Hi,
I've had to step back and re-group on how to build my background distillery. This was due to pressure from the powers and their valuable content and advice. So first some history about the diorama I am building.
The diorama is 10 feet wide by 30 inches deep and is set in the early 1970's. It is loosely designed on areas from the East to the West coast with some elements from the some cities I have seen. Blending these design elements altogether into one large diorama is and will continue to be a big challenge. For example, only 5 feet of the width has track and the left side is still just foam. I made the commitment to finish the right hand side of the diorama before worrying about the left 5 feet. (I sorta know what I want there.)
The front part of the right side is decided and concrete plans are in place. However, I needed to design the background flat buildings to complement and contrast the front sections. (BTW: the back board is temporary until I decide how I want it all to look like. I know it is contrary to most advice, but I am confident I can generate a photo backdrop the will fit into the diorama nicely.)
One element I do not have in the diorama is a large brick or stone structure and I have some visually empty space to create a dominating structure. After looking around I came upon the perfect prototype - the Gooderham & Worts Distillery (circa 1830). This is a four storey building made from Kingston Limestone hand carved by prisoners residing in Kingston Prisons.
(https://modelersforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stoneskingston.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F10%2F1237560446_33-Last-Quarry-drill-marks-1024x768.jpg&hash=0f3f7494cdf033522eb5ab72c35ae2757972404d)
The following photographs show that building overtime and represent the effect I am trying to re-create for my background structure.
The drawing is the oldest rendition and if you notice it is very close to Lake Ontario and there are rail lines and a dock area.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211016221853-17313525.jpeg)
In this image You can see that dormers have been added and the freight cars are quite close to the building. The rest of the building is the same.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211016221854-173981574.jpeg)
In this image some fencing has been added, but the building is still untouched.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211016221853-173971719.jpeg)
This seems like an aerial photograph, but it is from the top of a huge dock warehouse jutting into Lake Ontario. It gives perspective on how big this complex was/is. The building is huge (~300 feet wide) and trying to replicate this in HO scale for my small diorama would be too much for me.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211016222018.jpeg)
This is how it looks to-day. It is offices, apartments, stores, galleries, etc. You can see the colours of the Kingston Limestone, which they say is light grey, but I think it is sandy with hints of grey.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211016221854-17399198.jpeg)
In the next post I will explain on how I plan to fit this into my diorama.
Until next time.
Marty
Marty,
Welcome to the forum. This will be quit the project and I'm looking forward to seeing what you end up with and how you get there.
That is one great looking structure and I like the weather vane on the old building - Photo no.68.
Tom ;D
Wow. What an ambitious and worthy project. I'm looking forward to watching you tackle it.
(I would suggest Mr. Van Gelder and Mr. Sellios be on your advisory board for this one ;) )
John
Welcome to the forum Marty.....looking forward to seeing your work. :)
Great prototype, great history, great photos. I love large 19th century factory buildings, and I'm looking forward to seeing how you reproduce this.
dave
This should be a great build, I will be watching!
Quote from: ak-milw on October 22, 2016, 01:38:05 PM
This should be a great build, I will be watching!
DItto
Eric Quebec
You've sparked my interest, Marty. Looks like a great project and I'll be watching as you progress.
Cheers, Mark.
Following along, this should be good.
Wow, I have an audience! I hope I can do justice to the prototype.
When I pass the building on the train, the building looks more grey than sandy color. So I decided to see how Google sees the building. It looks more little grey with undertones of yellow.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231016121324.png)
Something to think about.
I did some more research into the building to see if I could find anything more about it. To my surprise I found a complete set of elevations and floor plans for all the structures in the complex. The one that was most interesting for me to creat a background building was this one.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-241016113038-17454215.jpeg)
It has a rough scale that I used to build a ruler so I could measure the elements of the wall. This gave me the rough dimensions to label the original building. With that I could see if it would fit into the space I needed to fill (~13"). There was no way it would fit. So I need to do some compression while maintaining the look and feel of the building. There was no way I was going to be able to do the whole building.
I eliminated the left part of the building as it had too low of a profile for a background. Also, the left four window section had to be dropped and I eliminated one set of windows from both sides of the tower.
One of the challenges was to find out what size the windows were and if they were commercially available. I went out to find windows and doors that would replicate the prototype. The smaller curved windows are/were not available, the rounded doors also did not exist. And when it came to the larger rounded windows it was even more difficult to find. So another compromise was needed.
I found some Ticthy windows that fit the bill for the smaller windows, however were only square at the top and only available locally as non-masonry windows. So I decided to make all the windows from these. As for the doors, I chose a standard Ticthy door size.
To capture the feel of the early 1900's railroad operations behind the building I made the larger entrance door a rounded freight door. I will have to scratch build this door and a dock for accepting goods from the freight cars. The two other doors will just be back entrance doors to the building with landings and stairs coming up to them. Remember this is close to the siding and occasional access would be needed.
To properly scale and draw a plan I found a photograph of the wall and did some scaling and perspective corrections so when printed it has windows that were 3 feet x 5 feet. From this I could confirm my initial measurements and get a HO scale picture of what I was trying to build.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-241016113038-174561679.jpeg)
So here is what I came up with, (Ignore the two rounded top doors. I changed my mind after taking this picture.)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-241016113038-174579.jpeg)
I bet this will change when I get into the production.
See you at the next post.
I will be carving all the walls using some Utility wax. It is nice and soft, yet firm to carve. I got this from a sculpture supply house here in town.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-241016233444.jpeg)
I will use the plan to score the openings and floors and then get into carving. It is going to take a few days to do this as there are hundreds of blocks to carve.
