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Quincy Salvage

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Comments

  • Wow, Bill!

    It's interesting to me that rubbing in the dirt to fill the board joints along with the subsequent wetting to "fix" it did not obliterate the old oil stains effect you achieved with the shoe polish. The finished floor looks very realistic and your step-by-step description along with how you fixed things you did not like provides an excellent tutorial and one I'll bookmark for future reference. Thanks!
  • Bill,

    You are a wizard - as usual .. .. .. ..

    Respectfully,
    John
  • edited October 2014
    Thanks guys. I hope at some point you're able to try this stuff out.
    Here's the last part--oil and grease on the floor. Repeatedly adding A/I in a splotch might work, but it wouldn't show a build up of old and new oil spots. AK Ammo has a set of "Engine Oil" colors that work great for this:
    http://www.ammomigjimenez-usa.com/weathering-sets/176-engines-set.html
    However, you don't need to buy that specific set. But it's pretty convenient.
    In a nutshell, the look of really old oil stains can be achieved by using a flat black color. Older grease and grime has a matte gray tone. And fresh oil spills are more brown and glossy giving them a wet appearance. All of these are enamels that I thinned with mineral spirits.

    To start, I made large spots in each of the bays with a flat black that was thinned a lot (maybe 4 or 5 parts thinner to 1 part paint. It showed up, but not well in pictures. I followed that with a couple more applications but with less thinner:

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    Next, I added a layer of newer oil stains using a black-brown enamel that had more of a satin finish to it. I dabbed these on in small random blobs within the same area. When dry, it'll look newer than the older, flat color previously applied:

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    Then came a layer of a gray color (AK calls it "Engine Grime").

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    I kept building up layers like this adding them in with varying amounts of thinner. Finally, I topped it off with fresh oil stains (a gloss brown color). I used a really small brush and added the stains as tiny drips, dots, and irregular blobs. This is one of those things where it's hard to remember when to stop--less is more.

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  • I can smell the grease...
  • Bill, ditto what Brett said. I feel the need to get out the orange hand cleaner. Wonderful work.

    Dave
  • Really, really effective layering, Bill. What a great "how to" description.
  • edited November 2014
    Bill, like what you have done here. But wouldn't the oil stains shape be a bit more irregular? As if the cars were different in length and where the leaks came from? Or it leaked coming into the space? Would the tires trail oil coming in/out? How about leaks in the backend of the car? Something to think about.

    Marty
  • Truly cool- this is why I always say to people forget going to the art gallery - this hobby is where you see real creativity and artistry
  • Wow Bill, you made some great progress in a short time.
    Your details are amazing and looking a lot like the details I have seen by Anders Malmberg.
    It is this kind of detail that I have in mind for my speed shop, and because of that you are a great inspiration for me. Unfortunately I have a lot of other interests in H0 scale as well so the garage have to wait for a while.

    Keep up the good work and I follow along
    DJ
  • Thanks for the feedback guys.
    Marty--that's a good catch on the oil spots. But, my fear was over doing it (which I did in the middle stall, so I left the other two alone) The oil stains should probably have more of an elliptical shape--closer to the one on the right. I'm going to have an engine on a pallet that's being rebuilt and leaking fresh oil all over, and a vehicle in the other small bay. I may leave the larger bay on the right empty (or at least have no vehicle in it) but have it cluttered with various car parts: radiators, tires, fenders etc.

    DJ--the progress actually took a long time and I've been slow to post and catch up. A lot of the small detail parts are the same as those seen in Malmberg's garage.
  • I like the AK products also. They give a very predictable finish.

    Nice job putting the stains right where they should be.
  • Bill, that is great. Special thanks for going through your step by step process. I really like the overall effect.

