BlueSky Company Warehouse HO/HOn3

KKarns

Well that's awfully nice of you G. Bill, thanks much.

I have done very little dry brushing, particularly on something like this. Give me a short tutorial on what you would do here Bill. Appreciate your thoughts on the clapboard. One thing I did this time on the nail holes...I put the nail hole in with my pointed awl then came back with my #11 blade and on every other or every third or so hole I made a short slit with the tip of my blade right through the center of the hole. This was all done before enhancing the wood grain with my wire brush. This created a "crack" or split effect right where the nail hole was accented by the wire brushing.. Worked real well. I'll try and get a real close shot and post.

Thanks Carl. As I mentioned, the beauty of putting the "utilities", as Bill called them and I'm really not sure what they are!, in that back corner is that it allows me to tone down the look as much as I think it needs as the diorama comes together.

Bill

The only reason I mentioned it is because the "dark on dark" (dark walls + dark castings) arrange is ripe for a lot of that work to get swallowed up by laconic contrast.
If you haven't done much drybrushing, that area probably isn't the place to learn or practice!

"Quick tutorial" probably wont get it done, but I can steer you in the right direction. First, here's a trick: go back to that picture and look at it with squinted eyes. Squint your eyes to the point that the picture is out of focus. What you'll see are the natural highlights on the raised edges of the castings caused by the light falling on them. Those natural highlights are unreliable depending on the lighting situation the model is in.
Keeping that "blurry" image in mind, the goal of drybrushing is to artificially reproduce those highlights.

Does this make sense so far?

I use a few colors working from dark to light. In this case maybe a medium gray, a tan and a light gray. (All acrylics--probably high quality paint and not craft paint). I almost always use brand new small flat brushes so the bristles and edges are perfect.

Load up the brush with you first color. Work it back and forth on a paper towel so the paint gets all the way to the interior bristles. You want to work the brush back and forth on the paper towel until almost all the paint gets removed on the paper towel. (So, put the paint on the brush and wipe it back off). Test the brush by wiping it on the back of your hand in a spot. If it highlights just the ridges of your skin (like a finger print), you're ready to "drybrush" on the casting. You want to just "catch" the raised edges of the casting with paint. You'll probably only get 4 or 5 strokes before it'll be time to load/unload again. Keep repeating with the lighter colors.

I'm not sure if I'm telling you anything you don't already know, but that's it in a nutshell!

Joel

Not too busy at all. Looks perfect. I think it will blend in which is really what you want. Great work.

KCSTrains

Looks good to me. Great addition. Phil

SteveCuster

Looks really great Ken. Fantastic detail with the piping.

For dry brushing I use a stiff straight brush and I use the blue shop towels to wipe off the paint. It's more difficult to see how much is left on the brush on a white paper towel.

KKarns

Really appreciate that wonderful tutorial Bill! I will start experimenting with dry brushing a bit more. Maybe not here since it's installed and not to mess things up being too heavy handed. I know there are some great modelers out there that are deft at dry brushing and the late Brian Nolan was one of the best. Thanks again Bill for taking the time to school me on this.

Thanks Joel and I think you're right, it should blend in nicely once the diorama is complete.

Thanks for the thumbs up Phil, I value your critique and thanks for taking the time.

Hey Steve, thanks my man...it's so nice to get the opinions of the resident experts here on the forum and that's what it's all about. Hashing around ideas and bouncing things off each other. Good tips on the dry brushing you mentioned...thanks.

KKarns

The work on the clapboard walls is coming along. I decided to try a similar detail that I did with the card stock template for the barn wall, and that is to have a portion of the siding missing and the studed inside wall farming peeking through. For the card stock is was a matter of cutting out a piece of the card stock and installing a small section of framing. Clapboard siding is would require something different and a bit more tedious.

The clapboard siding is about 2.0 mm thick so just cutting a section out would not put the framing close enough to the backside of the clapboards to look realistic. So I laid out my area and shaved down the thickness to just that of the clapboards. This brought my framing close enough to give the impression that clapboards are stock thickness and individually installed. I then weathered the siding to taste. This is a back wall and I put the detail close to the ground in case I messed it up I could cover it with clutter!





Note the Damaged area with a piece of clapboard missing. I weathered the bottom edge to appear very worn with a gradual transition up the wall.



A bit of scale perspective!

KCSTrains

Ken, I'm not sure how you did this. Can I see a view of the backside of your clapboard siding? Thanks. Phil

Geezerbill

Very, very good Ken!

Geezerbill

KKarns

Phil, the modified area is now covered with the interior horizontal siding so not visible. Sent you a PM.

