I think the subject says it all.
First up, a major disclaimer. This is not a build thread. I often seem incapable of taking a photo of each step, often skipping more than one before it dawns on me I failed to get the necessary shot.
I'm also slipping in a couple photos of a Campbell newspaper office I built when the forum was non-existent.
My friend Jim gave me a Durango Press newspaper office many years ago. At a later date, I think when he went to O scale, he also gifted me a Langley Models old time photographer. I decided to pull this kit off the shelf and start it, and given its large front windows it cried out for a detailed interior. Beware the flash powder my photographer likes to use, and let's get started.
Here's a photo of the kit box. I'm only building the main structure, if such a small building can be called a "main structure". The parts for the small building will be saved "just in case".
Already I "messed up" in that I failed to photograph the kit contents before I started working on it. At least you cannot say I did not warn you!
So, lets start with the first group of photos I did take, the wall bracing. I have a good number of quilt clips. I prefer them to clothespin clamps for bracing the walls of a kit. The walls of this kit are board and batten so the wood grain runs vertically, thus bringing the need for horizontal bracing into play.
I'm going to stop here, though I do want to note I messed up when numbering the photos I took. So, if anyone notices gaps in the photo numbers, the only ones missing are the ones I forgot to take.
Something to consider: Historical photographer studios often had a large skylight in the roof to let in natural light. That would make a nice, and easy-to-do detail. (Best to use a window casting with multiple smaller panes, if you want to be most historically accurate, cut a large window casting and then frame it with either styrene or wood pieces.)
dave
Looking good, Jerry.
Great cornice on that Campbell structure. What a beauty! Very neat work.
Cheers, Mark.
Nice commercial building.....I'll be looking in Jerry. :)
Very nice Jerry. I'll be following.
Jerry,
Regardless of your disclaimer, your off to a great start. I looked at the photo and thought you were taking "going green" seriously. Then I read the clips are for quilting. 8)
Tom
Quote from: deemery on January 15, 2024, 12:24:21 PMSomething to consider: Historical photographer studios often had a large skylight in the roof to let in natural light. That would make a nice, and easy-to-do detail. (Best to use a window casting with multiple smaller panes, if you want to be most historically accurate, cut a large window casting and then frame it with either styrene or wood pieces.)
dave
Dave,
That is a great suggestion, one had not thought of prior to starting this build. Unfortunately, the build is ahead of the photos posted thus far. Due to a minor mistake (yeah, let's call it that) while assembling the structure, adding a skylight now would mean building a complete roof assembly.
Quote from: Mark Dalrymple on January 15, 2024, 01:16:36 PMLooking good, Jerry.
Great cornice on that Campbell structure. What a beauty! Very neat work.
Cheers, Mark.
Mark,
I enjoy building some of the older kits because I find the way architectural details could be fabricated using various common sizes of strip wood interesting. Sometimes as modelers we forget what it was like before we were blessed with plastic, resin, and 3D printed detail parts.
Quote from: GPdemayo on January 15, 2024, 02:00:42 PMNice commercial building.....I'll be looking in Jerry. :)
Greg,
Thanks for stopping in and following along.
Quote from: PRR Modeler on January 15, 2024, 04:53:16 PMVery nice Jerry. I'll be following.
Thanks for the kind words.
Quote from: ACL1504 on January 16, 2024, 09:50:13 AMJerry,
Regardless of your disclaimer, your off to a great start. I looked at the photo and thought you were taking "going green" seriously. Then I read the clips are for quilting. 8)
Tom
Tom,
Would "going green" be so bad? I bought those clips long ago based on a recommendation from someone whose name I have long forgotten. The bracing can still shift if i am not careful when I apply them, but I find them easier to work with than the "traditional" close pin clamps. The disclaimer is because there are a lot of gaps between the construction steps where I failed to shoot photos.
When I plan to build a kit I think about what color scheme would show it off the best while being at least slightly different from existing structures on my layout. My idea for this took me back to my grandparents' cottage. My grandfather decided it was time to give the cottage a fresh coat of paint and I was enlisted to help. My grandfather was always looking for a bargain and he found several gallons of oil based white paint for a great price. It turned out there was a reason for the "great price". The paint was closer to water with some white tint, than it was to house paint. When I looked at this kit with its board and batten side walls I thought what a great building to "paint" with a watered down coat of white.
What happened next was the first of my major mistakes. (Stay tuned for the second, it changed the entire build, but more on that later.) My usual stain to use under paint is an alcohol and ink mix. I have used that so often that I thought a change was due. I chose Hunterline dark brown stain and applied it very lightly, wiping much of the stain from the brush before applying it to the walls. What I did not consider (the old 20:20 hindsight) was that having roughed up the walls with a wire brush, no matter how light I tried to apply the stain, the walls came out much darker than I had intended.
