Introducing The PistonBroke Line

[Steamtrains]

I hadn't caught that little bit of "indiscretion"..... :oops:

[sgtcarl1]

Me, neither!

[OBJack]

Life has a way of keeping me away from the trains every now and then, But now I is back.....

Hey guys I apologize for Rusty showing his all. :oops:

Now, I admit PistonBroke does have a problem with some folk who have no shame, ( there are other photos around to prove it)

But poor ol' Rusty,..... I mean there is a story,
It is the only place he can go to read the financial times without his missus nagging him .. :hey: ,
Then this morning the lock on the door broke ,...
....and it just so happened the paparazzi were trying to photograph a film starlet who had just arrived in town that morning, but unfortunately got Rusty in Shot doing his constitutional.
He wasn't looking for fame.
It was thrust upon him by an inattentive editor, and a crap photographer.



Looks like the boys have been working while I have been away...well they have done something..

'Cause looky here, its up


So I walked around and took a few snaps


And at the back

Yep roof and all

Then we put them together to see if things are square etc


and at street level

Time to stop and stick a few of the do-dads on, like the signs and vents and other stuff.
I will try not to have such a long sabbatical 'till the next post.
Gotta keep the boys working.

Jack

[Charlie B]

Jack, I sure wish you lived next door. I could use your patience and skills for about 10 years here. Great work.
Charlie

[OBJack]

Jack, I sure wish you lived next door. I could use your patience and skills for about 10 years here. Great work.
Charlie

You know Charlie, sometimes I would rather be anywhere but here, and yours is as good an offer as any, however I must warn you I 'aint the most patient bloke, but I do get enjoyment, and it sure eases work's stress a whack, when I sit and fumble with the bits of a build, Trouble is I still like to go faster than the drying glue which is a major problem.

However those building Dudes have done gone and finished Ol' Four Fingered Tonys, and this is the result...

Sorry I have not been here for a while ...... been having some trouble getting the Do-Dads together for the Boys to work with.

A few verandas, signs, fruit and some meat added


Did you say meat?....Yes sirree


"A Chimberly," and vents were added, plus the main lighted sign,and a canopy over the fruit stall outside


And one on the side too

I straightened it up after the photo showed the mess. :oops:
Add the back loading door


I s'pose we had better check out the side of the building


And settle it on the layout with a few LPBs to see how it fits.

Certainly looks better from afar.

No lights inside yet but they may come later.

Better give the Boys some time off so they can reload for their next mission.

[Charlie B]

Jack, that is fantastic. the realism you add, and the story line makes this thread very enjoyable. I look forward to new chapters.
Charlie

[Gary S]

hock: hock: hock: hock: WOW! That is simply fantastic. All of the details and the signs really made your structure come to life. This is fantastic modeling.

The level of modeling here at The Gauge has been increasing rapidly! I hope I can keep up.

[faraway]

Great work! Congratulations!!

[Ralph]

I really enjoy the character of your scenes with their details, the weathering, the signs, the use of figures. Fun to look at and a pleasure to admire!
Ralph

[OBJack]

Jack, that is fantastic. the realism you add, and the story line makes this thread very enjoyable. I look forward to new chapters.
Charlie

Thanks Charlie, I am pleased that you are still able to read the story and have not tuned out, I enjoy my part in it.

hock: hock: hock: hock: WOW! That is simply fantastic. All of the details and the signs really made your structure come to life. This is fantastic modeling.
The level of modeling here at The Gauge has been increasing rapidly! I hope I can keep up.

Gary I have been admiring your true to scale model building of your "Little Train Room", so I am sure your skills here will set the pace, but thanks for the comment.
And Ralph and Faraway, coming from you guys, that makes an ol' F@rt very happy.
I will now continue to bore ........

I will preface this thread with a "cop out" and an ....."I might not finish this...." statement because my day job ( playing farmer ) starts in earnest about a week from now, and that usually interferes with fun times.

I am also throwing caution to the wind here, because I will be having a shot at overseeing something Those Kramers have not built with before........Hydrocal.

Now, as I said, this may be a bit tricky for us 'cause we haven't been here before, so any advise would be welcome....

Here is what we are dealing with

Yikes ...we even have some bats smuggled in downunder ( bottom right)

Here is the elevation and final plans of The M. Balmer's House. :geek:

Isn't your President a Mr O. Balmer... sorry wrong spelling.... Thought we would be rubbing shoulders with someone nearly famous there for a while.

Here is a look at some of the detail.. I will try to pick at some of the mortar joints & brickwork make it more pronounced in places ( or stuff it up)

And no, I did not break that wall in the above pic, it was already done. No doubt I will have plenty of chances to break a bit all by myself. Elephant fingers me!!

This house is to be located in an outer suburb of PistonBroke called Ucandie. It is an old suburb, and most of the population have moved on (or died ) after a series of unexplained events occurred there.
More on that later.

painting seems to be one of the problems people talk about. Firstly, to seal or not to seal before painting??
secondly, what glue to use?
Bracing?

