Here is what the frame looked like for the upper level door when I completed the changes.  It only took a few minutes and I also modified the other end of the barn so you will be able to look through the upper level.  The main floor interior will be visible through the large main doors on the front of the barn. And the lower level with the cows will be visible through the open back of the lower level shown in this picture.

I tried the tip Dave gave me about the yellow box on my iPhone ( see posts above).  It did help with the lighting adjustments with the iPhone.  Thank you Dave.

Good morning! The coffee is brewing - 42 degrees this morning - feels like fall is here. I plan on some time at the workbench this morning.  I hope everyone has a great day.

Here is a picture of the first barn side completed with the windows fixed.  The windows are just sitting in the openings. They will be heading for the paint booth and window glazing before I glue them in.

John, make sure you set the focus point (with your finger :-) ), you should see a yellow box and the exposure will adjust.  Or you can get an app that allows more precise control over the iPhone camera settings. 


dave

Dave


Thank you for the tip - I will give it a try.  I touched the screen and got the yellow box so we are off to a good start.

Note on taking photographs with an iPhone.  I think the white tape in the background of these pictures is messing up the photographs.  The structure is actually not in a shadow. I'm going to take a picture with the SLR this afternoon to test my theory.

I put the widow casting in to make sure it fit.  From the picture I need to make a little adjustment to get it square to the world. I haven't ruled out the fisheye affect from my iPhone.

Dennis


Somehow I missed this discussion but here is my 2 cents.  My layout is also a table top, in my case two table tops. When I started over many years back I build a second table top on top of my original layout.  I had so many cutouts etc. in the original benchwork that I want to start with a clean table top bench. To build a mountain I made a wood frame and made the landform with cardboard  strips and hydrocal soaked paper towels.  For smaller changes in elevation I use foam board.  I have it in 2 inch, 1 and 1/2 inch, and 1 inch thickness, that I use to stickup to the height I'm looking for.


To make a landform that goes lower than the table top, I simply cut a hole with the saber saw and build up from my lower table top (from my previous layout which is 3 1/2 inches lower.)  If I want to go down even farther I cut through both of them and build a simple wood frame to hold the foam board base. Then build up from there, using foam or hydrocal.


If you want to run a landform into the facia draw the shape your looking for on the facia and cut away the table top where it's necessary. 


I went with the table top because I wanted a sturdy frame that I could work on and that would support the weight of all the hydrocal that I have for my mountains. I have spent many hours on top of my benchwork painting mountains and installing scenery.


Let me know if this answers your questions - I think you will find examples of each of these scenarios in my build thread. If not I can take some pictures.


Have fun and keep asking questions - you will find a lot of different options from the members of this forum.  There are a lot of ways to get to the same point and you will need to figure out which one is best for you.