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Comments
I believe those are going to be too thick and not scale correctly. The size I see listed is 10mm. The stuff I'm using is less than .5mm. The thicknesses are .011" and .018". You want micro thin printable veneer without paper backing. Here's a close up of a sheet...cut them to width length wise; then cross cut with a pair a scissors.
And I know what you're thinking: "how can he hold the piece in one hand cut it out with the other and still snap a picture?" It's all fake:
Keep up the great work Bill.
Jim
Bill, this is some really outstanding modeling, and some truly innovative weathering techniques. I went through the entire thread today and this is some great stuff.
There was a guy on RRLine who did a thread on building ten Jordans at once. He is in a nice home somewhere, but hasn't been heard from since.
Jim & Wes--good to hear from you. Let's see if I can get this roof to look like it's gotta be leaking!
Okay, with all the texture scribed in, I add some color using only chalks. Start with a bunch of mostly raw umber (408.5 & a little 408.7) plus some burnt umber 409.5. There's no magic formula as to exactly which colors or how much of each. Stick with these earthy tones and you really can't do it wrong! I throw on the powder liberally, push them around a little with a make up brush, then scrub them into the grain (up and down) with a stiff stencil brush. I then flood the roof with a medium solution of A/I and wash it all into the shingles really well. I think using A/I rather than straight alcohol makes the roof look older and rotting. Since the shed is modeled in disrepair, the roof will match the age of the walls (which is finished but no pics posted yet).
Next, a few highlights of gold ochre, yellow ochre, a couple spots of olive green and a touch of gray (adds to the look of decay) With a top to bottom motion, those also get blended in with A/I. Then I let the whole mess dry and evaluate the colors. I'll go back and add more chalks to break up unnatural patterns or to just balance out and tone down the colors a little. Wash with alcohol again and let it dry.
Once it's completely dry, it's time to dry brush. This will tone the colors down even more and tie them all together. It also adds a little "pop" to the shingles. I used a dark gray, followed by a couple light tans (acrylics) for the dry brushing.
By the way, here's a roof from the Twin Mills that was made to look less old and run down compared to this one. The difference is I used straight alcohol, mostly lighter raw umber (408.7) and fewer colors (no green and much less burnt umber and yellow ochre)
Next, I'll get back in order and do the walls. I got a few Jordan trucks assembled, too.
Karl.A
Getting back to the walls on the storage shed. As I mentioned at the start of the thread, the sripwood was colored using black shoe dye with a hint of blue (Dr. Ph Martins Blue India ink). I think the proportions were 1 drop of blue for every 10 drops of Angelus Jet Black leather dye with alcohol. Some strips I let soak for a while; others got a quick in-n-out bath and that was it.
Once dry, I opted to use the toothpick method for creating knot holes. Both Karl & Joel have spelled out the way to do:
http://www.sierrawestscalemodels.com/vanforum/discussion/119/306-railroad-camp-o-scale-part-one/p2
http://www.sierrawestscalemodels.com/vanforum/discussion/283/joels-lineside-shed/p1
Try Joel's tip on dying the toothpicks in mass to save a step. Also, I'd recommend going real easy on sanding the backs of the knots. It needs to be done in order for the strips to lay flat against the cardstock but they pop out with hardly any effort even when the glue is fully dried. That being said, here are the strips ready to be laid up on the cardstock:
I drew pencil lines to help keep the joints consistent. Those are 5 scale feet up from the bottom and 5 scale feet down from the top. It's a bit hard to see, but I left just a tiny gap between each board and joint (about the thickness of an exacto).
After all the boards are in place, it's a simple process of cutting each wall free from the cardstock (careful as to not slice off the stripwood trap on the side walls) then trim them to exact size. It may be worth mentioning that, other than window and door openings, I rarely use an exacto for cutting out walls. A single edge blade works just as well for me and they're cheaper. I change out blades constanly so and I feel less guilty tossing out a 5 cent straight edge blade verses a 25 cent #11. Here are the walls cut off the card material...
Next, I added the windows, doors and trim followed by 3 light layers of drybrushing: raw umber, Barnwood and a light gray--all acrylic craft paint. Once happy with the color, I added the signs and assembled the walls followed by the roof. I chose to leave the white dry transfer decal off the side wall. I've got an idea for a little scene with a tire rack and parts stand that will most likely block the lettering.
