I’m planning on scratch bashing a mine from the plans of a Muir Model. What comes with it is corregated and I’m switching to board and batton–which comes in Evergreen sheets. But I’m stuck on what to use for roofing. The semi-obvious choice is Cambell’s roll shingles, but it just doesn’t feel right. I’m worried about the amount of paint I like to use to create weathered and dimentional effects.
Are there any other options? Perhaps something Evergreen makes?
Corrugated metal would be an appropriate roof material. What sort of roofing material comes with the mine kit?
Purhaps something here might help;
http://www.2guyzandsumtrains.com/Content/pa=showpage/pid=31.html
Corrugated metal would probably NOT be appropriate, especially for an 1880s Pac NW mine. For the area and the time, cedar shakes would be more appropriate.
The Campbell roll shingles are the best out there, but WILL warp if you get them too near moisture.
If you want to be a real glutton for punishment, you can make your own out of .005" clear styrene. I’ve done it once in the past (based on a Mainline Modeler article) and it works great. Basically, you rough up the clear styrene with 100 grit sandpaper, and then scribe the material horizontally to get the individual shakes. At this point you can either make them unnaturally even by cutting out entire rows as single pieces, or you can be REALLY authentic by roughing up both sides, cutting out individual shakes, and MEK’ing them onto a styrene base roof. The end result is stunning (and more realistic than paper shingles), but it takes forever to do.
Is the Cambell’s shingles something like Evergreen Hill Design Genuine Cedar Shingles? or are you looking for something other than shingles?
Do you mean the paint might warp the shingles if they are real wood or paper?
Plastruct makes a Wood Shake Shingle
styrene sheet.
I did a quick Google Image search for “Roofing 1880’s”. There was also slate and tin.
First hit was Traditional Roofing
What about tar paper?
I agree with the tar paper in the 1880, that or board- n -batton. Shakes would take to long and cost too much for a mine shed. Lots of old west roofs were just boards. Fred
These are from my above link. They can be resized to any size if you put them into a word document.
Click the links below each pic to go to a page that you can download these from. The linked pages are in HO scale.
http://www.2guyzandsumtrains.com/2g/bricks/ShinglesFadedHO.bmp
or
http://www.2guyzandsumtrains.com/2g/bricks/ShinglesBleachedHO.bmp
Tar paper would work too.
You’re going to laugh when I suggest this, Chip, but you want a good source on detail for the 1880s? Go to the children’s section of your local bookstore and pick up a couple of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s memoir books - the ones about life in the Dakotas especially, since one of them describes the construction of a new town. They’re full of detail.
And how, may I ask, did you “discover” this, pray tell?[X-)][:-^]
Hey, that Laura Ingalls Wilder made some good movies when she grew up ;D Fred
Thanks guys. I think I might go with the board and batton.
What’s a good way to model tar paper? Figure I’ll weather it with paint.
Hey, pcarrell - I don’t want to be the first man to hop on the “I’m offended” train here, but what exactly are you implying with the little “blindfold and whistling” icons?
I read those books when I was about twelve and noticed them again a few months ago when I was buying a Christmas present for my son.
Chip, for the tar paper, why not try very fine grit sandpaper sprayed with a flat grimy black, and cut up into prototypically-sized fringes?
Aww man, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just messin’ with ya. I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m sorry if I did. I was just goofin’ around. [B)]
We cool?
Yeah, she’s kinda hot, too. Didn’t she pose for Playboy once?
I used strips of masking tape, applied right to the roof with overlaps and gaps. Then I hand-mixed black and white cheapo acrylic, not too thoroughly so it would be a bit uneven, and hand-brushed it on.
This is a DPM freight house with that kind of roof. It actually looks darker than this, but the snapshot flash overdid it a bit.
Two good ideas–
Sand Paper and masking tape.
Oops. Now I’ve run out of excuses.
We’re cool.
Can’t wait to see the pictures, Chip.