Rugg Manufacturing - SRMW Kit 170

[Lynnb]

I like the first sample, I think the second sample would look great on a wharf. I also like experimenting with chalks and alcohol, although I'll admit some of my experimenting has got me some undesirable results but at the same time adding too the prefinished results have came out ok. Biggest problem was duplicating the results.

[postalkarl]

Hey Vince:

Looking great so far. Keep the pics flowing.

Karl

[vinceg]

I have been busy bracing clapboard walls and trying more experiments in painting and weathering. I am down to three different approaches that I like and wanted to get some input from anyone that would care to offer some. I am surely overthinking this (one of my many "interesting" quirks) but have learned a lot by playing with things. Here are my three favorite swatches:



All samples have paint applied with a terry cloth rag. All samples have a little earth- or dirt-colored chalk scrubbed in to the bottom of the wall (some more than others). All walls have nail holes. Tried to keep those subtle. You can also see that I lifted a board here and there, too.

The left one is sprayed with Krylon gray primer and then ragged with white acrylic. After drying, I scrubbed in a little white and gray chalk to soften the edges between paint and no paint. The middle one starts with heavy inkahol (3 tsp/pint). Then rag with gray acrylic. Then rag with white acrylic. The last one starts with chalkahol (a little brown and black chalk powder applied with clean alcohol. Then, rag with white acrylic.

I like and dislike them all for different reasons. My plan is to paint the windows holly green (you can see a couple at the top of the picture. For that reason, I liked sample 1 because it's more homogeneous and seems to show off the green windows a little better (the other two have patterns that are more abrupt and look a little busier). I like the third sample (right side) because it has some brown -- adds a little color. Rugg is a big complex. I thought it might look a little boring if the whole thing looked too homogeneous. But, I'm not sure of that. The one in the middle is a compromise. Not as much contrast with color but still has contrast with the peel/no-peel look.

As I said, I like them all. I am just a little concerned about how each approach might look when viewed "in scale" - that is, when all the walls get the treatment.

Still TBD is whether the corners will be weathered white or the same green as the windows. Thinking green at the moment.

I would appreciate any comments or observations.

Cheers,
Vince

[Dave K.]

I think, Vince, it depends on how weather-beaten you want your structure to be, and how you can match that beat-up look on your windows and doors. I agree...they all look good depending on the effect you want. 👍🏻

[Janbouli]

The one on the left looks most realistic to me , but as Dave said it depends on the look you have in mind.

[vinceg]

The one on the left looks most realistic to me , but as Dave said it depends on the look you have in mind.

Thanks, Janbouli. That opinion is actually very helpful to me. I have also been leaning toward the less weathered effects like the one on the left. I'll save the more "peely" walls for smaller, more run-down buildings.

Time to stop thinking and start doing. Hope to have some finished walls and windows in the next couple of days.

Vince

[Zephyrus52246]

I also like the one on the left.  Each one looks pretty good, though.  Again depends if you're looking for mild vs nearly falling down weathering.   


Jeff

[jimmillho]

I also like the one on the left.  Each one looks pretty good, though.  Again depends if you're looking for mild vs nearly falling down weathering.   


Jeff

I would agree with Jeff.....They both look good.

Jim

[rslaserkits]

I go for the left one also. Not a fan of nail holes but those are subdued, you might add a few rust strikes  down the row of nail holes because that is what your really seeing from a distance is the rust and discoloring of the wood caused by the rusting nail
rich

[Jerry]

The left one.

Jerry

[vinceg]

Thanks, everyone. Left one it is. I do like the somewhat less tattered look for this building. I might try to rag or sponge a little heavier as well to give it a little more of a painted look. I can always go back with a razor blade or ragging on a little gray if I overdo it.

I also like the fact that the process starts with Krylon. Helps reduce the tendency to warp.

Still working on bracing. Should have some finished walls to show soon.

Vince

[postalkarl]

Hey Vince:

I like the one on the left Also.

Karl

[ACL1504]

Vince,

The one on the left is more natural looking to me. Great job.

Tom

[vinceg]

OK - making some progress. First I braced all (or at least most) of the walls and primed them with Krylon gray primer. Also primed the plastic parts (windows and one door) with the gray primer:





That priming picture isn't all of the walls or windows -- I did it in two batches.

Nice that the weather's a little warmer now so that I can do this in the garage. Those wood sticks are the 1/16" corner posts that I will be painting green to match the windows.

More in a minute...

[vinceg]

The instructions call for building the main building first. I painted the windows green and let them dry. Then went back with a light gray and dry-brushed on some weathering. A little light gray chalk after that. These are the visible parts for that main building:



Here's a close up of the main gabled wall:



You can see that I glazed the windows with glue, not styrene sheet. You can see the characteristic ripple. One thing I did here is use Canopy Glue rather than the Micro Crystal Clear. I did a few with the MCC, but then went back and looked at one of my Doug Foscale videos where he recommended using Canopy glue. It goes much faster -- mostly because of the nozzle on the bottle, I think. The liquid itself seems to have about the same viscosity. I have to say, I think I like the styrene glazing better. But, it is nice to be able to glue the windows from the back and not worry about getting glue on the windows. The windows are already glue.

I couple of other things I noticed with the Canopy Glue. My window process was:

1. prime with Krylon
2. paint with window color
3. weather with gray paint
4. add some chalk
5. glaze with canopy glue
6. cut windows from sprue
7. file the burrs
8. touch up the paint from the filing
9. glue into building

One thing I found is that in the process of cutting from the sprue, my fingers would touch the back of the window and stick to or otherwise damage the glue. You can see in the 2nd picture that I missed one of these "ripped" windows (rightmost window, top middle pane). No problem to fix....just apply more glue...but it happened to me a lot. Next time I am thinking that I may not "glaze" the windows until they are installed in the walls.

A couple of other things I see here now that I have a closeup: (1) for some windows, I did a lousy job if filing the sprue connections, and (2) some of the gray weathering looks too much like brush strokes. I'll need to go back and tidy those up.

One other thing to point out - I did nail holes here but I bought the RB Productions Rivet R tool with the .65 mm wheel. Just bought it. It makes very nice holes - much more subtle. I was sort of on the fence with this given previous experience with pounce wheels that left big, square holes and having no marks at all. This seems like a nice compromise.

Earlier in my thread, I said that I wanted to work on the walls first so that I could test fit them to the foundation pieces that need to be glued to the base. I'm there now. I'm a bit scared because I know if I don't do that right I will create some ugly problems in the build. But, time to suck it up and do it. That will be my next series of posts. The good news is that it should start to look a little like a building soon....the fun part.

By the way, I have noticed some errors in the SRMW manual. I'll try to point them out as them come up in the related pieces of the build.

Talk to you soon,

Vince