Pierce Arrow AA truck street scene

[Model Mate]

I realise that my AA truck project is now actually becoming two projects in one – the truck itself…

 

 

….and the diorama for it, so I thought I’d best split it into two threads. This first post is a repeat of what I’ve already posted in the truck thread. Whilst I’m building this for the AA truck, I may use this scene as a “standard” base for photographing all sorts of vehicles in the future.

 

TheAA2000’s recent fantastic work inspired me…

 

 

So I want to try something similar (or at least as close as I can get). The use of a strong vertical element is definitely a winner in composition terms, so I’m planning to ape his superb work and construct a building. I did consider building the tail of a German aerial victim, crashed into the ground, but 1/35 scale WW1 German aircraft kits are a bit thin on the ground, and scratching one would be more work than the actual AA truck, plus I couldn’t quite visualise how I’d do the wreckage, so a building it will be.

 

I also usually include figures. I like doing figures, but I have much room for improvement, and for this one, I’m currently inclined to leave them out. One of my reference photos appears to show the truck in a French(?) street with a rather formal building behind. I browsed the Miniart series of buildings on-line and found one I could base mine on – I’ll scratchbuild it of course.

 

I bought some 5mm foamboard from a local sign shop – good value (I think) at £20 for three 1.5m x 500mm sheets which should last me basically forever. I’ve not used this stuff before, but I love it already! Glues with plastic cement (it’s polystyrene after all) and it cuts and shapes really nicely. If you’ve not used it, think firm but slightly squishy plasticard.

 

I cut out a base and set (pun intended) about carving out some cobbles using the back of a fairly hefty Xacto blade. I marked out the lines in pencil, but then used the blade freehand to get a bit of wobble.

 

Please forgive the crappy photo quality – I’m missing photoshop at the moment and relying on windows “tools”.

 

Despite the slightly wobbly lines, they were still a bit too regular, so I “damaged” the tops with the handle of the knife – really pleased with the result, and it’s so easy!

 

I cut a selection of thinner slices of foam – this isn’t easy, but the resulting, again, rather wobbly thickness I can live with. This stuff is so flat and regular, that a bit of variation helps I think. These were glued on using tube cement to form the pavement, and the kerbs and paving slabs carved in using the back of a scalpel this time for thinner joins.

 

Here’s the overall base so far.

 

Great fun! I’ve drawn up a building façade on CAD, but I scaled it a bit too big (familiar cock-up), so need to re-print before I can cut that out, but I’m really looking forward to it.

[Model Mate]

I rescaled my CAD façade drawing and transferred it onto a couple of sheets of foamboard, then cut out the door and window openings:

 

At 1/35, this (double thickness) 10mm thick wall scales up to 350mm which is probably about right for this type of building.

 

I glued them together and cut out a slot for a hanging lintel over one of the damaged windows, which I made up from a couple of scrap slices of board.

 

One of the door cut-outs was trimmed down and re-purposed as the entrance step, while another was cleaned up to eventually form a balcony. I cut the return wall as per the front face. Here’s them mocked up in position.

 

Plenty of space for rubble and so on ‘round the back.

 

I’ll add the quoins, frames etc. from a mixture of plastic and paper card, so most of this foamboard will be covered. The bits that aren’t will have bricks scribed onto them in the same way I did the cobbles and paving.

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Looks great.

 

Good method for making cobblestones! 👍

[Geo1966]

Morning Model Mate,

Is the below the same stuff you are using? If so i guess you have to be careful not to cut through to the foam as it appears the covering (what ever it is) is not thick, or am i being thick? 🤔

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cathedral-A1-Foam-Board-White/dp/B00BZ1VRLY/ref=pd_day0fbt_img_2/261-0628645-1472145?pd_rd_w=FW73T&pf_rd_p=1f9babdd-bafc-463b-9418-3a52604bad5a&pf_rd_r=RK5Z146AAK22CS6X9V70&pd_rd_r=e50804c0-82fe-42b1-bbc1-3572d3a7f1ba&pd_rd_wg=gx8Mf&pd_rd_i=B00BYT1KN2&th=1

 

George

[Model Mate]

Hi George, I thought I’d find something like the board you’ve seen, but instead, the stuff I’ve found is much more solid. It’s not got a paper facing as many do, but is plastic (polystyrene I think: model making plastic glued works well with it) all the way through and isn’t noticeably “foamy” (i.e. there are no bubbles to be seen) more like slightly springy/squishy, though it needs a fair bit of pressure to squash it. I don’t think you’d make a mark using just fingers. I’ve no idea what it’s called; I got it from a local sign making business. It’s a sod to cut, needing multiple passes of a scalpel, but I’m glad I got it. I think of it as lightweight, thick plasticard rather than foam board really.

[Model Mate]

A little online research reveals that I’ve bought some HIPS - high impact poly sheet…. And clearly got a bargain!

