Downtown Deco First Timer Bar - First Timer build.

[N de M]

Hi, there. First post ever, been admiring everyone's talent. Pre-emptive apologies for not having pictures of the build as it progressed along, I'll note a few things I did for anyone interested.

A bit about me, as my name may hint to some (N de M) I grew up watching the red and black (dark olive really) Nacionales de Mexico diesels, I now live in Texas and have been for over 20 years. Just recently got back into the hobby (did a bit with my father in the 80s), no layout yet, joined the local club, no meetings currently courtesy of some bat soup. Two elementary aged kids leave little time for modeling but below is my first Hydrocal kit build.

I welcome critiques, I am learning, still learning the "less is more" lesson when it comes to weathering. As mentioned, no home for this so all the pics are on the bench.

Kit is as simple as a Hydrocal kit gets, 4 sides, 2 doors, styrene roof, lamp shade and some wire/rod.

I removed any casting flash, then sanded the mating surfaces on some 150 grit paper glued to a flat board, opened up the front door opening (these come closed for strength) used the wet and carve method.
Then I made sure the two plastic doors had a good fit in their openings, I masked the hydrocal mating surfaces before airbrushing gray primer over everything (plaster and plastic parts), finally gluing the four sides square using 5 minute epoxy.
There are 4 joint lines (two on the sides, two in the back) which were filled with ceramic stucco, only because I had it handy (liquitex)


The lighter colored features were painted first, molded cement patches on the sides were painted using gray and off white paint from the craft store, as well as the non-brick top of the building using mostly off white craft store paint (dirty i.e. mixed with grays).





The building was then brushed with some Vallejo Hull Red. Again I apologize as this is hard to follow, the white patch is for a sign, the brown lines on the right are for a vine. The foundation was painted with a dirty mix of craft store gray and dirty water from the tray. The inside was painted black just in case.


The styrene roof was drilled and a small tube inserted, it was then brushed with ceramic stucco to add texture (liquitex - craft store), I was experimenting here. Then the whole thing was painted with black primer, then added tar lines using black paint (gloss) and weathered with some dirty water (gray water from paint tray) and some chalks.



Before attaching any signs, I lightly buffed with steel wool, this is (they say) similar to highlighting using dry brushing.


The painted on signs were printed on tracing paper (partially glued to regular paper otherwise inkjet printer would tear it). Images came off the web, created "Skinny's" sign on power point and printed on tracing paper as well, ditched the Blatz beer signs for something more local.


- Lesson learned, I thought that wetting would make the tracing paper conform more to the brick, but it actually ran the colors, made for a nice old effect, but I think I'll stick to white glue only. The BAR sign was pre-torn to allow some bricks to show through.





I took some of the wire and some styrene leftover from the roof to make a breaker box which also helps hide the joint, in the back did the same but only did a drain pipe. The breaker box was painted aluminum and the pipes gun metal. (both Vallejo)

The pipe joins on both the breaker box feeder pipe and the lamp were made wrapping a thin strip of tape (lesson, use regular masking tape, better adhesion than blue tape, but you use what's within reach).



Some random bricks were lightly "painted" using watercolor pencils to break the monotony, then some dark pan pastel was applied to the sunken bricks. most of the building was randomly given a wash of craft store burnt umber, some water streaks were made using pan pastel black/brown, finally vines were added to hide the seam and add interest.



Again, I am sorry for lacking the "along the build" pictures, use that energy to be critical as I want to learn more. I did try to do mortar, first with the stucco (too coarse) then with white washes, half did that before quitting on it.

peace

/p

[PRR Modeler]

Welcome. The build loos great to me especially being your first one.

[Zephyrus52246]

Welcome aboard.  Nice work.  I especially like the vines.  Spraying the signs with dullcoat (both sides) before gluing them on might have helped the ink running. 


Jeff

[ACL1504]

N de M,

Welcome to the forum. Glad you decided to hop in and join the fun. I like what you've done with the bar. Your first kit looks very good. Thanks for sharing.

Tom 

[GPdemayo]

Well done on your first hydrocal build N.....welcome to the forum and I'm looking forward to additional posts and remember.....we love pictures. 

[N de M]

Thanks all for your comments. Thanks for the Dullcote tip (Jeff). I should get a can I suppose, I only have the jars (for airbrush) but have hesitated to use them, this new airbrush has only ever had acrylics ran through it. I have a Badger 350 (simpler single action/external) which got off their discounted bin for about $8, I suppose I could dedicate that to Dullcote.

Again thanks to all for the welcome and your comments.

/p

[Opa George]

Welcome to the forum. Nice job on an interesting kit.  You turned out a delightful little structure.
On making your own signs, if you have access to a commercial copier, that toner won't run when moisture is applied.  A few years back I made sheets of vintage ads, scaled to size, and made copies on high quality paper at Staples.  It was easily worth the few dollars for hundreds of signs.

Eager to see what you do next!

--Opa George

[postalkarl]

Hey N de M:

Looks just great. Thanks for sharing.

Karl

[Zephyrus52246]

Microscale also makes a decal film that's supposed to save old decals. 

Jeff

[Jim Donovan]

Welcome and great little structure. I've only made one hydrocal kit. Looks like you did a great job hiding the seams.

Jim D

[Raymo]

Nice job! Welcome to the forum.

[ReadingBob]

Wonderful build of a neat little kit from Downtown Deco.  Welcome to the forum N de M! 

[Mark Dalrymple]

The build has come up nicely, N de M.

I use to print signs up on my old ink jet printer.  I found a spray with dullcote just on the ink side and when dry I could sand it nice and thin, attach with glue and emboss into the mortar lines without any ink running.  I also grout with chalk (usually white) which I scrape on with a razor blade, work around with a soft paint brush, work in with the oils on my fingers and carefully remove excess by lightly blowing or using a fine paint brush around details such as windows, columns etc.  When happy I fix with a light spray of pastel/ pencil fixative.  Dullcote used to fix the chalk will dissolve most of it.  I have had good results on Randy's products.

Cheers, Mark.