Thanks Bill.

KKarns

As I mentioned previously, I enjoy trying new techniques and methods on every build I do. In keeping with this philosophy, I decided to build a screen door and install on the plain wall at the back of the Dry Goods Store. In planning this door I envisioned a back way into the store from the Cook House which is right around the corner. The biggest hurdle was to find suitable material for the screen. I admit, HO Scale screen would be virtually invisible. I tried panty hose and this was horrible. They did not take paint or chalk very well and...well...looked like panty hose! I settled upon some black fabric netting I found which does not really look like screen but is the best I found. I tried paint filter material and it looked too coarse. This is something maybe we can research and find a more suitable material. The stuff I used looks great with the naked eye, but close up...ehh. I have made a door to install behind the screen door and will position it partially open. The screen door was influenced by the modeling of Chuck Doan and the roof was an idea taken from Chuck and Brett's roof over the side door on the Barn for BlueSky. Door knob is styrene rod sanded round on the end and then cut with a razor blade. Designed to look like an old white porcelain knob.



Note the horizontal strap brace across the bottom. I remember seeing this on screen doors in the past. Keeps the thinner door from going out of square and is usually adjustable to take up the slack.



Roof with corrugated and a piece of metal flashing.

admin

Well that's awesome! I particularly like the brace on the bottom. Very convincing. The naturally weathered brown looks great against the dingy red. Fun!

KKarns

It was fun putting this together. The clapboard is a blast to work with. Thanks for your critique Brett and I take it one wall at a time!

nextceo

Screen door looks great. I always thought the brace on the bottom panel to prevent someone from pushing the screen in. I guess you've made me smarter...

CarlLaskey

Ken when I was a kid in PA all of the grocery stores had screen doors and a lot of them had a advertisement painted on the screen for a example Bond Bread or Elsie the cow.
Have you tried bridal vail.
Carl.

KKarns

Thanks much Alan. Yea, most of those braces have some type of an adjustment mechanism like a small turnbuckle to adjust. Those wood screen doors were notorious for dragging on the bottom outside edge because of sag.

Carl, That would have been cool! A stencil would have worked great. Not too late I don't think..hmm

I think bridal veil is used for simulated 1:87 chain link fence? I may be wrong there but If so, obviously too big for screen!

admin

two other possibilities are pipe screens and kitchen sink mesh strainers...

KKarns

I'm on the search...thanks Brett!

KCSTrains

Ken, you're amazing. Who would have thought of a screen door and porcelain door know. Wow!! Phil

KKarns

Ed, love details but...don't love them that much!

Thanks Phil, I'm always thinking of new things to try...ie this was purposely done on a back wall of BlueSky just in case it was a dud! I'm happy with how it turned out.

KKarns

Here's a fun shot of the screen door with the solid door behind partially open. Will never show once the walls are up and the roof is on...will be too dark inside...if I put a light in there I'll never be able to get at it...maybe I'll cut a access hole in the bottom under the Dry Goods Store...yea...and...

SteveCuster

That's incredible Ken. Super cool detail.

Joel

Beautiful work as always. had some screen door material that was much finer than the tulle or the mesh you are using. May want to check out where he gets his stuff. Even then it was a bit coarse but effective. Just in case you plan on more fantastic details like this.

KKarns

Thanks Joel, I'll check it out. Yea, the screen was the one thing I wasn't happy about but it really isn't noticeable to any extent without magnification...but you know how it is...I know it's there! And as you mentioned an improved version would be nice to secure for future projects.

Geezerbill

Really Nice Ken!

Geezerbill

KKarns

Appreciate it Bill. I love trying new things, keeps things interesting.

KKarns

Ohh...ouch...an O Scale poke in the ribs!

KKarns

More experimentation. Here is a resin double hung window that comes with the BlueSky kit. I wanted to try a peeling, cracked paint finish over well worn wood. In addition, to try something different, I installed security "bars" across the window. I found images of old gas stations on-line with these same security bars and also gained inspiration from the modeling of Chuck Doan. The top bar has a bit too much white paint still on so may tweak that one a bit, but serves to give the idea a show.





Inspiration from a photo found on-line. Note the window security bars...

brownbr

The peeling paint on the door is believable as is the screen. Its so hard to do in this scale.

You should think about moving this business to a better neighborhood if you need metal bars on the doors.

Bryan

Bill

Very cool little detail Ken. Are you using 4 in total on the window? I read that you felt the top one had too much white, but I wasn't sure if you pulled off the top one and we're working on it off the model. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure a thief would go through the top pane!

What did you use for the crackle effect?