P5se Camelback's 2010 Summer Structure Challenge GERN Plant

[Gary S]

Argh! First, I posted the wrong photo above, it is now fixed.

Bil, as to your problem, it may be the alcohol reacting with the Dullcote. An old technique to do a fade is to Dullcote something, then spray some alcohol on it. The effect is supposedly reversible, as a new coat of dullcote will get rid of the white-ish appearrance.

[doctorwayne]

Gary's correct - the alcohol reacts with the Dullcote, resulting in the white haze. After you've applied the weathering and let it dry, give the whole works another overspray of Dullcote - that should rectify the situation.

Wayne

[MasonJar]

biL...!

Don't despair! The alcohol over DullCote effect is as Gary and Wayne have described. Don't ask how I found out And luckily it is (more or less) reversible using the method stated.

Not to worry -- but you'll need to find another way to weather the building. Dry brushing with craft paint is good, but slow. Chalks are good, but tend to fade when DullCoted, or rub off if not so protected. A wash without the alcohol might do the trick.

Andrew

[scubadude]

C'mon biL, you are too close to throw in the towel now!....Don't let the painters red tag the whole jobsite

[P5se Camelback]

Thanks for the encouragement, fellas!

I feel a little better this morning ... I was just very depressed yesterday because I started the day with the application of a weathering wash on the end wall and then spent a whole day trying to correct it, retracing my steps TWICE, and still ended up in worse shape than I had started the day!

But I've had a few recommendations offered this morning for methods of restoration and I'll have one more cup of coffee and a cranberry/orange zest scone with some whipped butter and then go out to the garage and give the DullCote can a shake and see where we are after that; where we go from there.

Believe me, I'm not a quiter! My daughter even chastised me last night for "giving up!" She said, "You may have missed the deadline, but Dad, you are notorious for being slow, possibly the slowest person in the world, except when driving. But you don't give up. You have to remember, it's been how long - eighteen, twenty years - you will be even slower than usual just getting back into your very slow swing of things ... but you will finish, and it will be another of your really cool models that I remember from when I was little!" [She's a good kid ... I love her!] :!:

So, O.K. ... I'm still "on the job." At the end of the day today, I will photograph where I am in the build and post it. And that's where I'll be ... wherever it is. If I'm close, I'll charrete again tonight and photograph it in the morning's first natural light and post that. And if the building isn't completed, I'll keep working on it and keep posting to this thread until it is finished to my satisfaction!

T.T.F.N.!

[Gary S]

Stay with'em biL! Cuz I am planning on staying with you for as long as it takes to build the entire GERN facility that you have planned! Your initial planning was so awesome that this GERN facility will be top notch.

[cnw1961]

biL, I don’t mind if you finish your project in time for the challenge. It is well worth to wait to see it finished, however long it takes. These challenges are more about getting started and doing something anyway ...

[P5se Camelback]

I’ll not be getting my building completed on time for the voting –- I just have too much still to do! Being away from the hobby (and building models) for 18-20 years has made me forget how long it takes to accomplish things when you scratch-bash a foreground structure with a partial interior. That meant that my game plan, the time line/schedule that I had developed for fabrication was totally inadequate for the amount of work involved. With what I have rediscovered and a couple new things I’ve learned, I’ll hopefully be able to develop a much better plan for the next Challenge!

I had never ever tried the alcohol/ink wash weathering method before so it was a big risk that I took trying it for the first time on this structure! I paid for that risk by being bitten … big time! But a couple of you guys stepped up and offered some pearls of advice. The fix suggested really does work as described and I'm be even more angry at myself for wasting an entire day trying to clean up what I thought was "bleed through" white from the spackle "grout" (another technique I had never tried before, sticking my neck out in a highly visible build.) I could have used the time to build the pairs of double-buck doors for the four doorways, two pair of which will be in the open position (opening out, I guess ... I'm still not quite sure) and two doorways will have the doors closed. Those pairs of doors will be built as single units but appear to be a pair.

I still have to finish shingling the roof ridge and stain and weather it with dry brushing and the alcohol/ink wash, paint the two windows and glaze them, paint the exposed roof rafters on the loading dock side (plus the first two or three on the “unseen” side,) assemble and paint a bunch of crates, clean up a dozen or so poorly molded 55 gallon drums and paint them and some equally bad wooden barrels, then assemble the whole thing and place a few LPB’s, working for a living.

