Considering the quality of builds being done, I'm almost hesitant on doing this. BUt this is my first laser kit. So here it goes.
The mandatory box and contents shot. All parts sealed in plastic and clearly labeled.
There are three sets of instructions. The main assembly set is well documented with actual build photos at each step. The second set are for painting and weathering, along with assembly instructions of most painted parts. The third set is an updated painting guide. Originally, he had one use Doctor Ben's Weathering Pigments mixed with alcohol to paint the brick. The it was to be over sprayed with Dullcoat. AsS the Dullcoat dried it would form white mortar lines. But in the updated painting guide, he mentioned that apparently, the Dullcoat formulation had changed and this process no longer works. He now suggested one use craft paint.
So first up is test fitting the tab and slot fit. For what ever reason each slot had laser cut brick pattern that had to be filed away. to get a good fit. Using miniature rasps followed by small mill files made quick work of the offending material.
Bob
I'm looking forward to watching your build.
After ensuring that all tab/slot connections are good and flush, it was time to add the bracing. He provided photos as to where each piece goes with appropriate precautions. After letting the glue to grab, each wall piece was flipped over and weights applied to let dry over night. Darn near ran out of weights and room.
Seems as though my eye ball was out of calibration by 1/16" as I had to trim four of the braces.
Then on to assembly. Since my preferred method of using the metal square plate wouldn't work as it wasn't big enough, I had to break out the angle blocks and die blocks to keep everything square. I have been playing around with rear earth magnets for other uses, and found the 3/8x3/8 ones to have a very strong grab to keep everything vertical. I can move an entire wall section and those block/magnet units will move with it. Add a couple of clamps, do a check for square by putting the roof on, and let it sit over night.
I'll be following. I have built two of their kits and really like them.
Jimmy did good work, I build a couple of kits and ordered some of this laser-scribed brick and stone products. The brick or stone 1/8" square piers are particularly handy. I haven't heard if anyone bought the business from him.
dave
Jimmy's kits go together nicely...built a bunch of them.
Nice looking warehouse Bob.....I'll be looking in.
Thanks all for the support.
I spent some time trying to decide on the brick/mortar combination. Jimmy suggested to use a mix of aged brick weathering powder mixed with alcohol and make your own "paint." Tried it and it looked good. Then, do the same with a lime mortar wash powder. Not too excited as it turned the brick white. Tried removing the mix that got on the brick faces without much success. I may try to do an over dry brush with an acrylic color to see if that works.
I also tried acrylic brick paint (various colors) and pan pastels. The neutral gray looked horrible, but the white has promise. For whatever reason, pan pastels don't stick to the weathering wash "paint", so that isn't an option. Also tried some spackle but it did what spackle does and filled the mortar line flush with the brick. I don't like that look at all. I prefer the look of a raked joint, especially for this building. I just need to find the right technique and combination to use with all the new to me products. Thank goodness, I have a bunch of door and window cutouts to see what works.
Sorry no photos.
Seems you have 2 related problems:
1. Coloring the mortar lines without filling them.
2. Preventing the mortar color from tinting the brick.
I'd solve these in reverse order:
a. Lightly spray-seal (dullcote or some matte varnish) the brick after it's colored.
b. I like using artist gouache (opaque watercolor - buy a student starter set with a 40% craft store coupon.) Thin to consistency of skim milk, apply with a pointed brush by touching the brush to a crack and letting capillary action draw the color into the cracks. When that's dry, carefully clean any mortar that got onto the bricks with a slightly damp cloth/paper towel.
c. Then apply another thin coat of varnish to keep the gouache from coming off. (If it gets wet, it will dissolve.)
dave
Bob,
Another approach for painting your brick walls can be seen in the attached tutorial from Jason Jansen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13NGNqntuhM
--Paul
Quote from: Oldguy on March 03, 2019, 05:29:58 PM
Thanks all for the support.
I spent some time trying to decide on the brick/mortar combination. Jimmy suggested to use a mix of aged brick weathering powder mixed with alcohol and make your own "paint." Tried it and it looked good. Then, do the same with a lime mortar wash powder. Not too excited as it turned the brick white. Tried removing the mix that got on the brick faces without much success. I may try to do an over dry brush with an acrylic color to see if that works.