After applying the same stain to a piece of scrap and brushing a thin coat of white acrylic on top it was pretty obvious that plan A was not possible. The white turned into an unappealing translucent gray. On to plan B, change the color scheme. I still wanted the board and batten walls to look less than well cared for, so I switched colors and was satisfied enough to apply it to the walls.
I used what Brett gallant refers to as the "damp brush" technique. I used a stencil brush because I thought the stiffer bristles would be the easiest way to achieve the look I wanted. I unloaded most of the paint form the brush, and working from the top down (assuming the eaves would protect the paint along the top of the walls) I painted the walls.
This thread would have been flowing along smoothly if only I had remembered to take a photo of the walls after they were painted. The best I can do is post this photo I did remember to take a few steps later in the construction process.
Jerry I like the light weathering you got on those walls. Well done.
Jerry
Looks great, Jerry.
Goes well with the green windows, too.
Cheers, Mark.
Quote from: Jerry on January 16, 2024, 11:17:25 AMJerry I like the light weathering you got on those walls. Well done.
Jerry
Jerry,
Thanks. I have found using a stencil brush with its stiffer bristles helps me to get that type of weathered look. I appreciate you checking in.
Quote from: Mark Dalrymple on January 16, 2024, 09:44:45 PMLooks great, Jerry.
Goes well with the green windows, too.
Cheers, Mark.
Mark,
Thank you. Not sure if I have mentioned it to this group, but I find planning and executing structure colors to be a challenge. I get my best ideas by driving through small towns and taking photos of color schemes that just seem to "work".
Moving on to a major mistake... I have found when I am planning to have a detailed interior it works best for me to make the floor removable. My normal procedure is to build the floor from Masonite. I scored some part sheets of Masonite for free several years ago and I like it because it is a uniformly dense material. In other words, no wood grain to worry about. Once I have the walls braced I have the exact dimensions for the interior floor. At this point I cut a piece for the interior floor as well as a slightly larger piece to represent the (often omitted from kits) foundation.
So, what was the major mistake? For some reason I simply cannot explain I glued the front wall to the foundation. The photos tell the story. Well after the glue has set, and I used the yellow waterproof carpenter's glue, I realized what I had done. At that point I knew I had to rethink how I was going to proceed with construction. It did not take me long to figure out the only way to continue without starting over was to make the roof assembly removable.
I also cannot explain why after failing to take photos of several construction steps, I fully documented this (and then some). I'm going to stop here today and get back to my workbench and continue working on this building.
Great looking progress.
QuoteI find planning and executing structure colors to be a challenge. I get my best ideas by driving through small towns and taking photos of color schemes that just seem to "work".
QUOTE
MORE...
Jerry - We did this when choosing colours for our first villa. After driving to a fancy neighbourhood we drove around with paint chits in hand matching to our favourite colour schemes. (check out the Queens English (perhaps that should be the King's English now...) in that sentence!) It worked very well and I was always very happy with the colours on our own house (it hadn't had a coat of paint for decades, so anything would have been an improvement).
I bought a book A while back called 'Book of historic Australian Towns'. It is filled with superb ideas for colour schemes - also brick colours and rusty metal. Very handy and kind of my go to bible for colour now.
Cheers, Mark.
Jerry,
I like the color scheme you chose, looks good.
Here is how I remove glued items using the yellow carpenter's glue. I take a small eye dropper or pipette and warm water. I apply a little of the warm water to the glued area. The water will find its way to the glued area.
After about 20 minutes you can slowly and gently pull or pry the glued part apart. I've done this many times. The stained area will prevent a lot of water being soaked into the wood.
When apart, you'll notice the dried glue is now tacky and you can wipe this off. When dry, gently sand the glued parts to remove any remaining dry glue and start over.
Tom
Quote from: Mark Dalrymple on January 18, 2024, 10:38:41 PMQuoteI find planning and executing structure colors to be a challenge. I get my best ideas by driving through small towns and taking photos of color schemes that just seem to "work".
QUOTE
MORE...
Jerry - We did this when choosing colours for our first villa. After driving to a fancy neighbourhood we drove around with paint chits in hand matching to our favourite colour schemes. (check out the Queens English (perhaps that should be the King's English now...) in that sentence!) It worked very well and I was always very happy with the colours on our own house (it hadn't had a coat of paint for decades, so anything would have been an improvement).
I bought a book A while back called 'Book of historic Australian Towns'. It is filled with superb ideas for colour schemes - also brick colours and rusty metal. Very handy and kind of my go to bible for colour now.
Cheers, Mark.
