Peterkern23 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hello RMWeb! Having been a member on another forum for some time, I have now decided to join you all here. I shall kick things off with a similar thread I have posted elsewhere. Anyone who has seen it please forgive the replication! Having always been a fan of card and paper scratchbuilding, I recently decided to have a go at relief based scratchbuilding after my brother bought my son a Bachmann resin garage for his birthday. I was a little disappointed with the quality given its price. The painting wasn't up to much and the building looked "new". So I thought I could do better and set about finding a suitable building to try and create (With a view to casting in resin at a later date). I saw an aesthetically pleasing house while I was driving in between jobs and took note of the road name. Google earth brought up some good images of the house and I printed off as many angles I could get. I then used photoshop to create a scale plan which would be used not only for reference but as a template (like my mum used to on our living room floor with her free sewing patterns when I was a kid!). I added a simple brick course so at the corners the brickwork married up in the correct way. This, as in real brickwork, dictated the actual measurements of the walls and spaces between windows. I then created a baseboard which has 5mm plywood glued either side as a depth gauge. This then had car automotive filler added to it. Note the masking tape bed - this adds the brick texture to the face of the filler. Once the filler hardened (about 15 minutes), it was sanded flush with the ply, teased off the board and the template was used to mark out the wall.This was then cut with a handsaw and sanded to the correct proportions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Here are a few images of the front of the house done using the same technique. The brickwork has been scribed using a pin taped to a paintbrush handle and a steel rule. I chipped away random areas to show age and damage. It was then brushed with an old toothbrush and some thinners to clean and bring out the brick courses. The date in the headstone was done using green stuff putty and made me go a bit cross eyed at 4mm scale. The masking tape really adds a lovely texture to the face of the brick and the filler hardens up nicely and doesn't degrade over time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 So here are some photos of tests I did over a few weeks on pieces of filler about 3" x 2" in size. I painted it using orange and black paints, mixing the two in varying amounts to get a nice tone overall. The cement in the courses are the best thing I could think of the replicate cement. Cement! I sieved it onto the sample and brushed it into the gaps with a finger and then rubbed off the excess. This was then fixed in using matt lacquer spray. I dabbled a little with black and brown weathering powders and presto! Lovely little bricks. This is the technique I shall be using for the house when it is finished. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 This is the best handscribed brickwork that I have ever seen and I doubt if I'll ever see better - the odd flaking bricks here and there, the perfect colouring, the pointing - it's all there to perfection and it's all proof of that you only get out of amodel what you are prepared to put into it and how on earth do you scribe with a pin - in 4mil ?!! Superb stuff, look foreward to seeing more such inovations - car filler and masking tape you say ? what on earth next ! Cheers. Allan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted January 12, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 12, 2014 Excellent work! Just one tiny point, not to do with the technique. The horseshoe is upside down. It's traditionally a good luck symbol/charm and if inverted the luck falls out! Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 37 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Excellent work! Just one tiny point, not to do with the technique. The horseshoe is upside down. It's traditionally a good luck symbol/charm and if inverted the luck falls out! Pete The flip side to the coin. Some people believe that hanging a horse shoe the other way around gives the devil something to hang onto. Strange what people believe. Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 I have been told about this before and will correct it at some point. When I was told about it I promptly set about making a tiny mirror in 4mm. But it smashed. To scale I think that's about 7 days bad luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Allan, Tenacity beyond belief is the key to scribing at 4mm, but I'm positive you don't need to know that! It took about 8 hours to scribe one tester. Not for the faint hearted but at 31 I think my eyes are still up to the task. I am going to try copying this brickwork in a stonewall press. I have resin and das clay somewhere about the house. Where did I get that nugget of information from I wonder? I will post photos of the results at some point. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 The problem I see with a brickwork press Peter is than unlike random stone where there's no noticable order of courses and, of course, the stones, with a brick press you would only have one hit and then of course the accuracy that would be needed in moving the press up, or along, or both when trying to covers areas larger than the press itself. I once made a granite setts press which was brilliant - until I tried to move it along and it was rather very hit 'n' miss whether or not I picked up on the previous pressing. Anyway for the sake of a few hours work it's well worth trying and, whatever the outcome, it has to be better than gardening and watching weeds grow faster than everything else ! Must go, our gardener's just arrived and he's really amazing, he can actually tell a weed from a plant at 50 paces - but at 10 bucks an hour he bxxxxy well ought too ! Cheers. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Excellent work! Just one tiny point, not to do with the technique. The horseshoe is upside down. It's traditionally a good luck symbol/charm and if inverted the luck falls out! Pete Great minds - I posted the same thing - and then deleted it when I read this on wikipedia When kept as a talisman, a horseshoe is said to bring good luck. Some believe that to hang it with the ends pointing upwards is good luck as it acts as a storage container of sorts for any good luck that happens to be floating by, whereas to hang it with the ends pointing down, is bad luck as all the good luck will fall out. Others believe that the horseshoe should be hung the other way (with the ends pointing down), as it will then release its luck to the people around it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 The horseshoe has been uprighted! Allan - I wanted to test it out with what remains of my resin. As it happens I had less of part 'a' and the consistency is off so its still soft after 3 hours! If I were to do bricks then it would be a copy of a fully finished wall and would be less of a repeating press and just a rolling mould of sorts. Perhaps my next move will be scribing a large area, say A4. Then make a mould in rubber and cast that in resin at about 3mm thick. The result might be easier to cut than the filler. It really is robust and required a full size wood saw to cut! Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 The horseshoe has been uprighted! Allan - I wanted to test it out with what remains of my resin. As it happens I had less of part 'a' and the consistency is off so its still soft after 3 hours! If I were to do bricks then it would be a copy of a fully finished wall and would be less of a repeating press and just a rolling mould of sorts. Perhaps my next move will be scribing a large area, say A4. Then make a mould in rubber and cast that in resin at about 3mm thick. The result might be easier to cut than the filler. It really is robust and required a full size wood saw to cut! Pete Peter, I don't know what you're complaining about, but my resin took 24 hours to cure !! The rolling press seems a good idea, why didn't I think of that ?! Anyway, I look foreward to seeing more of your experiments - this could get really interesting; got anything lined up for pavers? Cheers. Allan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 A roller would be difficult to create though and the chips in the bricks would have to be added manually after to avoid repetition but it would be interesting. If b&q make them for painting walls then why not? Pavers - I use automotive filler on masking tape sanded thin and cut while still slightly rubbery during the curing process. Then I coat them in PVA and dust them with grey jewellers rouge for a true concrete/stone texture, with a little weathering to finish off. They are laid like real slabs. And some more jewellers rouge is brushed into the gaps afterwards, to represent scale sand. Then I add grass tufts in the gaps because I hate cleanliness in a model. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Like your brickwork Peter - amazing ! Cheers. Allan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed a/c Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Astounding !! A very enjoyable read. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Thank you both. And to those who have liked! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
black5f Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Absolutely incredible and a stunning piece of modelling. It looks real! Have you considered making a silicon mould for low cost reproduction? I'm not sure how you would do the vertical joints but, and I'm thinking of old retaining walls here, a buttress at one end might work as a universal repeatable unit? That would be only half though as your paint work is stunning. T Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Thanks for your nice comments black. It's always nice to hear feedback (bad and good). I would love to reproduce houses and buildings using my scribes as 'masters' for moulds. I have spoken to a few specialists about cost etc. I would paint them and weather them too, but in order to make them cost effective for me I think they would have be marketed and sold as "premium"! That said I think I could produce better than the likes of Bachmann and Hornby, who have their models produced by non hobbyist minions in china. A bit of passion goes a long way. Picture below shows the side and front together. The corner will be glued and filled and scribed to marry the two sides up. The pitch of the house is far too steep and is being corrected at some point soon with wider side walls (they are being widened by 15 mm). The roof is from a test I did in resin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N15class Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Here are a few images of the front of the house done using the same technique. The brickwork has been scribed using a pin taped to a paintbrush handle and a steel rule. I chipped away random areas to show age and damage. It was then brushed with an old toothbrush and some thinners to clean and bring out the brick courses. The date in the headstone was done using green stuff putty and made me go a bit cross eyed at 4mm scale. plansfronted.jpgfront2ed.jpg The masking tape really adds a lovely texture to the face of the brick and the filler hardens up nicely and doesn't degrade over time. I think the model making is great. Many things for me to consider. You have made the lintels over the too short. The need to extend onto the brick work at least a scale 6". Other wise they would do nothing. In your drawing you got it right. I will follow with interest, there is so much I need to learn about building model buildings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 You're right about the lintels. I should know better as I work with them all the time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Yep, gotta have lintels... Cheers. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Ooh I could make a model of that. With a little fat building inspector with clean boots and and a clean high-vis jacket scratching his bum and blaming everyone else. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gravy Train Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hi Peter, that's very convincing brickwork, the colour the texture etc, great work. cheers Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass0four Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Allan, Tenacity beyond belief is the key to scribing at 4mm, but I'm positive you don't need to know that! It took about 8 hours to scribe one tester. Not for the faint hearted but at 31 I think my eyes are still up to the task. I am going to try copying this brickwork in a stonewall press. I have resin and das clay somewhere about the house. Where did I get that nugget of information from I wonder? I will post photos of the results at some point. Cheers Beautiful! - but for Gods sake watch your posture! As an artist and illustrator who was known for detailed work, I wrecked my back and neck over time. I love scribed and embossed work, but the last time I tried I ended up popping pain-killers for days. Most frustrating! Tony. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Lovely modelling sir!I do like that brickworkSeveral modellers use this type of scribing techniqueand when done well, it looks awesomeOther people often tell me it doesn't take as long as you'd thinkI've had a go myself however, and found it took me ages,and didn't look anywhere neat enough How long did it take you to scribe all the courses in the walls of that house?Neat idea of using sieved cement as cement tooLooks greatCheersMarc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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