Mexican Boat Chandlery & Marine Supplies - O scale

[robert goslin]

I just finished this structure recently, so thought I'd show how I made it.
Again I used blue foam, to give the walls a stucco look. I wanted some of the mud brick stone work exposed, so this time I did several sections of that, especially a large part of the back wall.

So started off with the ground floor level.
This is the back and two side walls. These are each about 12mm thick


Back wall detail


Cut out the window and door openings first. Then assembled it all.
I used yellow carpenters glue, and toothpicks for reinforcement.








Then gave all the exposed stonework and crack a coat of Raw Sienna paint

[IWannaRetire]

The 3D wall features you are getting at this early stage with just one base material is amazing! Your sculpture work on it is convincing. I run across various rigid foam insulation off-cuts frequently, so I'm very interested.

I'm looking at the unsculpted wall texture on the foam in the first picture, do you bandsaw 12mm sheets from bigger chunks?  Or do you attack smooth foam with some sort of texturing process?

I'll be following along, thanks for sharing.

[robert goslin]

Thanks Mark.
The sheets I have are 1200mm x 600mm  and are 50mm thick.
I cut out a piece to the size I need for the largest wall, then slice this into 10mm - 12mm thick pieces just using a razor saw, so get 4 walls from one original piece.
I then smooth the rough cuts by rubbing each piece over a smooth garden paver, usually in a circular motion.
I try to get it fairly smooth, but any small imperfection are OK, as that just some added character.
The rounded corners on the structure and openings are done with sandpaper.

Yes a bandsaw could be used, if you have one.  I'm also thinking down the track, of getting a Proxon foam cutter.
Currently just have a hand held foam cutter for carving foam rockwork on the layouts.

[Mr. Critter]

This threatens to be a wonderful thread to behold, construction techniques and final result, both.  I mean, using a paving stone as a Blanchard grinder. 

I'll be ACC-ed to my screen.

[robert goslin]

Thanks Critter.  Unlike sandpaper, the paver is great for doing larger, whole surface areas at once.

So I gave it all a coat of paint.  Originally the walls were all the darker green, but it just wasn't looking right, so decided to give it the split colour treatment.  All the paints are just craft paints
And also did some drybrushing of a lighter tan colour on the exposed stonework.

[Rick]

Rob, glad you've started your build thread so we can all admire your modeling.

[Philip]

neat!

[Jerry]

Great job Rob.  Thanks for sharing how you did it.

Jerry

[robert goslin]

Thanks Rick.  Nothing you haven't seen, but still appreciate you following along.

Thanks Philip & Jerry.

[robert goslin]

Next up I made the window frames & doors from stir sticks and balsa
The window headers are also balsa

[GPdemayo]

Well done Rob.....

[ACL1504]

Rob,

Wonderful job on the build. I'm fascinated with your work using foam. It looks very real to me.

Tom

[robert goslin]

Thanks Greg.

Thanks Tom.  I follow a lot of military modellers online, mostly YouTube.
Most of them these days, if not using a building kit, will use foam to construct their buildings, walls etc.

My favourite is an armour modeller call Nightshift.  Brilliant if you want to learn all about weathering etc.  Whilst Martin mostly works in 1/35,  it can be used for most scales.

This is a wall he did in foam.

[robert goslin]

So next I decided to add a 2nd story.  Thought it would be OK to use clapboard siding.
This is how it turned out.  Whilst it looks good, upon some further research I couldn't find any Mexican buildings that were like this.  Just wasn't screaming Mexico to me.
So I will keep this upper story for another one of my Maine USA structures, so not a complete waste of time.



So ended up instead building the 2nd story out of foam again, to continue the rendered / adobe type look.

[ACL1504]

Rob,

Second story from clapboard is good for another model. As you said, definitely not Mexico looking in any way.

The second story - second story is perfect.

Tom