I figure that I should try to do a little blow by blow account of the building of this first structure for the layout. I figure this could be a good way to show new member how easily one can build and detail a simple structure and yet walk away with something they can be proud of. For my Wendake jct. layout, i needed a small industry that wouldnt over power the rest of the layout. Seeing the layout is on a shelf, it also had to be a compact industry. finally,it had to have a level of detail that will be easily comparable to some laser kit i already have but because im on a tight budget it had to be cheap. So armed with these consideration i went looking thru the walthers catalog. I chose the Atlas lumber yard kit. now a lot of folks will say that such a small business wouldnt warrant a spur in real life but i like the line of it and i picked one up for 11$ last saturday. After plotting the placement on the layout , my first idea was to add a small storage shed in the back the shed come with the Atlas turntable, i had it in my junk box for a while now. I had to but the base so it would sit level and trim the back of the roof as it overhang a bit much. i mocked it up and trace the outline before using my razor saw and cut away the base so it would fit properly. with a bit of filling it nestled nicely in. I assembled the side walls and primed everything white My first step in weathering the structure was to apply a wash. Because the structure is white and i didnt want something too harsh, i used a dark grey wash. Black would have given too stark of a contrast and made the structure a bit appear smaller. while that dried, i proceed to work on the platform. because it is very visible, i thought it would need a bit of work to make it look better. first i raw my razor saw in the crack between each board, then with my x-acto blade i scored the very edges of the plank. i used the saw again and dragged it perpendicular to the board to impart a wood grain. Fianlly i finished up the wood grain effect by using a stuff wire brush and brushing up with the grain of the wood. i drybrushed tan then a burnt umber acrylic. to further accentuate the fact that the boards are individual, i ran a radiograph ( think its also called a technical pen) in the crack. its leave a very fine dark line and it makes the boards seem like they have some space between them. The last step was to add small dots to represent nails. the platform was assembled to the walls and i proceeded to add the saw dust. Nothing represent sawdust better than real saw dust. when my father redid a floor the previous week i gathered about a cup or so of wood shaving and saw dust. i stored it in a small tupperware. I applied a thin glue mix to the entire floor and the platform. After waiting for a few minute to get it tacky, i sprinkled on the sawdust. I let it settle for a minute before turning it upside down and blow the excess. i added some larger chunk and pieces if stray lumber with white glue while that dired up i went to work on the lumber rack platform. once again theres a wood platform, i used the same method to get a wood grain effect.. the rest of the rack was spray painted wit the white primed and washed with the dark gray wash Assembly of the rack per se was a bit tricky, the top part wouldnt mate up perfectly. some filing and super glue took care of the problem though, using elastic band enabled me to hold everything with a bit of pressure to allow cement to cure while that was curing, i painted the door of the storage shed. I used a dutch blue to contrast a bit. in order to have everything seem to flow together, i will use the same color for the office door and window frame. that way it'll seem like it all belong dont forget to do a dark grey wahs on the doors ! with the main structure partly completed the small workbench on the side is next. The parts have very neat molded details. The top of the bench got the wood grain treatment i already explained. the bottom part just got the paint treatment. the small details were painted in bright colors then i did a wash on them finishing up with a few flick of the radiograph to accentuate shadow and add small details. I used a black sharpie to "paint" the bigger part and a silver sharpie for the saw blades and such. after cementing the work bench in place and adding the small power saw. i used diluted white glue and applied saw dust. the final touch was adding a small piece of lumber ready to be cut on the bench. With the stairs and ladder added this is what the structure looks like now next up is the roof. When i first tried the roof, it seem to darken the interior a lot. The solution was to spray the under roof white. This is a common practice in real life as white reflect heat. The problem was that the white seemed a bit weird sticking up in the front. The solution was to use a sharpie on the trusses. it add a bit more depth and hide the fact that the underside is all white. Once its glued on its barely noticeable but it adds