I also tried acrylic brick paint (various colors) and pan pastels. The neutral gray looked horrible, but the white has promise. For whatever reason, pan pastels don't stick to the weathering wash "paint", so that isn't an option. Also tried some spackle but it did what spackle does and filled the mortar line flush with the brick. I don't like that look at all. I prefer the look of a raked joint, especially for this building. I just need to find the right technique and combination to use with all the new to me products. Thank goodness, I have a bunch of door and window cutouts to see what works.
Sorry no photos.
Bob
I did a lot of experimenting with coloring Jimmy's Bricks. I did a thread here on the forum - look up the Monster Yard Tower Thread. Let me know if you have trouble finding it and I will look for it. I was real happy with the results.
Quote from: deemery on March 03, 2019, 05:43:15 PM
Seems you have 2 related problems:
1. Coloring the mortar lines without filling them.
2. Preventing the mortar color from tinting the brick.
I'd solve these in reverse order:
a. Lightly spray-seal (dullcote or some matte varnish) the brick after it's colored.
b. I like using artist gouache (opaque watercolor - buy a student starter set with a 40% craft store coupon.) Thin to consistency of skim milk, apply with a pointed brush by touching the brush to a crack and letting capillary action draw the color into the cracks. When that's dry, carefully clean any mortar that got onto the bricks with a slightly damp cloth/paper towel.
c. Then apply another thin coat of varnish to keep the gouache from coming off. (If it gets wet, it will dissolve.)
dave
I have some Vallejo matte varnish coming, so I may give that a try. Gouache - had to look that one up. Didn't realize that it is a watercolor. That could be a definite option. There is a local art store that might have it.
Thanks
Quote from: PaulS on March 03, 2019, 05:47:46 PM
Bob,
Another approach for painting your brick walls can be seen in the attached tutorial from Jason Jansen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13NGNqntuhM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13NGNqntuhM)
--Paul
I've watched most of his videos and he does some great things. But the spackle didn't work for me. I used a pallette knife to spread it on and wiping it off. Maybe it worked too good as I don't want to fill in the mortar lines.
But thanks for responding.
Quote from: S&S RR on March 03, 2019, 06:20:39 PM
Quote from: Oldguy on March 03, 2019, 05:29:58 PM
Thanks all for the support.
I spent some time trying to decide on the brick/mortar combination. Jimmy suggested to use a mix of aged brick weathering powder mixed with alcohol and make your own "paint." Tried it and it looked good. Then, do the same with a lime mortar wash powder. Not too excited as it turned the brick white. Tried removing the mix that got on the brick faces without much success. I may try to do an over dry brush with an acrylic color to see if that works.
I also tried acrylic brick paint (various colors) and pan pastels. The neutral gray looked horrible, but the white has promise. For whatever reason, pan pastels don't stick to the weathering wash "paint", so that isn't an option. Also tried some spackle but it did what spackle does and filled the mortar line flush with the brick. I don't like that look at all. I prefer the look of a raked joint, especially for this building. I just need to find the right technique and combination to use with all the new to me products. Thank goodness, I have a bunch of door and window cutouts to see what works.
Sorry no photos.
Bob
I did a lot of experimenting with coloring Jimmy's Bricks. I did a thread here on the forum - look up the Monster Yard Tower Thread. Let me know if you have trouble finding it and I will look for it. I was real happy with the results.
I found it and thanks for the link. Don't how it got overlooked in the first place. It looks like putting the mortar in first may be my answer.
I've had good luck with the matte finish sold at Michaels for ceramics. I don't remember the brand right now. Another thing to try with a 40% off coupon!
dave
Quote from: deemery on March 04, 2019, 08:47:48 AM
I've had good luck with the matte finish sold at Michaels for ceramics. I don't remember the brand right now. Another thing to try with a 40% off coupon!
dave
My main store for crafty stuff is Jo Anns and no discount coupons. But we do have an art supply store. Limited stock, and geared to the retirees who want to get into painting. I'll check him and JoAnns out. Never thought to check in a ceramics section. Otherwise Hobby Lobby is 60 or so miles away. I prefer to buy local when ever possible; and no 60 miles isn't local to me.
I had bought some workable fixative for chalks thinking ti would help seal chalk and weathering powders. But dang, that stuff has a high sheen to it. How someone is supposed to chalk over that, don't know. Nothing sticks to it. Might use for glossy scenery needs.