I'm doubt I’ll do any landscaping, at least until the building is actually "in situe."

I gave up the charrette at 03:00 hrs this morning and hit the rack … it was obvious I wasn’t going to make it … there was still too much to do and I was exhausted! However, I said before that I would photograph what I had in this morning's first natural light. That light was less than usable for photography this morning (too much moisture in the air) so I waited for the humidity to drop a little, to “burn off,” prior to dragging a piece of Luan plywood out to rest on the rails of “Horace Dodge Pick-up” and snap off a few photos. The results of that exercise now follow …

Final weathering on the Corrugated Entryway Roof …



Next, a tip of the hat to Gary, doctorwayne and Andrew ( ) … an additional coat of Dull-Cote did, in fact, fix that “nasty whitewash” on the end wall. Now, to remove all of the several layers of paint, both Krylon and Dull-Cote, to expose bare plastic so as to solvent-weld the Corrugated End Roof in place …





And then a quick test fit … just to see how it looks …



The Loading Docks have now been weathered with the Alcohol-India Ink wash …





The following photos are the ones I took after I gathered together all of the assemblies completed so far, placed them in what will be their assigned places when the structure is completed, set them up on that piece of Luan out in the driveway on Horace’s rails and pushed the Canon’s button a few times.

















So there you have it … the current state of the "Big Blue 2010 Summer Structure Challenge" build in Lehigh Acres, Florida … woefully incomplete at deadline time.

I will of course continue to work on this structure – I must! There are seven or eight more lined up behind it to become the Lehighton, Penna. GERN facility to be serviced by the Lehigh Susquehanna & Western Railroad.

As I look back at my first-ever “model railroad model-building competition,” I have had fun … I have gotten back into model railroading and building models again after a hiatus of too many years. I have also learned (check that … re-discovered) the amount of time it takes to do things when you don’t just open the box and follow the directions! I’m into it now, back building models and enjoying model railroading as more than an "armchair model railroader" until it becomes too strenuous for me to breathe …

In this Challenge we have Gary, who builds the most incredible-looking bridges in what seems like the blink of an eye at one end of the scale, and yours truly, the slowest model builder you have ever run into. (Actually, I’ll get a little faster the more I get back into it!) At any rate, here’s what I have so far. With any luck, I’ll have this thing finished before the next Challenge is issued!

[Gary S]

It has been terrific fun following along with you, biL. I salute you and your supreme efforts!



Following along with your ups and downs has been a unique journey, not only into modeling, but also into your mind and personality. So, along with the salute for the skillful modeling, I also salute you for giving us a glimpse of biL, the optimist, the modeler, the man.



Now I fully intend to prod you onward, to push you to completion of the entire GERN facility, because your initial planning was so spot on and what a wonderful complex this will be! Not that you need my prodding to get you moving, just that I am anxious to see the entire thing...

Thanks again biL!

[Gary S]

Oh... forgot to mention...

love the weathering on the brick and on the canopy. Excellent work!

Also, a huge thumbs up for all the work you did on the cardboard mock-ups. Your preliminary work was so good that it qualifies for the challenge right there!

[eightyeightfan1]

Another fine piece of work!
Gonna be hard voting this one.

[Ralph]

No worries about it being incomplete. We can see how nice it looks already!
Ralph

[P5se Camelback]

Thanks, Gary, for the very kind words! It's been great getting back into the hobby ... i've learned two things ... I'm apparently as slow as everyone has always said i was ... And I've forgotten a lot! But hanging out here should go a long way to rectifying the latter!

And Eighty-Eight Guy ... thank you so much for the compliment! I only wish I had been able to finish the build in time so it would have been worthy of a couple of votes! But the competition is too tough!

Thanks, Ralphie, for being so kind! I'm hoping that, when I get it finished it will look as nice as I had hoped it would be, and up to the quality that y'all have come to expect from the wicked-good model railroading devotees that hang out here.

Thanks, one and all, for giving me the little push that was necessary to start building stuff again! And a special thanks to doctorwayne for inviting me to come over from the Model Railroader Forums in the first place!