Treadwell and Ware

[kathy.millatt]

I've started modelling Treadwell and Ware in December and thought I would post something here as I'm just getting back into things.  There'll be quite a few catch up posts!

Well, I haven't modelled anything serious since my last AP stuff in April.

I have decided to do one of the dioramas that will slot into my layout. My layout is in my loft and to leverage more space, a friend suggested that I build multiple dioramas to slot into the same gap.

This is the location on the layout:



There are three potential kits with that level of river water drop (they all have to have the same scenic base to fit in the one location.

There are three options but I would swap the extensions and add-ons around. This is one:



This is the one I am going to choose.  It's a mix of Treadwell and Ware Knitters.



Treadwell was Bob's second kit from 1989. That's 25 years' old!

http://www.southrivermodelworks.com/page120.html

Ware Knitters was Bob Van Gelder's 4th kit and is 23 years' old:

http://www.southrivermodelworks.com/page140.html

Both are beautiful kits and I am combining them because they have the same stone work courses. Ware Knitters and Treadwell are quite small so this gives a larger mill complex.

I dug out the base. The competition says that you can't have started the structures yet, which I haven't, but I did build all three diorama bases several years ago to ensure that they fitted in the layout spot. For those of you with long memories, 4 years ago I posted this: http://www.kathymillatt.co.uk/blog/2010/12/05/bikini-car-wash-painting-walls-and-upper-level-dioramas/



I got the kit boxes out (for all three dioramas) and spent half the weekend scratching my head over how to fit it into the space I have given that all three dioramas will be built to fit in the same space with the same fascia profile.

I think I will be spending a lot of time trying to get the jigsaw puzzle to work!

[kathy.millatt]

The first stage to any big South River kit is preparing the castings. They are always excellent quality so a light sanding on the back and sides is enough. I write the part number on the back so I can tell which is which when gluing them together.



The big task is opening the windows out to allow the interior to show through. You can just paint them black but I'd like to detail an interior.

You soak the casting with water to help and just cut out the window casting. They're left in for strength when being packed but come out quite easily.



They look really good when done.



There's quite a few to do! When I turned the first one over I realised I had just cut out the casting part number I had written on the back... oh well.

[kathy.millatt]

Well, I did the one thing you hate doing with a hydrocal kit, I dropped a piece! All is not lost as they glue back together quite easily with hardly a joint. Not my first accident!

I started on Friday by spraying the prepared castings with Halfords grey primer.



The trick is knowing when to assemble the pieces. Bob VG assembles, fills the joints and then paints. I hate doing fiddly window bits after assembly so I painted the windows before assembly.



There are a lot. It takes a few seconds to type but an evening and morning to paint and that's only the first coat. It's interesting that wooden kits are so much quicker because you can spray every colour separately and then assemble the pieces.





I tacked the plastic window inserts, with masking tape, to a piece of cardboard.



There are etched brass trims for the doors which Bob VG tells you to scratch for grain and mark the wood joints on.



The Ware etched brass came with etched grain. It's quite heavy so we'll see which looks best.



I then painted them with Halfords White primer. It's not the best paint but the slightly off look works for older buildings.





The walls sit on a 1/4" wood strip base. Of course I used the base plan, glued them down and when I test fit the walls, remembered that the plan was wrong by 1/2". Doh.



I glued the first three walls as they all have the same base level.


When I was fitting the last wall, it somehow slipped. Oooops.



Thankfully it's not the first time I've had a cracked wall. They sometimes break in shipping too. A few minutes later it looked like this but I did have a break to throw some ground foam around in the loft to steady my nerves.



When I returned, I flipped the windows and painted the back side.

I also assembled the spare brick building. It will go somewhere and it's easier to do it whilst I have the instructions and plans out.



I always use white glue to assemble as it gives you time to wiggle the castings. Both the buildings have odd levels. I used piles of business cards to create a firm base for the big mill whilst gluing as it rests on the canal walls. It seems a couple out in level so I will either sand the walls or, more likely, slip some business cards underneath. This smaller building stumped me until I realised I had forgotten to put the 1/4" wood strips underneath. Thankfully the glue hadn't set.



I want to put an interior in the mill so I knocked up some floors from card, braced the edges and then sprayed them both sides with white to seal them.



At the same time I sprayed some pillars green. I do need to do the wooden floors so I'll either use stained balsa wood or print some wood colour up. I have a few bits for the interior to give it substance but need to work on it.

