CCK 18177 - Takoma Shops in HO Scale

[Opa George]

I second Dave's note. I'm getting ready to put down some roadway and am interested in this technique.  Nice surface with the spackle, by the way.
--George

[BandOGuy]

Jason Jenson on his YouTube build of his lift bridge uses a product from AK, sold on FOS website that very realistically creates asphalt.
You might want to check this out:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wuRuCcUdpk

[JimF]

The AK stuff is nice,  but much pricier the what Jaime and Dave suggest, not sure results are all that much better. Even Woodland Scenics Top coat in concrete and asphalt work very well.

Jim

[BandOGuy]

The AK stuff is nice,  but much pricier the what Jaime and Dave suggest, not sure results are all that much better. Even Woodland Scenics Top coat in concrete and asphalt work very well.

Jim

You want a Kia, you buy a Kia.
You want a Bentley, you buy a Bentley.
In the end, you get what you pay for.

[NEMMRRC]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm always willing to try new stuff. I try to stay away from really pricey stuff because some of those items don't scale up to the size of scenery area model railroaders build. For a budget conscious modeler the techniques taught by Dave Frary and Joey Ricard are quite effective.


I think it's time the manufactures that focus on military modeling begin to market to model railroaders.


Jaime

[deemery]

...
I think it's time the manufactures that focus on military modeling begin to market to model railroaders.

I really wish Vallejo would take on the old Floquil color set.  But I wonder if they have an agreement with someone (MicroMark) that would preclude that...

dave

[JimF]

I do miss Floquil paints for the way they could cover in one coat, even when brushed.

But to be honest, not sure I want to go back to my hobby room smelling like Floquil and Dio-Sol all the time, and having the scent waft out into rest of house. And I KNOW SWMBO would take exception to it LOL

Jim

[Dave K.]

Been following along...really looking good!

[NEMMRRC]

Moving right along....


We've had company over for the Christmas holiday and I've not been able to spend as much time as I'd like on this build. However, I did get started on weathering the track. I need to procure some ballast as what I have on hand is not what I want to use. I will need to make a hobby shop run. My local hobby shop has really grown in the past couple of years and they now occupy the building an old medium size grocery store used to house. The train department at the shop is like 1/4 the size of the entire shop. The owner has tons of wargaming and RC and slot cars. Fortunately, he still keeps a great selection of paints and scenery from Woodland Scenics.


Anyway.....


I didn't want to use Floquil Rail Brown for the the track so instead I went with "Melted Chocolate" from Apple Barrel. I was at Walmart and they had the Apple Barrel paints 2 for $1.00. I mean, how can you go wrong with that!?





I painted a few random ties with the Melted Chocolate to add some variety. I need to weather the ties and put down some ballast after my hobby shop run.


Here is what I have left to do before I can mark this one as "done" in my book:
- finish the roof over the main building's balcony
- pour on some ground on the diorama base (I need to find my bag of Sculptamold) and add some ground cover
- glue down all the buildings to the diorama base
- finish weathering the road in front of the diorama
- finish weathering the track
- add some people and a vehicle or two
- add a few detail castings


I don't want to go overboard with this one. My goal was to build the kit, I'm like 95% done with that. The diorama has been a bonus and I don't want to get bogged down with it while the 2020 build challenge gets underway.


More as it develops.


Jaime

[deemery]

The 'large' Microbrush works -great- for painting rails.


dave

[postalkarl]

Hey Jaime:

That color looks great on the rails. I have tons of that craft paint and I use it here and there from time to time. Keep the pic flowing.

Karl

[postalkarl]

Hey Jaime:

The stairs look great. Can't wait to see this one finished.

Karl

[NEMMRRC]

Moving on with the track... for now.


I applied an alcohol and India ink wash on the ties to tone down the color.





I then painted each individual tie with Americana Bleached Sand acrylic paint.





I then applied some of the DAP CrackShot (I found some at my local Ace Hardware) to build up the scenery base.





This stuff takes at least one whole day to dry. So I moved on to the roof over the main building's balcony while all that dried.


More coming up.


Jaime

[NEMMRRC]

Little did I know just how involved the roof over the main building's balcony was going to be. Let's just say that this has been the only bit that caused me to come really close to exhausting my "oh crap!" quota for the build   


Ok, here is the process I took to arrive at where I ended up.


I glued the two halves of the roof using a square as an aid. I basically taped the roof halves to the square and used really thin CA glue to glue the halves where they meet at a right angle.





In my exhuberance to glue the thing I spilled really thin CA glue all over the place. Let's just say I was not happy from that point forward.


Anyway, this is what it looked like from the underside.








Not too shabby, for now....


And when I went to apply glue on the opposite side it's when it started to go downhill.





I hate CA glue. Who knows why I use it?!


I tested to see how it would fit on the building.





Looking suitable at this point.


At this point I needed to measure out how to add the "battens" on the roof that simulate the metal roofing raised ribs.








So I made me a cheater spacer (top right of next photo) and marked the spots with an ink pen.





I glued the "battens" with white glue.





And when I was all done with that I discovered that the instructions say to space the "battens" 6 scale feet apart. I did mine 4.25 scale feet apart. Oh well. Too late for that. I'm not redoing it  .


Next up is the process I took to paint the whole thing.


More coming up.


Jaime

[NEMMRRC]

The roof over the balcony is meant to be copper that has aged with a verdigris patina. The instructions say to use American Sea Breeze. I didn't have that. I was at Walmart and they had their Apple Barrel craft paints 2 for $1.00. So I decided to experiment. I mean at 50 cents each for the paints why not...





There you have it. My experiment to approach verdigris patina. Not entirely convincing.


So I tried something else.





It needs some green.


I decided to go with Folk Art Pastel Green and to that add Apple Barrel Caribbean. I mean that sounds like fun.


I asked my wife for her opinion and she handed me a rusty copper pitcher she uses to water her plants.





As you can see I am getting pretty close to a match.


I painted the roof with cheap Walmart grey spray primer once the "battens" were dried.





Keep in mind I am trying to reproduce that green in the rusty pitcher.





I made a couple of tests on the underside of the roof which was also sprayed with the cheap grey primer.





What do you think? Too bright perhaps.


Well, I had to keep moving on. So I tried on three parts Pastel Green and one part Caribbean.





Wow! That is really bright. I must tone it down and it is too blue. Oh well. Have to keep moving for now so I will live with it.


I applied some alcohol and India ink wash and let it dry overnight.





More coming up.


Jaime