An enjoyable thread to follow, Simon. I really do like the peeling paint and windows. Nice little kit, too.
Mike
You are welcome Crandell. Weathering wood is most certainly in your future!
Shawn thanks for commenting. The missing part, for me was not a big deal at all. It is very nice to see you respond though and take care of it for folks that follow. It is a really nice little kit and I am enjoying building it. I plan to tackle the shingles this evening. I do like some of the innovations that you have included in the kit.
Ernie, thanks.
If you are referring to the dry brushing of the grey over the stain, I tend to go along the length of the boards. Most of this will be covered by the top coat of paint, I am just trying to get a bit of variation in the faded wood that is exposed by the rubber cement.
When I dry brush on the rubber cement this tends to be in vertical strokes down the wall. Most of the peeled paint ends up on the exposed lower lip of the board. This is not a hard and fast rule by any means.
Hey Mike, it always feels nice to get a compliment from a modeller that I admire so much. Thanks.
The scribe marks on the roof panels really come into their own when it is time to adhere the peel-and-stick roofing material. This eliminates any guess work about overlap amount and makes sure that the roofing is straight.
The shingles are a random cut style.
I like to get the front, or most visible side of my structure, with the shingles aligned. I am quite happy to overlap the opposite side as I will go back and trim later.
You don’t have to do a complete row of shingles at once. If you cut the ends carefully you can fill the roof with very little wastage.
Now is also the time to think about anything on the roof. This particular kit does not come with a chimney. My miner has a coal fired stove in his house so I am using a stack from the parts box to meet his needs. I have simply cut and sanded a flat platform in the location that I want to place this metal casting.
The casting will need to be painted of course.
simon
the kit is coming out great. cant wait to see it finished. once it is finished you will have to send me some photos so i can post on the website to show of customer work.
thank
shawn cavaretta
MinuteMan Scale Models
The roof is now fully shingled and trimmed.
To get a nice clean cut I use a fresh razor blade and trim the excess overhang of the shingles from the roof material. The adhesive of the peel-and-stick make it hard to cut cleanly as it will adhere to your blade, so make sure it is a fresh one. This is the first time I have used this particular brand of shingles and I like the effect.
The most tedious part of this roofing activity is the placement of the ridge tiles. I like to use my needle in the pin-vise to aid in the placement of these. The sticky holds on to the end of the needle and helps get my fat fingers out the way.
The metal chimney casting has been painted and glued to the roof.
The steps for this are
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Wash in warm soapy water, rinse and dry. This gets the greasy mold release compound off. I use an old tooth brush for this.
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Undercoat the whole thing with a light grey. Cheap rattle can primer, or in this case a quick brush paint with cheap acrylic. Let dry.
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Dry brush red-brick color onto surface, trying to avoid getting paint down into the mortar recess. Let dry.
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One drop of a mortar like cheap acrylic and several drops of water to make a wash. Using a brush wash this onto the casting. It flows all over and into the mortar lines. Immediately soak up the excess on the surface with a tissue to re-expose the brick.
I am a regular listener to the monthly Scotty Mason MRR Pod cast http://www.modelrailroadpodcast.com/ found at this link and on iTunes. In a recent edition Dave Frary suggested a tip using white glue mixed with black paint to stick smoke-stacks to roofs. This is what I did here. Not only does this glue the stack to the r
Simon,
Once again, terrific tutorial! [:)][tup] A couple of things to add.
Simon, I don’t know if you did with this kit but I like making my roofs detachable (either wholly or partially) so that I can have access to the inside for lighting/detailing purposes. I usually glue the floor (or make a floor to glue in) so a detachable roof is essential.
Even if you do glue your roof down, wait till the very end to do so. This is also true of the chimney, as well. The reason for doing so is that this comes in handy when you want to trim the edges of your roofing.