Until the next post.
Looks to be a very interesting build.
Jerry
Marty
What a great project. I will be following along.
Marty,
This will be a fantastic structure when finished. Looking forward to the journey.
Tom ;D
That wax sounds like a great idea.
dave
Thanks for dropping by.
I've been busy trying to get the feel if carving in the wax. But before I go into that, I did manage to layout the window and door openings and scratch in the first pass of the blocks of the wall. It was a bit challenging as the wax tends to get soft with the heat of the hands touching it. (I will have some suggestions about this in a later post.)
So some initial tricks; I used some angle irons and a 1/4" section of board to elevate my wrist above the wax. It made it easier to carve and I had more control. I initial used the #11 blades ground into various HO sizes to see if I could make the carving easier, but had limited us of all but the normal #11 blade.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-311016212504-177912121.jpeg)
Now the problems I had.
From the next photograph you will see ridges that occurred while I scored the mortar lines in. Not to good and I know it will cause al sorts of problems later. Also, you see the vertical mortar lines are incomplete. I must have made 4 or 5 passes over the complete surface of the wax wall to get the blocks uniform and more realistic.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-311016212504-177921671.jpeg)
Some diagrams might help.
Here you can see the #11 blade as it is about to "cut" into the wax.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-311016213714-177931737.jpeg)
In reality the #11 does not "cut" the wax, but plows through it and creates furrows in the wax. When you work in the second row of blocks more furrows are creates which deforms the block and make it look like a mountain instead of a block.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-311016213715-17796813.jpeg)
As you do more and more passes it just gets worse.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-311016213715-177951299.jpeg)
Eventually I had to cut off the furrows to make the blocks look ok. This makes the blocks narrower and less like blocks and the mortar line remain as "V"s. Not too good!
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-311016213714-17794439.jpeg)
So what were my solution(s)?
I know I used the wrong type of wax! I should have used jewellers wax which can be carved or even a soft version of machinable wax used for prototyping. Both are just wax with plastic added to it to make it firmer/harder and increase the melting point.
The #11 blade is the wrong tool for carving! I need to use a Graver. This is a fine edge tool used for engaging metals and such. It cuts metal out, not plowing though it. If I had done that the comparisons would like like below.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-311016213715-17797127.jpeg)
Ok, I did not want to go out and spend $20-$40 for a graver, so I made my own out of a small round file. it is a complex grinding of 5 facets into the tip of the file that will cut a groove into the wax while not plunging too deep and evenly removing the wax. When I started using that everything when easier, but the damage was already done.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-311016213748-177991016.jpeg)
I will let you ponder over this post while I keep on going plow and engraving the way too soft wax. I think I have some more tricks up my sleeve on how to fix this.
Until next time.
Marty
Now that I have the carving process understood I moved ahead and added strips of wax as lintels, sills and bonding rows for the wall. I then carved them to look like split face stone. It also gave me a chance to ensure that the windows all aligned with each other.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-011116144957-17800709.jpeg)
I made the centre tower section from another piece of wax. The process was the same in laying out the bond row, corner blocks so that they match the rows on the two wall.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-011116144958-1782731.jpeg)
The tower's opening were cut out and final texturing go the blocks was completed. I will be making the freight doors as i could not find any that looked right.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-011116144958-17828868.jpeg)
I cut the openings for the windows and door on the side wall. Then I created a mold box with Lego and 1/4" foam board. Then using Smooth-on Star 30 silicone I created a master mold for the final walls. Another challenge is how do you glue a wax master to the mold box bottom when virtually nothing sticks to wax, except wax? I will let you figure that our for yourself as I could not.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-011116144958-178291033.jpeg)
(BTW: I only carved on side wall and will use it for both the right side and left side of the tower.)
After the silicone cured, I then created a resin master of the master. It turned red from the dye in the wax and helped to remove the areas that were undercut in the wax. I will keep this until I finished with the wax master.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-011116144958-178301680.jpeg)
I'm heading back to the grind and figuring out I will be doing next.
See you in the next post.
Marty
(Did anybody recognize the two fictional characters that the building is named after?)
Martin,
That is really impressive work. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.
Matt
I am slowly catching up on the posting of the build. Here is the next instalment.
Looking at the resin mold, I decided that I would build the structure from Hydrocal. Plaster is easier/cheaper to cast the various wall sections I need for the background structure. I have a glass table that is perfectly flat that I use for casting. I mixed a watery batch of Hydocal and poured it into the silicone mold and let is dry/cure for a few hours.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-021116105124-17831225.jpeg)
The first ones I cast looked ok, but there were too many missing blocks because of air bubbles. I tried to add some mold release to help breakdown the surface tension, but it was not any better. In hind sight, I should have used soapy water and brush into the very fine indentation of where the blocks were.
After a 1/2 dozen castings I got some castings that looked reasonable and represented the faults that the prototype had in the blocks. A lesson here was that I should have used 1/2" thick wax, or attached the wax to a backer board so the final casting was closer to 3/8" thick at the deepest mortar joint. Live and learn.
So I was forced to epoxy bracing to the backs of the plaster walls. I first epoxied to long braces to the top and bottom to keep the two side walls in alignment.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-021116105124-178562178.jpeg)
I then epoxied the second wall to the long braces leaving a space for the tower to be attached later. The tower section had bracing added to keep this fragile casting flat and straight.
