I finished the window for my ½” scale garage. I used the same construction methods as I did for the one in my barn diorama. I made the frames from O scale 1 X thick basswood and I filled them with panes of microscope cover glass secured with Squadron white putty. The upper pane was deliberately cracked, but the lower one cracked in handling. One pane has unpainted putty simulating a more “recent” repair, perhaps the reason for the security bars. The shade is spray painted tracing paper and the security bars are .02 x .06 styrene strips with Grandt Line rivet heads. After cutting and adding the rivets, the bars were first sprayed with Pactra flat black and allowed to dry overnight. Then I painted them with several water-thinned coats of Polly Scale green. After about 10 minutes dry time, I took a short stiff brush, dipped it in water and carefully brushed the piece until the paint softened and began to chip, exposing the flat black. Then I used gouache and weathering powders to add the fading, streaking, rust colors and bleed thru. The backs of the windows were dusted with fine powdery dirt. A few sawdust chip leaves were added to the sill as a final touch.

The Champion decal is from Microscale decals, and the closed sign was printed from a picture found on Flickr.

The screening is made from Stainless steel wire cloth. I think it was 180 mesh. I got it from Mcmaster-Carr industrial supply in a 12" square piece. I cut the pieces and dipped them in printed circuit board etchant to thin them a bit (careful, they will eventually dissolve!) and to darken the color. Final coloring was with thinned Burnt Umber Gousche applied with a cosmetic sponge so as not to fill the fine holes. It is easy to add distressing if desired.

All photos and comments by Chuck Doan

unless otherwise noted

Here is another try of the hairspray method. A vent pipe for an underground storage tank made from .06 diameter Plastruct styrene. Since I am airbrush illiterate, I have a problem if I want to hand-brush acrylics, since they will cut the water based hairspray. So I tried the following:

Testors Flat Black spray can base coat-dry overnite. (Floquil Roof Brown is good too, but takes too long to dry)
Fairly heavy aerosol Treseme hairspray-dry 10 min.
Light seal coat of Flat Black spray-dry 10 min. (I think Dullcoat could work too)
Water-thinned, brushed on coats of Polly Scale colors that match the wall. Dry 10 min.
Start removing paint with small water wet stiff paintbrush. Came off easy.
Fade with white gwosh, seal with Dullcoat.
Add rust gwosh (Burnt Sienna), Bragdon powders to chipped areas using sharp brush, sponge and stump. Seal with Dullcoat. Streaks added with rust gwosh with sharp brush n spit. Still playing with that.

The crackle finish near the top occurred after I applied the first coats of Polly Scale and held it up to a Halogen desk lamp to speed dry. I couldn’t get it to repeat predictably though. The clamp was made from .002 shim stock, folded around the pipe. Added a rib with half shaved .010 Plastruct styrene rod and super glued on. Screws are Tichy plastic rivets with slots cut in.

I keep saying I have to try the "water-based-hair-spray/picked-off-peeled-paint" technique.
This clinches it.
I know that the crackled effect came about accidentally , is it an effect you want to reproduce more often ?
If so , have you tried using artists cracking and aging varnishes ? I believe a number of companies make them and thought that they might produce the effect you were after . I saw this on a 1/24th scale Opel Blitz truck by Stefano Zaghetto that came out particularly well . I think you may be familiar with the article .
Nick

Test on a scrap part though. But you knew that.
Hi Nick, I hadn't thought of doing that effect at first, but it would be nice to add now and then. Most of the craft store finishes seem too big. I forgot about that article, I'll look it up to see what he did. That was the best use I have seen!
Found it:
http://www.gmpat.it/images/images%20galmezzimil/Opel%20Stefano/TETTO%202_rid.JPG

http://www.gmpat.it/images/images%20galmezzimil/Opel%20Stefano/PARAFANGO_rid.JPG

Thanks for the link, Chuck. I've seen that, too, but didn't he use some obscure brand of crackle-stuff
that was only available in Europe? I might be wrong on that source, but my experiments with craft
store crackle paste have never turned out results like THAT.

