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

[Bexley]

You would (sometimes) see two nails at joints, especially with wider siding. But otherwise, yeah- one nail, through the bottom of the board you're hanging and into the top of the board it overlaps.

[Malachi Constant]

Making little bits of progress ... all of those pesky nails were painted/blended into the siding and should now produce a rather subtle effect.  Worked out a series of crackle painting steps to produce some nice mustard-color siding ... which isn't shown yet.    And, doing some work on corbel and cornice design ...



Sample corbel carved from basswood ... tools shown are diamond-crusted bead reamers from the craft store ... pretty handy for dressing the curved surfaces.   Pretty easy job here, but I'll need a bunch of these, so likely that the corbels will be laser cut or cast in resin ... we'll see.



Laid out the cornice, which will be rather similar to the one shown below ... did some additional build-outs with stripwood and tacky glue to check the profile vs. the flat drawings ... forgot to snap a photo of that, but it's similar to the arrangement shown below.



Not following this exactly, but should be fairly close ...



Playing around with colors ... don't get too hung up on the shades/tones shown in the computer graphic, that's just a quicky.  Have a nice mustard color for the trim worked out ... will work on the other colors and play more with the storefront, signage, etc.

So, it's nothing "substantial" at this point ... mostly just dropping by to say "hello" and show that we're still working on the sammich shop! 

Cheers,
Dallas

[Ray Dunakin]

Looking good!

I should see about picking up some of those bead reamers next time I'm at Michael's.

[Junior]

Really some nice work there Dallas   ! This will be a great addition to the garage. We need to see the sandwiches soon..... !

Anders 

[Chuck Doan]

Just sayin'....

[Malachi Constant]

Just sayin'....

a) Ain't much goin' on 'round here ...
b) You're "board" with this lack of progress ...
c)  I shoulda done a much sloppier job on my nails and put lots of big globby discolorations around them
d)  Another example of novelty siding double-nailed cuz they didn't consult Nick first!



Alrighty, Mr. Weisenheimer ... there has been some "secret" progress ... first, a flash back to the corbels on my "inspiration" building.  I sent this shot to VectorDave for discussion of getting them laser cut ...



Dave said he suspected that the corbels on my structure probably had some round ornaments as shown in this photo ... but, of course, scaled to suit those simpler corbels.  Neither of us know what these kinda corbels are called, so the temporary unofficial name is "dangling dingleberry corbels".  Dave said that he could easily laser cut the corbels and maybe I could find some beads to add the dingleberries ...



I did manage to find some suitable (and very tiny) beads ... but the prospect of doing that repeatedly made me a little agitated ... sure, 100's of nails no problem ... but buncha tiny beads rolling all over the place and shooting out of the tweezers ... no thanks.  So, decided to cut a "pattern" corbel from styrene, add the dingleberry and cast them in resin.  (And, the thread was "boarded up" until I got around to making a mold and casting some to make sure it would actually work!)  

No fancy equipment was harmed in the production of this little pattern!    Perhaps useful, photos show what I call "the Swiss cheese method" for removing a large amount of material quickly without (a) gouging my fingers or (b) distorting a thin profile like the neck of the corbel.

Sketched the original on paper, scanned that, tweaked the proportions a little on the computer then used glue stick to tack that to the styrene ... cut, shape, round edges ... add a little photo-etch washer ...



The little beads have a hole thru the middle so you can make a necklace or do something silly like that with them ... glued a piece of styrene rod in the center to make a plug ... glued a piece of .010" wire into the corbel so the dingleberry would  be pinned in place ... cuz you really don't want your dingleberries getting away from you unexpectedly ... OR breaking off in mold ... ouch!  Drilled a matching hole in the styrene/bead assembly, glued that in place, cut the end and added some more photo-etch bits to look like ornamental turnings at the bottom of the dingleberry.



Test fit as shown ... then made a mold and started making castings ... need to make a bunch more.  Meanwhile, I've been painting, prepping and "pre-nailing" a bunch of little trim pieces so this all can go together ...