Really, only the final coat of sealer needs to be matte. You could use the glossy stuff to seal the brick, and that'll actually make the mortar mix less likely to stick to the bricks. Then use the Vallejo stuff after the mortar is done.
dave
Quote from: deemery on March 04, 2019, 09:59:25 AM
Really, only the final coat of sealer needs to be matte. You could use the glossy stuff to seal the brick, and that'll actually make the mortar mix less likely to stick to the bricks. Then use the Vallejo stuff after the mortar is done.
dave
Hmmm, may have to check that out tomorrow. I have one door cutout left, plus a number of window cutouts to practice on.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I have come to realize that I have bitten off more than I can handle for my first basswood brick kit when it comes to coloring the brick. I won't give up completely, but will persevere the best tat I can.While waiting to get some supplies, I decided to paint the other parts. The Frisco, in my time period uses white as trime, so I painted the windows white. I used a thick wash as it appears that the laser board will tone down the white and give it a dirty/well worn look. Then on to the concrete overlays. My first shot was a Fog Gray craft paint that I got at Hobby Lobby late last year. The new bottle was only half full and was so thick it wouldn't even squeeze out of the bottle. Grrr. I added some water and using the Badger paint mixer stirred it up, but it wasn't old concrete enough. I did have some Model Flex Aged Concrete, did a test swab, and to me, it looked good enough to proceed. It isn't as green as in the photo.
There are some concrete pieces on the building that also needed the concrete paint applied. Some parts okay, others, especially where it was laser burnt, will take several coats to make it look decent.
Then on to the loading dock. The upper piece and the outer piece do have a slight pitting pattern, so I labeled each as to inside. It is so fine it won't show in a photo. Two notched side pieces and two middle supports makes is an easy construct. At least until I glued one end on and while sitting there, I thought to check the top piece fit. And dagnabbit, the top piece doesn't fit. Looks like the sides, and therefore the middle pieces are too long as the dock has to sit flush with the dock openings. Looks like I'll have to shorten some pieces to eliminate any gap.
The kit does have some fantastic metal roll up metal doors. But, I don't think these were in use in the mid-fifties. I've done a search on the google machine and so far haven't found any historic information on their use.
Hello,
I've done quite a few of the Monster basswood brick walls and was very pleased with the way they looked after painting with craft acrylics and dry pigments. Here is an FSM structure that I used the Monster brick walls rather than the ones in the kit...
If you like this look, here is the link with how I did it:
www.railroad-line.com/discussion/pop_printer_friendly.asp?TOPIC_ID=36835
Cheers,
Karl O.
Berkley, MI
PS - Here are a couple more with Monster brick walls colored the same way as the others...
Absolutely fantastic looking brick, thanks for sharing.
OMG! Thank you for the link. I did a search for Monster brick on RR line and that thread didn't make the search results.
Looks like I'll be able to get up and out of my drive way tomorrow and look for some of the recommended products for the brick.
In the meantime I worked on the loading dock and getting it even. I needed to shorten the end and middle braces to get the top flush with the sides. I use rare earth magnets for some of the hold down and alignment functions. I was also able to make up some test brick pieces using window cutouts. Apparently the laser puts a small bias on it's cuts as one can almost eliminate the space in between part by a little sanding on a True Sander. Naturally, I found this out after making my test pieces. Skipping a bit ahead in the painting booklet, I painted some small bits while on the carrier sheet. Jimmy used black spray primer, but I don't haven't anything like that. But I did have a black paint pen and it worked fairly well. All of these will get a coat of rust weathering before removal.
Karl O - if finishing and weathering was a foot race, you sir, are running a marathon and I'm still learning to walk. I did print out the link information and should be able to put it to good use, eventually.
I did manage to get out and about and should have realized how the rest of my day was to go when at the car dealer for an oil change and tire rotation and decided to get my car inspected for license renewal while I was there. They didn't have a state certified inspector any more. Huh?
So when done, I headed to the Family Train Store in town. Yep, a town of 2,700 and there is a train store. Emphasis on train. I look around a bit and a full selection of Woodland Scenics, which makes sense, as they they are just down the road a bit. But where is the paint? I inquired if they had any Dullcote. His response - "What is Dullcote'? Ye gods man. I tried to explain but I didn't get through. Paint? About 16 bottles of Testors enamel and one bottle of Model Master. Need Lionel, American Fyer or $8 Athearn Blue box cars - got 'em.
On to the art store. Yep, they have white gouache. What about a matte acrylic? In a spray can. Seems ought to be similar to DullCote. Anything in a liquid? - nope. What about tempera cakes? Never heard of them. Typical tempera paint for kids, but not in a block or puck form. Good thing I ordered some on line earlier in the week. When they come in I'll go back and show him what they are.
