Knave is fixed to the Tower) would also be useful. The instructions say “Place the Aisle on a flat surface and gently push the Aisle up against the church.” Now correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s not exactly precise guidance, is it?

When the Aisles are attached to the Knave & Chancel, the Aisle roof butts up to the walls of the main structure. Well they almost do on one side on my kit (the other side is fine). It can only be seen from directly above, but there’s daylight showing (just) between the roof and the wall. It would be easy to fix by having a “lead strip” piece in the kit to run across the gap, as per the prototype. I can make some (and I will), but it shouldn’t be necessary.

In my kit, the roof of the Knave & Chancel could have done with being a bit wider, as the edges do not reach the walls. Fortunately the capping strips hide this, but it’s a simple matter to get it right, so it must be recorded as a design fault.

I also thought that the tower end of the roof could do with a wall top inner, as provided at the other end, so I made one using the spare printed stone card provided. Pity it wasn’t part of the kit though!

On to the porch, which is easy to construct, but requires you to decide which wall you’ll fit it to. This will depend on how your model is sited and what is facing the viewer of the layout. However, this is not mentioned anywhere in the instructions. The method of fixing is the same haphazard method used to fix the Aisles to the main body … enough said.
One point to remember, which will save you some grief, is when you assemble the porch (fig 20) use the sequence: - stick base to walls, then inner stone to doorway, then bench to wall, then roof. This sequence is not mentioned in the instructions, but it’s the only way it all fits!

A final thought … We all know where the clock goes on a church don’t we? Just as well I suppose, because there is a clock included in the kit. Strange that there’s no instructions as to where to put it, even stranger that there’s not even a mention of a clock anywhere in the instructions!

A Personal Assessment
So what do I think of this kit?

As life is so short, it’s not possible (for me at least) to scratch-build everything. Much as I would like to scratch-build and super-detail every building, there must be room for both ready made and kit built structures on my layout. Based on this kit, I will be happy to include Metcalfe structures on The Western Valley Railway.

Here’s my assessment (with marks out of 10)

Completeness of Kit  9
Would like to have seen the things mentioned above added

Quality of instructions  9
Have seen a lot worse than this described as “Good”

Ease of build  7 – 8
There are easier Metcalfe kits, but this one is beyond nobody with care.

Quality of final structure  8
Robust and well-made kit that fits together well

Life-like look  7
Some will disagree, but no card kit will ever get more than 7 from me. As a Plasticard man, I miss the relief detail that a plastic (or resin) moulding gives. But this must be as good as card gets.

Overall Rating  8 to 9
I'll certainly be making use of more Metcalf kits in an effort to quicken progress, even if I do eventually replace them with my own scratchbuilt structures

Finally a few photos. The church is not yet quite in the correct location, but that will come - just give me time.





All I need to do now is colour in the scored edges, put the Lichgate together and build the completed thing into my scenery.

Here's some of the replies:-

Thanks Jeff.

A very nice article on what I'm sure is a very popular kit. You have made a nice job of building it, but like you I am really a Plastikard man, and the finished model still looks like cardboard to me.  I hasten to add that is no reflection upon your build quality; I just don't really like card buildings that much. They lack texture and never look as 'solid and heavy' as plastikard-built ones to my eyes.

Perry
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you can't please some people  (only joking)
I like the card kits, the boss also likes building them whilst watching the box. these card kits not only look good but also gives me a couple of hours piece and quite whilst she potters away. 10 out of 10 for the metcalfe kits (just for the piece and quite)
i have got this church still in the box, i will wait untill she is giving me a hard time then i will drag it out and give it to her. works every time
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MATT

Thanks Jeff, it looks excellent.

I really like these Metcalf kits and will go for more. Being nitpicking in a rivet counting sort of way, there are points that I think they miss e.g. where does the water go when it rains - no gutters, downspouts and so on, but that apart they always look good when viewing a layout as a whole. Being card I suspect they are easier to weather as well because unlike plastic you can use pencil crayons, but I do speak from inexperience there.

Interesting about the PVA glue but I will stick with UHU type stuff - I like the smell.   

I too will leave the pieces attached next time although when I detached them I wrote in pencil on theback what they were.

Lots of good advice in your article thanks.  

Les

(Answer to what Perry wrote: )

Hence the 7 marks for realism. I could not bring myself to go higher, even though this is a very good kit. At the end of the day, it's still card.

O well, build something that doesn't have much texture then I suppose.
How the hell do the Pendon guys do it?
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Jeff (Gwent Rail)
 

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  The Pendon guys do it slowly and are masters of card modelling.
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Bob

Very useful article, Jeff. Thanks for taking the time to do that  
I think with a bit of weathering, and some grass and trees it'll look very good indeed.
Mike
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I agree Mike. I know what Perry is driving at when he says about Plasticard, but as you say, weathering, adding some small details and then setting into the scenery. That's what will make the end result acceptable.

Jeff

The more I see of these card kits the more I like them. I am going to have to try some. I have always used plastic up until now but seeing how you and others on this forum have produced such excellent results I am now convinced. I had a go at a superquick kit, which was OK, but I do like the results from Metcalfe.

Novice

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  novice,yes they are good kits i have used both, metcalfe
are the better ones.   

Owen

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  Given unlimited time, good eyesight and endless patience, I would say that all my buildings are going to be scratch-built Plasticard.
Only the work of people like the Pendon team (not to mention our leader) cast any doubt on this.

However, for an acceptable quality at an affordable price I really am impressed with Metcalf.
Going back to what Mike said earlier, add a bit of detail, some light weathering, blend into the surrounding landscape and add some figures, trees and grass. The result? As good as, if not better than, many "exhibition" layouts you see around.

now nobody will get me to sell off my stocks of Plasticard, or stop buying plastic kits, but I've learned something here:-

Don't dismiss card as "inferior", the results can be outstanding

It's all in the hands of the builder eh Jeff.