Sierra West Quincy Salvage

[SteveCuster]

Good afternoon everyone.
This weekend I started SierraWest Quincy Salvage kit, this kit will be part of a larger diorama with O'Neills Fabrication.


My first step with any kit is to open it up, check out the contents of the box and read the instructions. As with any SierraWest kit this one comes with a ton
of castings. Most are resin some are white metal. They are all crisp and clean and super high quality. It also came with several excellent retaining walls and 2 railroad cars. The instructions are clear and easy to understand. This kit was released in 2003 so it still refers to Floquil and PollyS paints. I will be adapting this kit using more of the techniques from O'Neills, I only plan on using A&I, chalk and water based paints to finish everything.


I'm going to try to duplicate the color and weathering of this garage in my neighborhood.


My base color will be a simple A&I wash. I use a 32oz bottle of 70% alcohol and non-waterproof Higgins brand ink. I added 5 Tsp per 32 oz.


I went to the local craft store and purchased most of the colors of Red they had. They only cost $1.29 each. After a bit of experimentation I found I liked the second from the right Americana Deep Burgundy.



I first textured all the stripwood with a wire brush, then I colored the wood twice with my A&I mix. I used a dunking technique and spread them out of paper towels, very fast and easy technique.


Before I could add the siding I needed to get the framework built. I colored the studs with A&I and assembled them over the templates. I used a stripwood guide and my chopper to quicken up the process. I was spoiled by O'Neill's laser cut framework. This didn't take me long though.




I colored the stripwood the same was as I had done on my O'Neill's. I used a semi-wet brush and skimmed over full length boards, then I cut them up with my chopper and mixed them all up before I glued them on. This gave me a random pattern to the siding. Brett Gallant has a video of this technique at http://www.sierrawestscalemodels.com/videos.html


I wasn't crazy about how loud the red was on the walls so I toned everything down with a dusting of Rembrandt chalks. I used several dirt/earth tones. I have a Tupperware container filled with all the rust/dirt/earth colored chalks, I just used the dust from the bottle of the container.

Thanks for checking in.

-Steve

[deemery]

Off to a great start, and it's good to have a local prototype to work from.  It looks like the paint under the eaves on your neighborhood garage is in better shape than the more exposed parts of the buildings, that's typical weathering.  Also note the wood at ground level is darker, water & mildew stains.  It looks like the roof on that garage is a lot newer than everything else :-)


dave

[Janbouli]

Great start Steve, looking forward to the rest of the build . Might I say that where the reds on the first photo are to hard , imho you dusted just a bit too much on the second photo, something in between maybe , just my 2 cents .

[S&S RR]

Wow - Another great build to watch! Steve I will be following along - you are off to a great start.

[Mike Engler]

Steve- great work. I, like you, prefer to test many variations of a color before picking one. I also usually do A/I for the base color as most of the untreated weathered wood around here is a grey color rather than brown. I think Jan might be right about a bit much chalk. I also have used the Apple Barrel "Barn Red" with good results as I think it is a little flatter, less bright red. I usually am guilty of too much chalk whenever I try to put it over anything I have already painted and wind up clogging up my "graining".


It's also a lot tougher to get the contrast I want with red over grey than it is using off-white over grey. I love the prototype photo you took, and it's a challenge to match mother nature. You'll do it.

[postalkarl]

HI Steve:

Looks really great. can't wait to see the structure assembled. that old garage would make a neat model also.

Karl

[donatode]

My popcorn and diet pepsi are ready....so am I....


Keep going Steve.

[NEMMRRC]

Cool kit.

Red is hard to pin down sometimes. So far it's looking good.

Jaime

[SteveCuster]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions everyone, I ended up playing around with the colors a bit. I'm taking it in a more grimy dirty direction I think. This is the lower wall of a salvage yard so I think the siding should be pretty terrible looking.


I cleaned some of the chalk off, chewed up the bottom of the boards a bit and added some moisture wicking up the lower boards.

Let me know what you think

-Steve

[Rail and Tie]

Great balanced of grime and aged paint.  The red color shines though at just the right levels.

I have to get back to working on Glass for structures. much easier to work on than my crappy green slicing mat...

[postalkarl]

Hi Steve:

That is coming out very nicely. I will be following along.

Karl

[S&S RR]

Steve


Very nicely done!  I love this technique because you can go back and take another run at it if you want to change the results. I think you nailed it with this change.

[SteveCuster]

Thanks Darryl, Karl and John.

Darryl, I got this particular piece of glass from Ikea. It's a piece of a coffee table. They have several sizes the most expensive is about $60

John, that's the great thing about chalks. They are very easy to modify the results of you go too far.

-Steve

[ReadingBob]

Steve,

That's awesome!  Thanks for providing the step by step and all the photo's.  There's some great stuff here.  Thanks to everyone else who chimed in with tips and suggestions too.   

[SteveCuster]

Thanks Bob