Railroad Camp - Stump Creek Lumber RR Office

SteveF

Ken's idea on the joints in the siding were a great call. I removed some of the boards to weather the joints and others, I was able to weather in place. The wet brushing technique on top of the pastel weathering really adds a worn look to the paint on the siding. The straight cuts at all of the joints just didn't fit the rest of the weathering. I still need to add a little pastels to the siding for a little more dirt effect and I think pastels may do a better of job blending the door resin castings with the color of the siding.
Once the colors look correct I'll add all the fun details like door handles, hinges, the dock bumper, signs and a few other details to the front and the side walls.





I put a few floor boards behind the sliding front door so I can put a few details to act as a view block for the open door.



SteveF

admin

I love it! Just wonderful seeing your progress and modeling personality in the meaningful changes you are making.

KKarns

Steve, the butted board ends are wonderful, and the subtile nail holes are terrific. Just enough accent color to make them appear a bit weathered and darkened. Too much dark accent against that white paint would have ruined the look...Very, very well done...Ken

SteveF

I finished detailing the front wall of the warehouse. I printed a sign for the Stump Creek Lumber Company and tried to choose a font that would fit the era. I weathered the paper with 408.3 and 408.5 pastels. I then weathered three 1x10's and glued the sign to them and sliced through the sign to make it look like it was painted on the boards I added some details as view blocks inside the door and a few on the wall. I finished with the door handle which I flattened out of some brass round stock and blackened with Blacken-It. Next up, I want to finish detailing the other walls so I can get this structure together.
SteveF

SteveF

I wasn't going to post again until I had the warehouse completed but I just had to share the difference Ken's recommendation made. Not only did I use his idea of weathering the board ends but I used pastels both with my finger and a brush to tone down all of the white walls. I'm now going to go back over the front wall and apply the same treatment. The "dirt" treatment over the weathered paint effect really captures the age of the structure I'm trying to portray. Thanks again Ken!
SteveF

KKarns

Oh yeah...I like it...you're right up my alley...dirty, grungy, well used...very, very well done. Perfect that you did it mostly at the bottom and gradually less as you go up the wall, just as it should be. That overalls sign is killer Steve! As big as it is a nail hole in each corner with a little rust dab would be in order...my taste of course. I would just take a small point and just dimple a spot in each corner, doesn't have to punch through and then just a subtile tiny rust spot. That bumper casting is really good as well...Ken

admin

That's wonderful Steve! So impressive. I especially like the treatment of the resin door castings. I'm gonna save this pic and show it to people who say you can't weather resin to match or look like wood!

brownbr

I like what you are doing here. The walls in the photo with the bumper have a nice variation of dirt accumulation at the bottom. The front wall could use a similar "break up" from the color. Not necessarily grime at the bottom. Maybe streaks from the top. It is sticking out to me as too uniform, even with the peeling effect.

SteveF

Thanks Ken I really appreciate your comments. The quality of your work on the forum has been an inspiration and I really appreciate your comments. This is the first time I've ever participated in a forum like this and the quality of the modeling here can be intimidating but the support and camaraderie i.e. excellent. In addition to dirtying up" everything.I've added the nail holes with a bit of rust on the Fink's sign as you suggested. A great idea once again!

Brett, That's an incredible complement coming from you! Thank you for that. And thank you for your continued commitment to excellence in the hobby. Your kits and this forum have rekindled my interest in the hobby. Thank you for your continued encouragement.

Bryan, Thank's for the comments. I agree that the front wall needed a similar treatment with the pastel chalks and I've tried doing so in the pictures below.

So I've got the four walls together and almost complete. Along with the additional "dirtying up", I've added a broken window to the back wall and a man door to the tall side wall. The door will provide access to the boardwalk that will be between the warehouse and the stone building. There is a bit more fine tuning left on the walls before I start the roof. I have siding to put on the back of the front wall and view blocks to place inside. I want to put a working light fixture over the front door. I may eliminate at least one of the board splits on the tall wall as I ended up with too many at the high level. There is a few fuzzies and bits of weathering to clean up. And I'm still not happy with the board splits in the sign. As always, I appreciate your comments and support.
SteveF

SteveF

A quick update on tonight's progress. I reinforced all the warehouse walls, painted all the interior black and added a view block. This is the first time I've used a view block. While not rocket science, I added some boards for attachment points and glued it to the interior. In the picture you can see I added and weathered the siding on the back of the front wall that I had left off previously.



While I was waiting for things to dry, I made a few tweaks to my previous work. I replaced one of the two piece boards on the tall wall to break up the uniformity of the four splits at the top of the wall. I did some more weathering on the sign by adding wood grain in the paper and highlighting with more chalks. And adjusted the weathering on the front wall.



