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

[Malachi Constant]

Okie-doke ... I've done the crackle painting on the side of the upper story, gave it the first round of weathering and my best (initial?) shot at fading the sign.  Windows and door are still in bright white plastic, so please ignore those!



Thought it best to stop here and have a good look before moving on ... so any thoughts/feedback welcome. 
Bricks will get some additional weathering, but I thought it might be useful to set the top half of the building in place for another view.  Also, there will additional color with awnings, advertising on the store front, etc.

Thanks!
Dallas

[finescalerr]

It's looking good for this stage. I see only one thing to work on as you continue, and you no doubt already know about it:

The crackling on the boards is uniform. It probably shouldn't be. Maybe later weathering will obscure that. But I would think that some boards, even entire areas, would have little or no distressing, especially just below the roof. And other areas might suffer from even more chips and cracks. Maybe you can add those with with a knife. (Nobody except those on this forum would nitpick such things,of course.)

Once you tweak everything and replace the doors and windows, it's going to be a rather nice model. I might even condescend to publish an article about it should you be so inclined.

Russ

[Malachi Constant]

Russ --

I figured the chipping/distressing could use some fine-tuning ... but I really APPRECIATE hearing (reading) it!  It gets hard to see the forest for the trees sometimes, so that sort of feedback is always valuable.  That should be relatively easy to address, but I might wait until "actual" doors and windows are ready so I can see everything in context.

I've shot zillions of pix along the way ... some for SBS stuff where applicable, but mostly just to "see" how things look at various stages with "cruel eye" of the camera.  Will start shooting some high-rez photos at various stages just in case it all turns out satisfactory.  

Cheers,
Dallas

[finescalerr]

Excellent. And, at the risk of being recognized as the pig I am, your garage also seriously deserves publication. -- Russ

[Malachi Constant]

Thanks!  The garage will be slow-going, as I'm still trying to get the feel for the level of detailing and such that will go into that.  Will start shooting some high-rez pix of that too at any notable progress points.

The sandwich shop started out with the intention of being a truly "quick & dirty" project ... and, what I found out quickly is that really doesn't suit me any more.  So, it will be a relatively quick & dirty version of a somewhat more refined approach ... if that makes sense.  There should be enough fine detailing to make it interesting, without going completely crazy ... which I'll continue to do on the garage as much as possible. 

The sandwich shop has also proven to be a great way to get some experience with the crackle paint, which I'd like to use on the repair shop (exterior siding) ... and I really did NOT want to do anything there without some practice.

Cheers,
Dallas

[Junior]

I think the Sandwich Shop is just great so far. As Russ said maybe the crackle paint is a bit uniform but as far as I understand this building will be in the background. I understand from my own experience it´s hard not to at least try to have a background building "perfect" and then when your´e done you realize only one wall will be visible !

Anders 

[Malachi Constant]

Tonight's crazy experiment ... see if I can cut panels from this ultra-thin fabric (.003" thick) ... stitch those together to make a quarter-round awning ... and drape that over a folding frame, at least somewhat convincingly. 



The most obvious thing here is that the lighting on my workbench is not suited for photographing a project this size  .... so one of the upcoming projects will involve clearing a space and setting up for that ...

Meanwhile, the shot at right obviously has too much overhead light on the awning, but I included that to give an idea of the thin fabric hanging over the frame ... and in the larger shot, you can see that I haven't toned down the siding and sign on the front yet (not to mention the unfinished storefront, etc) ... but I wanted to include the view when looking at the building as a whole.



Feedback & criticism invited:  This is the first one ... and I made it on one of those crappy plastic window castings to get some practice before trying it "for real" on a scratchbuilt window.  I'll play with some fabric stiffener to shape the bottom edges.  Can also vary the amount of creasing that occurs around the wire frame underneath if that effect is too much.  (See also the overall view for that too.)

Colors:  There's also room to play around here.  The first urge was to go "matchy-matchy" with some blue-striped awnings or "pow" with some red-striped awnings ... but I kinda like the idea of just making the awnings a subtle, faded color so they just appear to be "one of those things" instead of a feature ... thoughts welcome there too.  Also possible to get different shades of the same colors, etc.

So, any and all thoughts on the first "practice" awning are welcome!  I think it looks a lot better than a paper awning, but appreciate any feedback that might help refine the approach ... have more plastic windows on hand for additional tests as needed. 

Cheers,
Dallas

[finescalerr]

No comment until I see it with fabric stiffener on the whole thing. Without that, the cloth doesn't have enough "weight". It looks fluffy right now.

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

[Junior]

Dallas, really great job on that one  !

Agree with Russ about the fabric stiffener. Think it needs quite a bit of weathering as well in this color that stands out a bit. Maybe I would go with blue to tone down the whole thing a bit. Just beware of the doll house effect - might look too cute with a number of these. Maybe you could make a few in paper and test in different locations. Well, that´s just my opinion.