[Model Mate]

I started carving brickwork into what will be exposed sections of the walls using a scalpel. I plucked out a number of the bricks on the broken ends of the walls. All the scraps will be saved for rubble and I cut some extra full bricks from some more foamboard.

 

 

I tore up some thick sketch paper to be applied as plaster/render on top of the foam walls. Hopefully the texture should look a bit like relatively smooth render.

 

On top of this I need raised quoins and smooth plaster bands and panels. For the corner, I cut a 0.5mm plasticard folded angle, and 0.75mm blocks will be glued on to form the quoins.

Here’s the kit of parts – from bottom to top: foamboard wall with brick pattern, paper “render” (probably fixed on with spray mount as PVA won’t cut it) and corner angle and corner quoins.

 

Lots more cutting to do – my “scalpel finger” is a bit sore already!

[Model Mate]

I’ve been working in the smaller return wall, to test everything out before I tackle the main facade, and after a few more bits of plasticard and paper, I’m happy that this is pretty much done.

 

Here’s how it looks connected to the front.

 

And so on with the front…. First carve the bricks where they’ll be exposed. 2mm horizontal lines and 6mm vertical.

 

Then 0.5mm plasticard vertical strips and paper (the spray mount has bled through a bit, but not a problem).

 

….cut out the doors and windows.

 

Here’s the current mockup on the base after I glued on some sills. I’ve started cutting out the joist support holes on the inside, but there’s a fair bit of exposed brick to be carved out on the inside wall yet. I’ve already done this for the return wall, but the main one still needs doing.

 

 

 

[GRK]

This is looking great! Did some Googling on the hips plastic and it doesn’t look to have the sort of squishy foam that yours seems to have, I wonder if yours is a specific type?

[Model Mate]

It's only very slightly squishy - it takes a bit of force to mark it - squeezing with fingers won't do anything, but a metal tool will mark it pretty easily compared to "solid" plasticard for example.

[GRK]

Ok thanks, I’ll have to give it a go. Haven’t made any large building before so keen to try a few different materials to see what works 

[Model Mate]

I’ve been continuing with the main walls. I was reluctant to spend any money on a pre-made diorama kit, but seeing how long this is taking, I can certainly see the benefit! That said, I do like to make a scratchbuild project thoroughly scratchbuilt, so I’ll carry on. It’s been good fun so far.

 

Having completed the internal and external faces including “plaster” (paper), I glued the walls together but not onto the base just yet.

 

I cut some joists and fitted them loosely into the cut outs in the rear of the wall before marking them for cutting/breaking. By poking them at odd angles with a scalpel blade, they break quite nicely, giving a reasonably convincing snapped-joist look.

 

I’ve also fitted the balcony and a roof coping. These were both pinned with wire dowels and glued with superglue and plastic cement for strength.

 

After all I’ve said about scratchbuilding, I may resort to some etched railings for the balcony – I might try soldering up some copper wire, but it could be difficult, and a pre-made brass set might end up looking much better.

 

Lastly for now, I downloaded some turn of the century and late Victorian wallpaper images and tiled them in photoshop, then printed onto A3 paper for later in the build.

 

[dnl42]

This is coming along very well. The effects you're creating are really quite effective. 

[Model Mate]

I decided that the foam board (HIPS) beams that I’d cut would be best replaced with wooden versions so I ordered a few 6.5mm x 5mm balsa strips on the basis of wood looking more like wood than plastic does.

 

These squeezed nicely into the cut outs in the wall, and so I made up a section of shattered shallow pitched roof, using very thin strips of balsa cut from left over bits of beam as slate battens on the top and lath (a bit overscale, but never mind) on the bottom.

 

 

Pieces of ceiling plaster made from thick paper will be stuck on once all the wood is painted. For the roof tiles, I may cut up plasticard, or roll out some putty and cut it - not sure yet.

 

I also made up beams for the ground floor.

 

I’ve been using coffee stirrers for various timber pieces, but the coffee shop pilfering is likely to get out of hand to secure enough for this job, so I ordered a pack of 200 of them too. These will be used for the floorboards of course.

 

As the walls and base are pretty much done (I’ll fix the roof, internal stud walls and floors permanently later), I sprayed them with grey and white Halfords plastic primer, with the white from above only to get a bit of preshade effect.

 

Next will be a bit of paint - stonework first (sprayed) followed by brush-applied brick and plaster base colours. I may strip off the internal "plaster" and re-apply it with the wallpaper pre-applied, otherwise it might prove difficult to align the tears and cuts in the plaster and wallpaper.

[Model Mate]

I selected a couple of stone/buff enamel colours for the stonework. I added a bit of black to the yellower/lighter one and sprayed it upside-down; that is, from underneath, to provide some darker shadow colour.

 

Next came the neat light stone colour sprayed straight at the wall faces followed by the same with a drop of white from above. The darker/browner tone was then sprayed onto the short wall and other bits facing the same direction. I’ve noticed that stone buildings weather according to the predominant weather/wind direction. It’s very subtle and might not have been worth it, but what the hell.

