Stone Buildings

[Random]

Thanks. 

Today I did a bit of sanding to make sure the window castings fit and then got out the glue. 













The thick wood posts in the corners are glued to the stiffening strip wood.  There is no glue applied to the plaster at the corners.  There's no turning back now.

Cheers!

[S&S RR]

Roger


This is really coming together nicely. No need to look back full steam ahead. It looks great.

[Random]

Well, the glue worked.  Here are a few gratuitous shots with a couple of FB units for context.










I need to design the cornice next.   Some paint will be in order too.

Cheers!

[Random]

Small update today.  I've been playing with how I want to paint the station.  Here are my samples.



I think I prefer the upper left sample.  This is painted with thinned Americana Slate Gray acrylic paint, applied over the raw plaster wall after spraying it with wet water.  After that dried it was given a wash of dark india ink and alcohol and immediately blotted with paper towels so that the surface of the blocks doesn't darken to much.  After that dried I dry brushed it with American White Wash acrylic. 

I've also been working on the track platform inside the building.  It is cut from 1/4 inch birch plywood.  The approach track supports are from Atlas.  They work out nicely and allow you to see thought the track to the street below.





So much done, so much to do.   

Cheers!

[JusticeCity]

Roger, it really coming along great.

To fill the cracks take some of the hydrocal scraps that had already been mixed with water and dried/cured. Grind it to a fine powder and mix it with water to make a slurry. This slurry will find the cracks easier amd the hydrocal will not set as quickly and give you more working time.

Working with hydrocal is fund and different and you have done a wonderful job with it.

[Janbouli]

I really like the middle of the 3 Roger, seems a bit less monotonous.

[Random]

The middle section started with a blend of the gray and a buff color.  Other than that it was treated the same as the left.  The section on the right used the same blended paint but does not have the white dry brushing.   I wonder if part of the appeal of the middle section is the texture of the blocks themselves.  That one has a little more interest than the casting on the left.  Although it could be the interplay of the ink wash with the lighter color. 

In other news, I filled the corners of the building today.  They came out pretty good. I may need to go back with a wire brush and add a little texture once its dry.



I tried recycling some previously set hydrocal by using material from sanding the backs of some castings.  It worked well but I didn't see a lot of difference with using fresh hydrocal.  The applicator bottles I'm using lets me get into the gaps pretty easily.  I'm also spraying the corner with wet water before filling and with that the new hydrocal flows into the gaps nicely.  I was surprised that I was able to finish all the corners in less than half an hour using one batch of recycled hydrocal and one batch of fresh. 

That's it for now.

Cheers!

[Random]

This thing is coming together.  I built some masters for the wall cornice.  They are made from a strip of scribed siding, a strip of wood at the bottom, a stack of 3 strips at the top to create depth and some relief, and some thin slices from a strip of dollhouse chair rail. 




This is before I trimmed the ends.  Looks pretty good I think.




I finished painting the walls as well. 







I need to mount the cornice masters and make a mold.  They will also be cast in plaster.   That will be a lot less work than making them all from the wood.  That was tedious.

Cheers!

[donatode]

Wonderful Craftsmanship ..... 

[fsmcollector67]

Roger,
Really good looking build...
Loren...

[Janbouli]

Cornices look fine , and the painted walls are great.

[S&S RR]

Roger


Great looking structure and first class craftsmanship.  I'm really enjoying this thread. Thank you for sharing your build with us.

[tom.boyd.125]

Roger,
You made great progress on this since my last viewing. Like the coloring of the stone too. Can't wait to see more and Thanks for sharing ! 
Tommy

[Random]

Thanks everyone.


The cornices suffered a bit of a disaster.  I mounted them to cast a mold and then sprayed them with mold release.  This did not go well.  They warped and popped loose from the base.



I repaired them and remounted them for another try.  I hoped there was enough mold release on them to get a good casting.  But no luck. The molds came out very rough with bubbles around the small openings and are generally unusable.  I had not had an issue like with the wall sections that contained wood parts but I suppose being completely made of wood made the difference.   I am repairing the masters once again and this time I'm going to prime them so that the mold release will not penetrate the wood.  Fingers crossed.  If that doesn't work I'll just have to make the full cornice parts by hand.  At that point I'd call it therapy.

Onwards and sideways!   I took a break from the station and worked on the Hotel and Grill.   I posted an update over there a few minutes ago.

Cheers!

[postalkarl]

Hi Roger:

Wow!!!! Those stone walls are really cool. I love them.

Karl