In-ko-pah Railroad - Another new building

[Wesleybeks]

Wow RAy. That is fantastic.

Thanks for showing all the steps.

[finescalerr]

This is really "over the top" for an outdoor building. Many guys do much less work for indoor structures. -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

Another update!

To simulate the look of rolled roofing,  I cut a large Tyvek envelope into strips and glued them to the roof of the building. Then I sealed with acrylic gesso. (This is the stuff used to prime artist's canvas.) I made an access hatch from scraps of PVC foam board, cut away the Tyvek, and glued the hatch in place. I also cut the Tyvek from the spot where the smokejack will be mounted:




The smokejack was made from brass tubes and a block of PVC, sheathed with thin styrene. I also made a vent pipe:




At last, I could move on to painting. I sprayed the structure with a light coat of white primer.

The first thing I would need is a good "concrete" color for the mortar. To me, concrete has always been a tricky color to match. We tend to think of it as being gray, but aged concrete is usually more of a very light brown, often with a slightly greenish tint.

To aid in getting the color as accurate as possible, I took a small piece of old concrete to the hardware store and had them scan it on their color matching system. Part of the problem with concrete is that it's not a uniform color, but rather speckled. This can also make it difficult to match with the digital system. The color they came up with was pretty close, but too dark. So I mixed in some white paint. Here's the concrete sample with some of the paint dabbed on at the bottom end:




This looked pretty close so I decided to go with it, and painted the side of the building. I thinned it with water so it would go on thin and not clog up all the texture details I had so laboriously created. On the building, it seemed even darker:




I went ahead and painted a few of the stones, to get a better idea of how it would look. The next morning I took the model outside and photographed it on the concrete patio:



In this closeup photo, the "concrete" paint seems to match the real concrete pretty well, but as miniature mortar, it just didn't look right to my eye. I also wasn't very happy with the painted stones:




So I added some more white to the "concrete" paint, and brushed it on over the first coat. I had to use a fine-tipped artist's brush to paint the mortar between the painted rocks. When this dried I retouched the rocks, and painted more of the rocks. Here's another closeup shot on the patio. As you can see, the revised paint is lighter than the real concrete, at least in the photo, but to me it works better as miniature mortar:




Here's a closeup of the stones. I found that the key to making them look right is not to use a single, solid color on each rock. They need some variation. And in this case, where there will be a real stone wall next to the model building, it was crucial to match the real rocks as closely as possible. In this shot you can see just how much detail I painted into each stone:




This next photo shows the building temporarily in place on the foundation. Although the real stone wall is in shadow, you can still see how closely I was able to match the look on my painted stone wall:




Here's a closer view:




That's all for now, more later. Enjoy!

[lab-dad]

Excellent!!!!!
Also all the info on your efforts is very informative.
Who knows, someday I might do an outdoor layout.
Marty

[finescalerr]

This project continues to be fascinating. As good as the rocks and mortar look, I think they might benefit from a unifying wash or overspray. Again, I can't believe how much effort has gone into an OUTDOOR structure. -- Russ

[Hydrostat]

Ray,

that came out great! You really matched the colouring of both concrete and stone.
In my eyes there's just one point for sophisticated criticism: The joints look very plain. Maybe you could wipe some stone dust mixed with very fine sands into the joints and glue it with some soluble waterproof glue. Depending on the dusts you maybe don't have to color it later on.

But to be honest: You can see this on the close ups but I suppose nobody's able to get this close at your layout ...

Again: fantastic work!

Volker

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks, I'm open to any suggestions!

[Malachi Constant]

That's really looking great!  And fitting into it's setting beautifully.  -- Dallas

[Ray Dunakin]

The exterior is nearing completion...

After taking the photos in my last post, I still wasn't satisfied with the painted stones on the side of the building. There was too much variation, and the colors weren't close enough to the real stone walls nearby. So I modified the stones I'd already painted, and then completed the remainder of the wall. Here's how it looks now:




I'm still not entirely happy with it, but it's close. I will probably try to tint some more of the stones, and perhaps do a very thin wash over the whole wall. But for now this will have to suffice -- we have an open house tomorrow. BTW, I also painted the front wall, which was much simpler. It received a solid coat of Apple Barrel "Country Tan".