I did manage to play around with painting brick cut outs, and spraying them with either a gloss spray or the matte spray, letting it all sit over night and then mix up some gouache wash (with flow aid added) and test the pieces. Gloss, matte, or no spray didn't seem to make a difference on the mortar wash accumulation on the brick faces. Thinking that my spray could have been too light, I brushed on some newly arrived Vallejo Matte, let it dry and did the wash thing. Same as all the others. I found that I can do a sponge over paint and get decent results. I'm very reluctant to give the building a good spray of a gloss coat since there a ton of overlays that have yet to be glued on. So tomorrow, I'll hold my breath and give the mortar wash a go.
Those Monster Modelworks bricks are amazing!! I purchased some of their stuff when I was in N-scale. There's really nothing like it. I don't know Jimmy (other than Scott Mason's podcast and I may have shaken his hand at a Craftsman Structure Show years ago) but he strikes me as one of the really talented guys in the industry. I hope he finds a way to keep it going. His products and production methods seem very unique and ingenious. Great sub-thread Karl-thanks for sharing all that info. I'm enjoying this thread.
John
What happened was that Jimmy got a 'new day job'. He said that Monster was great when he had the time/wasn't working full-time, but it was way too much to handle alongside a new career. So that's why he closed shop and put the business for sale.
dave
Time to put my big boy pants on a put the mortar wash on. The Flamenco Red is rather bright to begin with. I gran a wide flat brush and dig right in. And dug a fairly deep hole. The wash ran into all the lines slicker than all get out. And promptly disappeared. Okay, when the masters tell you what to do, by all means listen to them. But, I just couldn't bare the thought of giving it a gloss coat. What if all the overlays wouldn't stick to gloss coat? I just couldn't shake the thought. It wound up taking at least 4 coats of wash to even leave a hint of mortar lines, which of course, lead to a lot of white faced brick. Ya dummy, listen to those who have done this before.
I know that I can sponge over the white and call it it a day. Some years ago, I caught management tossing out several bags of makeup sponges as they were out dated. Huh? My thought was yes, you should throw them out as every time you use them, you look older. Get younger sponges and see what happens. Glad I kept my mouth shut.
To get a flat face, I squeeze them in a set of clamps and use a sprue cutter to get a some what flat working surface. Those that have paint dried on them, can be recut for a fresh, albeit, lager surface. After cutting, a quick hair cut to remove any peaks, will help keep the surface on the brick faces.
To get my mind off painting, I turned to the windows that were painted a week or so ago. Thankfully, Jimmy had the "sprues" only on the upper left and lower right of each piece. Cutting these loose was a lot easier when I switched to painted side and the paint bridged the carrier sheet. I found a small container to keep all the parts in one place. Eventually, one places the outer frame painted side down. Apply glue to the frame of the painted window piece and glue the two together. Now where did I put those tweezers?
Hahaha, I like that , taking your mind off painting by doing something even more tedious , great thinking.
Well, the crime scene was cleaned up and the dirty deed complted. Looks somewhat terrible due to the long sections of flat areas that receive the concrete overlays. Did a bit of concrete touch up where the mortar wash and brick dry dabbing strayed a bit.
Then on to the 20 windows cut out yesterday. I don't know what Jimmy used to get the glue all around the window frame, but it was a hassle just getting some decent dribs and drabs on four sides. For me, the easiest way to keep getting fresh glue was just to use the little glob one gets when one closes the spout. I use a Lace Draper (apparently it's used in ceramics) to transfer the glue to the window. Then just use fingers to get everything square, clean up any squeeze out with a #11 blade and weigh down with a die block to ensure it will remain flat. Jimmy mentioned there was an extra window included. I just wish I knew which was it was, as it could have saved me a bit of time in painting and gluing. Just another 8 larger windows and several doors and the facade penetrations will be done. Well, with the exception of the overhead garage doors. These are nice plastic castings, but are of a more modern design.
Anyone know when the metal roll-up doors were invented? Not the ones with panels, but looks more like corrugated metal.
