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[marc_reusser]

Pedant's Corner .

  Efflorescence is an effect I would more associate with newer brickwork built with cement mortar . By the time your building reached the age it would appear to be I would have thought the salts would have been washed out . Of course , as always , there are exceptions in the real world .

   However , what you have done on yours looks great and I wouldn't suggest for a second that you change it . I would even consider adding more white to give the effect of worn off limewash .

   Nick

I have piles of ref photos showing the effect on old buildings, and walls...especially on retaining walls, where the minerals from the soild behind leach through.....Have also found many images of what appears to be efflourescence along edges of very damp mossy areas on building walls. White staining also seems to occur from splashed rainwater.

[Ray Dunakin]

For bricks along the ground like this, I would expect to see some water stains, etc.

[Malachi Constant]

You're not there yet ... you need to "see" bricks and all their little (um, personality things) the way you're able to "see" wood's character ... and then you'll blow us all away with it.  Beat you're head against that brick wall until you're "feeling" the bricks or able to think like a brick, and you'll be good to go.    -- Dallas

[Chuck Doan]

Just be "thick as a brick"...I can do that!

[TRAINS1941]

Nice job on the bricks Chuck.  I'm sure once there weathered to your standards they will be perfection.  Thanks for showing the beginning of them.

Jerry

[Chuck Doan]

I tried experimenting with a painted concrete pad for my (future) gas pump. Started with Ken Hamilton's Hydrocal and model RR ballast mix in a form made from styrene. I also added some grey pigment powders to the mix. After it dried I soda blasted it to expose the ballast "aggregate". I also dabbed wet pigment powder with a sponge and wiped it off for more color.

I used red acrylic craft paint, dabbed on with a brush. Soda blasted at low pressure to fully flatten and thin. Faded with wet pastel powders. Chipped with tape and stiff wetted brush. Touched up exposed cement with powders.


             

[Mobilgas]

Chuck,    Look's like old concrete to me

[Malachi Constant]

Uh-oh ... yer giant penny has shrunken! 

And ... question(s) ... wet pastels?  Regular or oil pastels?  Wet with what?  Water or ...?

[marc_reusser]

Hey....that looks EXACTLY like my porch!

[Chuck Doan]

Thanks! Dallas, I used some inexpensive pastel sticks from Michaels's.  Scraped for powder and applied with a water dampened brush.


I decided to use asphalt shingles for my roof. I usually don't like modeling roofs, so I got some help. I sent some 320 grit sandpaper to Dave Krakow at Vector Cut, and he did a great job of turning them into shingle strips. I used info from the internet to determine the overall and gap size. I have just started to figure out what color to do, and how to weather them without having to spend a lot of time on the process.

Thanks Dave, nice work!

[Ray Dunakin]

That concrete slab looks perfect!

[marc_reusser]

Nice shingles.

[Arno Boudoiron]

Looking good 

[TRAINS1941]

Good thing you don't like roofs. 
Or they would look like the real thing!

Jerry

[Chuck Doan]

I have finished the cement work and now I'm starting the ground cover and weeds. So far just basic jute macramé, sifted sawdust, bark and dirt. Applied with diluted white glue and Dullcote. Still lots to do; very tedious. I will need to go shopping for some leaves,  though I don't want photo-etched ones. Any suggestions?


   
    Front steps



     
    The pump base