I sprayed the inside white for the interior walls but should have been a bit less heavy handed. The paint is always a bit thin but it ran through in some places. Good thing I still have to paint the walls stone colour.



At this point I went to see Paddington at the cinema. Well worth a view as it was funny. I got back and did a couple more hours. After not modelling for months, I'm on a roll.

I filled the gaps and having spread the putty all over the place in the past, filling all the lovely brick mortar lines, this time I used a trick I had seen and masked a small strip only. It keeps the putty under control. I use a Deluxe Materials acrylic putty and it thins nicely with water.



Afterwards I resprayed the walls with the grey primer and used a simple paper mask to keep it off the windows.  It's not perfect but I'll see what it's like in daylight in the morning.





Finally I started on Ware. I just glued the bracing on. Vital on any piece of card in a kit.



I used my secret weapon to keep everything flat. A brick.



I think that's enough for one day and I need my sleep but here's a couple if mill photos to show the colour scheme on the stone that I'm aiming for:

[kathy.millatt]

I started off Sunday afternoon by gluing Ware together.



I wasn't too happy with the joints so I added more putty. Bob's instructions recommend filling every other one as well as the joint, which I did. I'm still not uber happy with the result.



I assembled the annex but didn't attach it to the main building as it seemed a bit unwieldy for painting. You can see the refilled joints look a little better.


I sprayed a light White Halfords primer coat on the buildings as the grey is a bit dark.  Still not sure about those joints.



Then it was on to painting. The key tools are a reference photo, paint and brushes/sponges.



The first coat was a quick splodge of Tamiya wooden deck tan. It masks the joints a bit.



This has not been a great joint. For a start the annex building is U-shaped which is stressy on joints but the base is not even either as two walls sit on the higher canal walls. I added some wood braces and disused the joint with superphatic glue. Next morning it was rock solid.



I left the canal walls dark grey underneath for some variety.



Here's what the wall looks like dry on Monday morning.

[kathy.millatt]

It's been a busy week on the run up to Christmas. We realised the Hobbit is out on Friday so fitted in 8 hours of the 3D versions of the first two films, plus a meal out and Pilates. I did find time on Monday night to mock up the diorama whilst I was waiting for the decorator. I'm not sure whether the brick building or the concrete block extension will make it on. Probably not.








I'm a bit of a dabbler when it comes to painting, especially something as varied as stone. I'll do a number mber of coats of different colours and different types of paint. Last night I used some Vallejo Buff dabbed on with a brush followed by a coat of Mig Wash in Sand.



The buildings are beginning to look better but still some way to go.






Two of these have not had the second coat yet. You can see the difference the wash makes in tying things together. It also sits in the cracks which helps as they were very grey.

[GPdemayo]

Welcome Kathy.....glad to see you here and into modeling again.


This looks to be a great scene, I'll be following along. 

[madharry]

Great to see you modellng again. I trust this will be entered in the contest at Derby so I will not bother  .

Mike

[kathy.millatt]

I managed to get quite a few more layers of paint on the walls and also went over to see a friend Robin's layout. He's modelling 2010 Seattle and it looks really good.

I used some more splodged layers and then some lighter layers of these colours:



First up was some Iraqi Sand splodged on.



Then it was a dilute coat of the Tan Earth with some Windex to get it to flow.



Finally, a thin glaze of Deck Tan to lighten the colour.



I finally used a neutral Mig wash for the mortar lines and as a final light wash coat. I tried the dark earth wash first. Too dark.



I love the neutral wash and use it on everything.



I painted the brick when that was dry with a mix of Vallejo burnt Cadmium red and an orange.




That was a tad dark compared to my prototype mill:



What did we do before Google Earth!

I mixed up some orange and white oils with some turps:





I daubed it on and stippled it a bit and left it all to dry.






I added a dark Mig wash. It will look better when dry. Promise.



I do prefer real glass in windows so I added glass cover slips cut with a glass scribing tool.

[kathy.millatt]

Thanks Mike and Gregory!

Mike - When you see my later posts about how wonky the walls are you might not be so worried about the contest! I may not enter anyway as I don't need it judged for my NMRA AP!