(Notice the bar towel - it provides a soft surface to work on and reduces the number of cracked sections when cleaning up and fitting the walls. Believe me i had to re-cast one wall twice more to get a good wall. Also, I added some joint tape to the backs of the castings when I re-cast them so if it cracks it still hangs to together.)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-021116105124-178571229.jpeg)
I added some more braces as need to ad some support while I eliminated the furrow effects on the blocks. The tower' braces just fit into the opening left when the two walls were attached to the long braces. I had to file the surfaces of the walls and tower backside to make sure the tower sat flush and plumb to the two side walls.
If you look carefully you will see the two outer edges of the walls the bracing is set back the thickness of the walls. This provides a gluing surface and hides the crack were the two walls will be joined.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-021116105124-178581825.jpeg)
Turning over the wall, you can get an idea how the wall section will look like. I took some creative license with the top of the tower to give is a more scale friendly look
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-021116105124-17859176.jpeg)
Next I will be dealing with the furrows and "fixing" how the blocks look.
Until the next post.
(PS: hint characters from Rex Stout novels.)
Very interesting project, Martin. I was considering at some point using wax for the master of the brick wall. Now that you have done it I don't have to re-invent the wheel.
BTW, I think you could have "glued" your master to the mold box bottom with few drops of liquid wax.
Vilius
The furrowing of the mortar lines shows up all over the walls. It is the one thing that bugs me the most in this build. A close-up of a wall you can see the extra lip that shows up on some of the blocks. The solution is rather simple.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-021116112506-178602026.jpeg)
I took a #11 blade and lightly scraped the long part of the blade over the blocks. This removed the furrowing effect and reduced the depth of the mortar lines. Sometimes it chipped the blocks that just add more character to the wall.
Now the seam of the tower and the wall was not perfect and stood out too much. I had to fill the cracks.
I could have mixed up some more Hydrocal and pressed it into place, but when wet Hydrocal hits dry cured Hydrocal it dries almost immediately. There is little of no wiring time. A trick I learned a while ago was to save all the Hydrocal dust from scraping, filing and sanding cured Hydrocal. I grind it up and add water to the fine powder to make a thin slurry. I use a brush to push it into the cracks and then a tooth brush to smooth and form it where I want it. The slurry will stay quite workable for hours and will take days to dry. The used slurry will keep weeks if the water level is kept up.
When it finally dries, you can brush the layer of dust off and it will be a seamless seam. It then behaves just like normal Hydrocal taking stains and paint the normal way.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-021116112506-178611339.jpeg)
The mortar lines in the wall are still too deep and the there are still sharp lines from scraping the blocks. This is unnatural and needs to be soften.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-021116112506-17862289.jpeg)
This is where the slurry is worth it's weight in gold. I slather the slurry over a section of the wall filling the mortar lines to just above the level i want them. I take a metal and tooth brush and work the slurry around until the blocks are clean and the mortar lines are just perfect. This process is repeated over the whole wall. The block edges will smooth out and look worn (after all the blocks have been exposed to the weather for almost 200 years.) Cool eh!
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-021116112506-17863219.jpeg)
In the next posting I will be getting into the side walls and the cleaver design feature that makes this all possible.
See you then.
Marty
Sometimes you just don't see the details until its almost too late. Well thats what happened here. I was looking at other photographs of the roof line and noticed that the tree were cornises on the building. What to do?
I did not what to cast another model so I just cut the edge of the existing silicon mold to create a cornice blank. Then I carved the blanks and exposed them to the walls.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-031116095755-178641832.jpeg)
Ok, now its time for the two side walls that will give the background structure a 1 1/2" depth. What I did was to take a wall casting, cut off the right 1 1/2", added bracing and exposed it to the left side of the front wall. I did the opposite for the right side wall. This way the corner blocks lined up and wrapped around the corner correctly.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-031116095755-178671983.jpeg)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-031116095755-178681449.jpeg)
This close-up you can see how well they align and the seam is totally gone with an application of the plate slurry. I was very careful to line up the bond rows so it would wrap around nicely.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-031116095755-17869992.jpeg)
The cornices were cut and exposed and then carved to fit into the wall structure seamlessly. The slurry helps blend everything together.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-031116095755-178702291.jpeg)
One issue with using one mold for all the walls is the slope of the roof line would be missing. So i found a scrap wall section and epoxied it to the side wall braces which were left long. Then the cornices could be attached to tie the front and side walls together,
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-031116095822-17871392.jpeg)
When I looked at the older photographs I notice that there was a large block chunky foundation with two rows exposed. So I hit my stock of Hydrocal castings and found some split face blocks that I used to create a foundation wall.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-031116101609.jpeg)
Now I have the walls all completed and ready for windows and doors and the roof.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-031116095822-178721697.jpeg)
(PS, Sorry to say I have no photos of the process must rest assure it was not an easy task. I had to modify 6/6 windows from having trim to look like masonry windows. File and fit all the windows so they all aligned, etc.)
Marty,
This project is incredible and very impressive to say the least. This is going to be one fantastic looking scratch (literally) built distillery.
Extremely impressive my friend.
Tom ;D
Quote from: ACL1504 on November 03, 2016, 10:44:51 AM
Marty,
This project is incredible and very impressive to say the least. This is going to be one fantastic looking scratch (literally) built distillery.
Extremely impressive my friend.
Tom ;D
Tom,
Thanks for dropping by and your generous compliment. This is structure I always wanted to build and soon I can check it off by bucket list. Lots more to soon.
Marty
We move onto the roof and dormers. This dormers are located directly over the from wall window openings and make the roof line very interesting.
