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Scotia Supply
Hello. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Dave Sullivan and I have been hooked on model trains most of my life. I have built a few of the simpler plastic and wood kits. Until now I have never attempted a true craftsman kit. I recently got this kit from e-bay. I love this kit. It seems to have so much character I want to build the diorama and eventually incorporate it into a layout. I am really hoping that y'all on this forum will give me some good criticism on this build as I go along. I also wanted to start this thread to see if I understand posting pics. So here goes.
The box
][IMG]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff246/captsully18/railroad models/B007598E-5DA3-4057-8129-C874DF6AE356.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
What's in the box
[IMG]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff246/captsully18/railroad models/E7D512E0-7ADD-47F7-8223-BD8BF57D5453.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
The box
][IMG]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff246/captsully18/railroad models/B007598E-5DA3-4057-8129-C874DF6AE356.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
What's in the box
[IMG]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff246/captsully18/railroad models/E7D512E0-7ADD-47F7-8223-BD8BF57D5453.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Comments
Dave
Ive always liked that kit. Ill be looking forward to your build. You've got some of the most talented modellers around here on the forum The combination of that and Bretts brilliant manual, your project will be a great success.
Exactly why I want to build it here.
Dave
Firstly I'm really looking forward to following along with your build of Scotia. It's a great looking kit and one I've always had on my build list. cant wait to see your pictures as you go.
Speaking of pictures... here is the forum tutorial on how to do it.
Basically the image file has to be uploaded to the forum here and then inserted into your post, before submitting.
It's really easy to do, just three mouse clicks and done.
http://sierrawestscalemodels.com/vanforum/discussion/173/picture-posting-tutorial#Item_1
Karl.A
Thanks Brett, glad you are following along.
Have prepped the foundation and the castings. Whew, there are quite a few of them.
[IMG]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff246/captsully18/railroad models/AE5A5EE0-3B71-4FE2-B5C4-0122A14998AC.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[IMG]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff246/captsully18/railroad models/81304EF7-C301-4AB5-937C-33C6E110BEE0.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Now off to weather the foundation, and whatever else I can get done tonight.
Dave
Save them to a folder if they are not already there.
Once they are on your PC click the "attach a file" button in the reply box.
Select the picture you want to upload from your pc.
Once uploaded an "insert image" button will appear next to the thumb nail image. Click this to have the picture appear in your text.
Only when you have finished typing and inserting images should you click "post reply"
Bills tutorial I posted above is very explicit and well written.
Karl.A
These were take hurriedly because I wanted to try something different. I had been taking pics with my Iphone and I wanted to try my camera and that made the difference. I hope
David
Comments and critique, please.
More to follow in nest few days.
David
I achieved good results as it comes to painting wood, benches and other castings.
as I mentioned on RRforums it still is a good start and I follow your build
DJ
Dave
it's great to see that you are not afraid of jumping in and trying it, also good to see that you are prepared to back track, scrub it clean and start again when you are not happy with the result.
That is a pretty big hurdle for some people. Myself included.
Once you've done it a couple of times you realize that it's easy enough to fix things, you start relaxing more and the modeling 'flows'.
I've had many 'do-overs' and things always turn out better.
A tip on the dry brushing, use a lot less paint on your brush, clean almost all of the paint off the brush on a paper towel or rag. With dry-brushing you really just want a hint of the paint to show on the high spots. It takes practice but is worth the effort.
As a base layer yours is looking like a good start.
Karl.A
Thanks for stopping by. Appreciate the good works and suggestions. Still at it and more shall follow.
Dave
I'm not so keen on the streaky wall in the second picture. The streaks seem a little harsh. They are much more subtle in the first wall shown, for me this looks much better.
Remember subtlety is our very good friend.
Did you use water or solvent based paint for your brick wall ?
Again subtlety here is a good thing, picking out individual bricks in darker or varying shades is a must for realism, but, try to keep these differences muted. Here is a real wall for reference, many shades and variation, all subtle.
Karl.A
Karl, thanks for stopping by and for the comments. I have worked on the brickwork, and the streaks on the stone, and on the doors, boarded windows, I guess I have been working on the whole first floor. The following pics are after trying to get the wood to look more like wood to me, to satisfy myself with the brickwork ( not sure I'm completely satisfied ), and using some brown chalks to tone down the streaks.
I got ahead of Bretts' instructions here. I braced all the walls before applying the stains, paint, A/I, etc. I know the siding in the kit is thicker than in other kits, but I cringe at the thought of warpage. Have had that happen on other, cheaper kits. I also added some extra bracing as I tend to err on the side of caution.
I then primed all the walls
Then applied the stains as Brett instructs, followed by using a terry cloth rag and applying some coach green paint.
While waiting for all paint to cure, I wanted to experiment on the fence. I had read ahead and noticed that Brett recommends using CA glue to attach all the posts. I must admit that I am not very good, nor neat when it comes to gluing such small joints together so I took some brass rod I had on hand, used the template from the kit, and soldered the pieces together. Here is a pic of what I came up with. The brass used is just a bit larger than supplied in the kit, but this was just an experiment.
Now I have to admit an OOPS! As I was adding the nail holes in the end wall of the side building the clapboard cracked in many places. I am sure this was my fault by pressing the tool I was using ( a T pin ) too deep. The board did not separate thankfully but I was concerned that it would eventually come apart during the other steps. So, again I jumped ahead in the instructions and added the trim pieces to it. This stabilized the wall well and I was able to proceed.
The last thing I did last night was to apply the first treatment to the windows and casings.
Hope this is not too long a post. That's it for now. More to come soon. Would appreciate all suggestions, comments, critiques, etc.
