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Comments
Nationals red perhaps Ed.
Anyway...I trimmed up all of the walls. Overall I'm happy with them right now. I've been re-thinking using water to swell the boards. I'm concerned about loosening glue and warping the backing. Right now I'm thinking a light sanding on the bottom 1/3 of the wall and adding paint with sponge or fan brush on top 1/3 of wall. This should give the transition I'm looking for. There are also a few boards that stand out here and there that need some extra attention.
Above the walls are my test boards for a gray wash. I'm going with enamel, once again to reduce warping. I only had 4 shades of gray though. Probably give a drybrush of light gray/tan when done.
I'll finish the trim, doors, stenciling, individual board treatment, etc before moving on to the wash.
The rot is in about the only place where it would be visible at ground level on this building. Yes, right there by the oven.
And yes, it does work if you apply water to the boards you can lift more paint with tape. In case anyone wants to try it. I applied a drop of water and spread it with my finger. Let sit for minute or so then use Scotch tape to lift paint. Comes off in very small bits.
I'm almost at a stopping point on these walls. I used a very thin dark gray wash over the entire wall. Once dry I did a light sanding to bring out the grain. You can see that some of the knots are now too light. Easy to touch those up. I'll get the door track and windows installed today.
Final weathering will likely include adding some drybrushing and/or chalks for highlights. Streaks below lettering. Mold around the rotted area. Final weathering can't take place until the castings that attach to the wall and around the wall are installed.
Ed, don't worry offending. You are right that we interpret these structures as we like and most are not fully accurate. I think about how painting transitioned from Realism to Impressionism. I think most of us model somewhere in between. I do like a random tire/block/washing machine thrown on a roof just because it looks cool.
Please continue to add any/all comments. I appreciate them all. No need to worry about offending.
One of my favorite modelers was Geoff Nott. He extensively modeled missing boards/roof bits to expose the framework underneath. I like that look and it is something I try to incorporate in moderation. I've attached a couple of his photos from Mario's site below.
The Pattern Shop is at a stopping point at this time. Further work will continue once other parts of the kit arrives. I was pleased with the paint and the gray stain. Did not care for the way the windows set in for me, but I worked them until they were satisfactory. I did close the hole a bit. I do want to see the framing below, but it kind of got out of hand. I added some graphite to the inside of the door track...kind of thought that was necessary. I added an area of rot on the roof which will be below the water tank.
Started a test section of slate roof for me to experiment with along with a test section of cobblestone.
I like the bit of early rotting and decaying happening on the partially exposed bottom plate in your wall photo.
http://www.craftsmankituniversity.com/vanforum/uploads/imageupload/167/U1UD1U6FR8G4.png
The slate roofing and cobblestone experiments are looking great as well. Slate looks spot on.
As time permits tell us more about how you are creating the slate: materials used, sizes and colors; plus the materials used to create the random cobble stone paver.
Thanks, Dave S. Tucson, AZ
Thanks Dave. Your email was spot on.
I think the slate can work on this roof given the size and shape. I wanted to try it on O'Neills but it just looked out of place. The slate, cobblestones, edging, etc are all plaster and molds. Molds came from diorama debris and plaster came from Merlins Magic Plaster. I used a combination of light gray and dark gray plaster. Part of the experimenting is to find the right coloration and weathering. I divided my test roof into quarters and will start trying different techniques to see if I can get it to look like I want it to.
So far my preferred color of slate is using dark gray plaster with 5 drops of black paint added. Paint the molds a gray/green and gray/blue then pour the plaster. 1 tblsp plaster to 4.5-4.7 ml water per sheet of 30 tiles. They are super thin. Maybe scale 1". Dental plaster is a must. Regular plaster won't be hard enough for something this thin.
The molds are 1:35 so the slate tiles are scale 32.6 X 16. On the big side but not out of the question. The cobblestones are 11.5 X 5.75. Once again, on the big side but not out of the question. The reason they appear to be random sized is that my plaster was too thick on this pour and I left air bubbles in the mold resulting in different sizes. But I like the smaller ones so I need to trim up the base so they are a uniform size at top and bottom. Not easy as this is dental plaster and quite hard. I'll pour a few more sets (and I ordered another size as well) and glue them in place, fill in with dirt and see how it looks.
The edging/curb is a scale 11.5" tall. A little taller than I would like. Might be easier to alter the height of the diorama vs sanding down a bunch of curb pieces. The larger pieces forming a cross in the middle are pieces of wall stone. These pieces are meant to be the cap and there are different thickness wall stones. Just toying around with a possible pattern in placement here but several of the larger blocks laying around on the diorama might look cool.