a bit to the structures and make the inside look a bit brighter. the top side of the roof is molded with a tar paper finish to make it stand out a bit more i spray painted it black first then using a wide brush ( i used a old shaving brush) i drybrushed a bit of dark grey over the entire roof. it makes the roof line pop out and gives it a "faded-by-the-sun" look the last step was to use a sharpie and squiggle a few random line to simulate small repairs done with tar with the roof in place i had time to work on the actual lumber. While the instruction call for stripwood, i didnt. Instead i came upon 2 ways of simulating nice lumber load. The frist one was wooden matches. Granted they are a bit big but a small match is about a 4x4 so i made a few pile of those. i also use by rzor saw to cut the matches in halves and get some 2X4. heres a little trick, when you stack up your first layer, place the matches on a small piece of masking tape. that way they wont move too much and make alignement a pain... my second method involve laser kit leftover wood. I had some board by board wood batten ( or whatever its called) leftover from a small laser kit project i did, maybe 2" by 2" . after some careful cutting i was able to make about 8 pile of lumber out of it. I tried to use the small peice the best i could, making odd little piles. After everything was glued up, i dipped the end in some acrylic. Most lumber yard color code their lumber for easy organizing. a quick dip in some brightly colored paint does the trick. if you find theres too much paint, just dab it on your finger. installation was a bit of a pain though. If you intend on following my directions and build this kit, i suggest you put the lumber before the roof and the railing are in place. makes for easier alignement and placement with the roof and lumber in its place, i paid a bit of attention to the bench roof. My first thought was to replace it with a piece of corrugated material but i decided against it. I dry brushed the silver paint in 2 coats to get a nice even coverage then afetr waiting about 10 minute ran a streak of burnt sienna following the corrugations. The result was a very pleasing rust effect. using a finer brush i added heavier "rust" closer to the part closest to the wall and the very edge. and thats the building so far. Its not complete, lot more fun coming up including preparing the office, lighting up the structure, making a lumber truck and finishing up the struture and final scenic placement. stay tuned :)
Okie dokie, Heres the rest of the story told in glorious color pictures hehehe
Painting the office was done with spray can. it took a good 3 coat to get a nice even color as the walls are molded in a deep yellow. Before adding the office, i drilled a big hole to accomodate the bulb and wiring i made it pretty big but eventually had to enlarge it even more to accomodate everything. The walls go easily together with minimal fitting. the window frame and door come separatly so painting them is a snap. notice i continued the same dutch blue on the office door and window frame.the door comes already ajar so i left it as so. I figure the open door would enable the warm air caused by the bulb to escape construction of the office roof was done much the same way i did the lumber rack roof. painted black then dry brushed dark grey. i also painted the inside of the wall black to prevent light leaking thru. while that dried, i was pondering on what to add to make a neat the scene more complete. i wanted to have a lumber truck hauling off some supplies. rummaging thru my spare and junk box i found this lil critter this lil truck is made my mini metal and i bought it a while back on ebay. After looking at the truck, i figure if i could saw the back "cube" part i might be able to build a styrene deck... well so much for that. a simple pry on the cube side enabled me to get the gray part off... the rest was perfectly smooth...talk about luck :) i glued a few odd pieces of plastic on the flat bed and covered it with a paper tissue. a few drop of diluted white glue and i had a nice tarp covered flat bed hauling off supplies :) after an overnight drying i brush p[ainted the tarp green, did a dark grey wash and add a few odd lenght of chain. a little bit of weathering on the cab, a few mud splashes here and there and voila! a lumber truck while the truck was drying off i was on a roll and figure now would be a good time to decal the building. now...a confession... im not a good "decal-putter-oner" i plain s**k at it... so after painting the sign back black, i drop the decal in water, counted to 10 and then took it out and counted to 20... i added a bit of water to the sign and GENTLY slid it on...much to my surprise, it didnt crack, fold over or disintegrate... i was shocked...i gently rubbed a clean rag to darg excess water and glued it on the building so it would be out of the way... now, while i dislike decal very much, i knew the back of the lumber yard need