For the little walkway, I made wear marks in the "traffic" area by shaving the board edges slightly--similar to how I scraped the edges of the barn siding. After gluing them in place and letting them dry, I went over the walk with steel wool. A little A/I touched on both edges tied everything together.
I found some HO scale license plates that some guy posted for free on his website:
http://www.highlandsstationllc.com/images/PDFs/HO Scale License Plates.pdf
Here's an O scale version for you bigger scale guys:
http://www.highlandsstationllc.com/images/PDFs/O Scale License Plates.pdf
The roof looks much more brown and new in natural light than I anticipated, but I'm satisfied with the color match I got under layout lights. One thing I struggled with is the moss on the roof. Several of the reference pictures I looked at show it growing in the outline of the shakes like this:
But, this may be one of those things where the prototype doesn't translate very well on a model.
That's all for now...castings are drying as I type.
Bill
You are a master at birthing a build that's all your own and has such personal touches. The custom shingles...well we've already drooled over those on the main barn. The moss is really nice I particularly love the side with the signs as the moss has grown in and around the damaged roof where water and rot would have set in and looks so natural there. The other corner on the side without signs..mmm..but still looks good. Siding color is awfully nice. I also like Joel thoughts on the irregular siding thickness, two birds with...you know. Thanks for the link to the HO license plates. Good to have a parts bin with some of those. Ken
Really great explanation with the pictures you posted. Ken and Joel really sum things up with the personal touches you do that make each of your builds very unique. The overall look with the moss and knot holes is superb. I am courious how you knew to mix the colors you did for the board color and how you know what works well for dry brushing. Do you try things out first to see how it looks or just go for it ? For me mixing colors is very challenging and honestly I don't know how to begin the process. It is a step in the modeling process I want to work on. I probably need a class called modelling for the color challenged 101 and have you teach it!
Jim Richards
Understandable that mixing colors can be a challenge. Initially, i didn't know what to mix or experiment with. I simply followed the instructions in the Sierra West manual exactly. And I really mean that literally. My first kit of any kind was Essentials. There are pictures posted in the "finished SW build pics" and those are the results following the manual. However, if I were to build it again using the exact same recipes...it probably wouldn't look exactly the same. And that's good! You wouldn't want all your building to look alike. Subtle variations in dilution, application, length of soaking time and even the batch of strip wood can account for a different look.
So arriving at using blue with the black ink is something I read about somewhere. I read on another forum about using gun blueing--the stuff used on gun barrels to protect them--as a coloring method. Then I found a list of different recipes that Mike Chambers wrote (I'll post the link to that). From there it became a bunch of experimenting using coffee stirs. I mixed a batch using x drops of black with 1 drop of blue and some alcohol. Take 4 or 5 strips and soak them for different lengths of time, let dry and evaluate. Too light or not gray enough? Add them for another soak to make it darker; add a bit more blue to see if it gets grayer. Then I informally kept track:
(The weeds have nothing to do with this) In the upper right you can see my "notes": 10 drops of black ink, 2 drops of blue and a 1/2 ounce of alcohol. There's also a note to remind myself that the particular batch of stirs was dipped in the solution 3 times.
Also, if I see the results somebody got on a wall or a batch of wood, I'll ask them to explain what they used and how. Then I'll try it and see if I can get close. Other times I simply have no idea if it looks "correct". If you go to the section in the Twin Mills build where I'm working on the roof for both the dynamite shack and the corrugated mill roof...I knew I did something wrong, didn't know what exactly, and needed people to look at it with fresh eyes and help find some things to try in order to change the look.
With dry brushing...it's pretty much the same thing. Most guys use a similar combination of colors that I used...I just liked the results using those particular three colors. I should add too, that many times I post the exact shade of chalk I used for something (gold ochre 231.3 let's say) not just to share but primarily for my own reference--the thread becomes my own "recipe box".
