The Playland Penny Arcade

[Chuck Doan]

Those meters came out nice. Neat gate too.

[james_coldicott]

Great work Ken,

was going to say that your bricks, while an odd size 'face on' replicate perspective brilliantly on a side wall- I love it when perspective techniques usually seen in paintings are used for models. Very inspiring

to answer Andi's question re UK photo etch architectural details, this is the place...

http://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Etched_Brass_Frets___Photo_decoupe.html

hope that helps.

James

[Ken Hamilton]

Thanks, James.  I only wish I had done that on purpose.....

Here's a quick little SBS on how I just did a plaster lath wall that will be seen from the back.
Building a the wall in scale is done the same way as the old craftsmen used to do it. 
First, I framed a wall with scale 2'x 4" lumber.  I squared the wall over graph paper:



The lath was done with thin, pre-stained strip stock:



From the back, the wall looked like this with the lath strips in place:



Next, I applied spackle to the front of the wall with a styrene trowel, squeezing a little
bit through the spaces between the lath:



From the front, the finished wall looks like this.  Since this side of the wall won't be
seen, I'll leave it like this. If it were going to show, I'd sand this side and apply a finish
coat of spackle:



The INTERESTING side of the wall is the back:



In some spots, too much spackle oozed through, but that's easily chipped off
with a toothpick after everything dries:



This wall will be placed in front of a window in the Arcade building that was sealed
off during an earlier renovation.  Not a detail that will jump out, but it adds a little
more interest to the scene:

[Ray Dunakin]

Nice work on that lath and plaster!

[TRAINS1941]

Ken

That is so neat looking.  It sure does look the real thing it was a craft in days gone by.

Jerry

[michael mott]

Ken the plaster detail is great, and the painted ghost is a super touch I saw a lot of those in London as a kid.

Michael

[finescalerr]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to use spackle on models. But I've never used it so effectively. -- Russ

[fspg2]

Ken it´s  always a pleasure to look at your excellent work. Thank you for showing!

[lab-dad]

Great idea! Very realistic.
Bet most dont even know why the plaster is squeezing out.
Marty

[pwranta193]

You can pretty much count on that lathe and plaster thing showing up in a diorama of mine in the future... so simple and so effective.  It looks spot on to stuff I've demo'd in 1:1 - and with your aged wood, is yet another mini-work of inspiration within this very cool project.

[Malachi Constant]

Great idea! Very realistic.
Bet most dont even know why the plaster is squeezing out.
Marty

Because the grass is always greener on the other side ... or something like that!  My grandma's house had plaster walls ... all the pictures on the wall were hung from wires suspended from nails in the crown molding ...

[Chuck Doan]

Great job on the lath Ken! Another good idea to copy!

[Junior]

Great detail work on everything here. What will the footprint be of this superb diorama?

Anders

[Ken Hamilton]

Thanks, guys.  Anders, the base is 20" x 40".

The hole in the bricked-up second floor window was going to be simply a hole,
but I thought maybe it could serve as a basis for an inconspicuous detail...



....so I made this quickie box with some general details for inside the "hole":



An LED behind the plastic curtain over the door creates this effect:



Here's the box placed inside the Arcade building behind the hole in the brick wall. 
The LED at the top center of the door is on, but you can't really tell in this picture



Here's what all this is trying to achieve.  When the viewer notices the light and peeks in
the "hole", a small and somewhat difficult to see interior room will present itself. 
Not something you might notice the first time around, but something to keep you
interested during the second or third look......

[Ray Dunakin]

What a marvelous feature! The plastic curtain over the doorway, with the light shining through it, is the perfect touch!