This is a build thread for Downtown Deco's Luci's Tattoo Emporium. Mark Dalrymple's help on my layout dilemma showed that this building would fit perfectly in the town scene. The building I used there is a Hardware store which doesn't fit the "theme" of the bad side of town. But this tattoo parlor will.
Jeff
First up is clearing the flash from the sides of the hydrocal walls. I do this with a coarse sandpaper laid on the desktop and sand until the flash is gone. More on this in the future.
Jeff
The windows have some flash that is easily removed with a number 11 blade, I use the dull side more than the sharp side to gently scrap it out. There are some "blobs" in some of the crevices as well which are picked out or gently sanded flat with a fine sandpaper or file. Here the walls are ready for gluing together.
Jeff
I usually glue the walls with five minute epoxy doing one at a time. Leave the back wall for last, hopefully it will line up square, because if you try to move the walls even slightly by forcing a wall, the hydrocal will crack/break (don't ask how I know this). I got the walls together okay, but I also wanted to do some reinforcing with some scrap wood in the corners. I then noticed that the epoxy had gone bad in the container. It went from clear to granular. No wonder it was so hard to squeeze out. Will need to get some more. >:( I used Elmer's to attach the wood reinforcers.
Jeff
The structure is square and sits flat. But there are some pretty bad gaps at the corners. I should have used the coarse sand paper in my Tru Sander to make sure these were all perfectly flat. the lower right on the back is curved due to overly vigorous sanding to get this wall to fit.
Jeff
I fill the gaps with lightweight spackle. The container I had was all dried out when I opened it. :o It's four years old, but an older container was fine. Why I had three (yes there was yet another one) containers of this stuff is a mystery. Probably forgot I had the other two. Anyway, line up painters tape on both sides of the gap and fill it in. Remove the tape when dry. Sand or scrape the spackle if it's not even. but don't scrape off the brick detail. The wide gaps look OK, they will be covered with downspouts so they won't show. I did carve in some detail on the right back wall gap just for fun.
Jeff
I noticed a piece broken off of the front right pillar next to the door. Looking back at the early pics I did this, it didn't arrive this way. Randy at DD will replace this if I ask, but I can't remove the wall now, so I did a not so good repair of this. I will cover it with a sign.
Jeff
Here's the Hardware store so I can use it as a reference for building the new kit. I will probably keep the same or similar color scheme. It will go in a different town so it doesn't matter if the buildings match. You can see I've started painting the new one.
Jeff
Great start Jeff. I'll be following along.
Love Randy's kits , will be following .
That structure has a bunch of character Jeff.....it will look grand on the layout. 8)
Thanks for looking in Curt, Jan and Greg. Jan, I admire your ability to work with these kits in N scale.
The plastic parts were removed from their sprues, filed to remove remaining "nubs" and washed to remove mold release and my finger prints before painting. I should have waited on this step, as I test fitted the windows and they don't fit. It's not the "hole" opening, but the top and bottom of the actual plastic window is too big. Rather than try to carve out the hydrocal, I filed down the windows. Looking back at the other build, I don't think this was an issue, but they are the same kit. ??? I rewashed them and proceeded to paint them.
Jeff
I assembled the fire escape and painted it afterwards. I used the airbrush on the plastic parts. I had started brush painting the building and then thought, "Duh, you're going to use the airbrush for the same color, doofus!". Masked the front off and finished it as well. There's a double width window for the front, which doesn't fit and looks odd, so I'm not going to use it. Rather than "open up" the window like on the hardware store, I'm going to paint it black and put a piece of glass over it. And, yes, I did change up the color from green to the blue. I may paint the building terra cotta instead of red as well. Need to decide...
Jeff
I'm enjoying the adventure, Jeff! Love Downtown Deco kits. They have so much character. :)
Looks great Jeff. Did you use blue painters' tape or something else?
Looking good, Jeff.
I have three of those front walls which I bought as part of a big box of boneyard castings. Its handy to know what kit they come from.
Cheers, Mark.
Thanks, Bob. You need to do a build thread on one. :D
Jeff
Hi, Curt. I used "Frog Tape". it's like the blue tape, only green. It's what I had on hand, though it did a good job and I may use it again when the blue tape runs out.
Jeff
Glad I could help you identify them, Mark.
Jeff
There's a styrene roof piece included, which doesn't quite fit. I cut and sanded two wood braces to measure the of the front and back opening. It's not quite rectangular. So I placed them on the sheet and cut the sheet (shown in the picture) about 1 mm shorter on the edge than the wood was.
Jeff
Glued the pieces in just a little over 1/4 inch down from the top and back and placed the roof piece on. Fits well. I'll brace the styrene lengthwise on the edges and in the middle, though I doubt it will sag much. It's resting on a washcloth as my work surface is glass and I don't want to chip the hydrocal when moving the building around. When I painted it, I lay it on the cloth on it's side, paint two sides, wait for them to dry, and then paint the other two. No wonder I'm so slow building stuff.
Jeff
I should have used the tape on top of the blue lower front, as this pic shows some of the terra cotta got on it. There will be a lot of touch up on this and around the windows. ::) I tilt the building up as the lighting in here is very uneven.
Jeff
I bought a package of 80lb heavy paper/cardstock at the local office store. I often use that stuff to cut and test-fit oddly shaped roof pieces, etc. Once I get the cheap paper template correct, I use that to draw and cut the styrene.
dave
That is a sound strategy, Dave. I think after my last tar and gravel roof had lifting/warping issues I'm going to use styrene on these types of roofs in the future.