I take some cardboard and measure and cut out a dormer roof that will cover the ridge of the main tower roof. I used a paper to create a paper template to cut out the cardboard to fit exactly. Getting the ridge line to match the peak was critical to maintain visual alignment. I you can see that I left the card stock under the dormer roof in tact. This helps keep the roof flat and acts as a stop to prevent the roof from sliding off the hydrocal.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116092520-17875671.jpeg)
When the roof is fitted to the structure it sits very nicely. The dormer roof has been cut back from the front edge to allow for some cap stones to protect the tower gable roof. I also marked were the centre of the dormers will be located on the roof.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116092520-178821578.jpeg)
This roof will be removed and placed back onto the structure many times. I used some bracing to help keep the roof flat and to provide a stop for the front overhang.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116092520-17883135.jpeg)
Ok, getting to the dormers. One of the challenges was to be able to have a complete dormer that fit on the short/narrow roof card. I had to fiddle with the dormers such that ridge line would be horizontal and just meet below the back of the roof card. This meant moving the front of the dormers forward, but not past the inside of the front wall. It took some time playing with a paper mock to get it right.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116092520-17884967.jpeg)
these dormers are the most frustrating part of the build. I try using strips wood for the walls, but it looks too heavy and was hard to keep just right. So after sweating and cursing for a while, I found some 1/64" plywood that was perfect for the job. The plywood allowed me to cut and sand the curved window tops and CA everything into place. I added corner posts to help keep the walls together and provide a surface to glue to the roof card. Uniformity is the key ... I wish I could have done that here.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116092520-17885862.jpeg)
So you think I'm an idiot for sweating this small little detail? Well I guess I am, but they do look good. The dormers were painted CN Green (that is what I had on hand). The acetate glass insides will be painted Grimy Black (remember this is an attic that no one goes to clean windows). The current roof covering is asphalt 3-tab shingles; but I believe it would have been Slate back in the day, so I am going with square Slade.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116092549-17886986.jpeg)
I added some fascia boards that will hold the eavestrough and added some lead flashing in the gutters. I took the salvage strips from the slate cards and used them as started strips. I hate it when the first row of roofing is too flat and leaves a gap between the 1st and 2nd rows.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116092549-17887909.jpeg)
I guess I should apply the slate material the roof next, but I just do not want to. There is so much angle cutting and fitting that I have to be in the right mood to do it. Besides, I too anxious to see how to colour that bright white wall.
See you at the next post when I turn into an artist.
Marty
Hmm, I back after playing around with the colouring of the walls. In real-time it has been about two weeks where I struggled on how to get the "right" colour mix. The prototype has two main colours, a blue grey under tone with flashes of sand. When you look at from different angles, it looks different. I needed to replicate that feeling when you look at the model. I want the view to walk by it and see it change colour and be confused/amazed how it looks.
This meant trying all sorts of combinations - lucky I had lots of scrap pieces to play with.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116100910-178882338.jpeg)
I then compared it to one of the prototype photographs and was happy with it. Can you see the test piece? I let it dry overnight to see if it was as amazing as it looks wet.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116100910-17889357.jpeg)
Ok, here is the magic recipe using Rembrandt Soft Pastel chalks. (I mixed them all with my magic Air Brush thinner mix of 50/50 of water/99% alcohol, a few drops of flow improver and retarder)
- Base coat flooded all over the walls with Blue Grey (727.7)
- Wipe the tops of the blocks to expose the white
- individually painted the random blocks using this ratio of the number of blocks
5% of the blocks - Burnt Umber (409.9)
5% of the blocks - Raw Sienna (234.3)
20% of the blocks - Yellow Ochre (227.7)
20% of the blocks - Raw Sienna (234.8)
20% of the blocks - Raw Sienna (234.10)
I then let it dry for a few minutes and lightly blended using a large soft blending brush.
So lets see how it turns out. Wow that is very dark.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116100910-178901519.jpeg)
But is mostly a background colour of the mortar and deeper sections of the wall.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116100910-178912264.jpeg)
I jump ahead to a bit to the "final" colouring. I did add some black under the windows and used a Raw Sienna (234.10) to highlight the corner blocks. The foundation was left as the Blue grey with dashes of black to add some variations.
I was happy with the overall base colouring and want to freeze it with a Matte Varnish coat. I find this is the BEST matte varnish ever. The spray is extremely fine and there is no orange peeling of the varnish and is totally transparent.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116100938-178932359.jpeg)
So this is what it looks like so far.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-041116100910-178921962.jpeg)
You have notice the windows were not installed when I did this colouring. I was not in the mood to clean up any of the chalk mess of small panes of glass. So i guess there is no excuses now, next is installing the windows.
See you later.
Martin,
Dang, that is just one wonderful looking structure. The dormers really change the look, a great look. Extremely well done.
Tom ;D
You beat me to it Tom, that is a superb structure and finely crafted.
Quote from: ACL1504 on November 04, 2016, 11:36:05 AM
Martin,
Dang, that is just one wonderful looking structure. The dormers really change the look, a great look. Extremely well done.
Tom ;D
Tom I'm glad you liked it so far and your comments are appreciated.
Quote from: barrymk on November 04, 2016, 12:44:55 PM
You beat me to it Tom, that is a superb structure and finely crafted.
Barry, Thanks for dropping by and commenting. I hope it will fit into the layout when I'm done with it.
Windows and more windows with a few doors to make it interesting. That is what is next of the list.
