Fos Scale Bandit's Roost Build

Started by craftsmankits, January 05, 2021, 10:36:10 PM

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craftsmankits

Thanks to Karl, George, Rob and Jeff.  I'll go through the process, but I must mention, not all plans go as intended.  I did have some problems along the way which I will outline.

First up, I added the additional insulation to extend the road to the back of the diorama.  I had to do this since I had to extend the rock retaining wall up the grade.  Then sealed the joints with sculptamold.


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Next, I stained the wall with alcohol and India ink.  This picture is immediately after the wash.  It came out a bit darker than I intended, but no panic.  I didn't seal the wall with dulcote, so the stain really set in. I sometimes seal my castings before staining.  I sin to some, Brian Nolan always applied washes to castings without dulcote.

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While still wet, I added a thinned wash of Yellow Oxide to add some additional color.  Then allowed this to sit overnight.

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The next day, I did something that Brett from Sierra West Models uses to color his wood strips.  He has a great video on his site outlining the process.  The video isn't long, and it inspired me to try to attempt this process on plaster castings.  I used the following Rembrandt soft pastels:  Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, two Raw Umbers, numbered 408.3 & 408.5 and finally gold Ochre.

I had success with this method before, but this time, I had a few issues.  One of which occurs after I apply the wash/stains with isopropyl alcohol.  The alcohol evaporates leaving the color behind, with some really nice tones, but the color is not 'set'.  It is still active, and as you'll see later, when I attempt to use dulcote, the color disappears, and you're left with a frosted grey granite like color with very slight variations.  This was not what I wanted.  But here, with this wall, I left the colors 'as is' then applied a drybrush of Linen craft paint.  The drybrush was muted by the fact the pastel colors leached onto the brush, requiring a lot of 'reloads' to finish the job.

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This is a closeup after the drybrush of linen.  Not bad, but not exactly what I was looking for.

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Next is the rock formation at the end of the retaining wall.  I apply a medium wash of India Ink and alcohol, then immediately hit it with thin washes of Liquitex Yellow Oxide, Burnt Umber and Neutral Grey. It appears a little dark since this was taken right after all the colors were applied, it will lighten overnight.  I prefer to have my rocks be light in color, as they tend to darken over time.  To repeat, I used thin washes.  Woodland Scenics has videos on rock coloring, and they are very informative.  There are also plenty of options on Youtube as well.  There are countless ways to color plaster rocks.  I don't use dulcote on any of my rock castings.

craftsmankits

This is the rock formation the next day.  I believe I may have given it a dry brushing of Linen craft paint as well.

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Next up.  I added some sculptamold along the top and bottom of the retaining wall, and along the edge of the rock formation.  I colored the area with Woodland Scenics Earth Undercoat, and added a road using Durham's Rock Hard putty.  The road was done over two days.  With the portion closest to the wall done first, then adding the other half the next day using the first portion as a guide.  The road has a slight peak for water runoff. 

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Next, I added AK Interactive Terrains Asphalt in a thin coat over the Durham's rock hard putty.  I used a spatula, and found the working time to be excellent, and the overall look very realistic.  I know it's really black at this point, but I'll take care of that much later.  I plan to do the coast road, and lower road all the way to Vallon Paint with this product.

craftsmankits

Next, I added various scenic materials above and below the retaining wall, in addition to the some of the areas around the rock formation.  I also added some posts for a wooden guard rail that will be placed in front of the retaining wall.  I spoke to a friend in the hobby, and he suggested I add the wooden guard rail.  I had been mulling it over, but he helped seal the deal, and I'll add guard rails to the ocean side as well.  If you haven't noticed, I'm working from the inside of the diorama out.  The sea walls, and rock features will be the last items to add before the water.  This will be quite a large project.  I'm not using as much compression as Doug used when he designed the kit.

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Here's a shot of the retaining wall with the added guardrail.

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This is an overhead shot.  This is also my first automobile guardrail from scratch.  The wood posts may seem large to some of you, but there is a story behind it.  My brother used to work for a frame company in Sheboygan Wisconsin in the early 70's called Decorel or Decoral.  I don't think they exist anymore.  They made picture frames.  They also made three dimensional kits for deep frames, that people would cut out, and make the images appear 3D.  Anyway, I enquired about the wood used in those 3D kits, and he ended up giving me a large box of 1/8 square pieces in 4 and 6 inch lengths.  Needless to say, I have enough of these to last my entire kit building life, and I try to include some of this wood in each structure I build in honor of his memory. 

Mark Dalrymple

Really nice to watch you work on your scenery, Mark.  Its coming together nicely.

Cheers, Mark.

craftsmankits

Next, I glued two sections together, the road, and the Callahan Machining portion. (I used a hot glue gun to attach the two sections.) Sadly, the sidewalk did drop a bit on the Callahan Machining and apartments.  It took a couple of weeks for that to happen, so the next time I apply a sidewalk I'll attempt a different method.  You'll also notice the lower portion of the rock feature will be covered by road in the future.  I planned this, and extended the rocks to ensure they would reach far enough going forward.

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Next, I filled in the area between the road, and the buildings with sculptamold.  I was leaning towards a cobblestone road from Monster Modelwork's in front of Callahan's, but am having second thoughts.  I may go with concrete, since the area behind Rochelle Enamel will have a concrete road, and the three different road surfaces may be too busy.

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