PS: I ordered an "air eraser" from Harbor Freight last week (on sale for 20-bucks) that should be here any day.
I'm anxious to see what kind of worn-paint effects it'll create. Either way, it should be worth $20 of fun.
 

Ken, I have used mine with the baking soda for dulling the paint on the boards for this project. Marc has done some tests on wood and metal as well. Should be fun to play with! Wow... not many people would even think to put in the rib detail on that pipe clamp!
The aging and cracking fluids that Stefano used are made by Maimeri , an Italian company , and I would guess may not be readily available in the US .
The ones I have are made by a French company called Lefranc & Bourgeois , but I'm not sure that they are exactly the same sort of stuff . I did try experimenting with mine but didn't get very far . I think "cracking" and "crackle" are two different effects . In order to achieve cracking you need two different fluids the second of which reacts to the first when it dries . After it has dried a wash of dark oil colour highlights the cracks .

Nick

Vallejo makes a cracking/crackle fluid specifically for model use.

found a couple of forum sites where they discuss the Vallejo crackle. Seems like it it hard to get consistant results. Saw something about using thinned PVA as a base coat...

Crackle mediums will probably work better (don't know about consistant....but then what the hell in nature ages in a consistant fashion) if you use a paint that dries hard(er) over it. By this I mean something like Floquil or maybe the Tamiya acrylics...and applied in a thinner layer/coat....the process depends on the shrinkage of the crackle medium, to be different from the shrinkage and expansion properties of the paint....so a paint that shrinks less, and is less flexible, should tend to crack more, whereas the more flexible acrylics like Vallejo or Pollyscale, might not do as well, because they can stretch/move in conjunction with the medium.

......basically something to that effect.

Guache would likely work well as it dries pretty hard/stiff.


Something to be very careful of (and test first) when working with a crackle mediums, is that they (at least the ones I have used/seen) tend to "reactivate" when paint is applied over them....especially when it is brushed, applied too wet, or "worked" too long. This then starts to lift/blob/smear/intermix the medium...and this cause a potentailly unwanted surface finish or goopy mess, which will likely not react as you wanted it to. This may be desirable for some finishes at certain scales...or at 1:!...but can more often than not be detrimental to a scale model.
Marc
 

That's very true, Marc. Last night I started playing with "Folk Art Crackle Medium" (readily available is just about all craft stores) and "Jo Sonja" acrylic paints (my favorite dead-flat tube paints). You really do have to put it on quick, not work it too much and keep the water content under control or you DO end up with a mess. Several areas turned out pretty well - now I need to figure out how to duplicate those results.

It appears the "cracks" follow the direction of the brush strokes used to apply the crackle medium, which is great for wood. Since I'm trying to duplicate spiderweb cracking on metal surfaces, I'm wondering if the cracks would be more random if the crackle-stuff were stippled onto the surface. That's tonight's experiment.....

I have considered...but not gotten around to trying it....of slightly thinning and then airbrushing the crackle medium using one of my cheaper airbrushes.

From my experience/observation, the "following the brush stroke" issue with the medium seems to be due to the different thicknesses and density (even minute ones) in the thickness of the medium left by the brush strokes/bristles. This can be exascerbated by the brush strokes/thickness of the paint (and reactivation of the medium) as well. I have found that Airbrushing the color/paint over the medium helps a bit with this issue, so does slightly diluting the medium to get a more even/smooth/thin application.....but on larger areas/surfaces it still could be an issue.

Since these mediums are really meant for "art" and "craft" applications where scale is not generally an issue they are on the heavy and thick side, and are applied fairly thick (in comparison to our model needs)......and for art and craft projects brush strokes are not really considered an issue. The thickness of the applied medium also directly affects they type and quantity of crackle....so we really need to be either thinning/modifying this stuff to a more scale material/medium, or trying to find one that is maybe meant for very special high end (museum quality use).

