I'm posting these iPhone shots just to show I still do fumble around in the workshop now and then. The model is about one-third to half complete, the third major structure for a 1:48 waterfront diorama I may never build. It consists of inkjet printed 110 pound paper laminated onto heavy Strathmore sub-walls, each board line scribed, and laser cut doors and windows from my own CAD drawings. It is the third major structure of the series. I enjoyed designing it and creating the siding artwork but assembling it would be less fun than playing jazz if there were anyone left to perform with. -- Russ
Here's the other side. -- Russ
Why that's down right nice Unc! And paper no less.
What does the building represent kind of business??
That would be nice in wood.
Do you happened to have the file for it??
Jerry
Thanks, Jerry. It's the warehouse part of a two-abutting-structures industry called Harbor Dock & Freight. It's card because the other two buildings are card and things would look inconsistent were I to have used wood. I have the CAD plan and maybe also color artwork for the walls. -- Russ
Quite adequate, my friend, and I'd love to see some more details on the overall project.
No room for criticism so far. Grain at the wooden base is a bit coarse.
Cheers,
Volker
The "wooden base" is a handmade oak tool chest I received as a gift from a terrific modeler and true gentleman unfortunately no longer with us. His name was Bill Coffey. I put the structure on top of it for the mediocre snapshot. -- Russ
Looks good. Are the windows card too?
Sweet!!
Hi Russ, It requires more to see and experience.
The windows are laser cut Strathmore from my CAD drawings. Didn't I write that earlier?
Helmut, I will take more photos soon. For now, here is a drawing. Please note: The loading dock will extend the full width of the building to help people avoid falling to their death. It might also preserve the occasional box of freight. -- Russ
Russ, thank you, I'm looking forward to more.
Nice to see you contributing again (other than the eloquent wordsmithing...)
Marty (in the corner)
I, too, am really glad to see this. So much so, I purchased a back issue of Finescale Railroader (Dec 2005) in order to read Russ' article on modeling with cardstock, and I have been thinking of how to utilize the advantages of cardstock in an outdoor, large scale setting. I know Ray has used vinyl on the interiors of some of his buildings and I have been contemplating using a Cricut die cutter to do the same.
Hey, Marty, I thought you were going to take more photos of your 1:16 contraption. You have permission to leave the corner long enough to provide them. -- Russ
looking good even a passible satisfactory
Barney
I hope this is not a house of cards! :o
Because we all see what happened to Frank Underwood!
keep going! show us more
MPH
OK, where are the Legos?
What a bunch of jokers! Okay, everyone go stand in the corner!
Update photos: The structure is about 75% complete. It still needs eaves and rafters, a loading dock, and the stairway. Here is it so far. This time I shot it with the Canon 5D Mark IV to see how the artwork looks at hi-res. I am satisfied. Unfortunately I can upload only lo-res images here thanks to our highly sophisticated people-pleasing software.
Oh, yeah: The shingles are paper, too. I was going to use Crystal River wood shingles until I noticed I used them up. But Crystal River's owner, Tom Fitzgerald had asked me to create artwork for paper shingles because his customers wanted them. I think I scanned a sheet of mahogany for the basic image and then tricked it out in Photoshop. Tom sent me a couple of packets and that's what I used on this model. They actually look pretty decent, especially after I dusted them lightly with a little pastel chalk dust, a time investment of roughly 60 seconds for the entire roof. They look a little different than the wood shingles but just as good. Yes, I am surprised, too.
Russ
And now here is the other side of the building with its separate but abutting office. I think I built the office around 2010. Obviously I have been in a mad rush to complete this project. The office roof and deck are not as faded as they look. I just did a quick and dirty lighting job with available table lamps whose color temperatures are farther apart than I expected. Oh, well. When the project is complete I'll take proper photos. -- Russ
Hello Russ,
thank you for pointing. I only made small things out of paper and also used the printer. In doing so, I found out retroactively that it depends very much on paper and ink. So some models are totally soiled and now worthless, others are still flawless even after years. I took a closer look at the image of the office extension, where the slightly paler color looks to me more like freshly painted. In any case interesting to see and if it is suitable, I will try again paper.
Fantastic work, Russ! The whole structure is very appealing, and I can't tell it's paper.
Now that looks pretty dam good for paper!!
I like the two buildings together nice combination.
Jerry
Russ, ditto. There's one thing that bothers me a bit: The 'dirt' around the shop door to me looks a bit to consistent, like air brushed (as i got it you made that in photoshop?). Everything else looks really good. Maybe the shingles are a bit consistently lined up, too, which may be the result of cut out stripes of shingles?
Volker
As some of you know, I have been experimenting with paper for years. It actually began in 1980 when I was looking at back issues of Model Railroader and thought HO scale Strathmore models by Jack Work looked much better than all but contest winning wood models. I bought some Strathmore and built a few models and they did look better than my HO scale wood structures. Then I met a Disney artist who started the short lived Paper Creek line of structures. I couldn't figure out why his paper looked so good until he told me his artwork was from inkjet printers.
I went home and started scanning stripwood to make my models look like stained basswood. The resulting images looked good but slightly wrong. Why? Because, as I eventually realized, 1:1 scale basswood grain is the wrong size for any smaller scale, just as it is on any model. The reason the new building looks real is that, instead of trying to create siding by scanning stripwood, I used a photo of a 1:1 scale wooden wall. Any grain, knot, or blemish shrinks down to the output size, in this case 1:48 scale. That now seems laughably obvious and simple but it makes a big difference. And that is why the finish doesn't look like "paper".