Once I got all 31 windows put together, it was a time for the glazing. There were 2 sheets of glazing to be glued on. But first, each had to be cut out, and then trying to remove the paper backing that became attached around all four sides by the laser. I found the little nub from the carrier was the best place to start. Then applying glue to the frame, in an amount so small that if you can see it, it's too much. Otherwise it squeezes out. I used my little vacuum bul-type tool to pick up the "glass" and apply it over the frame, and with any kind of luck, it doesn't drop off prematurely. I used an old paint brush, and pushing in to the frame while turning it, worked the best to remove any squeeze outs. A small flat, and somewhat wet brush, aide in removing glue traces. Not 100%, but enough to get enough good windows from the viewing side. Once the "glass", has been cleaned, just use you fingers to ensure that it is square and then place under a wait until the glue is set up.
While waiting on the windows to set up, it was onto the entry doors. These are made the same as the windows. Instead of painting them, I decided to use a Minwax Dark Walnut stain from a pen for a wood door look. Another learning moment - stain doesn't like whatever the doors are printed on. It was still tacky after sitting for close to 24 hours. I went ahead and gave them an overcoat of a brown Pan Pastel to get rid of the stickiness.
The on to installing the windows. After everything that had gone before, these were a relive breeze. A little dab of glue in each corner, then fiddling with each to ensure they were even with the brick and voila.
Next up, adding all the concrete overlays.
Nice job Bob.
Great modeling Bob.
ed
With 31 windows and 3 doors, there were 63 lintels to install. I found it easier to install the left top first, then whatever one one was within 6". Basically the length of the plastic ruler that I had on hand. I used those two as benchmarks and installed all those in between them. One has to use the ol' Mark One Eye ball to ensure accuracy looking down the building side. The bottom ones were done the same. A word of note to anyone wanting to build and light the interior. Many of the windows do not fill the width of the window cut out and light would leak out the side. A person would need to frame in the interior portion of the window cutout.
Then it was on to the overlays. These were conveniently labeled per wall: i.e wall P1 got P1A overlay. Good thing that each wall was of a different length as overlays P1A and P2A were mislabeled. There are areas for 3 overlays for each wall. Except for P1. It needs four. But only three were cut. The upper two and the bottom dock overlay were provided. I needed to create my own. I managed to cut one out using the uncut portions of the carrier sheet. I realized that I was not going to be able to produce the little bump downs between the doors. I did manage to produce the notch over the brick bump out and got it glued on.
The next big project will be the roof. The kit instructions have it sprayed with Dullcote and then sprinkle dirt over the top. Well, I live on the Ozarks and we grow rocks. If we want dirt, we have to bring it in by the dump truck load. Okay, plan B, just use sand paper. I need to play around a bit with this as the roof is to replicate tar and gravel covering. If you look closely at the roof card, he has laser etched (?) in 11 roof drains and supplied the corresponding grates, a really neat detail. Each roof drain feeds into a yet to be installed down spout. The main issue, has to do with the actual roof installation. Let's see, a flat roof with a 2" trim to keep rain on the roof? Um, no. So I have a choice. One is to take one of my Monster Model Works brick wall wall sections and cut off 4 or so rows of brick and then splice it on to the existing structure. Yeah, right. I'll never get the brick color to get even close to matching. So I'm guessing I need to drop the roof down about 1/8" to form a parapet. This would require shortening the interior bracing and cut down one interior sheet. Not a biggie. Cover the plain wood with black paper to replicate tar paper and tar that would be run up the wall in the real world. But then, this puts the roof drains way too close to the walls, unless I cut out the extra from the middle. I should have all this figured out before the end of the week.
Also on the roof card are 3 small squares. One is to take small provided card squares and glue on a larger square to form roof vents. Huh? Then on the office section is a large square where one makes a roof hatch (?) in a similar manner. Again, Huh? I'll have to figure changes for these items as well.
Looking good Bob!
After much agonizing, I decided to go ahead and use the included roll up doors. A quick coat of Stirling craft paint and white for the door casings. The instructions noted that one must be careful in painting two of the doors as that had No Parking signs cut in to them so as not to fill in the letters. Apparently, I wasn't careful as they indeed, we filled in. In hindsight, I probably should have painted the lettering, let dry, and then scrap off wasn't supposed to be there. Maybe next time. Once the paint had dried it was a matter of gluing on the casings to the doors. Since they had to be flush at the top with just a little overhang on the sides, I need to make up a quick little jig. Once the PVA glue had set, I did a back up of CA and then glue to the building.
