That is very effective. I am quite impressed.

Thanks, Kevin, I must admit I do like how this staining technique has turned out. Very random, heavy here, light there, natural blemishes, etc. Here are the end walls. All four walls came out pretty good, nice and old and nasty. Next will be to install the windows, then on to the roof.

More later......

Thanks, Steve - much appreciated words from one of THE bbbbbaddest-to-the bone layouts on THE Gauge!

Got the windows framed and installed as well as the walls assembled. Starting to look like progress finally. Amazing to see all the faults show up in the pictures that you don't really see....such as the interior shot thru the doorway really brings out the bad glazing job on the window on the back wall. Must figure a way to fix that. I will add more details to the walls after completion such as nail holes and a piece of wood to prop up the window on the side.

I will tackle the roof now...say a prayer, looks like I will have only one shot at this!

Latest lesson learned # 8) Make sure tetnus shots are current before using brand new wire brush to scrape the wood!
9) Have plenty of band-aids on hand (refer to #8)

Richard - I can smell the mildew and taste the dust already. That place better be filled with rusty old junk! Really great work on the aged wood.

Galen

I'm thinkin' this place might be a good place to go in and poke around if you were thinkin' it's a good day for a nasty spider bite! hock:

The process of staining that wood the way you did has paid off!

Galen's right: that aged and weathered wood looks great.

Wayne

Gonna say it again, that weathered wood is very convincing. Reminds me a little of this old cabin I ran across deep in the woods.

Thanks for the comments guys, it's a relief to hear good things from Masters such as Doc and Galen. Kevin, that picture is exactly what I was trying to make this look like I really like how this staining technique has worked out. Maybe it would be worthy of a detailed tutorial, whattyda think????

hock: hock: hock:

When I saw that photo, I was shocked by the realism achieved! That wood cutter's shack just gets more and more convincing all the time! :o :o hock:

Wait ... that IS a real one ... but I was fooled initially! This project is getting spooky, it's looking very realistic! I'm considering laying my tools down and conceding defeat!

EDIT: Corrections in both grammer and capitalization made ...

I agree with all the comments. The weathered wood turned out very nicely! Keep up the good work!

We interrupt this forum to bring you this breaking story.......Woodshed is now complete. Same basic process as the shack - the more distressed the better. Remember this is going to reside in the Appalachian Mountains circa 1930, so the fact that the Miller boys have not exactly kept their little wood cutting business pristine is no surprise...

I experimented again with the tarpaper roof. The Millers have simply let it go and only patched or repaired any leaks or damage. I sprayed the paper with Grimy Black, and then took the expensive artists' crayons and rubbed gray, white and brown to dirty it up a bit. Then I cut 3/8'' strips, then cut those random sizes and glued from bottom left to top right overlapping and letting some be uneven to suggest age. Once dry, I will get a stiff brush and add a few streaks top to bottom. Eventually, there will be a work bench with tools, wood pieces, etc to give it some character.

Comments and suggestions for the tarpaper roof are needed. I'm not sure if I like it or not.

Next up....painting the 70+ detail pieces and the roof of the shack...

We now return you to your regularly scheduled forum.....

While the weathered wood looks great, I'm not too nuts about the tarpaper and feel it detracts from your otherwise well-done work. As installed, the first decent breeze would strip that roof almost bare, revealing only the framing and no actual roof deck. Tarpaper comes on a roll, and is usually (but not always) installed horizontally across the roof, starting at the bottom. Each subsequent run overlaps the previous one by up to one third. Often, tar would be applied along the seams. Where the roll ran out, the end of the new one would overlap the previous end, too. If it's actual tarpaper, wood battens were often nailed atop it to provide better holding ability. If, on the other hand, it's meant to represent roll roofing, (basically asphalt shingles in roll form), no battens would be used.
In either case, though, I'd suggest adding a roof deck. If you're going to model the tarpaper intact, sheetwood will do the trick. If you want to model the tarpaper ripped and patched, with the roof deck showing through in places, stripwood is the route to follow.

Wayne

My first thought was that it didn't seem to lay right, but then I wondered if perhaps it would curl and lift in the sun, but then I read Wayne's reply and I think he nailed it. I'll see if I can't dig up a photo of a quasi-tar paper wood roof I did a while back that may show what I'm thinking better than I could describe it.

All in all I'd say leave it if you're happy with it, but since you expressed some hesitation I'd consider modifying it somehow by either pressing down the pieces to better overlap more tightly or re-laying the roof.

That said, I think you did really well at capturing the color and shading of the actual roofing material.

Galen

At the risk of seeming like I'm "piling on" ...

The first thing I noticed when I looked at that roof (from both sides) was the "left-to-right" application of the small sheets of paper. It took me back to when I was in art school and had a part-time job in an office shared by three (very) small architects' practices. I learned quite a bit while working there after class, weekends and during the summer.

One of the little "details" I learned while working in that architects' office I actually learned because I had proudly brought into the office for review (and hoped-for praiseof my mdeling skills) was a small structure that I had covered with corrugated metal sheets. I had sstarted applying sheets at one corner and worked my way around the building, overlapping sheets as I went. It teuned out to be a rather humbling experience!

So after the laughter died, it was explained to me that, depending on the direction of the prevailing wind in the area, and therefore the direction from which the majority of storms would approach, the wall that faced the "weather" head-on would have the sheets applied starting at the corners and overlapping each sheet, working towards the center. Then, on the walls that would be parallel to the prevailing wind, the corrugated would be applied starting at the leeward corner and overlapping each successive sheet working towards the windward corner. This arrangement prevents the wind from driving the rain under the joints of the corrugated sheets and into the building .

Beyond that, I agree with doctorwayne about the application of tar paper. You might consider corrugated on the wood shed roof ... that might look pretty interesting!

with you boys....I just can't get too warm and fuzzy about the roof. It actually looks better in person vs the picture, but I still don't like it. In my defense, I pretty much followed the directions with respect to laying the roof, and looks like the roof in the instruction manual. It is meant to be a very haphazard job at best, trying to keep in mind what this whole scene will be about.

I do think I will try to remove it and put a tin corrugated roof on it. I will search back a few threads....someone had a good thread on pressing out HO corrugated roofing material out of tin foil and a computer cable.

Thanks for the opinions, I am glad I put it up for discussion..... I'll post up the new version soon....