I am sure that there are other materials/ways that can be used to create this effect in scale, as it really is just a matter of disparate shrinkage between the under and over coat ....one might be a ble to get a sim and finescale effect by say using a standard more flexible acrylic paint for the base layer, and then shooting something more hard and rigid for the top layer.....maybe placing it under a heat source such as the a desk lamp to dry for a short ...or longer...period...thus causing the materials to dry, shrink and react in their different manners........just a thought.

Marc

I fired up my lathe (Foredom drill press laid flat) and turned a “porcelain” light fixture from Plastruct styrene rod, and a bulb from clear sprue. Before I parted off the bulb I chucked it in a Makita drill and tranlucentized it with my soda blaster followed by some thinned gwosh and a coat of semi gloss spray. Dusted the top side with pigment powders. Briefly considered lettering the end with “Sylvania”, but I let the moment pass. “GE” was much easier.

I haven’t gotten a lot done lately, but I did finish a ubiquitous hose reel wheel deal. I modified a Galaxie Limited ‘48 Chevy wheel by turning the rim to a more correct profile and then drilling out the lug nuts. I then added a raised center hub with aluminum tubing, and some raised lug bumps using .050 brass tubing. I finished it off with some hubcap clips (correct for the ’48) made from .005 styrene. I embossed a rivet, but they all but disappeared after painting. I only did 3 clips, and drilled out the rivet holes on the other locations.

I painted the wheel the same as the vent pipe I did previously: Testor’s Flat Black from a spray can, and then hairspray, another Flat Black coat to seal, then Floquil Polly Scale brushed on in water thinned coats. I used a hair dryer to speed up the drying and got the crackle effect again. Then it was chipped with a stiff brush and water. Gouache and pigment powders finished it off.

I glued it onto a couple of pins topped with model RR nuts. Still needs some old red air hose wound around it, and a connector pipe. For reference, it is .68 in. diameter, about the same size as a U.S. dime.

http://images50.fotki.com/v393/fileME4f/3e9de/9/777399/7342487/3874940006_883cd7516b_b.jpg
Bigger pic
 

I haven’t been doing much modeling lately, but I have been doing some more concrete experiments.

This is a test for the front step. Not yet concrete ala Reusser, but I have to start somewhere!

Hydrocal
Arizona rock powder (thanks Jerry! (trains1941)
Woodland scenic ballast (fine and medium)
Water, of course
tap tap tap (bubble release)
Soda blast when dry
It cracked coming out of the forms, but no worries. Coloring tests next.

After making my first step, I decided to try something a bit bigger. I made a re-useable form from 3 high ¼” square styrene strips made into a rectangular box which was screwed down to a styrene covered Masonite base. The mix was about 2/3 Hydrocal to 1/3 Arizona Rock powders. I found that too much powder resulted in a crumbly casting, while all Hydrocal made one that was too hard to soda blast well. The powders don’t do much for coloring since they dry so much lighter. I added Woodland Scenic medium and fine Gray ballast “aggregate” to the wet mix until it looked liked concrete to me.
When the casting hardened, I dismantled the forms and removed it. The first step was chipping and gouging some areas. Then I carefully cracked portions of the casting and glued it back together. I hand scribed some cracks, but the real ones look best. I didn’t add any control joints since I found some pics of slabs that didn’t seem to have them. I then did some (baking) soda blasting at about 25 PSI. This roughed up the surface, and when concentrated, exposed the ballast.

The coloring so far has been a dilute wash of Polly Scale Concrete with a touch of Dirt. The mix is very thin like a watercolor wash. Several coats were applied with a broad soft brush, with full drying allowed tween coats (a hair dryer can speed thing up a bit.) I am currently trying wet and dry Bragdon powders for more accenting. I am still playing with the whole thing and studying photos for reference. It’s funny that Floquil has one “Concrete” color, when the real thing can be so varied. Sort of like when I used to buy Testor’s “Flesh” in a one-color- fits-all bottle.