AND ... VectorDave has sent me some more goodies ... some of his HO gingerbread that will likely serve as some small molding trim somewhere ... AND ... he's custom cut some dentils to fit between the corbels.  Those aren't present on my "inspiration" building shown above, but very commonly found on similar structures and should be a nice touch.

Gotta say, doing three layers of crackle and installing nails on every little bit of trim has been slowing things down, oh, maybe a bit ... and those laser board sandwiches are indeed getting pretty crispy.  Might have to bake a fresh loaf one day ...

Will post some new pix once some of the cornice work, corbels and trim gets installed ... buncha painting & prep to do first.

Cheers,
Dallas

[Chuck Doan]

d)

[finescalerr]

Clever. And not bad. -- Russ

[finescalerr]

P.S.: Where's Dave been hiding? -- Russ

[Malachi Constant]

Well, he posted this new "limited edition" HO station on facebook yesterday (photo below) ... so I suppose getting all that together has been keeping him busy ... but he's been replying to recent emails quite promptly. 

PS -- FB description of new kit says it has "engraved" shingles, which sounds like a new thing that he probably fiddled with a bunch to get looking right.

  -- Dallas

[Malachi Constant]

Easy COVE molding -- Many of the older buildings around here have cove molding just below the top lip, cap or whatever you call that bit up top.  Rather than settle for quarter-round with the curve going the wrong way (convex instead of concave), I thought I'd see about making some with the proper curve ... and it ended up being really easy. 



Glue some Evergreen styrene angle in place ... brush on a coat of Vallejo Mat Varnish and let that go tacky so the putty will stick ... roll out a thin snake of putty (Magic Sculp, Milliput, etc) and press that into place ...



Dampen the end of a suitable blunt instrument or sculpting tool ... in this case, the end of a paint brush ... and work that along to get the desired shape.  Remove excess and clean the tool occasionally, keep it dampened but not soppy wet to allow some smoothing.  Let the putty start to firm, then go back with a bit of liquid hand soap or aloe and a touch of water to smooth a bit more ...



Always tricky to photograph white styrene ... and the off-white putty doesn't really help!    Kept the photo a little dark in hopes that it allows you to see the shape ...



Here's the building upside-down ... some "plain" angle stock along the front edge and the "coved" molding along the side.  I'll let that harden completely before doing the front edge to make sure of getting a good contour at the corner.  Pretty subtle detail here, but hopefully paying attention to these little things will make the building "look right" ... and maybe even somewhat realistic! 

Cheers,
Dallas

[Ray Dunakin]

Nice trick, I'll have to try that sometime!

[finescalerr]

Worth copying and keeping. Thanks, Dallas. -- Russ

[Malachi Constant]

So, I was perusing Dave K's site at www.VectorCut.com and nosing around in all the various categories ... and this set of HO ornamental trim (Set #1 "Aunt Lucy's) caught my eye because ...



I'm leaning toward something like this boxed cornice for the storefront and the "running trim" (top rows) in that set looked awfully similar to the gingerbread-y bits on this store ... (oh, and never mind that I'll have my hands full making THOSE funky corbels!)   



Had a suspicion that the HO gingerbread would work out nicely as smaller trim in 1/35 and sure enough, it looks like the parts will play well with the construction underway!    (The mustard color corner trim is new ... trying to keep things rolling with little bits of progress here and there.)



While corresponding with Dave about the corbels, he mentioned that he could easily zap some nice little dentil trim to fit between them.  Those arrived today along with the HO gingerbread and they'll add another nice layer of detail to the cornice underway ...

So, on with the cornice work and a big THANK YOU to "VectorDave" for his continued great service and willingness to provide those little custom bits.  Gonna go back now and order some of the HO/multi-scale flowers so I can put a little flower box under Millie's kitchen window. 

Cheers,
Dallas

[Chuck Doan]

That coving came out great!