The window frames were painted white. The front panels and door were painted dark brown:



I painted these by hand using a small, pointed brush. Getting a sharp, clean edge between the frame and door was tricky. I painted everything white first. Then I painted the panels and door brown, building up the color a little at a time in thin layers. Then I had to touch up the white, and then touch up the brown. Eventually it reached a point where it was acceptable, though not quite perfect:






The front windows and door assembly is only very slightly weathered, not enough to really show much in this photo. I glued the 2mm glass to the rear using clear silicone sealant, and also added a doorknob. The doorknob is an Ozark Miniatures casting, with the oversized keyhole filled in with putty:




The upstairs windows were painted white and given a bit more weathering, since it's likely they would not be repainted as frequently. The weathering was done by lightly applying random streaks of gray-brown, using a ratty old brush. After painting was completed, the glass was glued onto the rear:






The attic vents were painted in the same manner. Then the rear of each vent was painted black, and a fine brass screen glued into place:




Next, I glued a back onto the sides of the vent, to form a box which is open at the top. This will allow the vent to function, while keeping out any rain that might blow in:




The "rolled roofing" material was painted black, then given several thin washes of white following by some brownish gray washes. This simulates the appearance of roofing which is somewhat aged and weathered yet still in reasonably good condition. I also painted the access hatch and glued in the smokejack and vent pipe:




And here's how it all looks so far:






A closeup of the side window:




This shot is looking towards the townsite from across the layout:




Besides making possible further adjustments to the color of the stones, I also need to create some signs and other small details. Then I have to start on the interiors.

[marc_reusser]

Wow all around. Really wonderful SBS thread, and just amazing work on all the carving. Simply fascinating how you go about creating a durable outdoor structure with so much attention to details.
The building fits perfectly into its setting. You should be extremely pleased.

Marc

[artizen]

Interiors! I was impressed with the stonework, but interiors! I hope you have lighting inside the buildings for night time running to show off all that you are doing.

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks Marc!

Ian, yes there will be lighting.

[finescalerr]

I still think you are crazy if you leave it outdoors. It's too good. -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

I decided I wanted a couple faded, old signs on the side of this building. I searched online for pics of "ghost signs" and other old wall signs, and studied them to get a feel for the lettering styles, layout and weathered appearance...


First would be a sign for the bank which originally occupied the structure. I laid out a simple design and printed it onto self-adhesive vinyl. Then I masked the background area and used a stencil brush to stipple in some charcoal black:




When the background had dried, I cut out the lettering from the vinyl and positioned the mask over the background area. Then I stippled in some off-white:




After removing the mask, I touched up the edges of the letters, and painted in some brown spots and tints. Here's the completed sign:




This simple sign had turned out well, so now I was ready to try something a little more complicated. The next sign would be an old ad, in several colors. I worked up a design I liked and printed out two copies onto self-adhesive vinyl:




Then I cut a mask for the entire background and stippled on a thin, spotty coat of off-white. When this dried, I masked the border, and positioned the vinyl "tamale" cutout, then painted the background a mottled red color:




Next I cut out the lettering, and laid the vinyl mask over the red background:




The letters were painted off-white, and the tamale was painted in shades of pale yellow and brown:




When the mask was removed, it looked pretty ugly! The rough surface had allowed paint to bleed under the edges of the mask, so there was a lot of touch up needed. I also needed to add the "red hot" lettering to the center of the tamale:




I cut a mask for the "red hot" lettering and painted it. Then I touched up all the edges, hand painted a thin drop shadow on the lettering, and added a black outline around the tamale. Finally, the entire wall was given a very wash of "mortar" colored paint, while the building was laid on its side. This helped to fade out the signs, and also toned down the colors of the stones a bit and very subtly tied the whole thing together:




Here's how it all looks now:






That's all for now...

[lab-dad]

That looks GREAT! <cue Tony the Tiger>
You obviously have a steadier hand than i do!
-Marty