You can pull off the roof and lay one side onto a board or cutting mat. With the fresh #11 in your X-acto knife blade holder and a straightedge, you can make pretty quick and clean work of the edges. (Obviously, you also want to leave a little overhang, too.) After you’ve trimmed the edges of the roofing, you can then attach and/or glue the roof(s) in place, as well as the chimney fixture.
Simon, quick question for you. Did the tiled roofing come with the kit? Or, is that a separate product?
Keep up the good work, Simon. Please do post a shot of it in context on your layout. Will it go near the miner’s house that you built recently?
Tom
Tom, I agree, I usually do make the roof detachable. In this particular case because of the way the floor is designed I attached the roof and can lift the structure right off the floor/foundation sub assembly.
Good point and actually what I did. I did all the trimming with the structure upside down on the cutting mat before adding the chimney.
Yes the peel-and-stick shingles and the tar paper came with the kit. There is plenty left over making it an even better value!
Right now I have a nasty plastic structure sitting in my miners company village. This structure will replace that and will have the summer kitchen/smok
Simon,
Not being nitpicky. I just happened to notice. Were you wanting to shingle the small portion of roof underneath the eaves, too?
Tom
Exactly my point Tom. It was not until I photographed it that I realized that I had missed this area. On both sides! It is one of the reasons I like to photograph models as mistakes seem to jump out of the image at you.
Simon,
Thanks so much for the great tutorial. I have built several simple wood structure kits - they look pretty good from 3 feet away but couldn’t stand up to close-up scrutiny like you demonstrate in your photos.
I will, however, endeavor to use your methods on my next kit - I’m bookmarking this thread. Thanks again.
Thanks Jim, I am glad it is of interest and value to you. Over the years I have had a lot of help from this list so this is the least I can do to try and give back a little.
Hopefully will be wrapping it up later this evening.
It is so very simple and inexpensive to add a few small details to a kit like this to make it your own. I really have not deviated at all from the kit instructions, but there is still time to add some bits.
A piece of the sprue that held the door has been trimmed and painted and used as a pipe stack from what would be a simple cooking area in the back of the structure.
Some spare tar-paper offcuts are glued to the roof as if they were covering damaged sections. Small pieces of wood are placed as if nailed to the roof to hold the patches in place.
Using earth tone weathering powders or chalks the roof has been streaked to add some texture and depth. Black powder has been used to indicate staining from smoke.
So we reach the end of this small structure build. I have not kept count of the time I spent, but it amounts to an hour, here-and-there, since Friday evening. A number of enjoyable hours, great value for the hobby dollar.
The entire photo sequence is on my Picture-trail site at http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid19980162
I hope that this has been of interest to some of you. Many, I know, are way beyond my skill level at these things. This was not intended for you, but in some respects is a tribute to you. I have learned so much from this forum over the years that I hope that this thread is in some way repayment for that shared knowledge.
If this stimulates a few folks to try something new then I will be happy.
Thanks for commenting and following along.
Well, I NEVER!
But maybe I will!
Excellent tutorial, teacher!
I always thought wood models warped after time. But if painting all the way around helps, and I can get a model cheap enough, maybe I’ll try wood!
Thanks muchly!
I have to say that your posts got me wondering if I could build one of these, so one is already in the mail. I have a question though. What kind of ink did you use for the stain?
It’s funny how you can stare at a model for weeks while your building it and NOT notice the things you missed till you post a pic for the whole world to see![:D]Happens to me all the time too.
Turned out nice!
Go for it Galaxy! I have built dozens of wooden models and while warping can and often is an issue during construction I have not had any problem once completed.
Good for you soumodeler, make sure you post some pictures of your work.
My stain is made from a pint of 70% isopropyl alcohol and a teaspoon of India ink purchased from Michael’s or any other art/craft store. It is not the only stain that can be used, some make stain from shoe polish or even just paint the wood a silvery grey paint. The key is getting that nice weathered wood silver/grey patina that aged and exposed wood develops. Good luck with you efforts.