1/35 scale Sandwich Shop ... already in progress

[Malachi Constant]

Well, I need another project like I need another hole in my head, so maybe I should start by saying:

This is all Dave's fault!

Yeah, I was coordinating with Dave K. at www.VectorCut.com to get some custom stuff done, and when we had all the details wrapped up he asked me if there was anything else.  Told him that I couldn't think of anything, but Mr. Mudgeon could use a boloney & cheese sandwich.  Lo & behold, when the package arrived, it included this nice little assortment of bread slices to make a sandwich for Mr. Mudgeon ... though I can't imagine who in their right mind would make a boloney & cheese on pumpernickel!   

(Notice that Dave included whole slices and half slices ... with some cut straight and some cut diagonal ... and, of course, a corned beef and swiss might be nice on that pumpernickel!)



Alright ... maybe it's only PARTLY Dave's fault ... yeah, any "normal" person would look at those handy little bread slices and just build a sandwich ... but I figured I should make a SANDWICH SHOP first. 

Shown above is the highly detailed and artfully rendered "concept" sketch ... carefully drawn on a post-it note.  Well, at least this will give me a chance to play with some new materials ... and it will serve as a backdrop for some of the crazy storyboard stuff going on in the Chambers Gas & Oil auto repair shop.  (Ginger and her Aunt Millie will move into the walk-up apartment over the sammich shop as soon as the place is ready.  Ginger is also partly Dave's fault!  She essentially done, but waiting on me to practice making scale sculpted braids a little bit more.)



Here's the start of construction ... shell made of Taskboard (pressed paper board) and stripwood.  Bricks are Pegasus (brand) "small" bricks ... and some black styrene and more stripwood.



This WAS going to be a "quick & dirty" background build, so I figured on using these oversized windows from a MTH O scale structure, which have good overall proportions for 1/35 scale ... but I'll probably end up scratchbuilding replacements to get a thinner profile on the trim and mullions.



Used Liquitex Ceramic Stucco and a touch of acrylic paint to add mortar to the bricks, which still need to get toned down a bit.  Originally planned to use these Mini-Art stairs as part of the "quick & dirty" approach, but will probably scratch some replacement stairs.  Upper level is a simple shell of Evergreen novelty siding and styrene strip ...



So, now it's my turn to start playing with the Ranger / Tim Holtz "Distress" crackle paints.  You can get extremely tiny crackles as shown in this tremendous enlargement.  This is on glossy coated paper, and the smallest crackles occur where it becomes difficult to brush the stuff out thin. 



Decided to start on the siding on the upper level first, since the effects here should be more subtle than on the white trim and the actual storefront.  At normal viewing distance, there's only a little "texture" to the siding.



But, there's some very subtle effects when seen close-up ... maybe too subtle?  Not sure, but this shot is about 5x actual size.  The siding scales to slightly over 7" in 1/35 scale ... slightly over 5" in O scale, so I think the stuff could be used in various smaller scales with appropriate care.  The color is a mix of Ranger White and Black paints with a glaze of lighter gray acrylic over that and some black acrylic wash in the cracks.



Here's the overall side as it stands now.  Will judge the overall coloring after I replace & tone down the bright white windows and paint the white trim around the structure.  There will also be awnings and other things adding to the overall effect.

Now, I know there are many rough edges and loose ends here ... but any/all thoughts and comments are welcome.

Cheers,
Dallas

[finescalerr]

Not a bad start. How do the sandwiches taste? -- Russ

[marc_reusser]

Well thats just as nifty as sliced bread! What, you didn't have enough to do with the garage project? 

Those bread slices are just to cool. Though I did think that the "Pumpernickle" was some kind of moldy mystery meat.     You could use small squares of .005 styrene to represent cheese (with or without holes...another use for the punch & die set  )

Marc

[chester]

"the upper level is just a simple shell" Beauty in it's simplicity. Nice Dallas. A bit of food for thought there. And we can all blame Dave for inspiring us to move into different directions. Thanks Dave!

[Malachi Constant]

Russ -- Well, it's sort of the opposite of "freezer burn" on the taste of the bread ... bit of laser burn there.  

Marc -- I had to look twice at the pumpernickel vs. "mystery meet" question there.  Should be pretty easy to make some meats and cheeses ... but lettuce and tomato could be a challenge.