I decided to use Ticthy windows for this build, but as said before the exact windows i want were not available at my local train store. Not being a patient man, I took the closest window and cut off the trim and converted them to masonry style windows. I airbrushed them with Badger CN Green and while they were drying I dirtied up the acetate with some Raw Sienna and sprayed them with the matte varnish. The acetate was glued to the back of the windows using styrene cement.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116124926-179142100.jpeg)
fitting the windows was a bit of a bother. I tried very hard not to scrape and expose any white plaster, but that was impossible to do. Getting the windows to line up was paramount to the look of the structure. I glued the backs of the windows with whatever glue bottle was open at the time. I ended up using light applications of 5-minute epoxy and filling any cracks with white PVA glue from the back. The window shades were made from tissue paper that was sprayed with a grimy black on one side. The shades were randomly CA'd to the window backs as it pleased me. (I don't like the shades in the dormers, so I will have to deal with those some how.)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116124926-179151204.jpeg)
The freight door frame was soaked in hot water and carefully bent to the shape of the opening and left to dry overnight. The next day I epoxied the outer frame and door stop in place and painted it CN green.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116124926-17916930.jpeg)
I used another paper template to get the right shape and size for the doors and glued some strip wood together to make the door.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116124927-17917711.jpeg)
A bit of paint on the freight door and some touch-ups around the windows begins to tie it altogether. The dormer shades were stained my magic brown stain, but I think that will change later.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116124927-17918768.jpeg)
Thats all for this post. I will be working on the details in the remaining posts.
Marty
(PS: the posts are almost caught to my current state of the build.)
(PPS: on of the characters loved to grow Orchids, who is it?)
Looking very good Marty, beautiful stone work.
Quote from: Janbouli on November 05, 2016, 01:36:53 PM
Looking very good Marty, beautiful stone work.
Thanks Jan. I must have gone over each block 5 or 6 times.
From the old photographs the train tracks came very close to the building, but there was no evidence that the freight cars ever unloaded there. This is where my build differs from the prototype as I have a loading dock that I need to build. Also, the two doors had almost ladder like stairs to get into and out of the building. I will be improving on this.
I put together a quick sketch on how I could tie the loading dock and the door entrances into one dock.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116131445-179191629.jpeg)
However, It looked too unrealistic. So it had to be changed. Meanwhile I chalked up some strip wood for building small loading dock and two landings and stairs for the doors.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116131446-179202455.jpeg)
When you look ad the height the doors have from the foundation bottom, it is quite high, about 4', to help minimize the look of the height of the landing I made sure there was door sill and one step down before the the landing. I flattened the blocks a bit so i could epoxy the landing closer to the door sill.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116131446-179211066.jpeg)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116131446-17923338.jpeg)
For the loading dock I tweaked the landing to sit flush with the blocks and made the loading dock flush with the door sill.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116131446-17922531.jpeg)
I used some angle irons to keep the landing and loading dock posts flush with the bottom go the foundation. I will build the stairs and railings later when I am almost competed the structure. These are fragile items and do not want to have to re-glue them multiple times.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116131518-179241943.jpeg)
Next post I will make the one sign for the building.
Marty
That is some beautiful stonework.
Jerry
Quote from: Jerry on November 06, 2016, 12:02:28 PM
That is some beautiful stonework.
Jerry
d
Jerry, thank you. I learned at lot from doing it.
Marty,
Welcome to the Forum. Where did you learn the method for carving the stone wall patterns in utility wax ?
Tommy
Marty,
That's some fantastic work. Thanks for sharing!
John
Quote from: tom.boyd.125 on November 07, 2016, 12:41:37 AM
Marty,
Welcome to the Forum. Where did you learn the method for carving the stone wall patterns in utility wax ?
Tommy
Thanks for dropping by Tommy.
It was a matter of desperation and accident that I stumbled on the idea of the wax. I was at my local sculpture supply store getting some more silicone. I love just walking around looking at the goods and happened to find the sheets of wax. It looked like a good solution and worth the try. Then I remembered that jewellery masters and CNC prototypes are made from wax. (Too much time on Youtube). So it was worth a try.
Previously I used HydroCal to carve into, but found it too unforgiving. Even when I carved is partially cured soft HydroCal. The wax is easy to recover from mistakes, just melt it a bit and add some more wax and try again.
Marty
Quote from: Cuse on November 07, 2016, 06:18:29 AM
Marty,
That's some fantastic work. Thanks for sharing!
John
John you are welcome.
It is time to work on the main sign for the building. I like to replicate the sign fonts as close as I can in the model. The Gooderham & Worts font is rather special and after some research the closest font I could come up with was Clearface Gothic style that was created around 1910.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-081116194942.jpeg)
I searched around to see if I could get the font for free, but no luck. So i had to find one that was close to the prototype sign font. I "best" one I could find was Seravek Bold. The lower text was truly unique, so I used Monotype Corsiva.
The paper was sanded down a bit and transfer tape was used to glue it to a backboard of strip wood. Then three vertical strips were attached to act as stand-offs and make it easier to attached to the block wall
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116131518-179251500.jpeg)
When all said and done, it looks pretty good. (I should have bolded the lower line, but what the hay.)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-051116131518-179262133.jpeg)
Now I have to take a few breaths and get into the mood to work on the slate roofing. Slate is so fragile and break so easily and I hope I get it installed perfectly.
See you in the next post.
Marty
Hi Marty:
Looks absolutely wonderful. You can be proud of your work. Love the coloring on the walls.
Karl
Great job Marty, sign looks great.
Tom ;D
Quote from: postalkarl on November 10, 2016, 07:50:35 AM
Hi Marty:
Looks absolutely wonderful. You can be proud of your work. Love the coloring on the walls.
Karl
e
Thanks Karl.
Yes I'm proud of what has been done so far. There is still alot more to go and I hope I can keep the pace.
