i managed to find some motivation. i made a command decision last night. first, i've decided that the only way i can get the roof right over the balcony, is to redo the front main roof panel, build the balcony roof, install it, and THEN shingle around it. that will also give me the opportunity to redo the stencil on the roof, because i blew the centering of it thinking it would be centered over the balcony roof. it's not. second, i decided to rebuild the stairway in the rear of the building, because the one i build before didn't take into consideration the 1/2" foundation, and consequently is a 1/2" short. i also decided to add more lights. stay tuned....
Don't underestimate what you can do Kevin. I've seen your work. Scratch building requires more thought and measurements than a kit, but the results will be uniquely yours.
thanks rick. thanks ed. i have a vdvd of a van morrison concert from belfast in 1972. it can only be viewed on a computer. i'll send it to you (but i want it back).
update: here's where i'm at today. i've made three attempts with three separate gooseneck lamps to add a light above the back door at the top the of the steps. last night was the last straw. i added about 6" of wire to the black and red leads from the rectifier to the gooseneck. got all the soldering done and tested it. it didn't work, in spite of me doing it exactly the same way as the last 6 leds, so.....screw it. the story is norton told his handyman to change the bulb and he keeps forgetting to do it. today or tonight i'll cut the plywood for a new front roof panel. i'll scribe it for the shingle lines and tack it on so i can build the balcony roof. when the balcony roof is built i'll mark it's dimensions on the roof panel, then i'll remove the roof panel and shingle it around the balcony roof frame markings. that way i can cut the valley on the bench and not have to try cutting it on the model. i'm waiting for shingles and stair stringers to arrive. i'm also thinking about scrapping the "base" and pouring a plaster foundation instead. if i decide to go that route i'll need to redo the front plank walkway, but that's not a big deal. i'm thinking about embedding small stones in the plaster so i have a stone foundation; more prototypical for the 1860s. that will require me going on a small stone safari to see what i can find locally. so the motivation has seemingly returned, and i'm pretty happy about that.
Take a look at the local pet shop for fish tank gravel. The salt water stuff comes in a variety of sizes...and is not too expensive. It can also be colored to some extent...it comes obviously in a coral color....
Kevin....awhile back I needed some modeling gravel and went to Lowe’s ( in your case Menards) and bought a 5 pound bag of crushed bedding stone for setting sidewalk pavers.... I sifted it thru three different size sifting screens and got a nice variety of sizes...color was off white/gray which is what I needed but wondered at the time about adding some chalk and shaking to add color to the rock Terry
Some very good advice here from your fellow modelers my friend. I have at least 6 unfinished projects I walked away from years ago for one frustrating reason or another. Someday I hope to get back to them as they will be needed on the layout. I have a tendency to just move along and work on something different, hence why some things never get finished. My present day's thoughts surround the waterfront and I'm determined to finish that scene completely. This will be the first totally completed area on the entire model railroad and since it's directly in the forefront to the viewer I'm focusing on that. Scenery, copious details, weathering, clutter, junk, figures and grime! This is a tall order and after spending all day down there yesterday scratchbuilding piers, I realized today that they probably won't work and may need to be totally redone. This is enough for me to take a small "creative sabatical" as I'm frustrated and need to rethink everything.
you want to talk about frustrating? try this on: i finished the lighting and started to attach the roof panels on. i found that i need to remove the right roof panel from the "north-south" roof and redo it because i got the angle of the valleys wrong and the roof panels don't sit right. so..... my good buddy ed sent me a kit. he thinks i can knock it out in two weeks. i scoff. i think i'm going to build it as a diversion. i need a break from this damn hotel.
Concerning the hotel, I will tell you what I'm constantly telling my "know it all modeler friends", otherwise know as the guys who talk a good game but do nothing. This is why I quit the club years ago. The best laid plans for any modeling project can always fall short in some fashion so don't get too frustrated. Consider what it takes to build a Sierra West kit in its entirety. There are so many steps and so many opportunities for something to go wrong but that's a learning curve, part of the hobby and ultimately a big part of the learning process. On another note, there are multiple ways to accomplish any such task and you must use those techniques that best suit you. I'm now beginning to understand and use acrylic craft paint on some of my models. 2 new boat kits are resin and I'm having fun with them.
welp..... here's a test of a stone foundation wall. sorting stones, mixing plaster, i just don't know if it's worth while. if i decide to press on with it, the plaster won't be as dark. is it worth it?