Mark,
I have a book recommended by Dave Emery; Roger Moss's "Century of Color". It helps, but I feel it is geared more toward urban homes while I am modeling small rural villages. Hence, driving around through the rural countryside and looking for simple but attractive color schemes. I also have some paint company brochures I downloaded that are ca. 1920, so I can check that the color schemes I have chosen are close to available colors at the time. Overthinking much???
Quote from: ACL1504 on January 19, 2024, 03:19:38 PMJerry,
I like the color scheme you chose, looks good.
Here is how I remove glued items using the yellow carpenter's glue. I take a small eye dropper or pipette and warm water. I apply a little of the warm water to the glued area. The water will find its way to the glued area.
After about 20 minutes you can slowly and gently pull or pry the glued part apart. I've done this many times. The stained area will prevent a lot of water being soaked into the wood.
When apart, you'll notice the dried glue is now tacky and you can wipe this off. When dry, gently sand the glued parts to remove any remaining dry glue and start over.
Tom
Tom,
Thanks for the kind words. I knew I could use water or alcohol to disassemble a joint made with white glue. For some reason I thought that was not possible to do the same with yellow glue. Thank you for clearing that up for me. That will be helpful moving forward as I am often prone to hurrying and making missteps when assembling a structure.
Prior to assembling the the building I had planned to wallpaper the interior walls. I did some digging on the internet and printed out what I thought would be good neutral wallpaper similar to what I had seen as a background in old photos. Unfortunately, the three different patterns I downloaded and printed looked more like dirty walls than the look I was going for. i then found and printed out what you see. It was listed on the internet as being from ca. 1940, too new for my 1920 era, still I thought it looked appropriate.
Once again I got ahead of myself. I assembled the walls prior to putting a door in the rear wall that would lead to the darkroom in the rear. I try to make a list of the steps when changing a kit from its design, i.e., adding an interior. Obviously, I failed to do that in this instance. At this point I decided a black curtain would have to do, so I made one from black tissue paper and glued it in place.
I did frame the inside of the window openings with some styrene pieces to reflect the interior window molding.
My next step was to design and build a removable roof assembly, since my original plan for a removable floor was out the door. Once again I used my old favorite, some Masonite to make the ceiling to fit between the top braces for the walls. This gave me a ore or less flush ceiling. More Masonite was cut following a cardboard template of the roof angle taken from the back wall.
Nice looking interior so far. You could just print a picture of a door and framing and glue it to the wall. I doubt many would notice it's flat and not 3 D.
Jeff
Coming on nicely, Jerry.
QuoteOnce again I used my old favorite, some Masonite
I use styrene for this - but I buy mine in large sheets from a local manufacturer - at about 1/10th of the cost of the hobby shop.
QuoteI also have some paint company brochures I downloaded that are ca. 1920, so I can check that the color schemes I have chosen are close to available colors at the time. Overthinking much???
No. I have the same (or similar) and do the same. I've found some useful information here:
https://www.resene.co.nz/homeown/use_colr/colour_schemes.htm
If you click into the 'railway cottage' for example, it talks you through what parts would be painted what colours. Also, I copied and pasted some of the historical examples of colours used in actual buildings eg 'St Augustine's, Petone', and got a few good images with nice historic colour schemes. I realise this in New Zealand buildings, but architecture and colours followed the trends in the USA - so there should be a lot of similarities.
Cheers, Mark.
Quote from: Mark Dalrymple on January 22, 2024, 07:41:01 PMComing on nicely, Jerry.
QuoteOnce again I used my old favorite, some Masonite
I use styrene for this - but I buy mine in large sheets from a local manufacturer - at about 1/10th of the cost of the hobby shop.
QuoteI also have some paint company brochures I downloaded that are ca. 1920, so I can check that the color schemes I have chosen are close to available colors at the time. Overthinking much???
No. I have the same (or similar) and do the same. I've found some useful information here:
https://www.resene.co.nz/homeown/use_colr/colour_schemes.htm
If you click into the 'railway cottage' for example, it talks you through what parts would be painted what colours. Also, I copied and pasted some of the historical examples of colours used in actual buildings eg 'St Augustine's, Petone', and got a few good images with nice historic colour schemes. I realise this in New Zealand buildings, but architecture and colours followed the trends in the USA - so there should be a lot of similarities.
Cheers, Mark.
Mark,
It seems amazing to me that something like that is readily available online. I need to play around with it more. Thanks for posting the link.
Jerry
Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on January 22, 2024, 04:27:22 PMNice looking interior so far. You could just print a picture of a door and framing and glue it to the wall. I doubt many would notice it's flat and not 3 D.
Jeff
Jeff,
Honestly, I never thought of that. I usually use leftover doors from some Clever Models paper kits. Seems like I have "Duh" moments far more often than I would like.