Kathy

[kathy.millatt]

I've fallen foul of glossy walls syndrome! The washes often dry a bit glossy:



I sprayed the ubiquitous dullcote on and I can't say they look much better:



I'm going to give them time to really cure and let the solvents dry out. Hopefully a few Mig pigments will stop any lingering glossy spots.

I've now a lovely pile of bits of buildings waiting for windows.



My favourite magazine arrived yesterday. Always very inspiring:

[kathy.millatt]

I managed to do a little at the weekend but then the lurgy struck and I've hardly been out of bed except to drag myself to work for one day. The other two I just couldn't!

I started off by re-painting the white which had become quite mucky when I was painting the stonework etc.  You can see the difference it makes


I test fit the windows and glued them in place.



A Mig cold grey wash helped tie them in.



I added the etched brass door trim which needed some judicious filing to fit.



I also realised I was missing 8 Grandt Line 5179 windows. I don't gave any of those but do have some similar Tichy ones. They'll need filing down to fit.



There's loads more windows to go...

[kathy.millatt]

It's lovely to have a few days off and get some modelling in. I'm feeling better so modelling is great recuperation...

I've lost track of all I've been up to but I've been cracking on through Treadwell and Ware.

I put the canal walls in place and glued them in.



They sit under the main mill building.



I put the walls under the ell too.  It's a bit wonky do they are too to match.



I had to chop the near wall off to fit on. That'll be a useful spare bit of wall left over.



The mill has an outflow for the mill race that comes out in a circular hole. It has a gate that can be opened and closed. Bob VG modelled it closed but I fancied a bit of gushing water. There are NBWs on the outside.



I put it in place. The wall was a bit high and I was bored of cutting foam so I melted it with ambroid, a solvent. I propped the walls with squares whilst the glue was drying.





I put a piece of card coloured black behind to block the blue out.



I'd not cut the dam so I must do that soon but first I put on a coat of Tamiya Buff.



Here's the first coat. More work is needed. That's the piece of card too.



The good thing about large kits is that whilst one thing is drying you can be doing something else.

I have also been doing interiors. Ware has a raised floor with a basement so I put the floor in, added walls and interior doors where needed.





The brick extension and concrete extension interiors also got done. This is the concrete interior with a back wall. I used some cheap plastic doors I had knocking about from an old kit.



This is the final result.



I put blobs of glue over the LEDs that I'm using. They're 1.4mm x 1mm so I now buy the pre-wired versions. So much easier.



I bought some jewellery thingymajigs in the U.S. which I'm using as lightshades. I painted the interiors white and left the outsides in the bronze colour they came in.



Because I'm doing interiors with lights, it's always good to make the roof removable. I braced the apex of the main roof with some card off cuts and then trimmed it as per the instructions with wood.



I always prepaint the strip wood in batches.



The roof underside is trimmed and there are eaves returns. The eaves wood trim is glued to the building and the rest is removable.



There's so much strip wood that I keep a running total of how many pieces are left.



The next thing up was the dormers. There are fronts and sides. The sides are clapboard which Bob VG uses the best technique ever to weather. Rubber cement such as Copydex smeared on with a cocktail stick. I painted a sudgy grey base coat over the top.





I then used masking tape to pull the rubber cement off.



I would normally colour the wood first but I was being adventurous so I stripped the paint off and then weathered it with Mig Aged Wood wash.



It dries ok:



I trimmed the dormer fronts (don't worry, the white will weather down).



And then added the corner posts. I sand a lot of the corners to just even up things but you can see the difference it makes here.



Bob VG says to glue the fronts in place on the roof and line them up. Then to put the sides in place. I did that. It didn't work. I think the important thing is if something isn't working for you then stop and try it a different way. This wasn't working, the dormers were sanded to a 45 degree angle but it just wasn't lining up. I ripped them off and am trying a different method.

It left a few rips and tears but I'm much happier.



The mess afterwards:



Quite a few bits were broken but nothing that glue couldn't fix. I sanded off any dried glue and went to plan B: gluing the dormers together on the worktop and then installing them.





When they are rock solid I will sand the bottoms on line with each other.

[ReadingBob]

Hi Kathy,

So glad to see you posting here.  What a great thread!  Wonderful job.  I'm really like the finish on the clapboard walls of the dormers.

I'll be following along with your adventures. 

[S&S RR]

Kathy


Great build-it really looks nice!  I'm also glad to see you posting here.  I'm looking forward to following along.

[coors2u]

The colors on the rock work looks fantastic.