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Comments
Grant
And a close-up of a portion of them:
I think I'm happy with them at this stage, though I'd welcome any further comments/advice. Otherwise, I'm ready to start adding some details...
Grant
Grant
A good base for moving forward.
Jeroen - to answer your question, no, at this stage it’s just chalks and alcohol. I’ve used a bit of of the darker and lighter colours as well as white - fairly randomly. This is just the initial stage. Since then, I’ve been working on adding some detail to the boards (knot holes etc) trying to follow most of the advice in Dr Grunge’s tutorial. I’ll post a proper update once I have something ready to show.
To help keep things aligned, I used the tray of a magnetic gluing jig to form one corner, and then used a scrap block of wood to align the other two sides.
Once sufficiently dry, added the second floor scribed siding.
Then repeated until all four walls were complete:
These were then sandwiched between two plates of glass and weighted down with a selection of heavy modelling reference books and left for 24 hours or so to ensure they dried flat.
Then I returned to creating individual details on the boards. Again, I'm following a mixture of Brett's kit instructions and Dr Grunge's tutorial to do this. First up, I lightly sanded the top edges of all boards. This did a few things - first, it removed any remaining fuzzies; second, it created a very slight chamfer on the board edges; and third, it created a slight highlight along the board edge. The effect of this is to slightly accentuate the join between boards. In the picture below I have placed together several boards before adding this detail on the left, and several after adding the detail on the right.
Next, I slightly rounded the ends of all boards. I tried to make this a little non-uniform - not sure to what extent I managed that, but the sharp corners are all gone. Here is a sample.
Next up, it was time to add some knots. I followed Brett's instructions here, creating both "indentation" knots (using a burnishing tool as shown in his video), and also some "toothpick" knots. I left about 1/4 of the boards with no knots at all, and about half the remaining boards received only "indentation" knots, and the remainder received a combination of "indentation" and "toothpick" knots. During construction, I'll try to mix these up to achieve a fairly random smattering of all the effects.
Here is a "toothpick" knot under construction. Rather than using a #11 blade to drill a hole, I used a small drill bit in a pin vise to make a small hole first, and then inserted the toothpick. I mixed up the angle that these were inserted also.
Here's a shot of all the "toothpick" knotted boards awaiting trimming. Some boards got only one toothpick and some received two.
Brett says to use a pair of straight bladed toe-nail clippers to trim these, adding that these are readily available. Hmmm - maybe on that side of the pond, but down here in the Antipodes, not so easy to find. I did manage to find some online, but had to wait a few days for delivery. Of course, once they arrived, they were the perfect tool for the job. In using them, I took Dr Grunge's advice and made sure that the blades were parallel to the grain direction when in use. Here's one after trimming.
And here's a close up of a few boards showing the overall effect.
At this point, I departed slightly from the instructions. Brett says to take one board at a time, cut it to size, then brush lightly with a steel brush, dampen with the Alcohol/ink mix, and blot a variety of chalks on with a dry brush while the AI is still damp, then glue the board in place. My variation here was to do all of that except for cutting the plank to size at the beginning and gluing in place at the end. Instead, I did all of the remaining to all of the planks, one at a time. It just made more sense to me from a 'process flow' perspective, but I may be missing something here - as always, happy to be corrected/re-directed.
I was also a little unsure during this stage. Once again, if you've done this before it's probably second nature, but the first time around, it's difficult to know if you are doing it right. Brett's instructions say "..and make sure not to over apply the chalk". All well and good if you know what the right amount looks like to start with, but doing it for the first time is a little bit of an "adventure". I was concerned that I may have overdone it with the chalk, so I went back and gave the boards another very light pass with a steel brush to remove just a little of the excess, and then wiped my (dry) fingers over the surface. That seems to have done the trick.
Here is a picture of the completed boards with no toothpick knots.
and a close-up of a section of those same boards.
and here is a picture of the completed boards with toothpick knots.
and a close-up of a section of these.
I think I'm happy with these as they are, but as always would appreciate any further guidance on anything I should re-do/correct before I start gluing them down.
Grant
With the board detailing complete and some encouragement that my results were acceptable, it was time to start adding the siding to the walls. I basically just followed Brett's excellent instructions here, starting with the first floor horizontal siding and adding a full length strip butted up against the second floor overhang.
Boards were then selected randomly and glued in place using the horizontal scribed lines as an aid to ensure they were straight, leaving all boards long and slightly covering the window/door openings, to be trimmed up later.
The same process was followed with the remaining walls, this time also using the vertical scribed lines as a guide to placement of butt joints. I studied Brett's photos in the manual and generally copied where he had placed the joints.
Here are the three walls with horizontal siding attached. Once I'd finished these, I noticed that on the Left wall (top left in the photo below), I could see untreated card around the gaps surrounding the butt joints. I decided to go back in and add some alcohol/ink and chalk to darken these up, but this left a noticeable dark patch around the joints.
To remedy this, I went over that section of the wall very lightly with a wire brush, applied a very light wash of alcohol/ink and blotted a variety of chalk powder randomly over that section.