    Respectfully,
    John
  • Hi Bill,

    I am not for sure what you will come up with next. The details you keep on coming up with and how to do them is amazing. Lots of thinking outside the box. Right now you are setting a very high bar for everyone that is modeling.
    Great job.
    Jim
  • edited November 2014
    Bryan, John, and Jim--
    Thank you for the nice comments and for following along! Here's one more SBS for the next part: garage doors. There are 4 10 foot doors for the two left stalls and 2 12 foot doors for the big truck stall on the right. I made the smaller doors out of 2x10 stripwood and modeled them to look used and abused:

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    I may have overdone it with the door on the left! The door on the far right is supposed to show signs of repair with the newer plank and support boards. I'm not sure if I like it. Thoughts? I can see already that I made a mistake on the bolts--those need to be on the left hand side where the hinge will be.

    For the 12 foot doors, I used larger 2x12 planks and more solid framing in an attempt to illustrate how much bigger and heavier they are compared to the 4 smaller doors (and next to an HO figure). The process for building all the doors is pretty much the same. I start by distressing the wood, adding additional color to the bottoms, sides and split areas and arrange them in an order that looks good. A piece of double sided tape holds them to the glass as they're lined up against 2 angle blocks:

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    Top and bottom frame supports are glued in place followed by the sides and middle.

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    The angled support is added next. After the glue dried, I drilled pilot holes for the NBWs and carefully secured them with a tiny amount of white glue.

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    I dusted the support pieces with some raw umber chalk (408.7) to age them a bit.

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    Next, I created some shadows and grime build up around the supports. Raw Umber 408.3 is a real dark brown--almost black color. I mounded it up in the shadowy areas then, using a fine tipped brush, added clean alcohol to the boards and let it wick up into the pile of chalk until the chalk was completely wet.

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    After the alcohol had dried completely, I went back and dry brushed everything with some craft paints (Folk Art Barn Wood and Light Gray in this case).

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    Finally, to bring the deep grain out a little more, I used a real fine tipped brush (10/0) and AK Dark Brown wash. I kept the paint pretty thin and since it's an enamel it didn't disturb or blend with the acrylic craft paints previously applied. I just touched the tip to the grain and let the paint wick into the recessed spots. Kinda hard to see the difference from this picture compared to the previous one.

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    I still need to add some sliding door latches to the inside and the hinges (made from thin plastic) to the back sides.
  • Bill ~ Thank you very much for taking the time to document this excellent SBS for the doors. It will be an extremely useful lesson/guide for everyone following your Quincy build regardless of the extent to which they wish to depict wear and tear on their own specific project.

    Question on the repaired large door - I may be missing something but if you installed the bolts for the hinges on the wrong side then based on the small doors does the diagonal brace on the repaired door run the wrong way?
  • Bill, another great tutorial. Even though you are talking about old beat-up doors, the lessons learned can apply to just about anything. I'm traveling right now and can't work on my project, but I can continue to learn by watching the other projects.

    Thanks again. Phil
  • edited November 2014
    Phil-
    Tomorrow's Friday so hurry up and get home so you can get back the Woodcutter's shack!

    Question on the repaired large door - I may be missing something but if you installed the bolts for the hinges on the wrong side then based on the small doors does the diagonal brace on the repaired door run the wrong way?
    You know what, Brian? You're exactly right. Good catch!

    Dang it! I had changed door locations once and had already flipped over and re-weathered the second door from the left. I got them in the order that I thought would look best but didn't take into account how it affected the pattern of the angled supports. (In fact if you look close, you can see that door #2 was originally designed to be the other way...see how it's really chewed up on the top):

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    *sigh*...
    I just went and pasted the doors up in their locations on the garage:

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    This is one of those times where I'm gonna call it "close enough". I think unless you were really looking for it, you'd never be able to tell that the pattern is in the opposite direction from door 1 to door 2.
  • Hey, Bill, I think the entire project is really fantastic and I enjoy reading about your building and detailing methods.

    Now for some fun if a nitpicker comments on the variance to the doors just tell them that even back in those days good, competent help was hard to come by and the contractor paid to do the repairs was a no good rogue you had to chase out of town!
  • Exactly!
    About as hard as finding a good competent model builder!!!

    Well, here's one more illustration of how a fresh set of eyes can catch things that you miss.
    Thanks again for your kind words, too Brian. Very much appreciated!

