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
