I love a good scratchbuild! So far so good! Looking forward to the journey!

Matt

What a great little structure. Looks great! I, also, always enjoy your build threads.

Doug Foscale has an older YouTube video about painting hydrocal brick that offers some good tips.

Matt

Morning all,

Not a lot of time at the bench of late, but I did get over to Timonium this weekend to visit with friends and resupply some items. Hope all are well.

Here is a photo of a pair of stone rowhouses from the Hampden neighborhood in Baltimore that I built last year.

Matt

Dan Raymond recently posted a photo of a Coupe Pickup he kitbashed from a Sylvan Scale Models kit and I had to have one of my own. I used a 1937 Chevy Coupe kit and scratchbuilt the box from styrene. Thanks, Dan, for the inspiration!




Matt

Welcome aboard, Ed! Always good to have another Marylander around!

Matt

Whew! It's getting crowded in here. Thank you all for joining in and I will be sure to speak up for those in the back.

First a quick tutorial on my stone wall technique.

I use 1" pink insulation foam and rip it into thin strips with my bandsaw. Usually about 1/8" thick, but this time I made them a bit thicker to match the thickness of the printed building's walls.

I don't have a hot wire cutter, as my bandsaw does a good job, but there is a difference in texture from the bandsaw cut, which likely helps with the final look of the stones.

I use a common technique and texture the foam with a piece of wadded aluminum foil. I then cut off strips that are the height of the stone that I want. This is determined by how the wall is being assembled and what fits.

I then clip the corners and shape each stone. It helps to have a reference unless you are familiar with the techniques of actual stone masonry. The general rules are:

• Try to maintain courses, like brick
• Vary the size and shape of your stones
• Stagger your joints

I glue the stones to the cardstock with Titebond 3 wood glue as it sticks and drys fast.






Matt

I want this building to sit on an elevation and to have an addition, so I glued some cereal box cardboard around the interior perimeter and braced it with strip wood. I created wall templates for the addition foundation as well. These were the base for pink foam individual stones to create the full thickness walls.



More soon,
Matt

I began by cleaning the main casting and priming it with red oxide primer. This is my first time working with what is basically a finished printed building. The prints are very nice. There was no prep needed other than some sanding on the base get it closer to flat. I did this with sandpaper on a steel machine table.



Matt

For a while now, I haven't built many kits. I scratchbuild almost exclusively, enjoying the challenges, creativity and custom results that building from scratch provides. But when Craig posted his Keep it Simple kits, I knew I needed to get one. And, of course, add my own twist to it.

Matt

Dropping off my youngest at college in Winston Salem this morning (University of North Carolina School of the Arts.) Where does the time go?!

Matt

All,

I have completed another 1/87 scratchbuild in a shadow box. This is the 2000 block of Edmondson Ave in Baltimore.











Matt

Jim,

Perhaps you should build her a new Jordan as a peace offering. Might I suggest:



Matt

This looks great, Jeff! I love the variety of materials, dimensions and shapes. Lots of little corners and shadows to get the eye to linger.

Matt

Just fabulous, Eric! I am so glad that you posted these photos. This thread and your work has always been a great inspiration for me. Now I have even more to study!

Matt

Tom,

Surely there will be great riches. I have already begun planning how to spend it.

Matt