new kid on the block!

hi brad and ember, i've got a pistol for varnishing the furniture, but it would be far too powerful i think, however the big compressor may work with a smaller air brush perhaps??, if not there was an offer on for 20 euros with air cannister included, maybe just to get me going??do they block up really often?

brad...rivets!, i've been thinking too..theres a concept they taught me in architecture which i have always liked, its called a negative joint, basically instead of taking a lot of effort joining one material to another, the idea is to leave a gap and leave the joint in shadow. a good example would be trying to butt up wood to a stone wall, instead of cutting the wood around every stone, you just leave a slightly larger gap and leave a recess in shadow, giving a much cleaner and easier joint!.I explain this because what if instead of externally placed rivets with tiny pin heads, they were indented. still giving a shadow and point of detail but in reverse. i could go along with my centre punch and make hundreds of rivet dents, in the steel like a type of etching, it
would be loads easier and quicker and drive me much less insane. then maybe a dark grey wash over the steel to highlight (or rather low light ) the detailing.

anyway the bridge is ordered and should take a couple of weeks to get back to me, then the fun really begins.

in the meantime i've started on the church frontage, in mdf, but it looks aweful, really furry, (i think the mdf is a bit too old) i think i'm gonna give it a coat of plasterboard paste and start again it should give a finer finnish

speak again soon sig

QUOTE (sig @ 28 Sep 2009, 21:51) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>/ ... / brad...rivets!, i've been thinking too..theres a concept they taught me in architecture which i have always liked, its called a negative joint, basically instead of taking a lot of effort joining one material to another, the idea is to leave a gap and leave the joint in shadow. a good example would be trying to butt up wood to a stone wall, instead of cutting the wood around every stone, you just leave a slightly larger gap and leave a recess in shadow, giving a much cleaner and easier joint!.I explain this because what if instead of externally placed rivets with tiny pin heads, they were indented. still giving a shadow and point of detail but in reverse. i could go along with my centre punch and make hundreds of rivet dents, in the steel like a type of etching, it would be loads easier and quicker and drive me much less insane. then maybe a dark grey wash over the steel to highlight (or rather low light ) the detailing. / ... /
Sorry to butt in again .. but I find this fascinating! It's plain silly to try and replicate all of the rivets, if any. Perhaps only those that are visually notable?

You might get good result by 'dotting', small drops of thick paint or even glue. A syrenge or the sharp end of a pin could work. Or get a bag of small/short brass nails with rounded heads. If working on wood, that is. Model shipbuilders use a lot of such stuff.
These below >> look interesting! Sheating plates out of thin copper. Found them Here >>



This Guy >> .. uses split peas!!

Btw. part reason for me interest .. I live in a town that was renown for the industrial manufacturing of cast iron bridges, countless of them, every canal here had half-a-dozen of them. Also, railings for those, lamposts, household items etc. From late 1800-century to today .. And shipyards, from way back ages ago. Boats that were held togeteher with rivets!

-- ron --

ok all heres the trial i've just done on the other footbridge for the plastic track, ron i tried doing what that web site said(very interesting thankyou) but they use much thinner sheet and copper is much softer than the 2 and 3mm steel i use so on the other side of the steel the centrepunch hole barely makes a mark (the idea being it forms a dimple), so i've gone with the negative detailing and a bit of black wash.
the etched lines are done with those cool new super skinny cutting disks you can get for the grinder these days, and a steady hand!
it was a bit tricky doing it on a ready made bridge, but now i know what to do , all the etching etc can be done before assembly of the big bridge." i love it when a plan comes together"

sig

ok heres our village church



and heres my attempt to eminate it!, i got rid of the mdf fluff with plasterboard joint paste, which sets quite well and sticks to cardboard too, put on with fingers, then scraped, etched and generally mucked about with during the rest of the afternoon. forgot to cut the bell window into the cardboard tower and now its probably too late, pantiles are cardboard obviously, still think it needs a bit more grime, but need to let it dry more first, looks well in the plaza though

quite chuffed, even though i should nt be mucking around with this stuff on a week day!!

sig

just saw this track for the first time. very nice! i always enjoy seeing a new scenic track come to life. great work on the church.

cheers, brad, yep the clock and balustrade need doing aswell as the door, just put the glass in the windows, and i notice theres some stone balls on the eaves to do, plus an iron cross on the facade! i want to try and fine line some more detail on the facades triangle, it looks like its made of butter!

thespace is great, its the villages old dancehall and cinema, 450 m2 where i have my workshop and we recently reopened the bar, the tracks are above the bar, i'll post a pic

cheers for now, the kids are back!!!

CAVE PAINTING!

ok i took the lid off the village to start putting the paste on the floor ready for cobbles and tree roots, so as it takes ages to dry i thought i'd sort out the cave...while its easily accesible, luckily the polystyrene isnt all stuck down yet so it was relitively easy to do with the black grout and the badly mixed emulsion!. i'd better sort out lights for the roof of the 2 tunnels otherwise it'll be buried forever, dolls house lights i hear are what i need?? can i pass a couple of fine cables now and then wire up later or will it be a nightmare? and will the heat from normal small bulbs melt the polystyrene?, i'll organise the wiring to link up with the plaza lamp posts that i've got planned.
i guess i need to plan for these things going wrong, the cave isnt the most accesible of places, it involves taking the village off every time, which means more joints in the copper tape etc!
any way help needed please (again!)

heres some atmospherics!!hee hee, i love macro!



my guys are gonna need some flippin tools, can't get much done with just a cloth, maybe thats what they're argueing about?http://www.slotforum.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

just added some puddles and seaping walls, not the ideal place to fix a rally car!

Wow! Amazing, so realistic!

Well done

cheers guys, its great to get good feedback for something you love doing...and its all luck, i'm just learning the ropes here!

anyway i've had my head in a bucket of plasterboard paste doing the plaza.
heres some brief fotos of the process, and many thanks to lars for his detailed account of his method in his thread
the difference is i put the paster directly onto the routed mdf. first i reinforced underneath the panels with pine, and then cout slots into the top of the mdf to give the plaster something to 'bite 'onto, the mdf was untreated
i t seems to stick very well, i tried scraping a bit off (around the footprint of the church)and i ended up digging into the wood, its so porous, that it grips inherently.
then after 2 coats of plaster (about 2-3 mm total) and 2 days (its frustratingly slow) i couldnt wait anymore and started drawing the plaza on. the great thing about the plaster is it brings up loads of cool textures ' by mistake', so look out for features in the plaster and draw them out when carving.
i just used an old screw driver and a straight steel ruler

for the curved bits you just do it by hand. then have a good look at it (prferably back lit ) and go round again, widening score lines as necessary, the ruler tends to make things look too straight, so you go round again, messing it up a bit. the flag stones had a much larger groove than the cobbles (twist the screwdriver while dragging it!) the roots of the tree are real roots , stuck into the plaster mixture and then carved around to make them look like they're pushing up the old flagstones. the 'soil is greener and i'll put some weeds on there now.
all breakage of the plaster whilst carving is great, it makes the cobbles look older.

i used black spray gloss after the plaster, and then wall paint, on a VERY dry thick brush...you obviously cant get paint into the grooves


its really very easy, all the painting (after the black dried) took about 20 minutes! and it real gives great effects without even trying, everyone should have a go.

right i want to fix it back on the track cos these flurescents are doing my head in!

hope you like the result

heres some rich church goers!