I have seen the term “Use the Selios Method to make nail holes on the siding” to describe the nail effect on clapboard siding on wooden and styrene kits. Aside from being very effective, what is the “Selios Method” to achieve this effect?
Simon - I believe this is the method by which a ponce wheel and a steel ruler are used to create rows of nail holes in siding. The same effect can be obtained more slowly using just a pin set in a pin-vise…and a lot of patience!
Incidentally, this often used model detailing effect is rarely ever found in real life. In most case (except perhaps pre 1900 in the old west) nails were set and the holes filled in before paint was applied. In many years of viewing and photographing rural structures, I’ve seen only a single case where the nail holes were visible a la Selios. Likewise, an especially interesting situation exists for models with clapboard side, where this effect seems to be used most often. In the typical application of real clapboard siding, the nails are driven under the overlap between boards and are invisible!
CNJ831
Yes, I don’t think Norm Abrams would approve of the Selios method. I am a great admirer of the work of George Selios but this is one detail I can do without.
You mean that you wouldn’t see nail heads on a twelve story tall clapboard warehouse? Horrors!
By jove you are right! Many years ago I installed cedar clap board siding on my house and the nails were all hidden. It never occured to me that this effect was actually not realistic and that I had this knowledge deep in the recess of the brain. Thanks guys, I appreciate the input.
One of the saddest things I’ve read was a post from a while back from a fella who entered an NMRA model contest and lost points (i.e. not given additional ones for realism) because, according to the judges, his model DID NOT have Selios-like nail holes in its old and weathered siding. This shows how all-pervading misconceptions can become in our hobby and perhaps why we see so much caricaturish modeling being done.
CNJ831
The way its usually applied with a line of nail holes all the way up the side of a building might not be prototypical but a few holes here and there located at the bottom edge of a board might be. Its common for boards to curl if they are not well protected by paint and separate where they butt together. Most homeowners don’t replace the board, rather they just pop a few nails in to hold it down.
Pete
I think a lot of this is due to people not modelling what they personally see or know, not using their own powers of observation, but tending instead to modelling or copying someone else’s layout. If the layout copied is a caricature, then the copy will also be one. If the layout copied is well-known, the tendency seems to be more pronounced.
Cheers,
Mark.
for nailheads where nailheads belong; i use a mechanical pencil and draw them in; one at a time, in the proper place, and in the proper numbers.