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

[Malachi Constant]

Awnings & such -- CONT'd from previous page -- bunch of new photos there!



I still like the idea of juxtaposing some light metal stairs like these against the wood and brick on the side of the sandwich shop ... but wood stairs are easier to build and more common ... so, we'll see!  (Photo shot on May 20th ... notice the nice "seasonal" Christmas decor on the house to the right.)



Just a colorful selection of awnings ....



Oooh ... nice find!  This one has striped canvas awnings ... some open, some closed (folded) ... this shape would be a LOT easier than the quarter-round that I tried earlier (though I still like those).  This is probably aluminum or maybe even asbestos siding that hasn't been replaced in 30-40 years, but awnings are almost a "must" here where all of the houses pre-date the widespread use of central air-conditioning.  Very few have had that sort of upgrade, and many folks still rely on awnings, window fans, window-mounted a/c's and such in the desperate effort to beat the heat, which can get real nasty around here.  (Quite nice this evening, though!  Have the windows open and heard the ice cream truck complete with fake calliope music pass by just a few minutes ago.)  



Check this out ... underside of the folded awning shows a different pattern printed on the other side of the canvas.

One thought: If the building hasn't had a paint job in twenty years or more, why would it have new looking awnings -- or any awning at all? Inconsistent, n'est-ce pas?

Russ

Well, I'm still not sure ... but the folks who live in this place might be able to explain it!  Awnings appear to be in relatively good shape, but the rest of the place is falling apart.  (PS -- By now, it MUST seem like I'm picking on Russ for that post ... but the truth is that "inconsistent" actually seemed somehow RIGHT ... and having a look around at real places has proven that at least occasionally quite true.)

PHOTO ALBUMS full of awnings, plus some signs and misc. "weathering" or detailing ideas:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.221598634536837.68951.100000601054495&l=9d350274fd

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.221605707869463.68952.100000601054495&l=09adeb5474

Note:  These ARE on Facebook ... but if I've set them up properly, they should be "public" albums that anyone can view without signing-in, signing up or any of that junk.  (And if YOU are on Facebook and send a "friend request" please include a note indicating your forum nickname so I can process those without thinking too much on this hazy, lazy Sunday!)  

Cheers,
Dallas

[PuckHog]

Hello Dallas,  This is really good stuff here!!  Thank you for a very informative thread.  The siding looks great and look forward to your awnings and stairs

    Randy

     

[Ray Dunakin]

The house in that last pic is interesting -- apparently a duplex, whose owners have very different attitudes toward maintenance! One half is neat and recently painted, the other half is peeling and scabby. I wonder though about the attic window, right in the center. Did they split the interior down the middle too? 

[Malachi Constant]

Thanks, Randy ... and Michael for the Sculpey vs. pimento loaf ideas!     Ray ... yeah, when you're in a duplex, I suppose the bum neighbors are an extra big headache.



Another quick test build ... different style and pattern.  The bracket wire scales out to about 3/4" diameter ... looks like that should go a good bit lighter ...



Seems like the style and pattern "blend in" a bit better.  Obviously could benefit from a little weathering ... other thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Dallas

[chester]

Thanks for the class on awnings Dallas. And I like your newer version but for one thing. Somehow can it be made opaque so light doesn't pass through?

[Junior]

Great photos Dallas,

I can find many ideas here besides awnings so keep them coming! Your new awning looks very real to me - excellent job so far . Maybe just a bit of weathering all depending how old they would be of course.

Anders 

[Malachi Constant]

Chester -- Good point!  On the earlier, yellow one I went too heavy with painting the underside and think that contributed to the "fluffy" look of the fabric.  On the newer one, I went probably too light on painting the underside and used some fabric stiffener ... which seems to make it look a little more like a stiffer canvas.  So now the trick is to find a good in between.  Started painting another one last night with a light blue underside to see how that would look as a folded awning.  Might take a few more "practice" jobs to get it right.  

PS -- Thanks to Gordon and Anders for the recent care packages! 

-- Dallas

[Ray Dunakin]

The first awning was kind of cool simply because it was a more challenging design. But I think I like the new one better, it seems to "fit" the building.

[Malachi Constant]

Ewww ... it sure is dusty in this thread ... let's see if we can get things moving a bit ...

 

Alrighty, after far too many real life distractions and a bit of a modeling lull, I decided to get back into this by scrapping the original second story of the cafe with plastic siding and re-doing it with board-on-board construction.  First step, make a BIG glass of iced coffee ... then see if we can whittle some novelty siding from the leftover stir sticks.

 

The tools are simple enough ...

 

Score across the face of the stick about halfway thru ... then slice from the top ...



Bevel that edge ... then cut a matching groove on the bottom of the opposite side so the boards will nest together.  The first 5 or 10 are a bit tricky and/or tedious ... by the time you've made 50-60 of them, it's smooth sailing!  



Getting more color variations out of those Ranger Crackle paints ...

Yeah, let's do that.  The Ranger Crackle paints (aka "Tim Holtz Distress Crackle") work really well, but the colors are, um ... well, they're pretty weird ... or at least not what we as modelers would choose.  Haven't had much luck at tinting those colors with acrylic paints, but the Ranger paints do inter-mix well and you can tint the finished colors with acrylic inks ... so let's give that a try.

I ended up using 7 crackle colors and maybe 8 ink colors just to paint one small batch of green boards.         But this approach does seem to provide quite a variety of options for getting subtle or even very dramatic variations in coloring using those crackle paints.

