1/35 scale NISSEN hut

[Okdoky]

Hi folks

Made a move to start on the base and founds for the hut and gathered together the materials

Wood for shuttering a concrete base, all purpose filler for the concrete, aimes tape (used for covering joints in plasterboard to skim coat with plaster) to act as a bit of reinforcement through the plaster mix, thin but stiff metal strips that were shaped to form the bows.

Filler was a lot harder to get flat than I had thought as the mix would not self level

Bows laid in to get a feeling for the shape and size

Cardboard cut out, agian to get a feel for the shape. Am considering finding a foam board to cut out the front and rear panels which I want to make up as brickwork.

Corrugated tin foil for the sheeting

My hut should scale out at 24 foot span and 30 foot length. Just got to wait for the filler to set hard and give it a smooth down flat.

The frame should look like this (although set on a concrete base, not timber).

Nige

Edited April 16, 2010 by Okdoky

[CPNGROATS]

Wow, your model is looking like the real deal....the corregation technique is very clever, did you make the jig for that?? What "scale" are you modeling?

Thanks for sharing,

Cheers,

ggc

[Okdoky]

Hi GGC

This is what I used

I bought three of them from The Works, book, arts and craft shop for £0.99 each and cut the sides off and glued the three together.

The cut off sides were glued on the back to strengthen the jig.

Glad you like

Nige

[CPNGROATS]

Nige,

thank's for the information. BTW, what was the original purpose of the 'tool', making "corregations" for some type of craft projects...? Your splicing togeather allowed for larger runs of simulated roofing material...Very clever indeed,,

S.B. Cheers,

ggc

[Okdoky]

GGC

The item is a oil or acrylic paint tube squeezer from the arts and crafts section. It was easy to cut and took super glue very well.

Thanks

All the best

Nige

[CPNGROATS]

A tube squeezer eh? I could use that in the B.R. for toothpaste..8-), I already use the wife's hair dryer for drying applied paint...and clear coats...

Cheers,

ggc

[Okdoky]

Where I am this morning

The work force are skiving and I am nackered myself

Time for bed and get some sleep.

Nige

[Guest snipersmudge]

this is so cool! great start and great idea

[Okdoky]

this is so cool! great start and great idea

Thanks mate

Nige

[T-Tango]

This is starting to come along really well.

[Okdoky]

Hi Folks

Hi Nick,,,,,,,,,,,, No probs on where to post, I was just unsure if I was just missing where other folks would post dios.

The build crew finished their fags and got the bits together to start erection !!!!!! OOOoo er Matron !!!!!!!

It does help if you remember to get the right glue for the job ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, all my aroldite appears to have gone off and the hardener is not doing any good what-so-ever to set the bleeding bows onto the plaster floor. It remains gooee even after hours and that was with the recommended mix.

I have attempted to follow a similar method of jointing the purlins to the bows by forming u bolts of wire which I have fed through the timber and simply twist to lock around the metal bows.

Getting the holes in the metal bows proved impossible and I risked splitting the only metal bows I have (and no spare metal of the thickness or type in my shed left) so instead I drilled the timbers through

Only got two of the five timber purlins on as it is quite fiddily to get the stiff metal bows to all sit true and in line without some lift or movement. Placed the sections of tin on for effect though I will be cutting these to scale ten foot lengths for the out side skin with 5 ten foot panels making one have circle scale two foot wide

Phot of Cultibraggan Camp (POW camp from 1939 and held Rudolph Hess for a period)

Hope to get this effect with th ehorizontal interior corrugation

Nige

Edited March 19, 2010 by Okdoky

[Okdoky]

Was so nackered trying to get the metal bows to sit upright while the glue set and while getting the first two purlins attached by wire and glue to all five bows. Woke up to find the glue had finally set and miracle of miracles the bows stayed vertical ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, RESULT.

Wondered if I could get away with just wiring the remaining timber purlins to the bows ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, RESULT and the whole thing feels real solid too.

Short U bolt fed through the timber

Layed over the bow and a single bend on each free end of the U to trap the metal bow. Surprisingly tight grip with just a light crimp with pliers to flatten the loose ends against the timber.

The top five purlins on but need to source more timber of the same thin profile for the two bottom purlins at floor slab level.

The erection crew are checking out their handy work

Test fitting the inner sheet with horizontal corrugations

With outer skin over test

Not sure if to put a window on the side of this one cause I would have to plan the sizes around the window. Also there seems to be a few choices of window types and sizes to consider.

I think I might keep this one simple and do brick faced ends with the windows and doors (both ends or door one end still not sure).

A stove in the middle like this one if enough time.

Did Scottish POW camps give the prisoners electric lighting in the huts, at the door external or none at all? Also what colour is likely to have been used for the outside tin during early WW2 1940? Current Cultibraggen camp has brown tin and white wash brick ends.

All for tonight

Nige

[Murdo]

A stove in the middle like this one if enough time.

Did Scottish POW camps give the prisoners electric lighting in the huts, at the door external or none at all? Also what colour is likely to have been used for the outside tin during early WW2 1940? Current Cultibraggen camp has brown tin and white wash brick ends.

All for tonight

Nige

Hi Nige,

Are you sure that pic's from WW2? I spent time in quite a few of these palaces in "The Mob" and I'm pretty sure Cultibraggan was one of them. That was in the early 1980's.

Point is: Good enough for Jocks / Squaddies but you wouldn't dare keep Prisoners in them. "Yuman Rights" and all that, y'know.

[Okdoky]

Hi Murdo

I think the last of the two pics you have in your own reply is the colour of the huts as they are just now but I think that photo was taken before the current owners tarted up the paint before letting them out as small business units for the local community. What I meant was does anyone know if that colour was based on the original colours they were painted at the start of the war.

