Downtown Deco - Rosa's Place (A quarter of a century in the making)

[ReadingBob]

While rooting through some boxes in my garage I came across this small, starter kit from Downtown Deco.  It's a Mexican Restaurant called Rosa's Place.



Apparently, I started the kit some time before I moved to Florida at the end of 1999.  So, give or take a month or two, I've been working on this one for roughly a quarter of a century (that should make Greg feel good ).  The walls were glued together, any gaps were filled in and some things were primed.



I painted the door Light Avocado (Americana Craft Paint) using a make-up sponge to apply the paint.  These sponges are cheap and they're an effective way to apply craft paints.



I then painted the brick walls.  I use a bunch of different colors and apply them, from light to dark, as washes of varying strengths.  I'm trying to get some color variations in the walls but nothing too obvious.  



I ended up with a brick color that was a bit darker than I intended but, oh well, that's okay.  This is, after all, a practice kit and there really is no perfect color that all brick buildings match.  For mortar, I applied some Cement colored Hunterline Weathering Mix. and then wiped it off with a paper towel.



More in a moment....

[ReadingBob]

For the stone base I painted it with some washes of various grays and then applied some PanPastels over top followed by some thin moss/slimy green colors.  The blank and white tiles were simply painted with a small brush and acrylic craft paints.  



To make the paper signs on the walls appear painted on I cut them out, and then sanded them on the back to thin them as much as possible without going all the way through.



Then I put a little Elmers White Glue in a plastic paint/mixing cup (actually it's just the cap from a mailing tube but Micro Mark sells this in bags as paint mixing cups).




Then I added some water to the glue and mixed it up to thin it out.



Using my finger, I applied the thinned glue to the back of the sign.  This wets the paper and makes it settle down in the bricks a little be better.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

I positioned the sign and then used a fingernail to get it so settle down in the joints.  A sheet of clear plastic (like the plastic bags some kits come in) would have helped prevent any accidental tears from a snag but I took my chances and did it without the plastic.  After the signs dried I lightly drybrushed them with a color close to the brick color.  



For the roof I applied 3M Transfer tape to the styrene (after I trimmed it a bit to make sure it fit).



As I applied the Transfer Tape I trimmed it to fit the roof.



When you peel the backing off the Transfer Tape your left with a piece of styrene with a sticky surface.



Instead of using the piece of black paper, that came with the kit, for the roof, I used a sheet of 100 grit sandpaper to give it some texture.  I stuck the sticky side of the styrene against the sandpaper and them trimmed it to fit.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

I painted the roof with a Charcoal color craft paint and then applied some PanPastels.  I had glued some 1/8" stripwood inside the walls for the roof to hold the roof in place.



The rest was adding the few details remaining.  I substituted a Tichy chimney for the plaster one included in the kit.  Instead of using the styrene backing and supports for the roof top sign I used chipboard and strip wood for supports.

All in all, it came out okay.  Maybe good enough to be a background/back-alley type of structure.  It shows I need a little more practice on my brick work but, again, it was a practice kit. 



Thanks for following along!  I've got another one on the workbench now that I'll start a thread on pretty soon.

[deemery]

Well, "practice makes perfect" and it looks like a good quick project.  

dave

[chris.mincemoyer]

Always enjoy your tutorials

[ACL1504]

Bob,

Well done and looks fantastic.

Tom 

[restocarp]

What a great little structure. Looks great! I, also, always enjoy your build threads.

Doug Foscale has an older YouTube video about painting hydrocal brick that offers some good tips.

Matt

[Zephyrus52246]

Very nice, Bob.  I like that concrete stain idea.

Jeff

[jerryrbeach]

Bob,

I always enjoy how thorough you are when documenting each step in a build thread and this was no exception.

[GPdemayo]

Glad to see I'm not alone in excellent company in taking a little longer than necessary in getting kits completed.....well done Bob. 

[ReadingBob]

Well, "practice makes perfect" and it looks like a good quick project. 

dave

How true.  It should have been quick even though it took me 25 years or so. 

[ReadingBob]

Always enjoy your tutorials

Thanks Chris!  Happy to share what works (and what doesn't work).  Glad to have you following along.

[ReadingBob]

Bob,

Well done and looks fantastic.

Tom

Thanks Tom!  Appreciate the feedback, as always.

[ReadingBob]

What a great little structure. Looks great! I, also, always enjoy your build threads.

Doug Foscale has an older YouTube video about painting hydrocal brick that offers some good tips.

Matt

Thanks Matt!  Yes, I refer to YouTube for tips from folks like Doug and a few others.  I'm always inspired but the results they get.  Glad to have you following along.