Then on to the roof. I decided to drop the roof even with the upper trim. It was a simple matter of using the depth rod to find the trim depth and then transfer it to the inside. Of course, first I needed to cut off all the interior bracing. For wood that I know that I will be using a lot of, I order from Mt Albert as they offer bulk purchases. It is a lot cheaper to order in 25 or 50 piece bundles. Once all the perimeter bracing ad dried, I needed to add some cross bracing. Again, I use the caliper to find the distance between side pieces and use the depth rod to transfer that measurement to the bracing material.
I have been playing around with different material for the roof and decided on sandpaper, specifically 60 grit. Then following Karl O's advice, I got some tempera paint and made my own tar & gravel roofing. The brush is a water color brush that one fills with water, to eliminate the constant adding water to the tempera puck. In my neck of the woods, the roofers used river rock (because it was rounded) which gave the roof a brownish appearance. My test pieces show some Pan Pastel weathering and it's good to go.
For the front and rear awnings, it was suggested rolled roofing made from masking tape. My experience with masking tape hasn't been good. It just hasn't lasted. One the other hand, I have some drafting triangles that I had to put several layers of drafting tape underneath them to keep drawing ink from running under them, and that stuff had to be removed with an Xacto chisel. But then, I no longer have any drafting tape. I decided to use some emery cloth. I cut them to the standard 33.3 feet long and 3 feet wide. I needed to seal the edges with coal black paint.
I finally got my care package from Walthers, with their roof detail kit. I selected the short "T" style to replace the kits flat squares. First off, I used some Aleene's tacky glue to install toothpick halves for handling. Next up, weathering them buggers.
Everything looks great Bob.
First thing was to spray the exhaust parts with a matte spray. While that was drying, it was one to the dock roofs. I applied some transfer tape to the correct side (trust me, I almost got it wrong) and applied the emery cloth strips. I didn't like the first attempt of overlapping the ends, so I peeled them off and just butted the end together. Of, course this led to a gap. To correct this problem I took a small brush and applied some Satin Coal craft paint to the seams. While I was at it, I added some built up roofing tar that would be applied where the roof meets the building. This should make it easier to finish the seam once the roof is glued to the building.
Then, on to my first ever attempt at weathering. In this case - the "metal" roof vents. I first tried chalks over the matte coating (note - I do not have any Dullcote). Meh. I have heard that one can't overcoat chalk. Not so fast. They make a spray just for chalk and pastels. So I gave the vents a coat and try again. I first went with rust weathering powders but it just looked flat. So I dug into the paint box and pulled out a tube of burnt sienna. Whoa, 50+ year old tube. It still had the 50 cent TG&Y sticker on it. Anyway, I had to take my lace draper needle end to get the paint out. Small dabs with a 5/0 brush and then an over coat of medium rust weathering powder applied with a Q-tip and I'm in business. Could they be better? No doubt, but I'm going to stop while I'm ahead.
Looking good Bob. :)
Looks good Bob. Looking forward to seeing it together.
Had the weekend off to go sell some excess RR stuff at the local Springfield (as in Missouri) to fund the DCC account. I had a nice talk with Bob Lunde who came up from Eureka Springs to showcase and sell his kits.
Took the big step in gluing the tar & gravel roofing (nee sandpaper) to the roof card. The down side is the kit provided roof card had nice laser divots where 11 roof drain grates need to go. I used a Cir-Kit pilot hole punch to mark each corner and after the roofing had dried, went back through the back side to note where each drain grate needs to go. It was important to ensure that no glue got into those divots. I batted 50%. Then it was a matter of flipping the roof back over and cutting out all 11 spaces. I found that a utility knife and a metal straight edge help keep all the cuts in line. A quick application of Satin Coal will get rid of most of the exposed card areas. Not shown here, but I did futz with the roof coloring by add a mixture of a black pastel and Bragdon Soot here and there.
Now it was time to add the roof. I added all kinds of extra bracing for the roof card, and I'm glad it did. That's some major poundage sitting there. I had fiddle with using some black construction paper for the exposed portion of the wall backside. It didn't seem worth the time, so I just painted the exposed wall black. On most roofing jobs that I have been on, the crews would slop tar, some times a layer of tar paper, with more tar moped over that, over the exposed brick to help reduce water infiltration.
