Freelance 2013-2 (MAW)

[faraway]

May be I invented an unusual way to do sidewalks if they have been forgotten at design time.
I use 1mm (1/25") blue foam and press the building front into it. The imprint can be cut quite precise with a scalpel in the thin and soft blue foam. A layer of concrete paint completes the process. 1mm is not immediately notices as a layer on top of the ground blocking doors etc.

ps. This example is just put together. No glue etc. The sidewalk is 2cm (.8") wide. That is far to narrow. 4cm would be much better.

[faraway]

The buildings are growing all over the place. All buildings are raw boxes only at this time.

An overview of the commercial area


The north-south road. Ground for the two buildings in the foreground is not prepared yet.


And looking down the east-west road.

[sailormatlac]

Looking good again Reinhard! I like to watch your work weeks appart. I always feel as if I'm discovering a new layout. Old brick buildings are all about cornices. Back then, they were THE place were you could put budget on a building to transcend it's boxy nature. JWB's pictures talk for themselves.

Peter North's works confirm what I always think: mundane details are much more important than many flashy structures in setting the mood. His utility poles have a lot to tell about the scene, yet takes virtually no place.

Matt

[Schraddel]

Uhh Reinhard,
is it that what i see, the start of returning of brick?

Lutz

[faraway]

... the start of returning of brick?...

Well, it is the easy bricks only.... small SmalltownUSA and Walthers kits for commercial buildings. The bricks are by far not as dominating as huge brick industry would be. Be warned to kit bash modern shortline engines (e.g. GP7U or GP10 in year 2000+ paint schemes) you might end up like me in a rural area

I starred all evening on my layout thinking about the buildings. Something was very wrong with the overall impression. The missing sidewalks ruined the small town impression and a second look with streetview at Antwerp did not permit any excuse. Continuous sidewalks are mandatory! The building subproject is on hold and the sidewalks got priority #1 this morning.



It takes some time to get used to the small dimensions of those kits. Two of them fit easy into the odd shaped area between the tracks.

[faraway]

The sidewalks are completed and a modified "Mercants's Row III" found it's way in the foreground. A two level structure would not be approbate at that location. Looks like the shop owners in Antwerp like marquees in british racing green. I will have to do some more, I like them too.

[faraway]

You'll also need Norfolk Southern caboose No. 555555, which has carried (at least) three paint schemes in the Maumee & Western era.

I did not understand your reference to this specific caboose when you posted it. It looks like it is used like a shoving platform by NS when serving the interchange at Woodburn. NS is running with the engine at the west end and the cab at the east end of the train and pushing it into Woodburn. Woodburn has only one "run around" but that is occupied by the cars to be picked up.

Quick fix is a P2K low hood NS GP38-2 and an anonymous but red cab. The Athearn high hood NS GP38-2 and an Atlas NS cab of the 555xxx series are on order.

[railohio]

I did not understand your reference to this specific caboose when you posted it. It looks like it is used like a shoving platform by NS when serving the interchange at Woodburn. NS is running with the engine at the west end and the cab at the east end of the train and pushing it into Woodburn. Woodburn has only one "run around" but that is occupied by the cars to be picked up.

NS trains do not enter the town of Woodburn proper. Interchange cars are left on and picked up from the main track between Sampson Road and Woodburn Road.

[faraway]

More green and even more side walks.

[modelsof1900]

Great improvements!

[faraway]

The last two building kits arrived today. Detailing and painting will keep me busy some time....

ps. Did again some more green at the very west end and some shrubs under the trees from today.

[Painkiller]

Looking good and starting to become alive!

[faraway]

I worked on the two buildings in the center that span the boarder of the replaceable segment. They form one unit glued to a common baseplate. The baseplate acts at the street side as an extension of the sidewalk and sits in an exact fit imprint in the ground cover (sand) for repositioning whenever it had to be removed. The baseplate had a oil film while the ground cover glue set around it last night.

I intend to put all town houses on 1mm styrene baseplates and set them with the front to the 1mm bluefoam sidewalk to get a smooth integration. Permanent fixation is not required and permit a long time of easy removable buildings to be detailed at the work desk like the two building just worked on.

Painting window frames has always been a disaster to me. Outstanding bad results after painful hours.... I did them this times with two white ink permanent markers (edding 751 and 780). The results are still not impressive but the level of pain was reduced dramatically!

[jwb]

The most effective way I've found to paint window frames on buildings where they aren't separate (e.g., Woodland Scenics) is to spray the whole side with the brick color, then mask off the whole building side with Scotch Magic Tape, then cut out the window openings including the frames. Then spray the unmasked parts with the frame color, usually white, but green and even black are also used. This can certainly be done with rattle cans. There are a couple of examples in this photo, including the Magnuson hotel in the foreground:
   

[faraway]

John, I have tried that some years ago but had a problem I could not solve.
The window frames are recessed in the wall. I did mask the front of the walls, similar as you describe it. As a result are the window frames and the sides of the wall painted. The overall impression was awful.
On your photo are the window frames only painted. How did you mask the face of the wall and the sides of the window opening?