Duluth Company

KKarns

As I mentioned last post, I am adding an old detached shed and fence to create a old run down storage area at the north end of Duluth. This area will have lots of old plumbing and pipe supplies with an access road in the back. I opted for an open yet covered shed plan inspired by Brett's great open shed design in Donkey Repair Yard. Next post will be with the fence and tentative placement on the Duluth diorama to see if it fits the overall feel....Ken

KKarns

Fooling around with placement......Ken

srankin6

Ken,
shed looks great,can't wait to see it all come together.


Scott

ironmountainlumber

Hi Ken,
Congratulations on winning at the Expo for your beautiful water tank diorama ! The shed looks great and definitely adds to the overall feel of the Duluth building. How about some trucks with plumbing supplies too ? This shed is more than a woopdy doo no bah humbug from you! Your modeling is outstanding as always and I always enjoy watching you put one of these kits together and adding your touch. Keep up the great work.

Jim

KKarns

Hi Scott, appreciate the feed-back. This is one of those ideas that could be good or way off base so its nice to get some opinions...thanks for yours.

Hey Jim, appreciate the congrats and to come out of that room at Expo with anything, considering all the fantastic builds and those behind them, is a real honor for sure!

Thanks for your comments on the shed addition. Like I mentioned to Scott, it can be good or bad depending. I think once I get an old wood fence in there and all the old piping and clutter it will come together. I added two more pictures of the roof as the others really didn't look so good.

Karl.A

Great looking work on the shed Ken. The weathering on the wood is superb and the corrugated looks nice and naturally aged..... but not too much.

I look forward to seeing you blend this into the diorama scene.

Karl.A

KKarns

Karl, your opinion...do you think it will work? Felt like doing something special with Duluth..

srankin6

Ken
I agree with Karl roof is aged perfectly...fence and details should work looking forward to seeing it come together.

Scott

admin

Looks great and yes, I think it will work. One thing I would do is to photograph the shed in several positions/locations and see what I like best. Easier to evaluate a photo.

KKarns

Brett, thanks much for taking a peek at my idea to add to the Duluth diorama. A great little kit like this deserves some special attention! I will take some pictures as you suggest with the shed in a few locals and add the fence (under construction) in as well. I would be tickled to get your take on the best location....Ken

Hey Scott, appreciate your thoughts on the roof. First go at etching and followed Brett's instructions as I did not want an overly "eaten away" look but the one piece that's really beaten up I think looks reasonable. It's actually bent down and I have put some stains from water damage along the back wall since these pictures were taken. Also dusted up the siding a bit with grey chalk and it blended things a bit better. Pictures to follow...

Karl.A

I agree Ken that the small shed could make a great addition to the diorama... in the right place.
I'm not too keen on where it is right now. As Brett says mave it around a few places and take pics from different angles.

Great work so far.
Karl.A

KKarns

Karl, I'm liking it less there the more I look at it as well. It may actually detract from the really nice attached open shed of the Duluth design by being so close? hmm, this will be fun moving it around with pictures...I also think we (me) want to keep adding things to the diorama cause we don't want to be finished. There is a special attachment to each SWSM build that you put so much energy in on that it takes on a life of its own...and...OK it's past my bedtime I'm getting mushy...Ken

Karl.A

Exactly my thoughts Ken.

Joel

First of all Ken it's an amazing build and I agree that it would be nice to expand it a bit and make it the center of a larger diorama. I also have to say that after seeing your work in person and listening to you blather on here about the shed I believe you have a great eye and should trust your instinct. Not saying the crowd here can't help, it's a great supportive and often instructive community.

If I were to put my two cents in (often no sense) When I'm at this stage I take all the modeling components (or mock ups), a piece of track and a couple of trees and place them on my ping pong table. I use some masking tape to delineate the edges of the diorama ( so I can quickly change the size of the base without buying a new piece of plywood) and some styrofoam sheets for risers. Then I move things around and lift different components and sketch in roads. I take pictures and compare different shots. I almost always put my major building at a 30 degree angle (not sure why but it's an artist thing). For my fishing cove/shipyard I kept it free like that for over 3 months until I finally decided on a plan. When you spend so much time building a fantastic kit the extra few days planning the composition of the final scene are well worth it. You will be surprised how many times you come back the next day and think yesterday's plan was crazy. In the end though you find the best solution.

KKarns

Nice hearing from you Joel. Thanks a bunch for your supportive comments. Your methodology for diorama placement is great and I should have done something similar. Duluth was placed (perm. attached!) on the diorama base before I had the idea of putting in a shed, fence, and storage yard area. Not the best way to do things....trying to fit stuff to a set diorama size rather than make the diorama size fit my stuff..or something like that. I will take some pics of the shed and fence in different locals and see what seems to fit well. Congrats again on a fantastic build yourself! I was tickled to be able to see that beast in person..Ken

djdutch

Hey Ken,

You also did a pretty good job here I already loved the water tank and storage shed project.
Bud thisone is also a fine model and I love your how to's

For the vallejo polyscale list: just compare it before you buy.