While the roof glue was curing, it was on gluing more stuff. With 11 rood drains, there are 11 downspouts. These are cut flat, with a small back cut for folding. I had pre-weathered these with Bragdon's iron oxide powder. To minimize glue spoilage, I squeeze a little out and close the spout. The resultant glob provides enough glue for what I needed to do. Again, using the needle end of a lace draper, it gave me just enough glue to get everything together. A little manipulation and everything came out as in decent shape. The same procedure need to be done with 2 exhaust vents shown in back of the mat. These vents were a little more tricky as the 3 folding tabs are used to attached them to the building. Once the roof had dried, I attached the replacement vents and access hatch with a bit of medium CA.
In the last photo one can see one of the roof drain grates sitting on the roof. It's where it was when I needed to call it a day. I was getting a bit cross eyed as each opening has to checked to ensure that a grate will fit flat and straight.
Looks good Bob.
Hey Bob:
Very well done. Keep the photos coming.
Karl
Bob,
Your build looks great !
Tommy
Thanks to all for the support.
The dray side awning has one gluing it to the building right above the lower concrete belt line. Once dried, add all the rod supports. And boy are these delicate. I did do a little pre-weathering of "dripping rust" lines before adding the rods. Then on to the track side awning. Here, the rods are attached first. The intent is that one adds some glue where the awning and building meet, but the rods actually do the majority of support. While the glue was setting up, I needed to ensure that not only were the rods going to be inline where they will be attached, but also at the correct angle to hit them. So, I decided to place it on the loading dock and let everything set up.
The last photo is of the roof grates. It's another great detail piece that Jimmy laser cut.
While the track side awning glue up was drying, I added the "concrete" topping to the brick walls. Originally, I was going to replace them with painted 2x12's, but since the laser board pieces were already included, I used them. Interestingly, the pieces going in between the awning blocks were of different sizes. So each needed to be check as to proper location. To maintain an even placement, I used a metal cutting guide backed with a marble block to keep it in place.
Then disaster struck. The metal cutting guide used as a backstop fell off and onto the still drying awning. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Luckily, there were two extra rods, one of which was broke as it came off the carrier. Thankfully the glue hadn't completely set and I was able to pull out the broken bits. I found all but one piece and attempted to glue things back together. While waiting for those pieces to dry, I added the remaining downspouts, as they would be all but impossible to do after the awning was added. No photos, but they will show during my next session.
Looking great , love the brickwork and weathering.
Great looking buiding.
Bob, looks great, and good recovery from the marble block incident. I'm happy to see (and I am sure you are gratified) that the damage was not worse. I'm sure we've all done/had similar snafus. I certainly have.
The tiny laser cut parts add magnificent detail. I love them, but sure wish I had the eyesight and finger dexterity of 30 years ago to work with them. The modeling gods so seem to enjoy these occasional jokes. ;)
--George
Thanks for all the support.
As I said previously. the instructions have one gluing the rail side supports, let them dry, and then glue everything on. And if you even just slightly misjudged the support angle, you're pretty much SOL, trying to feed 7 supports into tiny openings without disturbing any thing else. In hind sight, it may have been better to have applied glue to the area where the awning will go, somehow brace it, and then starting in the middle, glue each support in place. But I got 'er done. The last little bits to add are 4 dock ladders. Cut one out and did a test fit. It has to be glued directly to the dock. My border line OCD reared it's ugly head. No way were my little people would be able to climb it, as it sits too close to the concrete. No adequate foot hold. Yeah, I know. It's dumb, but I just can't overlook it. So, into my scrap box for some small bits to push out the ladder a tad.
If one is curious about the dray side (the side with the office extension) bump out and it's two vents, I'm guessing that is for an flammable liquid/gas storage area. Otherwise it doesn't make sense. The prototype building shows up on Google street view, but not earth view.
Tomorrow, I'll add the ladders and call it finished.
It is amazing how much actual work area one has, given the amount of table space provided. I really need to get everything back where it belongs so I can get started on the next build and mess it up all over again. But hey, I now know where my Costco glue card went to.
Beautiful modeling.
The way the ladders were cut, they were to fold over the top of a loading dock. Well, that wasn't happening. I added a little glue over the fold cuts and will be keeping the side rails above the dock surface. A quick coat of an aged black and glue into place. It made sense to go onto the ends of the track side dock instead of between the rail cars and dock as shown in the instructions. The dray side would go between two dock doors and to the left of the single door.
This wound up a bit bigger than I thought and will necessitate a bit of yard track change. I need to mount this onto a piece of 1/2" gatorboard and get ready to plant it on the layout.
Thanks to all for following along.
Roof treatments look great, Bob.