Tony O'Hagan - Leisure pages
Advice for Brickplayer beginners
So you have just acquired some Brickplayer. You may have a complete, or more or less complete kit,
in which case you should just study the instruction booklet and off you go.
Except you should also look at the building techniques page for some
tips and guidance.
However, you may just have an assortment of bricks, windows and other bits. You may be lacking
the instruction booklet; you may be lacking blueprints; you probably don't have all the bricks and
windows that would have come with the original kit. Never fear! There is information on this website
to get you started.
Booklets and blueprints
All the booklets and blueprints for the different versions of Brickplayer are available here for you to
download. If you have traditional red-coloured bricks, go to the
Standard Brickplayer page. If your bricks are a lighter, beige
colour, then go to the Contemporary Brickplayer page.
Download and study the relevant instruction booklet (and get the blueprints) and
check that you have enough bricks and windows of the required sizes to make one or more of the models.
Bricks, windows and doors
These are the main elements of Brickplayer. If you do not have enough for the model(s) you want to build,
the simplest solution is to look out for kits on offer at sites such as eBay. Partial kits, and even
just assortments of pieces are often offered, and can be used to top up what you already have. Remember
that bricks that have been stuck together can easily be separated by soaking in warm water.
Roofing
Kits acquired online will often lack much of the roofing, or have damaged pieces from models that a previous
owner has made. An excellent source in this case is model shops or websites that cater to O gauge railway
enthusiasts. Sheets that are made to look like tiling or concrete are readily available.
And don't forget to look at the building techniques page for advice.
In particular, it deals with how to work out the shapes and sizes for pieces of roofing if you
have to make the roof from scratch.
Beams
Wooden beams are also often missing from partial kits sold online. It is important that beams have a
½" by 7⁄32" cross-section, and this can be hard to find.
Fortunately, these can be obtained at the required length by emailing
Jeff Kearey
Finally, I will always help out if I can, using spares from my own collection of pieces. Happy building!
Links
The Brickplayer home page has links to other pages in this Brickplayer website.
More links: This Brickplayer website sits within my personal website tonyohagan.co.uk. The links below
provide access to the other parts of my website.
Updated: 18 October 2024
Maintained by: Tony O'Hagan
