Hi everyone!
I decided to start modeling this little gas station that I just bought for my new N scale layout.
I would like your advice about what is the best thing to do first with a model. Should I paint the pieces on the sprue before assembling them? Should I paint them once the model is assembled? Should I paint the grey base before assembling the station?
Thanks in advance!
Stéphan
Most of the Walthers kits come moulded in appropriate colours, but if you don't care for them as-is, you could re-paint them to better suit your tastes and needs. In most cases, it's best to put the kit together before painting, as paint on the mating surfaces will otherwise interfere with making a good bond between the parts.
For kits where the doors and windows are separate castings, and you wish to paint them, leave them on the sprue. That way, those detail parts can be masked to protect the gluing surfaces, as shown below...
Here's the same dark green sprue, tape removed, and now comprised of painted parts with their gluing surfaces free from paint...
Use a solvent type cement for assembling styrene-to-styrene.
Wayne
Usually, what I do, is put the basic building walls together, then paint.
Then details like window and doors, I paint on the sprue, then do any touch up once they are installed.
Then I do the fine details, like the roof texture, any extra trim details, maybe some light weathering, signs, etc.
All of the structures on my layout are scrach built/kitbashed, using parts and pieces from Walthers, DPM, maybe some Woodland Scenics, or hand made.
Mike.
My You Tube
Obviously, it moght depend upon how colorful you want your gas station to be. I model HO and try as often as possible to paint the parts while still on the sprues. I can't imagine trying to hand paint N scale windows and trim pieces after assembly.
As other have said, rattle can painting the parts will also paint the areas that require gluing, and that will compromise the strength of the final structure.
Sine the photo shows a mostly white building, I'd probably only paint a few trim pieces, and it would probably be easier to hand paint them while still on the sprue, avoiding the areas where they will be glued.
- Douglas
I go back and forth on when is the best time to paint a structure - on the sprue or after assembly. It's easy enough to scrape away any paint from seams and edges that need to be cemented together. And gas stations of that era often had an upper stripe, such as a blue stripe for the Pure Oil gas stations, that I'd think would be far easier to get perfectly straight on the sprue rather than after assembly.
You asked about the base. Give some thought to where the gas station will be placed on the layout. It might be best to omit the base, or trim the base so that it is strictly under the building. It may be difficult to match the complete base to whatever other roadway, sidewalks, etc. you have or plan to have. For the same reason, many modelers omit the "free sidewalk" that often comes with some structure kits.
Most of us decide on a paint or mix of paint that to our eyes captures the look of concrete roads and sidewalks and other concrete surfaces. You do not want a crazy quilt mix of colors and shades - a certain uniformity adds to realism.
Dave Nelson
I rairly scrape paint from glueing surfaces as the glue ussually desolves it. We asre not building something that will be moved around when building buildings.
Go to the Local Hardware Store and buy a roll of blue painters' tape. I use this to mask the mating surfaces, like corners where the glue will go. Then, I can use rattle-can spray paint on the parts before assembly. The hardware store also sells large cans of paint for about the same price as tiny cans of hobby paint.
I use a hobby product called Canopy Cement to attach windows because it dries clear.
Think about whether you want to illuminate the structure. If so, you will want to prevent light from leaking through the walls. I typically use heavy paper like cardstock glued to the insides of the walls for this.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
When you have the pieces painted as indicated, be careful removing them from the sprue, and be careful to remove any remaining nub or bulge where attached. Carefully test-fit all the pieces, and file or fill any that don't fit 'perfectly'. Be aware that there may be other places than sprues where risers or relief were provided, and those may need 'cleaning up'. Be sure to check, and if necessary take the necessary pains to ensure, that the structure is assembled 'square and true' and that all the details are at the intended depth and orientation before letting the cement set.
Weathering is almost always desirable, and some of the effects of aging or damage are best done before assembly. But most of the final washes, dirt, etc. is perhaps best applied to the structure as a whole, even if it is a bit more awkward to manipulate it for detail painting in that state. Take a lesson from recent hard experience and, if you dull-cote part of the model (as you will surely want to do if you leave plastic parts 'unpainted') apply it before installing any windows or glazing!
Finally, I decided to assemble the frame of the gas station. I will paint some other parts on the sprue but before assembling the roof, is there something I should do inside?
I try to leave the roofs loose as in not glued to the walls. Then as I have more time I/you can remove the roof and add details as wanted. Maybe a year from now you may want to add office details, that is if the building is close to edge of your layout to see what is inside. If the building is 4' back from the edge and you can not see the inside, no need to detail it. I mainly have HO at home and secondly N at place of business. Be very careful with those big office window ''glass'', you can haze them easly with excess glue.
Details could be, tire rack, tires, tire mounting machine, 55 gal. drums, wall and floor cabinets, work bench, car lift, floor jacks, air compressor, air hose, at least one vehical, I know you are N scale so some of the details will need to be scratch built to represent the item the best you can do. N scale is tiny.
When the roof goes on it will be dark inside, with that you may want to add lighting to the bays and office. So now with that thought, off comes the roof.
I have to think of what I want to do exactly with this gas station. I wont add light for now because I know nothing about the subject and I am just starting. I will try to focus on the basics for now.