Chester -- Thanks!  Styrene sheet and strip are my "old standby" for scratchbuilding ... thought the little dentils at the top of the facade might be a pain, but it was easy enough to cut a bunch of those on ye olde chopper so even that went quickly.  The finishing is more of a challenge than the build ...

Dave also provided some neat screen doors and sign letters that will get used here ...

Cheers,
Dallas

[Mr Potato Head]

I'll take a "Ham & Cheese on rye please! 
Mr Potato Head
Love's bread!

[Malachi Constant]

I'll take a "Ham & Cheese on rye please! 
Mr Potato Head
Love's bread!

You can have anything you like, except cream cheese & lox on a cinnamon raisin bagel -- the sandwich guy just won't do that!  Not to mention, they probably haven't even heard of bagels in this small town. 

BTW, speaking of potatoes and bread ... do they make potato bread in Idaho?  We're close to Amish country here, and they make potato breads and rolls.  Burgers, hot dogs and even ham sammiches are great on those!



Making a little more progress here and still trying to get the hang of working with that Ranger crackle paint ... real neat stuff, but definitely not your ordinary hobby paint!  The side is still in a base color ... front is starting to get some of the finish coats, but still needs various touch-up, weathering and so forth.



I'll scratchbuild some windows to replace these ... still have to do a little more coloration on the siding.



Working with the crackle is a bit "challenging" (to put it politely) and especially taxing when doing smaller details like the dentils ... and getting this far with the sign (not finished) made me a bit nuts ... at one point, the Ghost of Bob Ross appeared and said "We don't make mistakes, we have happy accidents."    (Yeah, that was weird ... but things did get better from there) 

I'll be doing additional work here to fade the white lettering and the background color ... plus a variety of touch-ups and other weathering . .. and I still haven't made any sammiches! 

Cheers,
Dallas

[eTraxx]

When I lived in Arkansas there was this place that made 'Spudnuts' ... aka Doughnuts made from Potato Flour. EXCELLENT!

[Ray Dunakin]

The crackle paint on the sign really looks terrific!

[finescalerr]

Satisfactory. Tackle the windows next; they await your delicate touch. -- Russ

[Junior]

Wall looks great in that last picture. With scratchbuilt windows and maybe a door as well while your´e at it this will be a great cafe. Experimenting with the crackle paints is really worth it as can be seen here. Maybe less crackle on windows and doors would make a nice contrast.

Anders 

[W.P. Rayner]

at one point, the Ghost of Bob Ross appeared and said "We don't make mistakes, we have happy accidents."   

Bob Ross.... aaaaccccccckkkkkkkk.... now looking for gun to shoot television. His "work" ( to use a polite term), always reminded me of a Howard Johnson's buffet - crappy beans 15 different ways...  

Nice work on the sign Dallas... looking forward to seeing how you continue to weather and fade the facade.

Paul

[BKLN]

Dallas,
it is one sick thing to lasercut slices of bread. I am not surprised about that, because Dave is just crazy like that. And it sick to use a couple of slices of bread for an excuse to build a sandwich shop. But what's really sick is to build that wall from individual bricks!

But the result is very nice. (please no crackle paint on pumpernickel)

[Malachi Constant]

Christian -- Am I supposed to find a "hidden" message in there?   

Coloring:  Forgot to mention this, but I found it rather challenging to get desired colors by intermixing Ranger paints ... BUT ... found that mixing the Black and White paints worked very well in getting any desired shade of gray.  So, I mixed up a light gray (same as used on the siding) for the background of the sign, then tinted that with acrylic (Reaper/Vallejo) washes and glazes.  Washes are obvious.  If you mix 1 drop of acrylic paint to 2 drops Vallejo Glaze Medium (for example), you can add a nice transparent layer of color that allows the crackles and washes, etc. to show thru ... and the glazes and washes can be layered as desired.

Made more progress on coloring the siding on the long side of the structure.  Gotta finish that up and do the basic sign work on the side ... then more detailed coloration/weathering and onto the windows and such.  Thanks all for dropping by!

PS -- I really don't know what the heck I'm doing with the crackle paint ... definitely tricky stuff ... but think I'm managing to make it work out okay (or close enough) ... so I posted some rather lengthy notes on the RRL Forum in case anyone's interested:

http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=29357&whichpage=52

Scroll down to the "Diary of a Cracklin' Madman" posts dated May 7th ... 

Cheers,
Dallas

[FichtenFoo]

This is turning out great. I really need to look into that crackle stuff.