Anders 

[W.P. Rayner]

Nice experiment on the awning Dallas, but I agree with Russ as well, it seems too new and neat for a building that's had no attention to paint. I would think showing a couple of frames with perhaps remnants of tattered, faded and mildewed awnings hanging from them might be more apropos... just my two bits worth...  Biggest challenge is making convincing fabric.

Paul

[Malachi Constant]

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, the second part is kinda easy actually ... I live in a rather old part of town here, with many row-houses that are nearly 100 years old ... and awnings are still widespread here.  Back before air-conditioning, the "solutions" included:  window awnings, high ceilings/transoms, ceiling fans, etc.  So, in this case, awnings are just part of the "essential hardware" to make a place live-able.

But ... I'll have to play with the fabric a bit more to give it some "weight" and make it look a bit more faded / tattered.  That should be relatively easy, as the fabric is actually the material from tea bags and the stripes were printed on my inkjet printer.  So, for this test, I just used a standard stripe pattern without "fading" or "weathering" it using a photo program.  Also, brightened it by painting the back of the material, but that effect can be toned down too.

So ... thanks for the input ... "Round Two" when I get a chance!  -- Dallas

[Malachi Constant]

Whew!  Found a place where I might be able to get some help ...

[Malachi Constant]

Before I forget ... in addition to all the great & helpful feedback received here, I have a few friends who read the forum and send notes privately with additional suggestions.  So quick thanks to Bill G. and Dave Reed for doing that recently ... and to all who take the time to share constructive thoughts AND criticism.  Very much appreciated!  -- Dallas

PS -- My signature lines below have a way for non-forum members to contact me! 

[FichtenFoo]

Russ -- Well, it's sort of the opposite of "freezer burn" on the taste of the bread ... bit of laser burn there.  

Marc -- I had to look twice at the pumpernickel vs. "mystery meet" question there.  Should be pretty easy to make some meats and cheeses ... but lettuce and tomato could be a challenge.

Chester -- Thanks!  Styrene sheet and strip are my "old standby" for scratchbuilding ... thought the little dentils at the top of the facade might be a pain, but it was easy enough to cut a bunch of those on ye olde chopper so even that went quickly.  The finishing is more of a challenge than the build ...

Dave also provided some neat screen doors and sign letters that will get used here ...

Cheers,
Dallas

Looking great so far. Looking forward to seeing the completed awnings.

About meats and cheeses and even tomatoes... You can always get some various colors of Super Sculpey and make them like one would make beads. For tomatoes, make some red and pinkish red-orange "snakes and line/stack them up like the interior of a tomatoe then wrap the exterior with a thin layer of red. Then roll it some more (snake-like) to work out the air/blend, then slice. Some rainbow/shaped hard candy is also made this way.

Also... pimento loaf FTW! 

[Malachi Constant]

Well, it was a lazy, hazy Sunday here in the old Hampden part of Baltimore, so I went out shooting some photos of many of the awnings and such that I've been noticing around town.  Created a couple of substantial photo albums, which I'll link below.  Meanwhile, the type shown above seems to be the most "popular" or common around here.  I do know that metal awnings were offered in the 1930s, but dunno when this type became popular.  (Ads for metal awnings in the 1930s touted that they were fire-proof and thus a good defense against idiot upstairs neighbors who might throw cigarettes out the windows -- of course, I'm paraphrasing a bit there.) 



There are a couple small storefronts in town here that are roughly the size and proportions of my little cafe.  Obviously, the signage is more modern ... but there are still plenty of ideas to be gleaned here ...



This one is across the street and there are some more ideas here ... the places have been "commercialized" ... but they haven't necessarily taken advantage of the most skillful architects or tradesman nor used the finest materials! 



Kinda like these simple little awnings ... TONS of awning shots in the photo albums.



While I was out, I looked for places to snap photos of hand-painted signs and some that would show how blue paint oxidizes ...



The blue paint turns to a very powdery light blue, often nearly white, as it oxidizes ...



Also shot some peaks underneath different types to see how the support structures were built ...

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?

On this house, it appears that they replaced or overlaid the siding with vinyl -- cutting around those old awning supports ... but they did NOT repair or replace the wooden windows, which show substantial age ...



Nor did they repair/repaint the wood trim at the top of the house, above the relatively new siding. 



Kinda like the Rube Goldberg awning covering two windows on this one.



When I started this project, I was originally planning to use some metal stairs similar to these (well, after trying the Mini-Art metal stairs which proved far too substantial).  I'd be darned surprised if these houses weren't built in the 1910s-1920s, but both the wooden stairs and metal stairs are obviously later replacements ... evidenced by remnants of concrete landings under each.



These are some really cool old "handyman special" awnings ...

Will break here so the post doesn't get too massive and continue in a couple minutes.  -- Dallas