Kevin, I built Finescale Miniatures Engine House many years ago that had the individual stones for the foundation. After doing it I vowed to use some other foundation materials readily available, such as sheet plastic, plaster castings, resin castings etc. I wasn't really sold on the look of the stones. It is an individual preference however. It is very tedious placing all the stones to look good.
I'm certainly not opposed to taking the difficult path. I don't think the stones as you have them would make a convincing foundation. I would think that smaller stones would be packed in around the larger stones, or using a stacked stone look might be more appealing.
Another possibility for your test project, how would it look if you put a slurry of plaster over what you have done? It would look like cement was packed over the stones.
i demolished the base, but i managed to salvage to walkway boards so i didn't have to start completely from scratch. i finished that today and staged a photo with the side wall stone foundation. i think it turned out pretty good.
if you look to the area near the bottom left where the inlet is, you can see that i (using a surform) created a natural(ish) walkway to the pier, and a low lying area between that and norton's. i also rounded off the 'bank) of the river and made it more of slope.
getting the stone wall out of the 1/2"x1/2" stock forms was a real pita. i ended up breaking it but it glued back together nicely. the front and back walls won't work doing it the same way, so i'm going to use screws to put the forms together instead of wood glue. i'm also going to smear vaseline on the inside of the forms to make it as simple as possible to get the walls out of the forms. any better ideas will be welcomed....
Comments
i made a command decision last night. first, i've decided that the only way i can get the roof right over the balcony, is to redo the front main roof panel, build the balcony roof, install it, and THEN shingle around it. that will also give me the opportunity to redo the stencil on the roof, because i blew the centering of it thinking it would be centered over the balcony roof. it's not.
second, i decided to rebuild the stairway in the rear of the building, because the one i build before didn't take into consideration the 1/2" foundation, and consequently is a 1/2" short.
i also decided to add more lights.
stay tuned....
thanks ed. i have a vdvd of a van morrison concert from belfast in 1972. it can only be viewed on a computer. i'll send it to you (but i want it back).
here's where i'm at today. i've made three attempts with three separate gooseneck lamps to add a light above the back door at the top the of the steps. last night was the last straw. i added about 6" of wire to the black and red leads from the rectifier to the gooseneck. got all the soldering done and tested it. it didn't work, in spite of me doing it exactly the same way as the last 6 leds, so.....screw it. the story is norton told his handyman to change the bulb and he keeps forgetting to do it. today or tonight i'll cut the plywood for a new front roof panel. i'll scribe it for the shingle lines and tack it on so i can build the balcony roof. when the balcony roof is built i'll mark it's dimensions on the roof panel, then i'll remove the roof panel and shingle it around the balcony roof frame markings. that way i can cut the valley on the bench and not have to try cutting it on the model.
i'm waiting for shingles and stair stringers to arrive.
i'm also thinking about scrapping the "base" and pouring a plaster foundation instead. if i decide to go that route i'll need to redo the front plank walkway, but that's not a big deal. i'm thinking about embedding small stones in the plaster so i have a stone foundation; more prototypical for the 1860s. that will require me going on a small stone safari to see what i can find locally. so the motivation has seemingly returned, and i'm pretty happy about that.
Terry
my good buddy ed sent me a kit. he thinks i can knock it out in two weeks. i scoff.
i think i'm going to build it as a diversion. i need a break from this damn hotel.
here's a test of a stone foundation wall. sorting stones, mixing plaster, i just don't know if it's worth while.
if i decide to press on with it, the plaster won't be as dark.
is it worth it?
I built Finescale Miniatures Engine House many years ago that had the individual stones for the foundation. After doing it I vowed to use some other foundation materials readily available, such as sheet plastic, plaster castings, resin castings etc. I wasn't really sold on the look of the stones. It is an individual preference however. It is very tedious placing all the stones to look good.
Another possibility for your test project, how would it look if you put a slurry of plaster over what you have done? It would look like cement was packed over the stones.
if you look to the area near the bottom left where the inlet is, you can see that i (using a surform) created a natural(ish) walkway to the pier, and a low lying area between that and norton's. i also rounded off the 'bank) of the river and made it more of slope.
getting the stone wall out of the 1/2"x1/2" stock forms was a real pita. i ended up breaking it but it glued back together nicely. the front and back walls won't work doing it the same way, so i'm going to use screws to put the forms together instead of wood glue. i'm also going to smear vaseline on the inside of the forms to make it as simple as possible to get the walls out of the forms.
any better ideas will be welcomed....