I had to cut a new roof because the warehouse won't butt up against the stone building so it needed overhang on both sides. Tomorrow, I hope to tarpaper the roof. I'm thinking of trying tissue paper and look forward to anyone's experience or suggestions.
Thanks,
SteveF

brownbr

My experience with tissue paper is that it can have a shiny effect to it after painting. I've tried the spray painted newspaper material included in this kit, and the single-ply tissue over newspaper material soaked with paint. Both from SW instructions. I liked the effect of tissue over paper-it gave a bit of a wrinkle to the tarpaper making it look old and weathered. The spray painted paper gave a newer look.

admin

Gotta agree with Bryan, I dislike tissue paper as well for tarpaper. wrong texture as well as shiny appearance. Kleenex laminated on paper looks great in O Scale or the plain recycled newsprint for a simpler look.

SteveF

Thanks for the input Brett and Bryan. I actually misspoke before what I meant to say was to try "single-ply tissue" not the tissue paper used in wrapping gifts. This morning, I found Karl's technique of using spray glue to attach tissue to newsprint that he issued in an earlier discussion. I really like the look and I may try that.
SteveF

SteveF

I utilized the technique that Karl A. originally posted on this forum to make the tarpaper for the roof of the warehouse. I used the newsprint provided in the kit and applied a light coat of Alene's Tacky Spray to it. I like this adhesive because at 10 -12 inches spraying distance it applies a very fine coat without any blobs.

I waited a few minutes then applied single ply facial tissue to the newsprint. We only had two ply in the house but I found it fairly easy to separate in two layers. I found it easy to lay the tissue starting at a corner without putting any tension on it. As you can see in the picture, the one on the left was my first attempt where I was trying to pull the tissue as I applied it actually creating more wrinkles. In the second attempt, I just attached one corner and tried smoothing the tissue as I placed it on the newsprint. I like some of the texture in the first attempt and will use some of the smaller wrinkles to add to the personality to the roof but I find the larger wrinkles out of scale. I finished by brushing a diluted mixture of black acrylic paint on the paper.
SteveF

SteveF

I wrapped up most of the work on the warehouse today. I still have the lighting and the front dock to add once the building is in place. As I've mentioned before, the warehouse is the oldest structure in the diorama and I've tried to show that with heavy weathering. This is my first try at using the Sierra West techniques especially the pastel chalk work. In addition to what's described in the instructions, I've added a few changes to the roof. I applied Mars Black acrylic paint through a syringe to achieve the tar line around the patches and the stack. Also for the smokestack, I burned the insulation off 30 AWG stranded wire to achieve a stranded cable look for the support wires. On the truck awning, I used Radio Shack etchant to weather and add some personality to the corrugated roof as well as angles braces for the roof supports.

The pastel chalks are more noticeable in the pictures than on the actual model. For the most part, this is all new for me and I welcome any comments or suggestions. I'm trying to stretch my modeling skills through this forum so I spend a fair amount of time questioning my results.
SteveF











This is the syringe I used to apply the tar lines. I attached a fine tip applicator to achieve as fine a line as possible. Even with that, it takes a light touch and a steady hand.

brownbr

You have put together a very convincing and impressive model. It could be left as-is with no additions/subtractions and be an award winner. Since your skills are taking this model to the next level I'm going to offer some ideas that are merely suggestions, and are the types of things I look for in my models to try to add to the realism.

A light rust streak down the wall underneath the rusting sign by the loading door.
Remove/wear down a little bit of paint from the peak of the false-front wall.
Add overall rusting to the corrugated panel (only) that is rusted through.

An idea for the next time you are doing rolled roofing and want to add some distress. Place a piece of your roofing on your workbench, directly on top of a spot of dried glue. Sand the spot until it wears through to the glue. It makes a nice, random looking worn spot.

SteveF

Bryan - thanks for taking the time to offer your suggestions and kind remarks. I'm going to try your method to distress rolled roofing on the roof of the small storage shed. It's a great idea for distressing the center of the heat of rolled roofing. I've already applied your three suggestions and I like what they add to the overall look. I like how all of these small subtle effects add to the overall presentation. Thanks again
SteveF

admin

Love it all around Steve, roof especially looks great. Wonderful texture and detail.

