Tin shed and friends - 2016 build challenge

[postalkarl]

Hi Mark:

You have some interesting structure there. I especially like the one the the small room on top of the porch. Very interesting touch. Also so like the J. Modfat & Son Building. I'll be following along.

Karl

[Mark Dalrymple]

Thanks for your comments Karl, John, Tom and Dave!

Karl - I found a book in the library a while ago about early movie houses in NZ.  There were some very interesting looking structures in there.

Well, its Saturday morning here in NZ and I'm off to the Pioneer train show.  It is the 25th anniversary of our show here in Christchurch and the theme this year is 'getting started'.  I'm hoping to show that to build a complex diorama is just a matter of a few small steps and that there is no magic involved.  I have made all the mock-ups and assembled a pin board of pictures to display.  Just getting it all together to take down and set up now.  I'll take some photos while I'm down there and update later today.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Yesterday went very well at the train show.  It was almost a constant stream of people and I think I sold several expandable foam guns!  I placed the notice board with all the pictures in front of the desk and the diorama on top with a small finished model to the side and a few scratch-building supplies next to it.  I pinned my 1:100 scale drawing with the two tiny building floor plans on the front of the diorama and had the two full sized site plans at the back of the desk.  I was then able to talk people through the inspiration and sketches on the notice board, the experimentation with the 1:100 plan, the experimentation of the full sized floor plans, creating the terrain and the roads and building the mock-ups.  I finished with a quick description of the scratch-building supplies I used to create the finished product.  In my down time I worked out which windows I would use on the structures and drew in their positions with black marker.  As you can see - there wasn't a lot of downtime!

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Polux]

Hi Mark.
Wow! That's a really interesting project!
I'll be following along.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Thanks Pol.lux - great to have you following along.

Well - it was around to my friends house for Tuesday modelling night last night.  I had a sheet of matt board to take around and cut out for my tin shed, but when I got there the matt board wasn't!  I was given some very thick but good quality card and I use this to make the shell for the corrugated iron cladding.  Cutting the windows and doors out was quite a challenge!  All the doors and windows fit snugly.  Next I will be applying the corrugated iron cladding.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[R Edington]

  Great start, I'm like the way you are going about doing this build. Buildings on a hill isn't modeled very often.


Rodney

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Thanks Rodney - I don't think I model anything that isn't on a hill! - or a curve for that matter!

Well we had an early finish at work today - so I got a little more done.

Photo 1 - shows the card shell covered in double sided tape.  Before I put this on I work out where I want the joins of the corrugated iron to go and mark the top edge around the walls with a pencil - giving me something to help keep things in line when I peel the double sided tape backing off.

Photo's 2 and 3 - show a little progress on the corrugated iron instillation.  I like to go to the extra effort of giving the effect of lead headed nails.  Unlike nails in weatherboards, lead headed nails are quite visible.  I'm a little confused about why they are so seldom modeled???  I cut the corrugated iron to the desired lengths (usually based around three foot centers for the nail rows) and then cut the sheet in half to make it easier to work on.  I tape two pieces of tape at each end of the halved corrugated iron strips and mark where I want the nail rows - typically 1 mm from the bottom, and 10.5 mm centers.  I don't put the top row in unless necessary, as the sheet above will lap this.  I use a compass and a ruler to gently depress indentations into every second trough of the iron.  When I get the next sheet ready I place it at a slightly different height on the cutting board so that when the nail rows are lined up on the structure the pieces of iron will be slightly different lengths (I mix the two different lengths up randomly).  I then score and snap (by wiggling back and forth a few times) individual pieces of iron at scale 3' widths (10.5 mm).  When these pieces are flipped the depressions look like lead headed nails.  You have to be careful not to push too hard and pierce the iron.  I peel off the double sided tape backing from the bottom of the structure up, only where and as I need it.  I measure and cut around the openings as I get to them and use a steel rule and a one sided razor blade to bend 90 degree bends for the corners.  Always work from the bottom up (as you need the top pieces to lap over the bottom pieces to keep the weather out).  You also need to consider this at wall roof junctions, and valleys in the roof - its no use putting the valley on top of the roof planes, or all your LBP's will get very wet next time it rains in your model world!

I'll put in a picture of the tape on the cutting board, markings, iron etc in the next post.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Thanks for following along.

Firstly is a couple of photos as promised showing how I set up to put lead headed nail impressions in my corrugated iron.  I've explained the process in my last post, but the photos should help clarify things.

Next we have three photos showing the process of putting things on in the correct order (to make sure the LBP don't get rain running into their structures when it rains in model land).  You can see I put the lower roof card in place with double sided tape on the top.  Once this was glued to the structure I peeled the backing off the double sided tape and attached the sheets of iron.  I made sure the iron was a little proud both at the ends and the sides, and varied the lengths slightly.  I then smoothed out a piece of aluminum foil and attached a piece of double sided tape to it.  I trimmed this to the desired width and length, peeled the backing off and carefully attached this to the top of the corrugated iron sheets, creasing it up onto the wall junction.  I use a small metal rule to help position as I go.  I then used a compass to depress the aluminum foil into the undulations of the corrugated iron.  Another piece of double sided tape was then attached to the small side wall above the lower roof, going over the aluminum foil 'flashing' where it is turned up onto the wall.  I then cut and attached small pieces of corrugated iron to this small wall, folding the end ones around the corner a short distance.  The top roof template was then cut, covered in double sided tape, and glued in place.  I made sure there was a piece of double sided tape going over the ridge, and before attaching the roof template I peeled half of the ridge piece of tape backing off, cut the backing along the ridge line with scissors, and then reattached the backing.  I did the same from the other end.  This meant to roof template would fold nicely, but the double sided tape spans across the ridge line making the installation of the ridge capping easier.