The biggest modeling mistake many of us make, including me, is accepting traditional modeling techniques. Instead, we should forget them and just try to replicate reality in miniature. Many of you guys have done that and that's why your models are superior.
I print on 110 pound ExactIndex paper (from an office supply chain) or Lanaquarrel cold press art paper. After spending 30 years working in Photoshop, I find it more natural to build my models from photos instead of painted wood. Besides, I've never had the time to reach the level of painting and weathering expertise some of you have developed but I have learned how to do all that stuff to a photograph. ExactIndex is for newer looking walls; it has a very slight sheen. The art paper is dead flat and has a texture ideal for unpainted wood, very weathered but painted wood, or brick.
I build the rest of the model from wood or styrene or heavy card with plenty of interior bracing just as everyone else does; the material really doesn't matter. If the wall has shiplap siding I scribe the printed board lines to create depth. (Adding that third dimension is crucial to an accurate appearance and it looks far better than paint on milled wood siding or styrene). If the wall represents board and bat or clapboard, I laminate the printed paper onto Strathmore to bring it to the proper thickness and then build up the model board by board. My models simply use photos instead of paint.
As Helmut noticed, the office is supposed to be better maintained than the warehouse so it is slightly lighter and newer looking. Interestingly I built it about eight years ago and it has neither yellowed nor warped. So, yes, Helmut, the kind of paper and printer ink are very important. My printer is an Epson SureColor P400 photo inkjet (previously the R1900). I spray the printed paper with Krylon Clear Matte finish to protect it.
Russ
The "dirt" is powdered pastel chalk, Volker. The doors and windows are unpainted laser cut Strathmore. They are impossible to run through a printer so they are not Photoshopped and I've tried to airbrush them but then they don't match the printed paper siding. To make matters worse, this batch of doors and windows also has scorching from the laser and the only thing I could do was spray them with clear matte lacquer and then dust with pastels. Every material involves some compromise, doesn't it? I've attached another photo for your scrutiny.
Interesting that you find the shingles too consistent. Another top modeler I know thinks they look exceptionally real. I find them acceptable and neither better nor worse than any other kind of shingles I have made or purchased.
Russ
Russ, I see. Maybe you could add some more of those chalk areas below the windows and some other areas where dirt might build up or color fade less. I'm sure it doesn't attract attention as an 'added' texture furthermore. You're right with the shingles. In your last picture they look perfect. It was in the second picture at the right hand roof, where they looked a bit 'lined up', but that's a mean angle ayway.
Volker
Russ
how many years ago was it ? when we were all standing around in your garage/studio and talking about paper models.
I've been gone for 13 years here in exile, so it's been a while , I really enjoy all the work and thought you put into these, I've got a picture somewhere, because it was the first time I meet Chuck Doan, who when I met him I thought he was like 80 years old and turns out he's younger then me, who knew, those were great times, keep up the work, it looks fantastic.
MPH
In exile but not in the witness protection
I had to do a little research, Gil, and I think that Terrapin meet with Chuck Doan must have been around Thanksgiving 2006.
According to my notes, I met George Taylor (Paper Creek) in mid 2002 at Juan Carlos Zuloaga's Terrapin meet and learned the key to George's artwork was an inkjet printer. I guess it took a couple of years before I created my own artwork and another few weeks to design and build a model.
As I recall, you, Marc Reusser, Chuck, Jerry Lawrence, and I were analyzing how closely printed siding ultimately might approximate the exquisite siding on Chuck's Red Oak Garage. Chuck's father was there, too, and brought half a dozen of his own unique and beautiful dioramas. It was a heck of a meet!
Russ
Very nice! I agree, good to see you building something!
Russ, I like the "featheriness" of the singles/clapboard. It looks very good to my eye. Its great to see you posting something from your own bench here. Keep it up.
I've added eaves and rafters, the final strips of card, to the warehouse. The loading dock and stairway will complete the model. Both will be real wood. The photos may not look a lot different from the last pair but little details always are like that: Lots of time for a minor change in appearance. -- Russ
And here is the other side. -- Russ
Looking good!
Hello Russ,
even when watching the enlarged images, the paper as such can not be seen, I like it.
Russ, those eaves and rafter tails do add to the model. It will be good to see the loading dock and stairs add the finishing bits to this one.
Okay, it's finally complete. The stairs are laser cut from Crystal River Products. The left-hand structure is from about 2008 and, as I've said, I designed the two to fit together as office and warehouse. -- Russ
The gable end.
The office end.
And a close up to show why I like to use paper for scales up to about 1:48 or 1:32. The thickness is often more accurate than that of milled wood. Besides, my photo editing skills vastly surpass my painting and weathering skills. -- Russ
Wow! Great job Russ, absolutely flawless!
adequate.....
Always wanted to use that one! ;D
-marty
Now that this is complete, what will become of it?
Fine job Russ.
Fooled us all and finished it.
Jerry
Very, very nice! So what's next? ;)
I thought about how I can appreciate it.
I thought about how I could put it.
It came to me thinking about how well it goes and that would interest me most, because that's great, you know yourself Russ.
Thank you, guys.
What's next? Years ago I designed a very small 1:48 scale bobber caboose with cupola, maybe the last piece of a four car On3 (or On30) train. I posted a photo of the printed cardstock side wall a couple of years go. I want to finish it (eventually) and today talked to Tom Fitzgerald (Crystal River Products, ret.) about laser cutting parts for doors, windows, and trim. So someday, I guess, I may finish it.
Russ