Kind regards DJ

KKarns

DJ, Thanks much, I appreciate your note. Right, I wouldn't take the color matches for granted and will compare as needed. It will be interesting to see how close the colors are. Have a great holiday...Ken

KKarns

A few pictures of the proposed final resting place for my addition to Duluth (open storage shed and fence. Brett designed (my interpretation) the south end of Duluth at the open loading dock to be a bit of a junk accumulation and neglected area. I expanded on that concept to include the detached storage shed and a added the fence to tie the area together and give a good backdrop for some nice scattered junk and clutter. My previous placement detracted too much from the brilliant north end of Duluth with the open attached shed and back deck. My favorite view of Duluth is from the back. Another example of Brett's awesome design concept and tradition in all his kits that the back of the builds look as good and detailed as the front! Dirt slinging is just around the corner...Ken

KKarns

Weathering ties for the hand laid code 55 track that will run down the front of Duluth. Also starting the prepping and detailing of the castings. Picture shows most of the resin castings either primed with Floquil Earth (mostly wood castings) or Grimy Black for castings that will be metal (cans, barrels, etc.) Brett's castings are the best around and need very little prep and as can be seen in the pictures, the detail is incredible! I love working on these castings. Pictures of all the completed castings next time...Ken

Karl.A

I'm looking forward to your masterly painting on the castings Ken, you always do an exceptional job with them. As you say there is a really nice selection in the Duluth kit. (Aren't they all though?)

I'm still pondering the 'new' shed, maybe because it is placed the same way as the main building. try turning it 90degrees see how it looks. I'm giving it plenty of thought. Albeit quietly.

Karl.A

KKarns

Hey Karl, hope you're having a nice holiday. Casting painting going well in between moving the damn shed all over the place. Think I at least got the thing at the right end of Duluth. Just messin...actually loads of fun decidin where to place things. Here are a couple of pics of 90 degrees north and south.

KKarns

Better concept pic of the shed facing north. This seems to work rather nicely...is this in the ball park of what you were thinkin Karl?

djdutch

This looks very nice Ken, I certainly love the feel of it.
What kind of tan color did you used for the base ?

KKarns

DJ, Thanks for your take on things so far. The base was painted with Valspar Ultra, Flat Latex Exterior Paint. It was a custom color match to the dirt I'm using. Picked it up at the local Lowes.

Attached is a teaser photo of a casting for Duluth to check my images, lighting (indoor), etc. more to follow...Ken

djdutch

Nice casting ken, the picture is not shinny It just a dirty dusty bench.
What kind of paints do you use ? I only use Vallejo paints and rembrandt chalks + A&I wash and some alcohol to fix the chalks.

DJ

srankin6

great job ken! Just throwing in my two cents but have you tried placing the shed at a 45degree angle to the building? Just a thought. Keep up the great work

scott

KKarns

DJ, I use a combination of Floquil and Polly Scale until my supply runs out. I use a few Vallejo paints and will be switching over to them more exclusively. I use the Rembrandt chalks on almost everything! I'd use it on my food if it didn't taste so crappy! They are the key that's for sure. I use the AI as well but only to highlight stuff. You don't need to "fix" the chalks unless you plan on handling the piece a bunch. I find that if you use too much AI at the end things get a bit shiny and I hate shiny (as you mentioned above).

Yo Scott, nice to hear from you. I'm puttering around moving that shed around so much I feel like slamming some glue on it and sticking it down so it won't move anymore! I haven't tried the 45 angle but will...thanks.

Here a few scattered casting pics as I plop them in my finished tray...more later...Ken

KKarns

Karl.A

Spectacular Ken !!!

Just beautiful painting on those details, such clean and crisp definition.... even on my 55" screen I cant see anywhere where you painted "outside the lines".

The bands on the barrels are superb as are the multi coloured oil drums, small things like that make a big impact in the overall picture.

I especially like the pliers on the work bench with the handles painted to look like the rubber grips. Nice detail.

Karl.A

KKarns

Hey Karl, thanks for the comments on the castings, I really took some time on these guys and loved every minute of it! Brett's castings are just fantastic. Brett made a comment during one of his awesome seminars at EXPO this year that has stuck with me and is now my new philosophy on detailing castings...he mentioned that one of the late greats, maybe Brian or Kevin or both, treated each casting as a model in itself. How cool is that! Brett took an enormous amount of time developing these guys and we owe it to him to return the favor with as good a finished product as we can muster.

Also, having trouble deciding on where to put the shed...may just bag it and save it for another diorama...too much in a small space maybe. Ken