Jeff
In the interim 11 days, I've been touching up the paint. And then touching up again and again. Finally finished with that.
Jeff
After my problem with the sign on my last build. I wasn't going to sand the sign thin for this one. I got some decal paper, went through my collection of signs, found some I liked and resized them to fit. I experimented with the first one as I wasn't sure this would work. It went OK. Yes, I see I built the fire escape with the hole on the wrong side.
Jeff
I added the other two signs. Lightly drybrushed them with an off white and then with the brick color. Sealed with Tamiya flat and now it's time to weather stain the exterior.
Jeff
Those signs look really great, Jeff.
One of them looks very familiar. ;D
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/56-200216171115-115141977.jpeg)
Thanks, Bob. I think I have that Gold Medal sign somewhere as well.
Jeff
Nice job on the touch ups Jeff. The signs look great.
Jerry
Thanks, Jerry.
I've given up on A&I washes for the most part. I've found it tends to lift acrylic paints off the surface. I'm using oils thinned with odorless thinner. First I used a raw umber wash all over the walls (and on the windows and doors which aren't installed yet). I let it dry, applied a bit more in spots, then a burnt sienna wash coming down off the anchor plates, which had been painted a dark rust, and where the fire escape attachments would be. Let this dry and did a little more wash in places. I then experimented on the back wall with grey water wash (with flow enhancer) and grey oil with the thinner. The oil/thinner worked more like the pin wash I was looking for. After it dries a bit you can gently rub it off the bricks with a cotton swab. So I again sealed with Tamiya flat and waited for this to dry.
I've cut out the "glass" for the windows and some shades (more on that later) and they are presently drying. I'll get back to this on Wednesday, hopefully.
Jeff
Looking good, Jeff.
That wash has really toned down the bright brick colour. It looks really good now. I think the grey of the concrete blocks is excellent - at least for where I live.
Cheers, Mark.
Looks great Jeff..... 8)
Very nice modeling Jeff.
Thank you, Greg and Curt.
Jeff
Nice tip about the oils/mineral spirit wash. I like using washes but, like you said, I found out that the A&I wash isn't very compatible with acrylics. The paints I'm using these days are not bullet proof like Floquil (or even Polly Scale) was.
Yeah, Bob. My only problem is figuring out how much to use. I put a blob of the oil paint on a plate and mix it with "a few" brushfuls of thinner. Not an exact measuring system. ::) I tend to make it too light. but if there's a bit too much you can go back and swab it gently to remove the excess.
Jeff
Next were the windows, or should I say the *%^# windows. I mentioned earlier that they didn't quite fit. I didn't want to carve out the hydrocal sills but I thought they at least would fit well enough when I initially tried them. I was wrong. The side windows fit fairly well, but the fronts weren't even close. I ended up trimming more of the tops off, but then the actual openings weren't big enough, so I had to scrape and file them. The left hole is where the window now fits. The right hasn't been worked on. So I ended up opening them both up to make them fit.
Jeff
When I put the walls together, I shouldn't have made the wood corner braces so big, so as you can see they now block the windows. You can see black paper (with some hydrocal dust post working on the windows), I usually use to block seeing into the building. I couldn't do this for the fronts as the sticks, even painted black, would look funny. So i cut presicely fit shades that fit on the backs of the windows. When I glued the first on one, the canopy glue made it look uneven. I should have stopped here and just painted the backs, but I thought using a thin even coat of the glue would avoid this look. I was wrong.
Jeff
I was going to recut the windows and then thought, it's going to be two feet from the edge of the layout and pointing to the side. I placed the windows on the layout and couldn't really tell they looked odd. So onto the structure they went.
Of course all the handling of the building and carving of the windows made some chips in the sills and other areas which were carefully touched up and weathered over. But at least the darned things fit. The white spots under the windows are holes drilled for lamps.
Jeff
Good recovery/adaptation, Jeff!
dave
Thanks, Dave.
I made some "scuppers" to collect water from the roof, mainly for the pipes to block the joint between the front and sides. These wouldn't collect much water, as the roof is sloped, but only my daughter the architect would notice that.
Jeff
The plastic roof was sprayed black, then some of the details were added before it was painted with a black/Elmers glue mixture. Some sand was applied in an irregular manner, and then after drying the excess removed. The other details were then added. I probably should have made a base for the A/C unit. Oh, well. Then "tar" applied around the edges and around the details. Don't want any leaks.
The chimney and the A/C unit are included. I made a "hatch" from styrene and the other parts are from the stash.
Jeff
Well, this one's finished, and in less than a month, practically light speed for me. ;D Except for the irritation of the windows (partially my fault for not fitting them BEFORE paining), it went well.
I found some signs on the internet to use in the front window and to block the broken area to the left of the door.
It came 3 three lampshades for the front, but I thought the front was busy enough with two. I'd add the last one to the back door, but it won't be seen on the layout. Neither will the "boo-boo" fire escape. If I want to change it's location, I have other Tichy fire escapes in the bin.
Jeff
Here it is in it's spot on the layout. Now to get back to work on the layout.
Thanks for watching!
Jeff
Very nice work Jeff!
Thanks, John.
Jeff
Jeff,
Very well done. Looks good on the corner.
Tom
Great work Jeff.....well done. 8)
Thanks, Tom and Greg.
Jeff
Hello Jeff, you did a very nice job with your plaster kit and it looks great on your layout.
Great work, Jeff.
Looks terrific.
Cheers, Mark.
Thanks, Jeff.
Thank you, Mark. And thanks for the idea of using the building facing the street. 8)
Jeff