Marty
Quote from: ACL1504 on November 10, 2016, 08:17:29 AM
Great job Marty, sign looks great.
Tom ;D
Thanks Tom. For such a simpke sign there so much work to get it right.
Marty
Marty, very nice build will look great on your layout.
Quote from: Twopoint2 on November 12, 2016, 08:52:24 AM
Marty, very nice build will look great on your layout.
Thanks for dropping by. I know where it will look great.
This stonework is simply amazing. Beautiful job.
Quote from: Random on November 17, 2016, 06:05:17 PM
This stonework is simply amazing. Beautiful job.
Thank you for the compliment. I enjoyed working on it.
Marty
I had no choice but to work in the roof. This was a bit of work that I was very reluctant to start. My first step was to order some "Slate" roofing sheets from Rusty Stumps. That gave me a few days reprieve as i thought how to actually get the slate attached on the roof card.
While waiting I used my "lead" flashing (Tissue paper covered in grey chalk and sprayed with a matte coat and then streaked. Then cut into 12" HO strips.) I used white glue to put them in the valleys of the dormers. When the slate sheets arrived I added starter strips I cut from the edge of the sheets to help keep the slate straight at the eves.
When all was dried I added the first layer of slate to the eves ensuring it was parallel to the top edge of the roof card. I used a pencil in a layout block to draw a line as a reference.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103559-181841304.jpeg)
This was the part I was regretting doing, getting the rows of slate between the dormers straight and even. The scribing of lines helps with this.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103559-182102391.jpeg)
As I moved up the roof line, the double slopes of the dormers became the most fiddle sections. It is a challenge to get an even straight valley line of slate on both dormers while keeping the row spacing even. I could only work on this for a couple hours before I became insane.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103600-182111067.jpeg)
Then getting the top edge of the roof slated all the way up the edge was a challenge. I glued a strip of slate roofing beyond the roof line and used the steel rule to help press it flat. I used nail clippers to cut off the excess to get a perfectly straight roof line.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103600-182121920.jpeg)
Next will be the dormer roofs.
Marty
The dormer roof slates present a different type of challenge. Now I have to have all the rows at the same height from the eves and parallel to the dormer ridgeline and parallel to the rest of the dormers.
I used the layout block/scribe to set the height for the first row and then scribed a parallel line to the ridge line using a compass. (I extended the pencil lead and used it as a guide along the ridge line to get a parallel row line.) I glued in the first row and let it completely dry before going to the next rows.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103600-182132207.jpeg)
I completed all the smaller dormers and then repeated the process on the larger dormer.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103653-18214715.jpeg)
After trimming off the excess slates and ensuring the ridge lines were slated right to the top I was for the most part done. This took about 3 weeks to complete as I was not very motivated by the challenge.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103653-182151609.jpeg)
One thing I did notice as i was doing this is that the Rusty Stumps slate sheets had a "good" side and a "bad" side. If I had realized this earlier, I would have created a pattern using the slates. Oh well, I will have to deal with this later.
Until the next post.
Marty
I moved onto the completing of the roof. If you have seen any of my structure buildings you will know that I love using lead to seal the ridge line of roofs. This becomes especially true when the roof is a slate material. Besides I do not like the look of ridge caps as they look too bulky.
I epoxied some HO 2" wire to the ridge of the dormers that will be covered with the lead flashings.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103653-182162215.jpeg)
Another trick that I use is to soak the underside of the shingles/slate that overhangs using CA. This stiffens the paper and ties the individual shingles/slates together. When dry I can easily sand them to a get them straight and aligned with the rest of the dormers. I hate it when you are simulating slate and the roofing material is bent or crinkled.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103653-182171252.jpeg)
The dormers look better with a bit of AI soaked into the slates. However, the reversed patterned slates are still too obvious.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116104027-182192356.jpeg)
A second coat of AI does help, but still not perfect.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116103654-18218449.jpeg)
I was very frugal with the Rusty Stumps roof slate sheets. I used 3 complete sheets and 3 rows from the 4th sheet. This is the pile of scraps that I had left over.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116104027-18220329.jpeg)
More in the next posting.
Marty
It is time to get the roof attached to the main part of the building. Epoxy is applied to the surfaces and flat areas that need to align perfectly.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116104027-182211888.jpeg)
The edges of the side walls and roof need to be clamped tight until the epoxy dries. You can see that I have started to colour the slates a bit more.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116104027-18222987.jpeg)
I went to town on the staining of the roof slates. One thing first; slate comes in different colours depending on the mine and the part of the country it comes from. For the prototype I could not find a conclusive reference to what slate was used or even if slates were used. What I did find was that the ridge flashing was lead, so I feel comfortable using that.
So based on the black & white photographs of the building and other similar building in the area I decided that the roof slate was of a black tone with hints of blue and green. Therefore I applied another coat of AI, then randomly blotched Blue Grey (I used for the mortar) all over the roof. Then a Dark Grey was randomly blotched followed by a patina green, then a blend of dark grey and patina green. Each blotching slightly overlapped each other to give the roof a smooth transitional black grey slate look. The drip lines got a bit extra Dark Grey.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116104050.jpeg)
When you put this all together you get a structure that looks like the below photograph.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-211116104027-1822337.jpeg)
This completes this phase of the build and I will be working on the LED lighting over the sign and elsewhere (?).
I hope you like it so far.
Marty
Hi Marty:
WOW!!!! looks really great.
Karl
Great work Marty..... 8)
Marty
Very nice work! I'm really enjoying the thread.
Quote from: S&S RR on November 23, 2016, 06:43:35 PM
Marty
Very nice work! I'm really enjoying the thread.