something colorful to attract the eye. The solution came from MR in the form of posters. MR used to publish posters and such on the back of certain ads. it was a great idea and whenver i stumble accross old MR at yard sale or train show i always grab them. I used 3 different poster ( dont ask which issues) i wanted to get and show 3 stage of degradation. The brand new poster, the one thats been there for a while and the really really decrepit one thats an eyesore. The newer one was just cut from the magazine and glued on. a light wash and a pit of gentle pression made it stick to the wall and look like it had been tacked a few days ago. The second one was cut then sanded...yes sanded...the back of the paper was carefully sanded until it was well paper thin... this take a light hand but it dont take too long. after it was sanded about haflway down, i crumpled it a bit. i glued it and exerced a bit of pression, the back of a paint brush enable me to really push it into the siding and make it look like it was almost painted on. a light wash ensue. the last poster was really the toughest. first i cut and sanded it, i went on a smooth surface and sanded it to the same level as the 2nd one. then i moved on to a peebly surface and sanded it some more. the uneven surface create tiny hole in the paper, careful sanding made these hole bigger and bigger. finally i tore half the poster with tweezer and crumpled it before gluing it the same way i did the 2nd one. i think the effect is rather convincing now came the part i dreaded the most, illuminating the structure... this was a first for me so i tried to keep it as simple as possible. the part came from a old toy and a flashlight. I used a 2.5 volt lamp. why 2.5? i dunno thats the one i had on hand. looks big enough to light properly but not too bright and hot as to melt the plastic. I got the light switch from a old toy i dissambled. ( it also had lots of other goodies i plan on using later on so always keep an eye on old toy at yard sale and flea market) im not much of an electrician so the picture is rather self explanatory the red and back lead are soldered to the lamp. the red lead connect to one pole of the on-off switch, the other yellow lead attach to the other pole. that yellow lead and the black one connect to the Variable DC of the power pack ( i use the AC pole for my trhottle leaving the variable DC open for the light) If you're like me and youre all thumbs when it comes to electrical stuff, check it often as you go and take your time. it'll save ya a bunch of issues later. before attaching the structure to the layout i made sure everything was working...as you can see its a cramped fit in there now we're on the home stretch... we gotta add the structure to the scenery and make it loo perty... first step was adding a fence to the backdrop... the fence is actually a idea i had while trying to save a few dollars. using cardboard, i cutted up hundreds of small slivers...individual board if you will. then using scotch tape, i laid the board one by one... painful and boring heck yes...cheap...heck yes...laugh if you will but these fence are on their 2nd layout. they just wont rot... and they are perfectly flexible i think bar mills have a similar product nowaday..but free is kinda hard to beat price wise... now the groundwork method im using is based on Lou Sassi "ground goop" . i use a semi-paste material for a base then add ground foam and various material to finish.. this is the ground goop i use while the recipe is a closely guarded secret ( even I dont know it !) heres what it entails i mix any and kind of dried herb... oregano, parsley flake, salt, cinammom...anything that looks like something youd find on nature. go nuts here... u can mix anything type of kitchen herb or spice, raid the cabinet if u want, as long as u dont try to eat the goop you'll be alright. after you got about a cup of herb, mix em well, add a bit of small or medium ballast ( any color will do) ad about a table spoon of dry plaster ( most any brand should work, i use plaster of paris) add brown , white and tan pain, about a table spoon of isopropyl alcool and a little water...mix everything till you have a consitency similar to thick salsa ( i know im hungry by now too) now get your ground foam ready and lets go... mask the track first and the ballast and apply your goop. you can really work the stuff nicely and hide all the joint between the base and the stryrofoam ( or plywood, whatever you're using for your table top) work it with your finger, use a wet brsuh..you can really let your creativity fly with it... use a old tire to leave some track...embed piece of junk... i added the little security shack after the first coat so it would really look like it had sunk in. Now ground foam is like a strip tease.. except in reverse. you want to start naked and build up from there. the first layer was fine soil and dirt then fine grass blend and some fine yellow grass foam now its strating to get a bit livelier... notice