KKarns

Really, really nice Steve. Very impressive work and you have a good eye for detail. Have enjoyed following along here...Ken

ironmountainlumber

Hi Steve,
Really fantastic job on this kit. I really have enjoyed looking at the Stone work and how you did this. The pan pastel colors on page one are fantastic. All the little details really show what you can do in O scale. The structure on page 3 is fantastic, feels and looks old. The roof is really nicely done.
Jim

SteveF

Thanks Brett, Ken and Jim for all the kind remarks and support. It is so motivating to receive these comments and encouragement.
This has been another business travel week for me so not much progress yet. I did have time to weather, stain and cut strip wood to make individual shingles for the main office roof. I'm going to start shingling when I return on Friday. This will be my first time using individual shingles. If anyone has any tips or thoughts on individual shingles, I could certainly use the advise before starting.
Steve F

Karl.A

Bill I'm sure can give you some pointers as he has produced some excellent results in HO, un rivalled.
Surprisingly the process is very quick. Two sharp items, ie exacto's, one to stab and pick up the shingle and place it. the other to position, pry it off and set it in place.. once you have your rhythm it goes very quickly, individual shingles cant be beat.

Karl.A

Karl.A

Best advice.... colour and weather both sides, so much quicker than having to sort through flipping them over to get the 'good' side later.

SteveF

Thanks for the tips Karl. I'll let you know how it works out.
SteveF

SteveF

Happy New Year to everyone on the Forum! It's hard to believe that its been 6 months since I last posted. Not only has business been hectic but I continue to juggle my interests in Sn3 and On3 with little progress in either. However, this fall we built a small stand alone building just for the model railroad. The modeling creativity of Brett, the incredible Sierra West kits and the many great modelers on this forum it would be difficult to not model in On3. When I received the O scale O'Neil's kit last week along with the list of future add-on kits, I knew I had to get this Railroad Camp competed.

I decided to get the buildings on their own diorama base to help the focus.





If you originally looked at this thread you would see that not only did I move the warehouse to the opposite side of the office but I was also planning to locate the storage shed on the rear wall of the office building with two warehouse doors opening into the alley between the main office and the warehouse. When getting back to the project this weekend, I decided that the storage shed worked better on the side of the office and better captured the original design of the kit. This required that I cut the long walls apart. Flipping the warehouse doors to the other end of the tall wall and moving the man door from the angled wall to the short long wall. This also required I make a new angled wall. As you can see in the picture below, I've put joists under the floor and still need to add some type of footings to raise the shed to the height of the dock.



You can see in the picture that I've added individual wood boards to the interior in which I will be adding plenty of SWSM castings and some LED lighting. The next step is to replace the flex track with hand laid rail, add footings to the base for the shed, complete the shed interior, mount the shed on the piers then add a removable roof and some stairs for the man door. Then, it's back to completing and weathering the main office building. Speaking of interiors, I started a small drop in for the second floor of the office building.



It's good to be back! I really missed the modeling and the camaraderie of this forum.

SteveF

brownbr

How are the LP's going to get that big 'ol safe to the 2nd floor?

Bill

Looking good, Steve.
I have one concern with the exterior of the office. While the reddish boards appear to show some fading or lightening, the trim does not. Perhaps you're not at that stage of construction yet. If I read correctly, your intent was to show that the building had been newly sided (or words to that effect).

Given that one structure shows considerable age (white cracked & peeling paint) and the opposite structure is a tar paper shed (which by nature implies "run down") the newness of the second story might stick out even more than you had intended. Yes, in the real world, that's how a re-worked building would look. But, they don't stay new looking for very long.

I hope it's okay that I said something.
Your work on these buildings is so well done, that I wanted to mention that it kinda "stuck out" to my eye. A question I like to ask while I'm mid-project: "will the typical viewer get the idea of what "this" is or what is going on in the diorama...even if I'm not there to explain it?"
In other words, can the model stand on its own, or will you constantly be having to tell people 'ya see, that's because they just resided the building'? Sometimes the only way to convey that is to have evidence in the model (i.e.: scaffolding still in place, unfinished areas, new construction materials laying about, etc.)

Just something to think about.

Again, if you haven't completed the weathing, ignore my ramblings!
Bill

SteveF

Thanks Bill, you're right. I originally thought that the second story would be a newer addition. But with the fun I had weathering the warehouse, I couldn't agree more. It just doesn't fit the way it is. When I set up the buildings this weekend, I realized that the second story office needs to be weathered. I still have more work on the stone first floor as well.

Brownbr - That's a great comment. I've always prided myself in trying to have my structures reflect real world designs and you're right! Sometimes you miss the most obvious. There is no way that safe made it to the second floor without a hoist. I'm going to replace it with a table or cabinets.

Thanks guys. I really enjoy the input.
SteveF

KKarns

Great detail Steve and glad to se you back at it. That second floor interior drop in office detail is terrific. Bill continues to amaze with his rational keen eye for how things blend and mesh together. Good decision on your part I believe to continue to weather the office structure. No more 6 month delays in posting young man!

admin

Nice work! Loving what you are doing. Bill does have a good point and I see you have already addressed that. Bryan brings up a good logistical problem in getting a heavy safe up to the top floor. But, do think that they might have used a temporary hoist to locate the safe, I have seen movers work wonders with my heavy equipment...