Marty,
Ditto to all the above comments. Well done sir.
Tom ;D
Quote from: GPdemayo on November 23, 2016, 09:38:11 AM
Great work Marty..... 8)
Gregory, thanks for dropping by.
Quote from: S&S RR on November 23, 2016, 06:43:35 PM
Marty
Very nice work! I'm really enjoying the thread.
John, I glad you are enjoying the thread. I am trying to explain why and how I am building the structure rather than just showing photos of each detailed step. Hopefully a few new ideas and techniques will come out of it.
Marty
Quote from: ACL1504 on November 23, 2016, 07:01:13 PM
Quote from: S&S RR on November 23, 2016, 06:43:35 PM
Marty
Very nice work! I'm really enjoying the thread.
Marty,
Ditto to all the above comments. Well done sir.
Tom ;D
Tom, ditto on the thanks. :P
Hello, It's been awhile since I've posted something here.
It's been a rough few weeks trying to figure out what and how I was to do the next step. I decided to forego the LED lights, not because they are difficult, but because I could not get the "right" look for the lights and shades. So I gave up for now.
So i moved onto the Wall braces. It sounded like an easy thing to do, but you guessed it, it was more challenging than frying an egg on my driveway in January.
The wall braces are 16-18" in the prototype which translate to ~3/16" for the structure. Do you think I could find a 3/16" circle cutter or hole punch anywhere that was not priced at $40+US. I looked everywhere in hardware stores, craft stores, scrapbooking, jewelry tool suppliers, machine tool supplies. Yes, they wee some, but way beyond my budget. So plan "B".
I dug around in the junk stuff from my Dad's workshop and found a very old leather hole punch. However, it was a 1/8" punch, so I drilled it out to 3/16" and tried to sharpen it as much as I could.
I then proceeded to punch out 64 circles from 0.010" styrene. I found the cutting board as a backing provided the best cut circles.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-081216184509-186131809.jpeg)
The prototype had some small details that I wanted to replicate. I found the needlely thingy was the best applicator for the small parts.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-081216184509-18630118.jpeg)
I cut rod slugs and welded them on first and then added a cross to the rod and circle. The excess strips were cut off at an angle to replicate the prototype wall braces.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-081216184509-18631217.jpeg)
I then added NBW to add more detail and dimension to the detail.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-081216184510-186321218.jpeg)
I made only 12 masters and then cast a silicon mold and then cast a whole bunch of copies.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-081216184510-18633303.jpeg)
The copies were then cleaned up and left to "cure" before I would move to the next step. But more on that in the next post.
That's all for now.
Marty
Marty,
Wow, great job on the slugs. Very inventive on your part. I'm duly impressed.
Tom ;D
Quote from: ACL1504 on December 08, 2016, 07:10:09 PM
Marty,
Wow, great job on the slugs. Very inventive on your part. I'm duly impressed.
Tom ;D
Thanks Tom. It's amazing what living on a budget will do for invention.
Marty
A few days later I began working on how I wanted to treat the wall braces. I was going to paint then green, actually I tried priming with Vallejo primer and CN Green paint however it did not look right, but decided on making them look as they did before the building was renovated in the 1990's. Remember the layout is placed in the early 1970's and the wall braces had decades of rust due to lack of maintenance.
So a base coat of Camao Earth brown was applied. While the paint was still wet a heavy coat of red and brown chalks with touches of orange were dusted over it. Then a very light coat of matte varnish was applied.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-091216100851-186341848.jpeg)
The wall braces were then epoxied onto the blocks where the ceiling.floor joists would have been. A series of rusting chalks were applied. First a light raw sienna wash below the brace, then a smaller wash of burnt umber and then a thinner line of orange. When dry it was scrubbed together with a stiff hogs hair brush. Later I tune the rusting to be less intense.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-091216100851-18637430.jpeg)
Next I attacked the tower wall caps. (Notice the roof slates have been dusted with a whitish/grey/sand chalk to show the lead leaching from the ridge caps.)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-091216100851-18638171.jpeg)
Earlier I had made for hydrocal blanks to be used for the tower peak. These were sanded down to the same thickness and width.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-091216100851-18639788.jpeg)
These were then cut/trimmed and fitted to the tower wall using epoxy to hold it all together.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-091216100851-186401489.jpeg)
Then I used the same chalks I used on the walls to blend in the tower wall caps. (Notice, the rust streaks from the wall braces are getting more realistic.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-091216100921-186411270.jpeg)
The walls all got a dusting of greyish chalks to tone down the fresh paint look on the windows, doors and dormers. When all is said and done the structure is pretty well done.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-091216100921-186422160.jpeg)
I now need to add a base to the bottom of the structure to hold the docks and porches in place because they all broke off with me handling the structure. With some details, etc the build will be finished soon.
When that is done I will post the final steps and images. See you then.
Marty
Hi Marty,
This is a really nice thread because the building techniques are very different. God job.
Quote from: sdrees on December 09, 2016, 12:51:03 PM
Hi Marty,
This is a really nice thread because the building techniques are very different. God job.
Steve, I'm glad you noticed the techniques. Which one did you think was the strangest?
Marty
Beautiful!
Mike ;)
Quote from: Mkrailway on December 09, 2016, 10:10:19 AM
Quote from: ACL1504 on December 08, 2016, 07:10:09 PM
Marty,
Wow, great job on the slugs. Very inventive on your part. I'm duly impressed.
Tom ;D
Thanks Tom. It's amazing what living on a budget will do for invention.
Marty
Marty,
Yes, it is and you make the building of the building look so easy. I love the finished look. Well done sir, well done.