For now everything is just hung together for evaluation. The square pad is for a gas pump, but I will likely make a longer one for two pumps. The new “porch” was unplanned, and it changes the dynamic of the scene. I am still deciding if I like it. But at least I am getting to use some concrete ideas!
 

Slowly adding to the groundworks. I have added grass clumpage to the left side and more layers to the dirt/gravel (dirtvel?) Still have lots more macramé twine grass to blend in amongst the green. Prior to the groundwork I cut the wall in half and kicked it back for interest, sort of like the Sage store posted earlier. This also allows a slight angle mounting in the case. I have yet to heal the siding from this trauma. The color on the front edge is just primer and will be re-painted a hopefully better color (I believe “Hopefully Better” is an actual Sherwin-Williams color). It’s looking more like Hwy 395 than Hwy 49 to me at his stage.
 

A quick lathe exercise; a fill pipe for the gas tank. I found several pics of older stations with this pipe next to the pump.
Made from styrene, turned the top part and glued it to 1/8” Plastruct rod. Glued the hinge and hasp and sanded them to shape when dry.
 

I sprayed it with Testors Flat Black from the can. Then thinned Polly Scale L and N Grey which let a bit of the black come thru. Then Gwosh rusty color sponged on and Dullcoat sealed.
Then dufted on Bragdon white and grey powders, blew off a bit and then Dullcoat spritz from a distance for some mottling.

The slight texture from the spray can helped too.

Most old ones I found had a rusty head but not the fill pipe...don't know why.

Heres a tall fill pipe:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/windsurfgirl/221961130/
 

At the risk of overdoing a technique, I re-did some of the flashing/patches using the hairspray crackle method over .005 styrene material:
Testors Flat Black base coat-dry 20 min.
Fairly heavy aerosol Treseme hairspray-dry 10 min.
Light seal coat of Flat Black spray-dry 10 min.
Water-thinned, brushed on coats of Polly Scale colors that match the wall.

Wait till just dry. (airbrushing should work too, perhaps even better)
Hit with hair dryer on hot, crackles appear.
Start removing paint at bottom edge with small water wet stiff paintbrush.
Fade with white gwosh applied with a sponge, seal with Dullcoat.
Add rust gwosh, Bragdon powders to chipped areas using sharp brush, sponge and stump- seal with Dullcoat.
Apply thinned gwosh along crackles with brush, then blend with a sharp wet toothpick.
 

I finally got the doors locked.

Hasp and padlock made from styrene with brass wire bits.

Chain is 40 links per inch from Builders in Scale

A few more toys came in. Some oil lubester parts, a different style light shade, insulators and some electrical fittings for the sign lights.

And an electrical box and empty meter insert. Now for the time to put it all together. I have some on order, but it hasn’t arrived yet.
 

I have been putting these on a “sprue” so they stay together for cleaning (by PAP). It also gives me a handle; I can cut them off and chuck the sprue in a pin vise as I do the smooth sanding (at least that's the theory!). I tried some thinner sections on these shades...looks OK, now to see if I can clean them.

Well, from my very limited experience so far:
There are noticeable steps, but they are very shallow. I think a good coat of Mr. Surfacer would cover a lot of them up (yet to try this though.) The material sands easily, but since the translucent material can make it hard to tell when the surface step is gone, it is best to prime first to see the things you are trying to remove. I also have to stratagize my parts to allow for the sanding-small boltheads for example will be added later so I don't ruin then in sanding although they could easily be done in the 3D model. It seems hold paint very well, and ACC or epoxy works too (it’s not a solventable glue material) It can also be cleaned with Lacquer thinner or Acetone.