 

The pavements got a similar treatment, although I used the darker stone colour as a pre-shade in the joints. I think it looks a bit too heavy, but with all the dirt, dust and junk to go on top, I’m hoping it’ll be ok.

 

I applied a very thin wash of burnt umber oils to the lower edges of the stone panels and gaps between them.

 

Next came the bricks. I brushed on a well-thinned enamel brick/rust colour and then picked out some using a thicker (but still pretty heavily thinned) coat of the same colour. Some bricks were also treated with a very thin wash of the brown buff tone.

 

Lastly for the base coats, I used some pale blue enamel, again well-thinned, for the plaster sections. These panels will also get an oil wash.

 

Note that I’ve not done anything to the kerbs or cobbles yet – this is just grey and white primer so far.

 

 

Once it’s all dry, I’ll slosh on some pro-modeller sandy light dirt clay wash over the bricks. I bought this stuff years ago when I mainly did planes and found it too grubby and gritty, but for this type of work it should hopefully be ideal.

[Maginot]

That's very effective. Great result.

[Model Mate]

Just a brief update….

 

I applied the clay wash: here it is partially applied and still wet.

 

After a bit of drying and a couple more applications (with a drop of washing up liquid to allow it to spread better), I cleaned the bricks up with cotton buds and got this:

 

I’m pretty pleased with this. The bricks look quite new, but then they would have been protected by the render until recently and wouldn’t actually have been very old anyway in 1915.

 

I also touched a few of the cobbles in using grey enamel tones and applied a burnt umber pinwash. They’re way too bright and contrasty at the moment, so I’ll drybrush a few greys on top and shovel on some more of the clays wash(es).

 

I've got some evergreen angle strips now, so can crack on with the windows.

 

[Model Mate]

Time to venture indoors (this summer that’s not a bad idea as it’s not stopped raining all year!) and get on with the internals.

 

My non-pilfered coffee stirrers arrived, so I used the last of the balsa sections to make up the internal stud walls (a bit hefty for studs but never mind) and added the floorboards to the ground and first floor. Coffee stirrers were thinly sliced to make more lathe and I’ve started adding these to the first floor partition. The ground floor wall and ceiling need them yet.

 

The roof timbers got a soaking with highly thinned raw umber oils. These look really brown - not very convincing for natural timber, but a passable creosote colour maybe(?) I tried to leave the snapped ends free of the colour, or at least lighter in colour.

 

The first and ground floor beams will get the same treatment, while the floorboards will have a lighter grey/brown stain.

 

From experience and memory of lathe walls in a Victorian house I used to own, these were dark brown - presumably treated - so once they are all fitted, I’ll give these the darker wash as well.

 

As I suggested earlier, I stripped off the internal “plaster”. Luckily these came off in single pieces so will be used as templates to cut new ones made of “plaster” paper laminated with the wallpaper patterns before being torn and applied to the walls.

 

[vytautas]

It looks like real architecture (sorry, ruins)! Very impressive

 

Vytautas

Edited August 24, 2021 by vytautas

[Model Mate]

ahh well, that'll be the day job - though I tend to design train stations rather than houses!

 

thanks Vytautas

[Bandsaw Steve]

Wow! That’s a lot of great work. Very involved. Looks great but I think you have convinced me to 

stick to scratchbuilding aeroplanes. 

[Model Mate]

Painting and decorating time!

 

I finished staining the timber parts using raw umber for the beams and lathe and very thin burnt umber for the floorboards. I laminated my printed wallpaper onto pieces of thick drawing paper and then stuck these onto the interior walls using spray mount. I applied strips of plain paper for the ceilings and above the picture-rails. These got a layer of cream coloured acrylic.

 

I’m nearly ready to get this all permanently fixed together and start dirtying it all up. Just skirting boards, doors and windows to sort first.

[Pouln]

What a great display this will make for your model. Thanks for explaining in such detail your work.

 

Regards, Poul

[Model Mate]

Not a great deal to report, but I have made minor progress.

 

The street got a few dry-brush coats of various light greys to tone down the contrast, followed by heavy washes of promodeller dark dirt, light dirt and earth in streaks to simulate the traffic wear.

 

I decided that the floorboards were a bit too light still, so they got some further washes of burnt umber with a little variation of raw umber on the occasional board. I also “drilled” some nail heads in with the tip of a scalpel.

 

After a long wait and not inconsiderable cost given the size of it, my photo-etched railings appeared in the post. Unfortunately, it’s not very long overall, so the balcony will have to be cut down to suit.

 

I painted some coffee stirrers off-white to chop up into skirtings, so I’ll soon be able to fix it all together properly and in anticipation of this, I drilled some screw holes up through the base and into the walls – I’m sick of the thing toppling over, and it’s only a matter of time before something gets damaged (in a way I don’t want). I think I’ll do all the rubble and dust before putting the roof tiles in place – makes sense I think.

[Maginot]

The wallpaper is a cracker.