Human rights ,,,,,,, war ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, interesting consept !!!!!!!!

I was thinking the Gerries and Iti's would maybe have a couple of pendant lamps in the middle of the hut but power controlled from a central point in the camp if there was likely hood of air raids. After all, would the guards not need to see how many prisoners they had in a block or be able to search it without having to depend on torches?

Cheers

Nige

[Murdo]

Yeah, the "Yuman Rights" bit was made in jest Nige.

Will this be ready for the Scots Nats?

I'm sure that's me suffering to the right of the stove though.

I do remember that once upon a time in a Nissan Hut we had to light up HexiBurners to get enough heat and light and warmish food.

Gizza medal!

[Okdoky]

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah?

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

You're right there, Obadiah.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

A cup o' cold tea.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Without milk or sugar.

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

Or tea.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

In a cracked cup, an' all.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son".

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Aye, 'e was right.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Aye, 'e was.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor!

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake.

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Cardboard box?

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

Aye.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.

ALL:

They won't!

[Mike]

I thought this was going to be a thread about a new car from the Japanese car manufacturer. Isn't it Nissen? Either way, it should look good when done. Will it be getting some rust on the wriggly tin, or are you going to have it spick & span?

[Okdoky]

I thought this was going to be a thread about a new car from the Japanese car manufacturer. Isn't it Nissen? Either way, it should look good when done. Will it be getting some rust on the wriggly tin, or are you going to have it spick & span?

Hi Mike

I am trying to figure out what colours to use on the outside but am thinking that this is supposed to be a fairly new hut to house those of the opposition that decide it is better to live on our side of the pond than go up in a wee puff of smoke trying to limp home.

So spick and span might be the order of the day with white painted kerb stones. Got a long way to go before I get to adding a little landscape around it.

Nige

[Mike]

I imagine it'd be fairly good looking when new, but I can't imagine they'd expend much effort on keeping it that way once the residents were ensconced... that was way before the days of coddling prisoners - no TVs in their cells back then!

[Okdoky]

Looking at a site about another POW camp, the style of nissan hut, including electricity connection appears to have a standard the UK followed on each camp so i will go with the Cultybraggen photo. Since my reference so far has been based on Cultybraggen camp and it was supposedly there right at the beggining of the war, I might try to call the firm that is leasing the units to see if they have a potted history or even more photos to confirm the colour at the start of the war.

If all else fails I might just go on a basic brown or green.

Starting to cut and fix the inner sheets keeping them between the bows. I may cut and fold thin strips of tin foil to glue the edges of the sheets to so that the sheets are all in line behind the bows as in the original (hiding my stiff metal bows behind new bows).

Nige

[Okdoky]

Here is where I am at by the end of the weekend. I have put my 1/32 Renault Traffic van up against it to show the potential for use in both war time and current period dioramas with a world wide usage.

Going off to bed soon as nackered from two overnight sessions of modelling and Xbox 360.

Work tomorrow.

Nige

[TonyT]

The Airmans mess at RAF Macrahanish was built out of a couple of these when I visited in the late 70's.................. swore then and there If I ever, ever got posted there I would top the officer giving me the posting notice, followed by myself... The accomodation was not a lot better, the rusting baths looked like they had been salvaged from the Titanic, indeed the station looked like that run down abandoned whaling camp on South Georgia the Argies made a big fuss over, only not as well looked after......

[Okdoky]

The Airmans mess at RAF Macrahanish was built out of a couple of these when I visited in the late 70's.................. swore then and there If I ever, ever got posted there I would top the officer giving me the posting notice, followed by myself... The accomodation was not a lot better, the rusting baths looked like they had been salvaged from the Titanic, indeed the station looked like that run down abandoned whaling camp on South Georgia the Argies made a big fuss over, only not as well looked after......

Macrahanish

Some fine memories of ATC camp there and other camps plus my time with the TA days. In good weather or bad. These buildings did their job well and were a testiment to their simple design that they lasted so long.

Now Squaddies get all the creature comforts going and maybe it is about time too. ESPECIALLY as this is their job 24/7 !!!!

Next time I do a nissen hut though, I will simply lay the internal sheets overlapping the bows then lay the purlins on top. As you can see I have gaps that will not be seen when it is all closed up, but I will know they are there.

If I had used wider bows and cut the corrugated sheets all the same width first and set each bow individually they may have been without gaps. My fiddling about in the plaster getting the bows to stand vertical has put the allignment out fractions enough to cause unevenness.

BUGGER

Ah well in the knowledge box for later use !!! Too far on nd too tight deadline to alter now.

Thanks Tony and all for looking in on my build

Nige

[CPNGROATS]

Nige: sounds like your progressing along the HUT learing curve quite nicely....

Hut Hut Cheers,

ggc

[Okdoky]

Hi folks

I got directed to a great article on how to make brick and stone using cork sheet cut to size and then using spackle (I presume in the UK is common building plaster).

This is where I am at tonight and a bit of the route I took was by pure chance after deciding to shred a piece of junk mail at home.

I took an A4 sized sheet of the cork and chucked it in the shredder ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, hey presto ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 6mm wide strips (ok some a bit skew wiff probably cause our shredder is well used and abused).

I marked out a 2mm by 6mm box on two parallel lines to act as a guide

Metal streight edge to hold the cork and guide my blade

A sharp blade would be a boon but as my work shed in a mess and me bringing stuff back into the house to work on I am using the blade at hand (NOT AS SHARP AS COULD BE).

A few cuts later and a heap of brick shims to make a facing for my hut.

Nige