1/87 styrene farmhouse

[chester]

This is the start of a much larger project that I'm doing for a vehicle display. There will be a barn of wood attached to this structure much like many New England farmhouses. This part of the project is a very simple affair. I draw and print the building on Manila card that is used as a template for the styrene. In this instance, .040" spaced clapboard siding from Evergreen. To the gable ends I glue .060" square rod on the corners and up the rake, the glue the eave end walls to that rod to form the corner boards and trim the rake board to the fascia and soffit of the eave. Windows and doors from Tichy.





I spray the interior a flat black and painted the exterior with PolyScale RR Tie brown and when dry, did a wash of a rather dark gray acrylic and Windex. The exterior trim was dry brushed with a lighter gray acrylic. The fast drying acrylics allowed me to get to this point in one evening.



I used a GC Laser asphalt shingle over reinforced Manila card and built a sschimney from the Evergreen brick pattern. This is capped with a small piece of Vermont slate which has a grain that allows it to be split very thin. The 'lead' flashing is 1 ply tissue painted.



I constructed a small shed addition that will be the connection point to the barn from .060" spaced styrene clapboard and scored it to replicate cedar shakes. The standing seam roof is brass foil scored from the back. I couldn't leave well enough alone on the siding color and made an alcohol wash from the buttermilk paint that I have mentioned on the board before. And finally, I put clear acrylic in the sash and added toilet paper curtains and constructed a brick foundation from the styrene brick. The building is now ready to be planted on the base.







Comments please on both the techniques and results.

[Dirky]

I would be glad if that model would be on my lay-out.
Please allow me one remark: Bricks... your chimney has 4 sides that do not really fit well regarding the brick pattern. Don't let that small detail spoil the result I would say...

[Ken Hamilton]

That's a neat structure that just oozes the atmosphere typical of all your builds, Chester.
It holds up really well in close-up photos, too.  I love the slate chimney cap and the siding
sure doesn't look like styrene..........

I'd have to agree with Dirky's chimney corner comment, but it certianly isn't a show-stopper.
The only other thing I could suggest on a nit-picking level is maybe a few vertical seams on the
longer siding boards, but that's not a big issue, either.

Another nice one!

[chester]

Both good points. Thanks for the replies.

[Nurser]

Chester, I noticed the brick corners, too.  You are not alone with that, although your painting OF the bricks is lovely.  If you design the chimney to be a set number of bricks, you can glue the edges and leave them for a day to harden, then with a sharp three square Swiss file, go round the corners to the same level as the moulded courses of brick.  Then just engrave the vertical joints in concord with the moulded ones.  True it might need half butts and Queen closers, but if the chimney is single brick it will just be a stretcher bond with nothing more sophisticated than half bricks.
When using moulded brick sheets I always sand down the brick to within an ace of its life to remove the round edged "cobblestone" look that so many allow to spoil an otherwise nicely built brick structure.  A few cracks engraved in and a mortar of pastels and flat paints/inks finishes it off nicely. 
But what I would say is your structures , especially for the small 1/87th scale, are superb.  I have a real interest in the New England stuff, because it's all so near the coast! And..because where I come from (Essex, east of England) the main building method is ship lap timber, just like the boats!
Cheers,
Martin

[chester]

Taking one of the well made suggestions to heart, I added some joints to the clapboards. And planted the structure on the base.



A drive shed has been added that will have the larger main barn connected to it. This was made of wood with corrugated steel roof. I stained the structure with an oil based wood stain and painted it with an acrylic before the stain had a chance to dry fully and took the finish coat of paint off in places with masking tape.


The diorama, which will be part of a module connected to others by a road system has been divided by a dirt road that will create an intersection. On the opposite corner of the farmhouse will be a small filling station. This structure is built of styrene with a brass foil roof.

[JohnP]

Chester, I used to live not far from Old Deerfield Village in Mass until a short while ago when we moved south. My wife grew up in Marlboro, VT where most of the old village is preserved. So in my travels and casual studies I have seen many old NE dwellings.

You have captured marvelously the look of a late 1700s-early 1800s house. The proportions look right. The .040 clapboards represent well an owner with a little money- the wider spaced clapboards were generally put on the sides and rear to save money (although sometimes the lower rows were even closer spaced as protection against deep snow). The squat, wide chimney looks right to represent the large two to four flue chimneys central to the structure. I really am amazed at your capturing the roof sag between the intermediate post and beam bays. The weathered red oxide looks right too. The small roof overhang, the steep pitch and the small frieze and trim boards demonstrate the Yankee frugality. The kitchen add-on ell is appropriately a wider spaced siding. The short brick foundation is nice too; many dwellings had the clapboards very near the ground. I would say your home would fit in an old crossroads township, or section of town. I would have added windows to the gables to represent the partitioned upstairs; probably two rooms with fireplace and a small hall at the top of the steep stairs.

The small barn is a nice part of the scene too. "Big house, little house, back house, barn" was the common connected sequence for NE farmsteads. You could add on another, bigger barn, or maybe represent that with a foundation hole made from a big rock wall.

Speaking of which, I expect to see rock walls along the roadway and the barnyard to the fields. Fimo rolled into little balls while watching the tube perhaps?

It makes me miss NE a little bit. The 18" of snow we had here in VA last weekend was perhaps enough of a reminder though...

John