Following is a summary of what I did on the first little batch ... additional thoughts, ideas, suggestions, criticism, etc. are welcome.  The paint was applied in three separate layers as follows ... and after the second layer, you'll see some notes about stopping there for some applications.  

 

The boards were stained using a couple of Mike Chambers' ink stain formulas (#6 and #9).  Then I taped them down, and masked the little groove along the top of each board to avoid building up thickness there (so the boards will nest together properly during construction).

Prep: Stain the boards, mask grooves, spray gloss coat, layer of hairspray, another layer of gloss coat.

First layer:  Three shades of Ranger crackle were applied ... the Antique Linen (beige), the Vintage Photo (brown) and a blend of the two ... these were streaked and dabbed across the board ... somewhat randomly ... NOT covering every bit of the surface (let some stained wood show thru).  The dabbing is a bit crude and should probably by used ONLY on the first layer, after that it will become too obvious.

 

Let the crackle set for 10 minutes or so.  Mix up some acrylic inks ... generally diluted 1 drop of ink to 3 drops of wet water.  Used these Vallejo colors:  Wood Grain (very reddish brown, essentially scarlet), Skin Wash (very orangish), Sepia (golden brown), Brown (which has a red tint) and Smokey Ink.  These were streaked across the surface of the boards ... "randomly" isn't quite the right word but fairly close ... various streaks here and there where they looked right.    The inks were NOT applied as washes (no overall coverage).  Take a sharp knife and lightly score the surface of the paint (not cutting into the stripwood) ... or poke with knife or brush to do some chipping.  Let that dry a bit, then scrape surface lightly to dislodge loose chips.



Best to use some cheap brushes, as the crackle paint is a bit rough on them.  I used the bigger brush to streak on the crackle and the smaller brush to streak on the inks.

 

Let the first layer dry overnight; apply another coat of gloss coat, then hairspray and gloss coat again ...

Second layer:  As mentioned, the Ranger crackle paints do intermix well ... though the color selection isn't exactly what you'd call a "basic palette".  So, some creativity and experimentation is in order.  I used the Old Paper (green), Antique Linen (beige), a mix of green and beige, hints of Broken China (blue) and Picket Fence (white) ... streaked across the surfaces of the boards ...

 

Let that set for 10 minutes or so, then follow with diluted inks ... Vallejo Woodgrain, Brown, Sepia, Smokey Ink, Flesh Wash ... and P3 (brand) Skin Wash and Reaper Blue (VERY dilute on the blue).  Score, scrape, chip as desired.

 

Stop here?  Actually, yeah, this seems like a good stopping point for a lot of applications ... lots of nice variation in the coloring, layers of old paint with varying degrees of oxidation ... will definitely use this on some other projects and/or parts of this project.  But, I want a more subtle effect for the siding on the building, so I'll go on and do a third layer ... with minimal chipping.

 

Let the second layer dry overnight, then gloss coat / hairspray / gloss coat ...

Third layer:  Used the Broken China (blue), Black Soot and Fired Brick with the Old Paper (Green) to mix up three custom shades of green ... streaked those on followed by streaks of the plain green.  Disregard that salmon-colored blob   ... unless you're planning to paint some siding with the Fired Brick (red) ... then it's good to note that mixing some of the green with that produces some nice orange tones that will be useful there ... and using some black and/or brown will add shades in the other direction.

 

Mix up some inks again:  Vallejo Brown, Seia, Smokey Ink, Skin Wash and Green (dilute more than others) ... and Reaper Blue (very dilute) ... apply that, then lightly score, chip, etc. as desired.  Oh yeah, should have mentioned to scrape/chip the bottom edges of the boards after each application.  

BTW, the Sepia and Flesh Wash inks have yellow/orange tints, so the blue ink gives those a nice shift towards the greens.

 

Needless to say, after the long lull in posting, I'm a bit out of practice with shooting the pix and getting the proper color balance ... this was the best I could fix the straight-on, close-up shot (about 4x actual on a 19" monitor) ... but it gives a suggestion of the variations in color tones ...



And it gets a whole lot easier to have some color balance with a broader palette of colors!    This gives a more accurate impression of the pastel green color of the siding and the variations in coloring.

Should also mention that it's probably best to work with small batches (say 12 of the 5.5" sticks) given the working/drying times of the crackle paints and the softening with the inks (useful for chipping) ... but you can work several separate batches to keep things moving.  I took the first batch all the way thru to see where it may need refinement ... have another 45-50 to go, so your input in welcome before I make a complete mess of all of them!  

Cheers & thanks for looking!
Dallas

[finescalerr]

Looks terrible. Glad you're back at it. Keep up the bad work! -- ssuR

[Ray Dunakin]

Really nice!

[Chuck Doan]

Glad to see you back at this Dallas! Thanks for all the SBS work. Nice texture on those boards.

[Junior]

Looks great! Glad you´re back at it. Keep up the good work!

Anders 

[Malachi Constant]

Let the nailing begin ...



Seems like it would be tricky to get some of these effects with a pounce wheel ... but, if they really are quicker, I might have to try one!  



Or, maybe I'll just put the little people to work doing something useful for a change ...

Cheers,
Dallas

[shropshire lad]

Dallas,

    You're not going to like this , but ...prototypically there should only be one nail per stud in each board , which should be just above the top of the board below , i.e. about an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half from the bottom of the board .By only having one nail , the boards are able to expand and contract with the changing of the weather . Having two nails introduces extra stresses in the wood and often leads to premature splitting of the boards .
   However , as we are not in the real World , carry on as you are ,

     Nick