that i tried to leave the area between the office and the security shack without greenry... thats because its where the truck entrace will be... this next time is not for the weak hearted so if you are the soft sensitive kind please close your eyes as youre reading this... i wanted to have some tall grasses but i never liked how the grass tufts look, i tried the old paint brush bristles method but i just dont like it. Until i discovered Teddy bear skin... i know .. its gross but if it help.. try to think of it as short fake fur... I had the idea for it when i visited the Vermont teddy bear factory, part of the tour include the guide giving a small sample of the material used for making the bear... the stuff you can get at walmart is good too but nothing beat teddy bear skin... ( ah the thrill of the teddy bear hunt...) after its been cut from the backing, tease it a bit with your finger ( thats right, tease that teddy bear fur... dont you love living dangerously...) a little bit of white glue and a pain brush handle is perfect for affixing it to the layout this is what the area looks like now...at this point i uncovered the track and vacuumed it... adding the last small detail was next. i glued some painted figures ( 3 of them was enough to give it life i think), a few odd piece of lumber, a couple of crates. i added the cool little soda machine ( dont ask where i got it, it was in my junk box... maybe the junk box fairy got it there for me) i didnt glue the truck down , reason is simple. i like to photograph the layout, as such i wanna be able to move it in and out of the frame as need be... final step was adding saw dust all around the building and spray some hair spray to gel everything... a quick cleaning of the track and engine #1 could back into the lumber siding... brakeman Charles ( dont call him Charlie he doesnt like that) is about to detrain and John ole gus and Mr Gaudreault the lumber yard owner... looks like ole gus is teasing Mr Gaudreault about them " yankee bums from New yawk ceetee" ... well the sun is setting slowly now... you can hear the soxes on the radio in the office... looks like the mill is now functional and ready to do business just be careful now and watch for those 2 by 4... just another day on Wendake junction
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
Any special reason for the HUGE type in your message? Makes the whole thing mulitple screens long.
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
Nice presentation, and very good results. Thanks for posting it.
As Bob suggests, you should probably set your font size at 2, unless you have visual problems that make it difficult for you to see what you are typing.
Gorgeous! Thanks for posting!
What exactly did the wash for the outside consist of? (e.g. 3:1 water:paint?)
Brian
Hola Ranchero:
Will you be following up with the a wiring description. I'm always interested in the operational lighting effects of scale models and would like to see how others complete the scene.
Muchos garcia! :)
Works for me, It is lots easier on the old eyes.
James :1 Verse :5
The "wobbly" lives on and on.
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Very nice job, I will watch for more posts.
yea i know what u mean about the shed leighant. orienting it the other way would have meant losing out the door or having to build a new one. while it look a bit funky theres a factory not far from here with a similar shed attached. the roof is slanted the same way ...guess theres a prototype for everything. As for rapidograph i stand corrected
second part is in the works, im gonna show you how i modified a mini metal truuck, how i did the wiring for the office and lots more...
Thanks for this, it was absolutely wonderful! It took me around 10 minutes to read it, and I bet it took you at least double that to type. Great article and great work! (It was worth every minute!)
-beegle55
Have Fun.... Bob.
ranchero wrote:well next "article" will be a first foray into rolling stock. im working on a caboose for wendake junction. I managed to find an old revell wood sheated caboose and im working on it as we speak. thanks for all the great comments guys
Hey Ranchero,
Great "How To" article.
I like your techniques, especially the "free" stuff tips!
And ole Gus teasing Mr. Gaudreault about "New York cheetee"? Now that's priceless...
Looking forward to the rolling stock segment.
Cheers,
Ryan
Ryan BoudreauxThe Piedmont Division Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger eraCajun Chef Ryan
Ranchero!!! YES!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was so impressed with your kit work that I knew when I finally got to mine that I would need your inspiration.
AWSOME!! You just made my day.
Really nice job both on the model and on the write up. The trucks are really great. Most people have the other side facing the tracks so that is a different way of doing it.
Thank you for posting it.
Just found this and read it. Great tutorial!
Thanks!!
Jarrell