Hi everyone!
I am just started to model the Walthers' Merchant's Row II kit. Like with all the few models I have built, I begin by painting the interior walls with a black primer so my building wont glow in the dark when I will use a light.
Now that the black primer phase is finished, I need to paint the interior walls (again) with the colors I want to see appearing from the windows. What colors do you think are the best for the stores on the first floor and the appartments on the second and third floor?
Stef
I have that kit in HO. The first thing I did was a lot masking and rattle can spray painting. I wanted each "building" to look like a different structure even though the front and back walls are each just one piece.
I built interior walls and floors from foam board because the kit is hollow. I only lit some rooms inside, leaving others dark. I printed interiors on my computer and glued them inside. I took inspiration from the supplied signs and modelled a few stores, notably a carpet shop and a bicycle shop.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Almost all my interior walls are various shades of off-white, tan, and beige.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
MisterBeasleyI have that kit in HO. I wanted each "building" to look like a different structure even though the front and back walls are each just one piece. I built interior walls and floors from foam board because the kit is hollow. I only lit some rooms inside, leaving others dark. I printed interiors on my computer and glued them inside. I took inspiration from the supplied signs and modelled a few stores, notably a carpet shop and a bicycle shop.
I wanted each "building" to look like a different structure even though the front and back walls are each just one piece.
Hi. I also want to do the same by painting using a different colour for each building.
Can you post some photos of the interior and outside of your building?
SeeYou190 Almost all my interior walls are various shades of off-white, tan, and beige. -Kevin
Hi Kevin. That's what I was thinking too. Off-white, beige, tan and maybe light grey or light blue.
Thanks!
ModelTrain That's what I was thinking too. Off-white, beige, tan and maybe light grey or light blue.
Nearly all buildings, especially commercial or retail, that I have been in have light colored walls.
It just looks right to me.
ModelTrain Hi everyone! I am just started to model the Walthers' Merchant's Row II kit. Like with all the few models I have built, I begin by painting the interior walls with a black primer so my building wont glow in the dark when I will use a light. Now that the black primer phase is finished, I need to paint the interior walls (again) with the colors I want to see appearing from the windows. What colors do you think are the best for the stores on the first floor and the appartments on the second and third floor?
I will be watching your progress. It is interesting to see. You do good work.
I like to use photo editing software and "print" my walls with some details such as doors, electrical conduit, shelves and such already in place:
IMG_4657 by Edmund, on Flickr
This is a meat packing house.
IMG_4654 by Edmund, on Flickr
Here's a brewery with tile walls:
IMG_4646 by Edmund, on Flickr
IMG_4638_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
And a wood-paneled office reception area:
IMG_4648 by Edmund, on Flickr
I printed carpeting for this heavyweight Pullman:
IMG_0357_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
I get most of my images here:
https://www.textures.com/
You can download a specified amount of images each day. Save them in a folder for future use.
Good Luck, Ed
Here is my Merchants Row from the outside.
This is the first floor inside, made of foam board and covered with textures printed on the computer. This is ordinary computer paper, cut to shape and fastened with Aileen's Tacky Glue, a simple adhesive that won't soak through the paper and mess up the ink.
Second floor added to the interior, and placed inside the front and sides. Even in HO scale, most of the windows are too small for much detail, so walls, floors and lights will suffice.
The front with detail parts. These window shades are from City Classics. The bicycles are from Gold Medal Models.
I particularly like this kit because it has big windows which lend themselves well to details.
PC101: Wow and thanks for your kind words. Coming from someone with lots of experience in model railroading it's very cool.
gmpullman: Thanks for the link and all the pictures. I am really surprised of what some people like you have did with all those details. I have save your photos in a file to serve as inspiration.
MisterBeasley: Thanks for your pictures. I will see what I can do. Since I don't have a computer anymore (I have only an iPad), everything takes more time and is more complicated.
Thanks again guys for your help!
Interior paint color differed with the times and the quality of the building. Cheap rental housing in Baltimore from the 50's to the eighties was what they call landlords blue. pink or green. In the mid to late 70's I repainted many and saw a vast many more.
I am presently painting the interior of my stores. This is what it looks after four layers of black primer and two layers of off-white acrilyc paint.
I was thinking that I should maybe alternate the colours of each room on the second floor interior walls and maybe same thing with the stores interior walls.
Or maybe it's too small to see anything? It's in N scale and the windows are 3 millimeters wide. What do you think?
When I started putting interiors in buildings, I didn't know much of what I was doing. I got some very nice interiors, but I never show them here because all I can see is window frames. Even in HO, typical windows are very tiny. Some illuminated interiors look OK, but photographing just doesn't work. So, I limit my interiors to a few larger windows and use curtains and shades to mask the interiors.
I have one or two structures with almost dollhouse-like interiors with carpets, wallpaper, staircases and Fezziwig furniture, but they can't be seen. Part of doing interiors is learning what can't be seen and not wasting time and money on it.
FIRST, It's ''What do you think?''. What do you want to see and your need to satisfy that need. SECOND It's, What do you want others to see?
Right now you are working one on one with the building. You detail the insides of those N-Scale buildings now because you like/want to do that. That is good to want to do that. That is one building, now start putting them on your layout, one by one. Maybe at sometime down the road you now have twenty or thirty N-Scale buildings on your layout with inside details, sitting here and there and around that corner out of sight.
You may think ''Was it worth it to detail the insides of those N-Scale buildings?'' The answer, is to satisfy yourself.
Thanks guys. I know I want my buildings to be as realistic as possible but at the same time, I am wondering if I should spend more time detailing the interior of a N scale room when the windows are 3 millimeters wide.
The photo below is of a City scene on my HO scale layout. Most of the structures are Walthers or DPM kits. The Walthers Merchants Row kit in the left of center foreground is a good example of how these kits look when painted to look like separate buildings. I did not model interiors but instead mounted interior photos inside the first floor windows and drapes/shades in the upper floor windows. Note the yellow building against the backdrop on the left side. This is simply a photo taken of the back side of the Merchants Row building in the foreground. Also note the Lawn Ranger building in the left rear which is a kitbash using two walls of a kit. Phydeaux Pet Foods is scratch built as is the roundhouse to the right.
The next photo shows more of the same City scene but panned to the left. The building in the foreground is another Merchants Row kit with the rear facade facing the aisle. On the far left you can see N. Vitroe Fertilizer, Plaid Paint, J.S. Box Company and Foster Farm Equipment which were all scratch built based on prototype buildings found using Google Maps Street View.
Below is another view of the same scene loooking down the street to the left. The two foreground structures are the Merchants Row kits. The Studebaker/Packard dealership at the end of the street is the other "half" of the Lawn Ranger kitbash. It is amazing how simply painting these structures differently makes them look totally unrelated.
The next photo is again of the same scene but looking down the street to the right. I couldn't resist adding a Binford Tools store in the DPM kit behind the Merchants Row kit. I have since strung all the telephone poles using EZ Wire and wow, does it make a difference!
Hornblower