Jerry
Here is a shot of the details I painted for the interior. Chairs are from Faller, stove from B.E.S.T., the woman is an out of production Musket Miniatures figure I think. The photographer is a Langley Models casting my friend Jim gave me. I built the counter from styrene. The back is open and the counter conceals an LED that comes through a hole in the floor.
Here are some shots of the finished interior. The piece of clapboard siding against the rear wall of the building covers the hole for the door in the rear wall. I often do this with my structures when it cannot be seen. this gives me a large gluing surface for the door casting rather than just gluing it in place along the edges of the door opening.
The front windows are microscope slide glass. As you can see, I'm still learning how to get clean square cuts. Since the glass cannot be seen unless you remove the roof I decided to use it anyway.
I think I already mentioned I used a piece of black tissue paper to allow access to the rear darkroom area. Remembering to add a door would have been better, but when viewing the interior through the front windows it looks OK, at least to me.
Jerry some very nice details. Great job on the placement to.
Jerry
Really neat, Jerry.
Cheers, Mark.
Nice job on the interior, especially the photos on the wall.
Jeff
Great details.
Suggest "hanging a sheet" behind the couple being photographed. Some tall plants would also be typical for 19th century photography studios.
I like how this is coming together!
dave
Quote from: Jerry on January 23, 2024, 12:35:39 PMJerry some very nice details. Great job on the placement to.
Jerry
Thanks. I wish I had moved the interior wall back further. I had planned for a wood box and more details, but I think the floor space would have been overcrowded if I added any more to the interior.
Quote from: Mark Dalrymple on January 23, 2024, 02:08:28 PMReally neat, Jerry.
Cheers, Mark.
Mark,
Thanks for dropping by and checking it out.
Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on January 23, 2024, 03:12:30 PMNice job on the interior, especially the photos on the wall.
Jeff
Jeff,
Thank you. I figured a photographer would have some of his work on display, so... I just googled black and white photos on the internet, there were many to choose from.
Quote from: PRR Modeler on January 23, 2024, 03:47:32 PMGreat details.
Curt,
Thank you. I enjoy adding an interior to smaller structures, especially those with large windows.
Quote from: deemery on January 23, 2024, 04:37:37 PMSuggest "hanging a sheet" behind the couple being photographed. Some tall plants would also be typical for 19th century photography studios.
I like how this is coming together!
dave
Dave,
That is a great idea. I'm not sure what best to use for that. It seems to me tissue paper is too thin. I'm thinking Scott toilet paper, but I hate to buy a roll to get just a small piece. I tried to find a very subtle wallpaper but the ones I found were "too subtle", looked more like blank walls. I think the wallpaper is "too busy" for portrait photos. The sheet would be "just right". I had not thought of adding plants either. Thanks for your suggestions.
OK. I'm going to wrap this up with the "final" photos. Per Dave's suggestion I want to add a sheet on the wall for a photo background. As I mentioned, I am still thinking about how best to do that.
Nevertheless, here are some shots of the "finished" structure. Obviously, it needs steps to both the front and back doors, something I plan to leave until I have figured out exactly where it will go on the layout.
I admit I cheated by taking the interior shot by removing the roof rather than hooking up batteries to the LED that is hidden under the counter.
FWIW, the late J. J. Young, Jr. was a well known railroad photographer. His photos grace quite a few railroad books.
Jerry that came out really nice. Wonderful job!
Jerry
For a backdrop sheet, a Kleenex should work.
dave
Really awesome build, Jerry.
Jim
Very nicely done Jerry.
Excellent job Jerry.....neat small structure and great interior. 8)
Quote from: Jerry on January 29, 2024, 12:45:47 PMJerry that came out really nice. Wonderful job!
Jerry
Jerry,
Thanks for the kind words. I didn't realize I had not responded to your comment in a timely fashion. I do apologize.
Quote from: deemery on January 29, 2024, 05:38:20 PMFor a backdrop sheet, a Kleenex should work.
dave
Dave,
That's an excellent suggestion. I buy the cheapest tissues I can find and usually the sheets are wrinkled when they come out of the box. However I did manage to score a nice flat sheet from one box and have set it aside to use for a backdrop sheet. I'm sorry I didn't respond to your suggestion in a more timely manner.
Quote from: JimGF51 on January 30, 2024, 05:19:04 AMReally awesome build, Jerry.
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for your nice comment. I do apologize for my belated response.
Quote from: PRR Modeler on January 30, 2024, 08:34:52 AMVery nicely done Jerry.
Curt,
Thanks for the kind words. I'm sorry I did not respond to your comment far sooner.
Quote from: GPdemayo on January 30, 2024, 01:28:13 PMExcellent job Jerry.....neat small structure and great interior. 8)
Greg,
Thanks for following along. I'm trying to add an interior to more of my structures and I'm glad you liked it. I do apologize for not having responded in a more timely fashion.