David
Geesh! the green in the picture (which I hope is close to the actual color) with all the siding pieces is wonderful! What a great tone of green and you got a really nice aged look. Love the "break through" in the siding on the one wall. Nice damaged and worn areas but not over done which is easy to do....will be following along. Ken
I'm going to offer some thoughts here, as well.
The brick wall looks very good. You've got several shades of "brick" colors along with some nice crumbling mortar.
On the stone wall, it looks to me like you're trying to combine 2 steps into one. I could be wrong, but it seems like you're trying to color and weather the stones in one step. You may want to try coloring the stones ( using thinned earthy colors--as called for in the manual). Rather than paint the stones, I think you want to use more of a thin stain and let the color flow into the rock work. The resin will soak up the stain causing the colors to blend together naturally instead of having the paint sit on top of the surface of the stones. Does that make sense?
Once you're satisfied with the stone coloring, then go back and weather them with the streaking effect (using chalks, dry bushing or whatever the manual calls for)
I haven't built Scotia, but I thought I'd share what I saw.
I agree with you when it comes to bracing: there's no such thing as 'too much'.
You're off to a good start!
Hope you're having fun building it
Bill
Sometimes it takes a lot of nerve to post our work, especially when we don't think it's as good as it can be. That is the great thing about sharing the progress as you are doing here.
We can ask advice and opinions on what we have done and then, choose whether to follow or pass on anything that is offered in reply.
We are all here to learn and improve our modeling by getting input from our fellow members and sharing ideas in a build thread is a terrific way to do that.
The green clapboard walls look great, nicely aged and deteriorated, and as Ken pointed out, not over done. The soldered fence posts also came out great, nice and square with clean joints, I need to learn how to do that, one day.
Keep track of everything you are doing to the stone walls as you go, if you hit upon something that looks great you will want to be able to repeat it.
I agree with Bills advice regarding the stone work, try some washes. wash the individual stones with similar shades/colours to get variation, the colours will blend in the cracks.
A couple of questions.... 1. Where is the orange colour coming from, specifically over the arched doorway? 2.Are you planning on adding mortar to the stone walls also?
Keep us up to date, this is getting interesting and remember, don't be afraid to try something if you have an idea, if it doesn't work out you can always back track.
Karl.A
David
Let me add a bit to what Karl said: don't psych yourself out into thinking a build thread has to be a tutorial. Think of it as YOUR tutorial. Make it a detailed "road map" of how you did what you did to achieve the end result. This will allow you to replicate good methods, colors, or techniques later on another build. Or, it'll help you (and others) avoid making the same mistakes next time. (My log pond disasters in the Twin Mills build thread illustrate that!)
The more detail and pictures the better--not only for future projects but it also helps in getting advice and suggestions from those following along. If people can read exactly what you did, they'll be able to say "try using this instead".
Just like a recipe for baking a cake, only we end up with model structures when we're done!
Okay...for your stone work, let's back up a bit.
1) what type of paint and colors have you applied?
2) how many different applications did you put on?
Bill
Speaking of Floquil earth, that is the first coat that I applied to the stone. I then dry brushed light coats of aged concrete over the stones. I then applied washes of A/I, then brushing with unber, black, sienna chalks mixed with alcohol. Then dry brushed lightly with more of the aged concrete to highlite the stones. But after reading your post above I looked at the stonework and realized that it wasn't quite right. Brett has already said that perhaps it would all come together after I had the second story on and weathered. I'm not convinced of that.So, this afternoon I applied medium gray, a little burnt umber, and a bit of sienna with some a lighter mix of A/I. Pics are below. Tell me what you think of it now. Still not satisfied with brickwork. Any ideas?
Now yes I know, that sounds crazy when you think about what we are working on, however.........
You explained that ....
" I then applied washes of A/I, then brushing with unber, black, sienna chalks mixed with alcohol. Then dry brushed lightly with more of the aged concrete to highlite the stones. But after reading your post above I looked at the stonework and realized that it wasn't quite right. ......... So, this afternoon I applied medium gray, a little burnt umber, and a bit of sienna with some a lighter mix of A/I. "
This reads like you are performing these steps on the entire wall, as one unit, rather than on individual stones.
Treating the stones separately will give a much more individualistic and realistic look to the wall.
I'll dig out some pictures to help illustrate further.
Karl.A
David
So, I think I see from the new pictures that the orange is coming from chalk powder. Is that right?
The orange color is what jumps out at you because those recessed areas normally would appear dark or in shadow.
Here's the approach I'd take: randomly hit the stones with whatever paint colors the manual suggests (probably earth colors like tans, grays and browns). Paint one gray, the one next to it a tan, next to that maybe a brownish color, but mix it up and keep it random. The idea is to make it look like each stone is a different color but not allow a pattern to form.
After it dries, apply your A&I on the wall making sure to get it into the cracks and crevices (especially where the grout or mortar would be in between the stones)
Then weather the entire wall with chalk powder and alcohol, but use less chalk. Check the manual but it will probably call for you to make a stain with the chalk and alcohol. And for now, I'd avoid the orangish colors. Use mostly grays and light browns and see how it looks. This should be very subtle.
Then highlight by drybrushing--again, very subtle. For drybrushing, dip the brush into the paint and scrub off almost ALL of it on a paper towel. A good test to see if you've got the right amount of paint for drybrushing: paint a small portion on the back of your hand. It should color only the ridges of your skin (so it looks like a fingerprint).
Look at the last picture you posted above...the far right hand side of your wall (especially the bottom right hand corner) looks perfect! See how you've got light gray on the raised areas and darker color in the deeper recesses? That's exactly what you want. The orange in the upper left section spoils the depth you created.
But don't over think it. Just apply the colors in the order and way the manual describes and the end result will look more like what you got on the far right.
Here's the link to Kevin's tutorial on painting castings:
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33146