You can’t really scratch it with a fingernail, but it is fairly brittle. I could remove the smaller parts with a good finger thwack. There is also a tiny bit of warpage over the long sprue. I’m not sure how bad this can get, or if it can be corrected like a warped resin part.
The cost is reasonable to me since I could never fabricate these things easily, and almost certainly not 2 or more matching items. The cost and need to clean each part up could put a crimp in plans to do a lot of parts. The best use really would be to use them as masters for casting more. Then the cleanup time and costs (including the 3D model) could not be beat over a hand fabricated master (just look at the live steam guys-you could never fab a wood or other material pattern this easily-especially a mirrored part). But since I am doing a few items, and I only finish something about every 2 ½ years, it’s looking good!

My outlook is that these are no different than any detail part I might buy from a manufacturer or scrounge from a kit. In fact, most of my modeling has been centered on using other people's parts for many years now. The only difference is the cost per part, and the fact that I get to decide what the item will be.

Somebody will eventually offer this kind of service; you specify the item and provide research, and someone will model it and send you the STL file to do with as you please. I also anticipate that the resolutions will keep improving and the costs will come down at least a bit. Eventually these things may become standard tools on modeler’s workbench. Why not, I never dreamed I would be doing it and now I am!

Here some quickie checkpics I took of my hanging sign. The triangular bracket is old school, made from 1/16 diameter brass tubing, .025 brass wire and a piece of .015 x .08 flat styrene. A couple of McLeod nut castings finished it off. I used several applications of Polly Scale paint to build up some slaggy weld joints where the pipes meet the wall mount.

The light bracket is all Rapid Prototype parts save for the brass wire conduit and the two Tichy .02 rivet “screws” I added to the junction box (with the obligatory slots cut in). The ratty wiring is based on several old signs I saw. I found examples with standard flexible conduit, but several others had either bare Romex or extension cord material which seemed much more interesting (if not up to code!) I made it with annealed .012 brass wire that was first painted with a smooth coat of Polly Scale black. Once it was wrapped and glued in place, I took the same paint and applied some thick clumpy coats to certain areas, and then picked at it with a sharp toothpick to simulate crumbling insulation.

The metal finish is the same hairspray method I have been using with the exception of a gray undercoat on the junction box to simulate a galvanized item. The mounts for the light shades were also done in bare galvy for some variety. I’ll do the final touch-ups after I get the light shades painted and mounted. I haven’t decided yet if there will actually be a sign or just a couple of empty hangers.
 

I finished one shade and mounted it. I almost finished the other and then ruined the paint.

Do over time.

I also added the wiring coming out of the wall. At least they thought to put wire nuts on the exposed wires. I found a lot of pics with wiring just going through a hole in the siding. We don’t need no stinkin’ codes!

I also finished the flashing over the top boards.
 

I got the pump parts smoothed. These items have been primed to check smootheness and then stripped so I can apply the finer details

Finally got back to it and finished the oil pump for the lubester. It’s a composite item using the RP part I had made, and brass wire tie rods and styrene bolt heads ( BTW, the concept of cutting bolt heads from Plastruct hex material is easier said than done!) I also added a handle lock from brass shim stock and a styrene vee on the drain pipe (used to klop the glass bottle against and push drain pipe out of the way.)

Primed with Testors flat black
Hairspray
Dullcoat seal
Thinned Polly Scale Red Chromate brushed on
Chip with wet toothpick and stiff brush
Weathered with gwosh and pigment powders.
I’ll do some final touchups when I finish the tank portion.

Finished the tank for the oil dispenser/lubester/highboy. I mounted the fill hatch, and added a hinge stop, hinge plates a dipstick knob.