I will use an epoxy to glue it together!!! Because it is all I have at the moment. There... decision made.

Enough decisions for one day. Time for me to find those Kramers and get them to work. :hey:

Jack

[Charlie B]

Jack, I was about to report you missing, glad to hear, and see you are OK.
The folks in the Linka <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/linkabuildings/?yguid=335613585">http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/linkab ... =335613585</a><!-- m --> building group recommend Elmer's carpenter glue to glue their cast plaster pieces together. I can't report from experience yet because all I've done is made a few castings.
It's good to hear from you, and post when you can
Charlie

[Saltwater Cowboy]

This is a super thread sir...I just discovered it! (geez) As far as your DowntownDeco kit goes, I have done 3 so far and really enjoyed doing them. Here's my tips....You'll see thin plaster "flash" in the windows and along the edges of some of the castings. Use fine sand paper to clean them up. Do not use an exacto blade! Learnt from experience! It's too easy to slice a bit too much off and then your edges and windows won't be square. Seal the castings with white primer. I used a cheapo rattle can from Wallyworld. You can use many different types of paints, but I found craft acrylics in the small squeezebottles from AC Moore or Michaels to be very easy to use on plaster. If you have a broken casting as you show in your pic it will glue back together with plain old Elmers white glue; but I used Aileen's tacky glue for the faster setting time. In fact I used it for all the assembly too. I just made sure that once assembled, I let it sit for a good 24 hours to make sure everything was good and adhered to. If you accidentally break a piece beyond repair, Randy at DowntownDeco will send you a new one at no charge. I had a wall section that arrived smashed to a billion pieces (which I'm sure was the U.S. Postal Services fault) and I sent an email to Randy who had me a new piece in 2 or 3 days. Super company, super folks, super service, super kits that are super fun to build! Can't wait to see how you make out with yours!

Matt

[OBJack]

Back again.
Thanks for taking the time to endure the read and post the advice Matt, I am sort of doing it like that although being a slight 500 km drive to my nearest LHS, at times I have to make do with what I have on hand . I didn't bother asking Randy to replace the small broken piece.. which I am sure he would have but...I am living upside down downunder in Australia so... anyway you get my drift. :oops:

Thanks for your concern Charlie, I regularly go MIA ( or so The War Office tells me, but in her case it is just my selective hearing) But I usually turn up like a bad penny, and I gotta wait until it rains until I start work in earnest.
I couldn't follow the link, guess you have to be a yahoo group member, but will pursue all avenues of attack 'cause I have a few more to build.

I have done a bit more on the M Balmers place.

Man this white stuff gets everywhere.
I have just sanded down the edges to take off any lips and unevenness so all the seams fit snugly together...... and it looks like 100 pastry cooks have invaded the house and had a flour fight.. with me in the middle.

I am covered in the stuff from head to toe and I've only just started.

Too embarrassed to show the rest of the room folks. :oops:

Ok, so I glued the first couple of bits together ( as well as the broken piece ) with Araldite, 2 part epoxy.

Seems like they stayed stuck...... first hurdle hurdled.

I read somewhere you can strengthen the walls with card, so why not.


I then had a go at gouging a few of the mortar lines a bit deeper with a dental pick thingy to make them a bit more pronounced ....maybe.


After painting the walls a couple of times with a paint wash to seal them a bit, and seeing as how the first bits I stuck together were still intact, I decided to glue together a few more.

Looks like a few vines are going to be needed to cover some dodgy workmanship on the corners

And so held together with some of the building industry's most advanced technological and innovative pieces of equipment, I went to bed hoping it would still be together in the morn.

Yep

I painted the inside black, ....as well as the window recesses... and added a bit of bracing.

What the heck.. what do I know? Just doing what I see others others do.

I gotta tell ya, while I'm experiencing this type of build for the first time, its not only the medium that I get messy with, it's the glue. :o It hardens fairly quickly and not only sticks your fingers together, but anything you touch also ends up stuck to something, or some body part, ...been seen walking around with a piece of cardboard and a toothpick stuck to my for a few hours....and.... I end up with little piles of hardened glue everywhere.
Sorry, no pics available of that either.

Just as well it's a hobby and you can stop anytime you want to.
I love this game.

Anywho.... onto the next phase, I stuffed some tissue paper into the window recesses in readiness for the first outside paint job on the M.Balmers

Now I need to find me some painters..

P.S. I noticed those Kramers aren't showing their sign at the M Balmers at the moment, I be thinkin' they don't want to put their name to anything ....until it is proven whether or not they can build it.

[eightyeightfan1]

Grimms Funeral Home.....From a limited edition of "666"!
Ohhhh..........Kay!


After seeing all your other work, can't wait to see this one finished, no matter what number it is.

[Gary S]

I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out myself. As I said before, the structures are fantastic. All the detail and weathering and character = A+!!