And it's getting harder and harder to find materials to build a bench and create a layout with the covid-19 and all the delays in shipping.
I have a bottle of black primer. I wanted to buy a grey primer also but I have not being able to find a Vallejo grey primer yet because it's back order in the store where I bought my paints.
Do you think I could put one or two thin layer of black primer on my gas station and paint it with white after or if it's better to wait and order a grey primer?
I think that I should start another kit while I am waiting. What do you think?
exploringrailroads,
I do just what PC101 does:
PC101I try to leave the roofs loose as in not glued to the walls. Then as I have more time I/you can remove the roof and add details as wanted.
If I want to add lights or interior details later, I can just lift the roof off.
York1 John
I looked at my N scale Gas Station, it was put on the layout sometime after the bench work was started 10/97. I shut the N scale layout down on 1/15/09. It has been sitting there on the dorment layout up to now 1/19/21 and the white plastic exterior walls have a yellow tint to them. The glue joints are still holding. As I build any layout, I put a date on the wood frame at the time I am building at that location. So where I start has the earliest date and as I move along each section gets dated. It would be like "1/16/89 benchwork", ''8/24/89 foam board", "2/14/90 roadbed/track". But that's just me.
xploringrailroads I have a bottle of black primer. I wanted to buy a grey primer also but I have not being able to find a Vallejo grey primer yet because it's back order in the store where I bought my paints. Do you think I could put one or two thin layer of black primer on my gas station and paint it with white after or if it's better to wait and order a grey primer?
My larger N-scale buildings if needed painted on the outside would have been rattle canned painted (FLOQUIL-RAILROAD COLORS, 1997 vintage) not brushed on paint, like the ADM mill walls and grain silos (gray), coal mine, power plant (oxide red). I will look later and see what the painted buildings look like. (as in smooth or ''orange peeled''). I'll bet smooth or I would not have done it that way. Edit, yes, smooth.
I can not say to use Black or Gray, but I think I would use Gray Primer if needed. I have not used many of the "new paints to me'' that are on the shelves today. But I am getting me feet wet.
xploringrailroads, In your second picture, you can see how thin the walls are. Almost at the top of the front wall you can see the shadow on the outside from the roof support on the inside. Some people here would paint the inside of all their structures so inside installed lighting will not ''bleed'' though the walls. Likewise the outside can be painted to stop ''bleed though'' also.
PC101xploringrailroads, In your second picture, you can see how thin the walls are. Almost at the top of the front wall you can see the shadow on the outside from the roof support on the inside. Some people here would paint the inside of all their structures so inside installed lighting will not ''bleed'' though the walls. Likewise the outside can be painted to stop ''bleed though'' also.
You are right but I must say that I put my desk lamp just above the gas station. That's probably why we can see the inside of the walls.
But I think you got a great idea by suggesting I should paint the inside walls as well.
Which color would you suggest?
Several years ago I went with ⅛” Dia Neodymium magnets to attach the roof and the structure to the base. Makes life easier to be able to remove them without cutting away glue.
Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
xploringrailroads PC101 xploringrailroads, In your second picture, you can see how thin the walls are. Almost at the top of the front wall you can see the shadow on the outside from the roof support on the inside. Some people here would paint the inside of all their structures so inside installed lighting will not ''bleed'' though the walls. Likewise the outside can be painted to stop ''bleed though'' also. You are right but I must say that I put my desk lamp just above the gas station. That's probably why we can see the inside of the walls. But I think you got a great idea by suggesting I should paint the inside walls as well. Which color would you suggest?
PC101 xploringrailroads, In your second picture, you can see how thin the walls are. Almost at the top of the front wall you can see the shadow on the outside from the roof support on the inside. Some people here would paint the inside of all their structures so inside installed lighting will not ''bleed'' though the walls. Likewise the outside can be painted to stop ''bleed though'' also.
Well I'd think the garage would have overhead lighting and the workers would be using droplights under the vehical up on the rack (lift), (under the rack with a car on it would be a neat place to have a working imitation ''Welder" controled LED). Garages are dirty. I'd start with a light gray on the walls going up from the floor about a scale 4'. Then an off white starting at the light gray and on up to the ceiling and on the ceiling. Yes I do realise you are doing N-Scale. How much of the inside will/can you see of this Garage on your layout? The garage has a "pit'' in the right bay. I can't remember any corner Garage in town (circa 1970) that had a Pit. All of them had a single post lift.
I don't paint the insides of structure walls. Instead, I print the image for the walls on cardstock, a heavy-gauge paper. Then I cut that to shape, including trimming the window spaces, and glue it to the wall. Sometimes I use a simple cinder block pattern, like for a warehouse, or I might get more elaborate with wainscoting or even artwork on the walls, if a velvet Elvis or Dogs Playing Poker is considered artwork. Looking in the windows or doors, the interior looks much more complete.
I started doing this because painting the insides of walls to block the Chernobyl Valley Railroad effect of glowing buildings wasn't good enough, and light blockage was incomplete with paint and far better with cardstock.
I model in HO, so this level of detail might be serious overkill in N-scale.