Finishing steps for the tank:
Testor’s flat black primer
Coat of Treseme Tres 2 extra hold aerosol.
Coat of Dullcoat sealer
Polly Scale white mix airbrushed on
Quick dry with hair dryer-created a “micro crackle” effect.
Chip with damp toothpick, short stiff brush dipped in water
Apply decal
Gwosh rust and black applied with cosmetic sponge-seal w Dullcote
Gwosh rust streaking with small brush/wet toothpick-seal w Dullcoat
Apply pigment powders to exposed chips
Add oil with gwosh and pigment powders for texture.
Slight touch of thinned Floquil High Gloss on oil.

Decal:
I found a lubester decal image on the web, and modified it a bit in Photoshop. I imported several copies in Word and made them an appropriate size. I printed them on Testor’s white decal sheet for ink jet printers and when dry, I sealed them with the Testor’s decal seal spray. Cut out and applied as normal. I found the decal film a bit thick and rubbery. The image around the edges deteriorated some, but it was OK for this. I plan to try some different paper next time (hopefully by a different mfg.)

For reference, this is 2.125" high.
 

I used Builders In Scale 40 LPI blackened chain. I got it at my LHS, but I think CC Crow has it.

The sign was printed on Epson presentation paper, then covered with Scotch magic tape and burnished. Then I added the “bolts” from the back. Then soda blasting for tooth and Gouache N Powders. I also Dullcoated the backside for humidity protection.

I decided to try scratchbuilding my gas pump. Slowly making progress:

I received my gas pump “kit” yesterday (the square-ish parts are an electric meter). The pump body is just under 3” long and is hollow to use less resin.

I gave the gallon indicators a quick spritz of primer; I should have cleaned them first so there’s a touch of wax residue still on them. Wayne pumps had 3 sets of cast aluminum indicators so there are 30 tiny bits to keep track of. They are .010 thick, .07 high by .125 wide. The numbers are .006 thick. It looks like maybe a good cleaning and a coat of Mr. Surfacer (gotta get some) should take care of these without further sanding. These sit on tiny sprues and are very fragile…high marks to PAP for cleaning these without dislodging them.

I got the gas pump body primed and ready for final paint. First I added a number of “composite” items to the printed body. The Wayne 615 pump had an unusual “coat hook” style of nozzle hanger. Although I could have printed this piece, the .02 diameter hooks would have been lacking in strength and difficult to sand. Since I plan to hang the nozzle and likely heavy brass “hose” on this hook, I fabricated one from styrene strip and brass wires that were glued into holes drilled in the pump body. A couple of NBW castings finished it off.

The prototype outer “skins” were joined by tabs held together with screws and nuts. I printed .01 x .03 slots in the body and fitted pieces of styrene strip into them to make the tabs. Tichy rivets (as round head screws) and Grandt NBW’s were then added to each side.

I also added some I.D. tags (or builders plates) to the body using Scotch tape embossed with screw heads. I removed the adhesive with paint thinner and wound up with a plate that was .001 thick. These will be painted over as seen on many older pumps thus saving me the need to figure out a way to represent the tiny embossed lettering. Sometimes the lazy man dost prosper after all (or tries too).

Finally I added some base bolts using McLeod NBW castings. I had printed holes for the stems and they pressed right in.

Oh, and a few dents!

I primed the body with some flat black spray from a can. When it fully cures I will lightly sand the sheet metal “skins” smooth but leave the texture on the cast parts.

I painted the pump body and have begun the long and tedious chipping and rusting process. I’m afraid this pump has seen better days. The oil dispenser I did previously exhibited mostly in-service chipping; wear and tear from regular use plus a touch of surface rust. The gas pump has a little of that, but most of the chipping, (or actually flaking) seen is paint failure, along with more serious surface rusting. I suspect the pump was going downhill even before the garage closed.

I painted and chipped the pump body the same way as the oil dispenser. The rusting also uses the same sequence. I did try to preserve some of the lifted paint chips by using Dullcote and a touch of diluted white glue. We’ll see if they survive further handling. I also took a small round wire wheel and pressed the edge of it into the softened paint and wiggled it in spots near the chips. Easy to overdo, but an interesting lifting texture effect.