So, the short answer to your question is yes, simple experimenting and trial and error. But it starts by just giving it a shot. If you get stuck, Brett is extremely helpful! This is the absolute truth: My first SW kit I had to call and ask him which 'stuff' do you use to thin Floquil paints--alcohol or dio-sol? I just couldn't grasp the difference! I felt awful for wasting his time with a total newbie question. His response? Don't feel bad! His experience, knowledge and help are part of what you pay for when you buy one of his kits.
Don't know where to begin? Try some of the stain recipes in Brett's manual. Don't get fancy. Just follow the directions EXACTLY. If you're beyond that stage in your modeling, stray a little from his recipes, take notes on what you mixed, take pictures, and share your results here--good and bad! That's how you'll get better. At the end of the day, it may not be the perfect result or the exact look you were hoping for but...does it look better than when it was sitting unassembled in the box?
Hope that answers your questions a little. If not, I'd be glad to try to explain more.
Bill
Here are the links to Mike Chambers' articles on staining strip wood. This is an excellent series of articles geared exactly toward your question(s):
http://pnr.nmra.org/3div/Staining_Stripwood.pdf
http://pnr.nmra.org/3div/Weathering_Stripwood.pdf
http://pnr.nmra.org/3div/Inking_Stripwood.pdf<;
Glad you like it. I think this is going to turn out really well and I can't wait for you to see it. Probably ain't gonna happen by the Expo, but I promise it'll be worth the wait. I still am kicking around an idea for where to place a third structure, but I'm not "seeing" it. I'll run some ideas by you early next week.
Jim Richards
I also started working on the castings. The brick wall was colored with Floquil box car red, grimy black and some daylight orange muted with a little black. Once dry, I used an acrylic gray for the mortar. I wet the casting first with a mist of wet water so that it was damp, then thinned the gray a LOT (probably 5-10 drops of water to 1 drop of paint). If you touch your brush to the damp casting, the wet water will "pull" the paint mostly into the brick lines. Some will get on the surface of the bricks, but that looks pretty natural to me--kind of looks like lime leaching out of the brick plus it dulls the bricks down making them look older. I need to give them one more application as it looks like I lost some of the definition in the lines as the gray dried.
The concrete walls were painted first with Floquil concrete then, when cured, thinned Floquil Depot Buff. I ran into an issue with that step as the thinner started removing the concrete color down to the tinted resin. I'm guessing it really wasn't cured all the way...who knows. I fooled around with so many other things I can't remember exactly how I got to the final color of the wall. I tried some Polly paint, some chalk, some other paint, and on and on. Once I hit on a color that looked okay, I let the whole thing dry then weathered with AK enamels. I used a really dark track wash, a brown rust wash, and a lighter orange rust wash. You start by applying the dark streaks, let them dry for a few minutes, then remove some with a clean brush and white spirit. (I don't know what the difference is between white spirit and mineral spirits but it seemed to work well). The white spirit removes some of the paint and also thins and blends the paint left behind. I repeated with the brown the the light orange in a few areas.
More castings to come!
Bill
Jerry
But do pick up the pace since I want to see this in my lifetime. I'm kidding, I know you will have it at the Expo. Can't wait.
The brickwork also has a most natural feel and tone to it beginning to show through.
Karl.A
I appreciate you following along and your comments.
James--I'll be interested to see how you make out with the shakes. The add so much to the final look that you'll probably never go back to laser cut. And wait til you see the reaction you get from viewers when you tell them you applied them one by one! Make sure to post some pictures for us.
Mike--I apologize for the 'text only' approach that I posted with those items. I've been rather lax in my picture taking lately. I could blame it on the wife swiping the camera but, nah...I've been lazy!
Which parts specifically need clarification and I'll try to explain. I've got many more Jordan's to build so I'll be able to take pictures then. The walls are done so I'll have to verbally explain. Or, how bout we work on a few at the Expo?
Karl--the detail in that little brick wall is really nice. Makes it easy to see where colors, highlights, shadows, etc. should go. The concrete sections are also rich in splits and cracks--a lot of fun to work with and experiment on.
The rust effects on the Jordans give a great illusion of a really old rusted and worn out vehicle.
The walls look fantastic too lots of personality in those castings.
I am really looking foward to seeing more of the build and more great modeling!
Jim
Paul
David
Thanks.
/Marty