I decided I would start a thread for the little semi-scale depot I’m building from stuff around the house. It will be based on the Nickel Plate Road and Cincinnati Northern junction depot in Latty Ohio, just a little north and west of Lima and Wapakoneta. Here’s a link to the website with the reference photo I’m using:
Obviously I’ll be using some artistic license and more than a little selective compression. But my main criteria are as follows:
Don’t spend money on the project unless absolutely necessary.
Make everything possible from scratch including doors, windows, siding and shingles.
Structure needs to occupy the same footprint as a Plasticville Suburban Station.
So, what materials do I have available? 65 pound cardstock, the heavy card backings from watercolor paper pads, craft sticks including tongue depressors, popsicle sticks and coffee stir sticks, a few dowels in various sizes, scraps of clear plastic from packaging and a few fiddly bits.
After drafting the main walls on the heavy card, I cut them out and then cut the window and door openings using a cutting wheel in my Dremel.
After taking a break to remove the Christmas tree from my living room, I started experimenting with the one piece of the model I have never done before: creating convincing dimensional siding from strips of cardstock. I went with 2 layers of 65 pound card and the overall effect is pretty good.
To do this I first measured 3 segments 1/8 of an inch wide and drew the lines. 1 for scoring, the next for placement of the next slat, and the third line for cutting. This allows an overlap from one slat to the next
Drawing up some siding. Going from left to right, a “board” is a fold under piece to be glued to the back side of the next 1/8" strip. Therefore the third strip just to the left of the darker (cut) lines is the double thick facing of the board.
I’m going to go ahead and call that part of the experiment a success. It has the sawtooth profile I want but not high enough to cause a problem with the trim pieces that will go on top of the siding.
The idea of painting a light color under the dark part and a dark shade under the white part was an attempt at creating grain texture and weathering. It worked mildly well under the white wainscoting but on the main part of the walls it didn’t help.
So I’ve moved on to the window trims. The main trim pieces are 3 layers thick and the headers are 6 layers.
The lighter color under the darker color might work better if you thinned the darker paint some. The thinned darker color would not cover as well, maybe giving you the effect you are looking for.
Part of my problem is that I’m not 100% sold on the idea of weathering to begin with. Considering the fact that I won’t weather the trains I’m going to have to tread the thin line between reality and toy. [;)]. So elements of both worlds are necessary.
The wall on top left faces the track. The blank areas are for the bay window. The next step is to measure, cut and install narrow strips of cardstock inside the window, door and transom openings. The window panes and doors will be separate pieces.
Have you ever heard of a balsa stripper? It is a tool to cut small stripes of balsa from a sheet. I was using mine to make 1/32" square stringers for stick and tissue airplanes I used to build.
They are adjustable for cutting width and use an Xacto knife blade. I’ll bet it would be helpful for your current project.