The last photo shows a side view of the back wall of the tin shed.  You can see how the lead headed nails all line up, but yet the sheets are slightly differing lengths.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Well, I have finished the iron on the tin shed.

I attached the iron to the main roof area, leaving it down just a touch from the ridge.  I changed the purlin spacing slightly to keep the lead headed nail rows fairly even.  I then cut a piece of aluminium foil stuck to double sided tape 5mm wide and a piece of plastic rod the same length as the ridge line.  I carefully started peeling the tape backing off the foil and taped the foil, sticky side up, with a piece of painters tape at each end.  I carefully laid the rod down the centre of the foil.  I cut the ends of the foil a little longer than the ridge to allow enough to fold down over the ends of the rod and cut out the corners.  I melded the foil evenly over the  rod using a finger and thumb, and carefully laid the rod down the centre of the ridge-line, starting at one end and working my way along.  I then used my finger nail to meld the foil further over the rod on each side, and then my clutch pencil (with the lead in) to meld the foil into the iron undulations.  Finally I folded the foil over the ends of the rod.  A little fiddly but a good representation of a lead ridge capping.

Photo 1 shows the iron installed.

Photo 2 shows the ridge capping on.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[ACL1504]

Mark,

Great build and excellent tutorial on the siding. It looks fantastic. I'm enjoying this thread very much.

Tom

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Thanks for your comment, Tom.  I hope to get a lot more modelling done in the coming months.

Things got very hectic coming to the end of last year and I had almost no time for model building.  Hopefully things will be different this year (although that might be wishful thinking).

Below are two pictures of the movie house coming together.  Walls are Floquil CN grey #17, trim is harbor mist grey and the roof will be Pullman green.

I'm hoping to get these four structures done before the end of the month.

More very soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Well there is lots of gardening to do and jobs around the house - but I am managing to get a bit of modelling done every day over the holidays.  And what a nice surprise - it has just started raining hard!  No more gardening today!

I moved sideways to assembling the two story 'Dunedin' structure with the steep pitched gable roof and flat roof to the left.  Colouring is Floquil SP lettering grey for the siding and roof brown for the trim.  The cladding is shiplap which is typically blind nailed - but I love my nail holes!  With this material it is important to brace horizontally due to the way they machine the wood in relation to its grain.  With clapboard it is most important to brace vertically.  I've shown my bracing on the gable walls as well as a shot showing the bracing for the card roof.  I braced up and down the rake of the gables and across the top of the flat roof area, and then installed ridge bracing and bracing near the side walls.  This allows for a fairly sturdy roof on a small structure and also means I can glue the card roof well without worrying about unwanted ooze.  The walls were weathered in my usual fashion.  I quick wash of Floquil grime followed by dabs of dirty paint thinners (my brush cleaning jar) smeared in with a paper towel, and then a quick wash of A&I.  You need to dip the brush right to the bottom of the dirty paint thinners jar to get some nice brown sludgy paint on the brush and just not wash off the grime with thinners.  I then jerkily paint down the shiplap joins (or along under the clapboard laps) with a fine brush before dry inside out gym socking the walls with paint.  This is to give a peeling paint look, but to put paint on where nature takes the longest time to remove it - under the laps of the clapboards or in the joins of the shiplap.  Its then nail holes and another quick wash of A&I.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[S&S RR]

Mark


The build is coming along great - the siding looks fantastic.  I also love the models of the model - it really helps develop the scene and we can see where your heading.  Excellent thread my friend.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Thanks John - much appreciated.  Yep those models of a model help a lot.

I did the main part of this roof with Campbell shingles.  I made up my roof out of black card, cut it to size, and scribed the fold lines for the ridge and valley.  I drew horizontal lines to help keep the shingles straight and glued the card to the structure.  I covered the card in double sided tape and cut lots of strips of shingles a little longer than the roof.  I positioned the first row of shingles at the bottom of the roof, pressing into position every inch or so to help keep straight.  I then ran a thin bead of canopy glue along the top of the first row of shingles and attached the second row.  In this manner the top of each row of shingles is glued by the double sided tape, while the bottom is glued to the row below by canopy glue.  The last row of shingles below the ridge I cut down in width so the ridge capping will finish where the top row of shingles start.  Photos below show the roofing coming together.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

A bit more progress. 

The Campbell shingles have been finished and painted.  I used Troels Kirk's method to paint the shingles.  Troel's technique is to paint the shingle roof a dark brownish black, and when dry do a serious of dry brushes - tans, light browns, paynes grey and white mixes, and a little black soot to reverse if needed.  Finally add bird droppings and enhance the edges with flesh or light tans.

I added fly rafters to the front and rear of the structure and some rafter tails to the side.  I'll have a think about what this little structure could be and then add some details.  I'm thinking of having the block of shops being closely related to the larger structure in this diorama, so knowing what that is is somewhat important.

Below are some photos of my progress.

More soon, cheers, Mark.