Tom ;D
Tom, appreciate the feedback.
It is really easy to build ... figuring out what and how to is the tough and lengthy part.
Marty
It time for the secret to come out!
All my buildings and places in the layout/diorama have a judicial theme (a meme from the "Judge" herein), this building is no different. It is from the two main characters of the Rex Stout mystery novels of Nero Wolfe. Nero Wolfe the beer loving genius detective and the milk loving Archie Goodwin.
Nero's cases are full of irony and twists, so I felt it necessary to continue the theme.
For example, Archie has the tough guy image yet drinks only milk? That is so wrong! I felt he would be the one who would own a whiskey distillery. He was so cheap/under paid he would not drink what he made, but to flog it to the punters. So Archie gets first billing.
Nero is not a stupid man and realised that the more people drank whiskey there would be more cases for him to solve. Plus there would be more beer for him. Nero gets second billing as he bankrolled the business and did not want to be seen to be doing what he was doing to get more business.
Therefore, Goodwin & Wolfe .. And a play on words the prototype of Gooderham & Worts title.
So the cat is out of the bag.
Marty
Really nice work! Thank you for posting your build- very informative!
Quote from: rpdylan on December 11, 2016, 04:02:06 AM
Really nice work! Thank you for posting your build- very informative!
Bob, You're very welcome. Sharing helps grow this craft.
Marty
It's been awhile since the last post so I guess it is time to catchup on what has been done with this structure.
As I was woking with the structure I found that the loading dock and the two porches kept of breaking off. So I decided to add the base to the structure so the stairs, etc has something to rest on.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150010-18991272.jpeg)
Some epoxy, clamps, straight edges, weighs helped to attache the base to the structure.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150011-18992330.jpeg)
I rounded the edges of the base so that it could transition to surrounding areas near the tracks.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150011-189931644.jpeg)
The next thing to help keep the structure against the background board was to add some Rare Earth magnets to some mat board and some metal clips in the structure for the magnets to attach to. I set the magnets 4" off the base and I will be running a paces of metal behind the background board so the structure is stuck flat again it.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150011-189942254.jpeg)
More in next post.
Marty
Now I can get back to working on the modelling aspect of this build.
I used a scrap section of wall to make a sidewalk for the left hand rear door.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150011-18995585.jpeg)
I spent a few days cursing and swearing at making four (4) "special" gooseneck fixtures for the big sign on the wall and another normal gooseneck for the righthand door. They are all sprayed with Earth Brown Camo rattle can paint and coated with a mix of dark rust chalks. Left to dry and then the larger chunks are brushed off.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150055-18996565.jpeg)
Drill a hole thought the Hydrocal and Ca/Epoxied the normal gooseneck fixture in place.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150055-1899784.jpeg)
More in the next post
Marty
I got out my stair stringer jig and cut out two sets of stairs using the fine tooth saw.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150055-189981982.jpeg)
Here is the back view of the stringer jig. It's just two sections of styrene glued together with on 4 HO scale inches lower than the other.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150055-189991859.jpeg)
I re-used the SWSM stair temple to attach treads to the stringers.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150055-19000225.jpeg)
Then pickets/posts and handrails were added to each porch.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150136-1900128.jpeg)
Notice the porches do not touch the bases. Soil will be filling the gaps.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150136-190022079.jpeg)
More in the next post
Marty
I remember using my dad's fish rod and som how managed to unravel and knot up every single inch of the line. Wiring LED lights is much like fishing in so many ways, including creating a mess with the wires. Errggg!
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150136-19003314.jpeg)
The main sign gets the "special" light fixtures, which are just elongated canes, to illuminate the sign. They are glued in on a steep angle to disperse light to the complete sign. Very much like the prototype.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150136-19004853.jpeg)
All those tiny wires are fed into a PCB with a current limiter and silly coned to the floor view block.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150136-1900547.jpeg)
More in the next post.
Marty
I am now on the final 100 yards of the this structure build. I am think about where to add details and what type of mood I want to create with it. Notice the dock and porches got a dark stain to visually push back.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150202-190061548.jpeg)
After some thinking, I went to work rusting the heck out of stuck that would be surrounded by long grasses. This area would not have been maintained in any form. Except by the left door and the loading dock.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150240-190111035.jpeg)
Here is a closer look.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150240-19012187.jpeg)
At night the scene comes alive. The sign has those horrible cool bright lights so everybody could see the building miles away. Yet the door lights are the Yellow LEDs to give a counter balance to the white lights. A flood was added to the interior to indicate that someone is there at night working.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150203-190091095.jpeg)
I like the soft filling the yellow lights give when the structure is way in the background.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/597-231216150203-19010341.jpeg)
One last photo. I always keep the palette of colours I used on the structure until I and completely done the structure. This way I have a reference to help keep the colours the same.
It's been a long build and I am happy to move onto something new.
Thank you for all your views and comments and I hope you got something out of it.
Marty
Really really nice. This has been a fantastic build to watch. I can not think of anything that I would change. You should send it to me as it would look better on my future layout...
Quote from: Rail and Tie on December 23, 2016, 04:12:37 PM
Really really nice. This has been a fantastic build to watch. I can not think of anything that I would change. You should send it to me as it would look better on my future layout...
Nice try :-).
Thanks for dropping by. I glad you enjoyed it.
Marty
The lighting is the cherry on this wonderful cake, great build Marty.
Quote from: Janbouli on December 24, 2016, 03:21:33 AM
The lighting is the cherry on this wonderful cake, great build Marty.
I appreciate your comments and support.