The vertical boards were then added to the second floor in a similar fashion, being careful to align the bottom edges just slightly overhanging the first floor horizontal boards. I worked in from each side, covering window openings as I went and then trimming them out once the glue had cured overnight (under a large stack of books).
Here is that same wall after the "repair" treatment and addition of the second floor vertical siding. Following Brett's instructions the area bounded by scribed lines is left unplanked for the Dormers to be added later.
And the remaining walls:
And a "group" shot of the completed wall siding:
Next up will be to complete the Dormers in a similar fashion and then on to assembly of the laser cut doors and windows.
Grant
You may want to consider hiding or swapping out a board. Top/left wall in last pic. The board to the left of the door opening, 2nd from bottom. The light colored natural grain in the wood is taking away from the scale of the wall.
Bryan and Jeroen, that board has been bugging me also. While I would say it doesn’t look as bad when viewed in its normal vertical position, it still bugs me. I’m not averse to any re-work but I’m a little concerned about doing more harm than good. Any tips for removing that board without damaging the rest of the wall?
And Tom, I take your point about the bottom of the vertical boards. I don’t think I can do anything with this batch, but I’ll keep that in mind for other walls.
I'd put some alcohol on the board joints top and bottom with a smallish brush. While that soaked in, I would scribe the board at the opening of the door. Add more alcohol if you like....
I'd start at the left edge of the wall and work a # 11 blade back and forth under the board. As it started to pop up, you can add more alcohol if you like. Once I got it up enough, I would put blade flat on the wall with the dull edge aimed towards the door opening and the board sitting on tip of the blade. Then I'd start to move the blade towards the door. This should start to pop the board off of the cardstock. (see example in pic). I wouldn't worry about damaging the board or the cardstock (too much). I'd snap the board off where I scribed it at the door and then replace. Cut it flush to the end of the wall.
I'd definitely agree with Tom on the rounding off of the board ends, keep it subtle, an odd rounded board here and there, a split board now and then,
Brians wall in the pic above is a great example, random splits, random but minimal rounding of the corners, just enough here and there for effect.
Also a great step-by-step by Brian on how to remove a board you don't like.... I agree with him 100% in his methodology and definitely on the thought that if you don't like it now, change it now, much easier than later.
I do like to soak (with clean alcohol) a little more than Brian describes so that the board comes away easier after dissolving the glue, but that's always situation dependent.
His advice is sound and solid, and most importantly backed up by his outstanding results.
Thank you both so much for your input here. The "repair" process was much as I had expected and is very similar to how I would repair/replace a plank on a ship's hull (which I've had to do on more occasions than I care to remember!) My concern here was damaging the remainder of the wall and/or the underlying substrate. Clearly, I needn't have worried!
I followed the procedure described so well by Bryan above. I used an old paint brush to apply isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to the end of the board and after allowing it to soak in for a minute was able to slip the end of a #11 blade under it.
Once I had the tip inserted, it was easier to get more IPA into the joint. Following Bryan's advice, I also scored the plank where it met the side of the doorway. Here we are about half way through:
And with the offending plank finally removed:
A little extra cleanup with a riffler file and the trusty #11 blade:
And with the new plank installed and trimmed to fit:
I'm much happier with the end result. I'm also glad this has happened at this point as it gives me confidence for any other (perhaps inevitable?) re-work further down track. So thank you all again for your constructive criticism and helpful suggestions - please keep them coming as I move on. I and my model can only benefit from your combined wisdom.
While I was waiting on your replies/suggestions for the repair job, I had moved on with the Dormers. Again, I pretty much just followed Brett's instructions here. I substituted AK Basalt Grey for Floquil Grimy Black as the base coat, and followed up with dry brushing with Vallejo Glossy Black as a substitute for Polly Oily Black. I have never dry brushed anything before but have watched several videos of the process, so I just jumped in and had a go. The final step was a light dusting with grey chalk powder - I chose Rembrandt 727.7 from my "rust" palette for this. It's very difficult to see in the photo below, but I think I achieved a reasonable facsimile of the desired effect.
Here they are after being glued back in place, flush with the back side of their respective walls.
And finally, here is a shot of all the Dormer pieces ready for the next step - the laser cut doors and windows.
I've commenced work on the laser cut doors. Once again, following Brett's excellent instructions, but never having done this before I'm never sure if I've got it "about right" or not.
I've applied a chalk/alcohol "base coat" of 408.3 to everything, and a second chalk coat with a mix of 408.3, 409.3 and 408.9 to the three base pieces of each door. Then I applied the white paint, using AK 11001 White as my substitute for Polly Reefer White. I think I'm happy with the chalk application - it's a fairly good match to the main walls.
Where I'd really appreciate some feedback is on the application of the white and trying to get that look of old and peeling paint. Have I got it "about right", or am I seriously off the mark? If the latter, how might I go about making it better?
Here's a close-up of one set of door trim.
Thanks in advance for any and all input.
Grant
Doors coming along nice.