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Caley Jim
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18 hours ago, richard i said:

Those buildings have a good realistic colour to them. 

Thanks, Richard (or is it Prichard? :))

 

I've had to have a wee think about how best to respond to you as I don't have any particular secret, except perhaps one, which I'll come to in a moment.  For the sandstone, the basic colour is a base of white with a touch of black to grey it slightly, then a little yellow and perhaps some 'leather' (Humbrol 62), all matt, of course, and with some thinner.  I generally don't mix them too thoroughly so that there is a slight unevenness in tone, nor am I particular in applying it very evenly.  Sometimes I might add a little more of one or other colour part way through to add variety, or between doing two buildings in the one block.

 

After painting the quoins with this mix, the random stonework of the house in this block was done by first applying a grey coat and then, before that dries, 'dotting' randomly over it with the same colour with leather and/or darker brown, well thinned, so that it all tends to run together slightly.  Once everything is well dried, and this might be the secret, I dust it over with some very light grey powder paint using a soft artists brush (c size 6), tapping it off the brush onto the building and then brushing it off.  Both this house and parts of the other block had a light dust of burnt sienna in places.  I find the powder paint gives a 'stonier' look to it.  I leave it for the moisture in the air to 'fix' it.

 

HTH,

 

Jim

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4 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

Thanks, Richard (or is it Prichard? :))

 

I've had to have a wee think about how best to respond to you as I don't have any particular secret, except perhaps one, which I'll come to in a moment.  For the sandstone, the basic colour is a base of white with a touch of black to grey it slightly, then a little yellow and perhaps some 'leather' (Humbrol 62), all matt, of course, and with some thinner.  I generally don't mix them too thoroughly so that there is a slight unevenness in tone, nor am I particular in applying it very evenly.  Sometimes I might add a little more of one or other colour part way through to add variety, or between doing two buildings in the one block.

 

After painting the quoins with this mix, the random stonework of the house in this block was done by first applying a grey coat and then, before that dries, 'dotting' randomly over it with the same colour with leather and/or darker brown, well thinned, so that it all tends to run together slightly.  Once everything is well dried, and this might be the secret, I dust it over with some very light grey powder paint using a soft artists brush (c size 6), tapping it off the brush onto the building and then brushing it off.  Both this house and parts of the other block had a light dust of burnt sienna in places.  I find the powder paint gives a 'stonier' look to it.  I leave it for the moisture in the air to 'fix' it.

 

HTH,

 

Jim

It is richard, the computer for some reason auto corrects it as it believes Prichard is a more common choice. 
in all things this sounds reasonably simple, however the skill is in the eye of the artist to know when it is “just right”. 
richard 

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I was mixing some more paint earlier this evening to paint the capping stones on the gables before starting to add the slates.  I thought I had added too much of the leather as it was looking too orangey, but before scrapping the mix and starting again I added a little more black and it came out almost a perfect match to what was already there!  they've still to get a dust of grey in this photo.

 

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I'm no artist, BTW.  Can't draw freehand to save myself and I get the colours by trial and error!

 

Jim

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34 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

I was mixing some more paint earlier this evening to paint the capping stones on the gables before starting to add the slates.  I thought I had added too much of the leather as it was looking too orangey, but before scrapping the mix and starting again I added a little more black and it came out almost a perfect match to what was already there!  they've still to get a dust of grey in this photo.

 

652445894_2painted3.JPG.913b478357d3e6517ca8a87438e97ee1.JPG

 

I'm no artist, BTW.  Can't draw freehand to save myself and I get the colours by trial and error!

 

Jim

 

Jim that's what an artist does but uses experience to get there much quicker. You will see and artist mixing paint on a pallet to get the right shade but using experience to know how the colour will be likely to change as it dries. An Artist also tends to be observant and paint things the colour they actually see not th colour we think they are.

Another skill of the artist is composition and I think your choice of the buildings shows some flair for composistion.

 

Don

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59 minutes ago, Donw said:

Another skill of the artist is composition and I think your choice of the buildings shows some flair for composistion.

Thanks, Don.  I just mix the colours I think will produce what I'm after, but am never quite sure what the result will be until I see it.  I agree, we should make things the colour they are, not what we think they should be.     Close observation is the key to making things look 'real'.

 

As to the composition, I'm just basing them on local buildings in the main, adapting them to suit, with the object of creating the rather random appearance of a street in a mining/market town in South East Lanarkshire with buildings of different eras and styles (and materials) next to one another.   Take a look at Google Street view anywhere around here and you'll see what I mean.

 

Jim  

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More progress to report.

The house has had the roof finished of and the tops to the chimney heads have been added.  It only now needs the chimney pots which will be added last.

 

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The portico and front door have been added to the Station Inn as have its sign and windows.  After I took the photo i realised that I had not fitted the window sills, so that will be done next.  I am in the process of cutting out the main roof sections, but the front one is complicated by having to cut out sections to clear the chimney heads, but also the dormers.  It's not really possible to do a try-in before they are all cut out.

 

I'm trying to create the impression that these are two late Georgian/early Victorian buildings in contrast to the later buildings further up the street.

 

Jim

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7 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

I'm trying to create the impression that these are two late Georgian/early Victorian buildings in contrast to the later buildings further up the street.

 

They certainly have pre-Victorian ceiling heights.

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The main roof sections have been fitted and the cap stones added to the gables.

 

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The latter were then painted, along with the lower edge of the roof and the inside of the gutters, following which the sections of roof over the dormers were cut and added.

 

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These were tricky to get right and fitting them would have been easier if I had left off the cap stones on their gables.  I'll know if ever there is a next time.  I also had to make nine of them to provide the obligatory offering to the carpet monster!  (How can a 11.5x8mm piece of white plastic fall to the floor and just disappear?)  As you will see I should have chamfered the upper corners of the cut-outs for the dormers in the main roof instead of cutting them square, but the gaps will be covered by the flashing for the gulleys and the slates.