    Bill
  • Bill, remember that the beginning of this build you told us that the "ol' man" who owned this place was a true penny pincher. Well, he hired that "no good rogue" to redo the doors so what can one expect?
    Seriously, I am loving this build 'cause I love derelict buildings. In fact, I wanted Scotia to be more derelict than it came out. I am proud of it nonetheless. I am picking up some great ideas from this build that I am going to use on my current build that I am not ready to begin posting yet. The work is going slowly. I'm old and slow. But this latest info on the treatment of your doors is wonderful and may be just what I need to get me over a hurdle. Thank you.

    Dave
  • Great work Bill. I kind of like the doors as they are. With them being the wrong way it kind of goes with the state of the rest of the building.

    the colouring on the doors is wonderful, and your idea to stain the corners darker is an often overlooked touch that adds a lot of realism to a build.

    Keep up the great stuff.
  • Great looking door.
  • Gosh Bill, that looks great! I had to look and look to finally realize what was being discussed on the doors. So - even after being told what to look for it was in my case still hard to find. I continue to admire your coloring and detail . . .
    Respectfully,
    John
  • Terrific finish on the doors Bill, and the oil stains really set the scene and the base for even more (which I'm sure you have minutely planned).
    Nice touch with the broken door brace/frame missing but the shadow/dirt outline still visible. It's a great detail not modeled often and you did it perfectly.

    Karl.A
  • Bill, I need more inspiration for my build. Any recent progress?? Phil
  • Bill,
    Just trying to catch up on your thread and you continue to set the bar. Amazing work. Hope to see it in the spring at the show.
    Joel
  • great doors- i like the mix of the new (repairs) and old wood, and the "ghost" of the former cross members etc. Details like that "tell a story" as Brett always says….
  • Come on, Bill . . .
    John
  • Yes Bill, whats taking you so long with an update buddy.
  • edited January 2015
    Yikes! Looks like I owe everyone an update!
    First, some of you may be aware that my daughter underwent a pretty serious operation in early December. Both of my girls were born with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and as the grew up, condition worsened. Spinal fusion surgery is what it takes to correct the issue and it's not something any parent wants to see their kid go through. This is our second time down this road. Rather than take up a bunch of space here, if you're interested you can read what I posted at my website: http://97x.com/surgery-follow-up/
    The good news is that she's 6 weeks post op and is doing great!

    Okay, back to the task at hand. I've been doing a bunch of detail work trying to create various parts and pieces that would be typical of a salvage yard. I think I mentioned early on in this build that I wanted to capture that look of "organized chaos" often seen behind the "business" portion of a scrap yard. It's always a disgusting mess, but everything has its place. To get it to the level I envisioned required casting a bunch of different car parts: hoods, doors, fenders, etc. That process continues as I learn and re-learn how to cast some of these parts.

    The next hurdle was in the layout of the diorama. I don't have an eye for composition but I plotted out the scene as best I could. It started out like this:

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    Then I got the great idea to straighten it out:

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    Nope. So, I tossed my hands up and asked for help. I ran it by Brett, Karl, Ken, and Jon Addison. Using advice from all of them, I finally got the "ah ha" moment where the scene clicked. Rather than try to fill such a large area, it's been cut down to 24"x24". The buildings were again put at an angle and the topography will be built up so that the original Quincy's barn will be elevated higher than everything else. That would put the garage at a lower elevation so as to not over power the barn. None of elevations are mocked up yet, but here's what the'lay of the land' is going to look like:

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    Again, this was one of those times where I could see something wasn't right. But after my buddies all chipped in with some advice, it came together nicely. (teaching a blind man to drive would be easier!)

    I need to go over some lighting options with Slim from Microlumina when I get to the Expo. That could affect what I do with trusses and roof completion. So I've accepted that I won't be finished by March but I'll bring it along.
    Other than that, I've been getting materials prepped for a clinic, finishing up a little radio station and *gulp* starting to clean up my work shop. I struck a deal with my wife: I'm taking over a guest bedroom. In exchange, she gets to redo our office and rec room. She also gets to have an affair with Bradley Cooper if she ever runs into him. (Duh...I look EXACTLY like that dude so she gained nothing on that one!)

    Two months until the Expo!
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