Winter Challenge 25-26 - Fiordland Lobster Company - Tellynott Depot

[Pennman]

Yeah, the secret with that Tamiya putty is to scrape it before it turns hard.
If not, then you gotta get the jackhammer!    It's good stuff though.
I think I'll check back for more tips on coloring the brickwork, that's one
of my downfalls and you seem to have a good handle on it. Thanks

Rich

[Mark Dalrymple]

Yeah, the secret with that Tamiya putty is to scrape it before it turns hard.
If not, then you gotta get the jackhammer!    It's good stuff though.
I think I'll check back for more tips on coloring the brickwork, that's one
of my downfalls and you seem to have a good handle on it. Thanks

Rich

Hi Rich.

Yes - I think I forgot to mention that.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

I got some good progress done on this project yesterday afternoon (modelling Sunday).

Photo 1 - I got some polystyrene strip from the barn and trimmed it to an appropriate size.  I then went about trying different configurations until I found something I liked for my aerial walkways.


Photo 2 - This is the brush I use for picking out individual bricks in a darker or lighter colour.  This is a mid level brush, costing around $12US I would imagine (I paid $20 NZ).  With its very long bristles and sharp point it holds a lot of paint.  If you water the paint down a bit I was finding I could paint around 20 individual bricks before reloading the brush.  After reloading you need to hold the brush sidways on a piece of card and spin it to work the bristles (and paint) to a nice sharp point.


Photo 3 - My hog bristle #7 brush.  Here I am dabbing/ stabbing Mig old wood paint on the edges of the mullions from the back of the windows.  I roll the brush in the paint to make sure it is on all sides of the brush and then remove most of the paint onto a paper towel.  I stab the paint on all the windows in one direction and then spin the sprue 90 degrees.  I do this north, south east and west.


Photo 4 - Here is the result from the front, showing the paint on the side of the mullions.


Photo 5 - What the back looks like after paint has been applied in all directions, from the back.


Photo 6 - A view from the front.


More soon, cheers, Mark. 

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi again.

Photo 7 - Now I apply paint dabbing down from the front.  If you go in from the four angles again you will get paint into the crevasses where the paint lasts the longest.  I want my structure to look very warn so I was heavy handed with this step.  By removing more paint onto a paper towel you can certainly pull this back a few notches.  If I decide I have gone too far I will try applying a puff or two of the  brown rattle can from a distance.  Dry brushing is still to be done.
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Photo 8 - Here is the first section of the wall with the mortar applied.  I tried a small section with some watered down spackle, but it soon became obvious that it was going to be an absolute nightmare to remove the excess from around all the positive detail.  I decided to go back to my old faithful - Gallery soft pastels by Mungyo.  These are a cheap brand.  I have tried the more expensive brands but find they bind too well and stick to the face of the bricks.


moderator edit to repair some mark-up that prevented the photo from displaying.

Photo 9 - Here I am working the pastel into the mortar lines with a nice soft brush.


Photo 10 - The oils on my finger(s and thumbs) then work the pastel further, and remove it from the brick face.  They are kind of like giant squeegees.  You have to keep changing fingers/ thumbs.


Photo 11 - Here is a close up.  You can see the pastel gets stuck around the positive detail.


Photo 12 - I use a fine brush to loosen this and then a soft close blow to remove.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi again.

Photo 13 - As this was such a big structure I adhered the chalk to the wall in stages.  Here I have taped paper over the sections I have yet to do.  I fix using an artists pastel/ pencil fixative.  Dullcote will dissolve most of the chalk.


Photo 14 - Another area coming together.  This shows the wall after the first pass with my finger(s) where I remove the majority of the chalk from the brick face.


Photo 15 - And here is the same wall after further working.  I just have the chalk that has built up around all that positive detail to remove now.


Photo 16 - The grouted wall.  Nice and rustic.  The DPM wall has deep mortar lines and there is perhaps too much chalk on it.  I may cover the Atlas wall and spray the DPM wall with Dullcote.  This will dissolve more of the chalk.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking progress Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great looking progress Mark.

Thanks, Curt.

The grouting takes quite some time on a building this size.

Thanks for checking in on my progress.

Cheers, Mark.

[friscomike]

Howdy Mark,

Your brick treatment looks amazing.  Adding mortar has always been a challenge, but your technique with chalks works great.  I, too, found that Dullcote dissolves the mortar, so I'll try the fixative.  The walkways are a nice touch.

Have fun,
mike

[Jerry]

Great job Mark.  That is one huge building to grout!!

Jerry

[Mark Dalrymple]

Howdy Mark,

Your brick treatment looks amazing.  Adding mortar has always been a challenge, but your technique with chalks works great.  I, too, found that Dullcote dissolves the mortar, so I'll try the fixative.  The walkways are a nice touch.

Have fun,
mike

Thanks, Mike.

You still have to go light on the application.  Yes - mortar is easy to do on flat walls, but I really like walls with lots of decoration, fancy cornices and the like.  I'm sure you could still use spackle, but you would need some specialised little tools to remove the excess from all those little nooks and crannies.  I might look into that for my next smaller brick structure.  The aerial walkways should be fun to do.  I haven't finalised the design, but I have a few ideas.

Photo 1 - Showing the pastel, pencil, charcoal fixative I use.  Bought from an art supply store.


Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great job Mark.  That is one huge building to grout!!

Jerry

Thanks, Jerry.

It sure was!  It literally took several hours to do.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Photo 1 - I painted the sills with Tamiya FX83 medium sea grey thinned with a few drops of isopropyl alcohol.  I used the same brush as I did to pick out the individual bricks.  I then went about gluing in all the windows using a few drops of medium CA.  I didn't drybrush the windows, as I decided my heavy handed weathering was enough.  Actually, when the windows were cut from their sprues and glued into the building I though they looked good.  As I am changing up the order in which I add the floors on this one, I still have good access from the back and so will glaze in situ.  Of course, I will need to pre glaze the small windows for the elevator shaft (still to do).  I added a couple of brick inserts and some windows with sheeted over pains for some ventilation.  I'm also looking at scratchbuilding a stack for the right corner and adding a fire escape.  Fun, fun fun!


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[deemery]

For removing spackle from nooks and crannies, let me suggest these make-up applicators:

Those should be easy to find at a beauty supply store or your favorite on-line marketplace.  (I searched for "cotton pointed make up swabs")

dave

[Rick]

Mark, the brick walls look fantastic.
Good technique on applying the mortar.

[Larry C]

Mark even though that looks like quite the process the end result is really worth it; great job and tutorial.