Adding all that is the next job.

 

Jim

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12 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

... I also had to make nine of them to provide the obligatory offering to the carpet monster!  (How can a 11.5x8mm piece of white plastic fall to the floor and just disappear?) ...

 

I've a wooden floor, and yet the bits that ping away still disappear.  Apart from the ones that I roll over when I push my chair back to look for them.  And the brand new reamer that rolled under the skirting board and fell into the expansion gap betwixt wall and floor - I know where that is, but I'll never see it again.

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2 minutes ago, Geordie Exile said:

I've a wooden floor, and yet the bits that ping away still disappear.  

 

From experience, I can suggest (but not recommend) walking barefoot round the work-space?

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19 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

From experience, I can suggest (but not recommend) walking barefoot round the work-space?

 

I've learned to ignore that small but clearly audible rattle when I vacuum. What used to evince a whimper from me is now met with a philosophical shrug. :unknw_mini:

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1 hour ago, Geordie Exile said:

Looks really good, Jim.  Didn't you say you didn't like doing buildings?

Thanks, Richard.

 

Yes, I did say that.  It stems from when I was building a model of Lesmahagow station building for Connerburn, in styrene, back in the 1970's.  It comprised layers of 20thou, with brickwork on the lower part and scribed vertical boarding on the upper (classic Mathieson design of the period).  I had no end of bother with warping of the laminated layers as I didn't understand the issues back then.  Also it seemed to take me forever to build.  This is one of the reasons why I turned to card and foamboard for the earlier ones on here.

 

That was OK where I could use printed brick and stone paper, but styrene seemed to be a better option for the stonework on these as I couldn't find any suitable papers for that and they have turned out to be much easier and more enjoyable to do than that early building was.  The fact that they have ended up looking pretty much as I had envisaged has added to the satisfaction.  Don't get me wrong, they are not perfect.  I could spend all day pointing out the little errors and faults that I'm prepared to live with!

 

Jim

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6 hours ago, queensquare said:

I think they look terrific Jim, to this untrained south western eye they look very Scottish!

Thanks, Jerry.  That's the object of the exercise!

 

Jim

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The shell of the last building in the street is now assembled.

 

1580699356_3assembled1.JPG.31f992e443d9034d9cf671049c3a40e5.JPG

 

It is based on this building, seen as it is now on Google Streetview.

 

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The single window shop on the left was originally a printers and stationers and the double window one on the right a greengrocers and wine merchant.   I have a photo from between the wars of the then proprietor of the stationers and his assistant standing at the door which shows clearly the indented beds of the stonework.  Reproducing that is the next job.  The photo also shows that the pavement was a good 6-9" lower then.

 

Jim

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Not a great deal forward as the stonework has to be added a wee bit at a time so that bits don't get moved while adding others, but I took this photo to show at the Forth & Clyde group ZOOM meeting today, so thought I'd post it here too.  The main longitudinal strips are on and I've shaved back the areas under the shop windows to replicate the slope. 

 

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Unfortunately one or two bits of the 10thou strip have peeled away a bit as they became thin, so these have been patched with some little bits of styrene swarf well soaked in Limonene and will be smoothed off when they are hard.

 

I have strips cut with their edges chamfered from which to make the stones around the shop fronts and doors and the quoins on the upper floor.  The issue with them will be making sure that they are all level and in line.  :unsure:

 

Jim

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The stonework detail has now all been added.

 

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The lower stonework and quoins above proved rather frustrating.  I was doing it a few courses at a time, fitting slightly overlong pieces of the strips I described above, then leaving them a few hours, or overnight, to harden before trimming them back to the edges of the windows/doors/corners.  Each time, however, when I started to trim them some would ping off!  :(  The 10thou styrene I have is quite old (c40-50 years) and is starting to get a wee bit brittle, so I wonder if it is also less susceptible to the actions of the Limonene.  :dontknow:    I ended up resorting to applying copious amounts of the latter, which seemed to do the trick.   I see that I still need to tidy up some of the edges.

 

The moulding along the top just below the roof also presented a challenge, being basically square in section with the lower corner a quarter round reverse fillet.  This was made from 40x40thou strip, first scraping a 45° chamfer along one corner, half way into each side, then using a small dental bur in a pin vice to gently scrape the fillet, finishing off with the tip of a small round needle file.  It took three attempts to get something which was reasonably acceptable.  The first was too inconsistent and the second broke half way through the process.  It also runs a short way along the end, meaning the corners had to be carefully chamfered.

 

Next up is painting.

 

Jim

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The stonework has been painted, the beds and joints scribed in where required and the whole thing given a dust of white powder paint.

2121292983_3Painted1.JPG.43e3057a63551711f163dde368dba3c8.JPG

 

That left hand window sill is a bit wonky, but it will have to do.

 

Jim

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  • 2 weeks later...

Putting the windows in always seems to bring a building to 'life'.926903640_3Windows1.JPG.fda5cf32e7d158d3fa6d1e0a06efc224.JPG

 

The stationers window and door are fixed in place, but those of the grocer and wine merchant next door are just sitting in place, as is the step.  I'm currently working out how best to simulate a display of the his wines and spirits in the left hand window.  I reckon your average wine or spirit bottle is around ½x 2mm in this scale!   :dontknow::unsure:

 

Jim

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2 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

I'm currently working out how best to simulate a display of the his wines and spirits in the left hand window.  I reckon your average wine or spirit bottle is around ½x 2mm in this scale! 

 

The supply of Slater's micro-rod that I have, bought very many years ago, is a translucent red colour. I don't know how it comes nowadays; I wonder if they've ever made it in green?

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