No New Model Modeling Challenge

[pdx1955]

I got some this weekend so I finished it up with red craft paints, a PowerPoint sign, and a lot of weathering powders. I found a old bag of ballast that I opened decades ago so I used it to create the typical common tar/gravel roof.





Peter

[C855B]

Looks good, Peter. The gravel roof is an inspired touch!

May I be so forward as to offer a little help with the signage?    I'm a former typographer and old signage fan. I see great modeling jobs like what you've done with your flat, only to see a "finishing touch" of signage that doesn't fit with the era and style of building. You might be thinking to yourself, "It's OK, but even though I weathered it, somehow it doesn't quite have the feel."

First suggestion is font. You have used a modern (>1960) text face 'cause that's the tool you had on your computer. There are "display" fonts for headlines and signs and "text" fonts for reading, and they have subtly different proportions. Then there's the "modern" design, which doesn't convey a hand-painted sign font you would typically see on older architecture. Second is graphic appearance. A simple line rule border says "1930" rather than "1985". Here's what I mean:



I found the font with a web search for "old sign fonts". Thousands of results, but in the first few there were big lists of samples, and I paged through until I found one that had "the look". The site even had a "type your sample text here", so I keyed in your text, and it displayed the sample as a PNG image, which I downloaded and did a few simple Photoshop tweak to get the reverse on black and the border, and adjusted the character spacing especially between the 'W' and 'A' (this is called "kerning").

Third, and somewhat significant - building signs as big panels are mostly a modern thing (although you might be using that panel to hide a seam). Old signs were painted directly on the brick. If it were me, I'd make a decal out of that graphic, place it above the top row of windows, which is where signage of this era would be typically displayed "for all to see". Then weather accordingly.

All this FWIW, and I apologize if I overstepped. I saw a well-done model where a relatively minor change could take it from "Nice" to "Wow!".

[wazzou]

Good advice from Mike above and if I may add...all of those nice deep spaces between bricks would be the perfect opportunity to use some plain white flour, brushing off the excess and spray a heavy sealant of Dullcote to make that mortar really pop.

[pdx1955]

Looks good, Peter. The gravel roof is an inspired touch!

May I be so forward as to offer a little help with the signage?    I'm a former typographer and old signage fan. I see great modeling jobs like what you've done with your flat, only to see a "finishing touch" of signage that doesn't fit with the era and style of building. You might be thinking to yourself, "It's OK, but even though I weathered it, somehow it doesn't quite have the feel."

Mike, I went round and round on the fonts...I had downloaded some and had looked at some others...I found a nice site to use in the future. I did want something that filled the sign a bit more and your sample works. I captured your sample right out of your message and did some tweaks and reapplied the sign. You're right it looks a lot better. I was going off of 1920's  period photos that I have - some have the white border , some don't. Some buildings have the sign at the top while others have it on the 2nd, 3rd or almost anywhere in between.

On this project, the kit walls I was using it was better to have a wider space mid-building rather than up-top. As I explained earlier in the thread, I had a terrible time with the old plastic shattering instead of cutting well. I had fully intended to do a painted on sign, but the board covers up lots of patches and cracks. I had to ditch the top story and rebuild the cornice out of styrene and since of I'm modeling the mid-50's, a lot of modernization occurred during this period usually without regard to historical value and the like. Thanks for your help, it looks better and gave me some ideas to improve in the future.



Peter

[pdx1955]

Good advice from Mike above and if I may add...all of those nice deep spaces between bricks would be the perfect opportunity to use some plain white flour, brushing off the excess and spray a heavy sealant of Dullcote to make that mortar really pop.

I'm always torn on mortar applications ...at typical viewing distances its not that noticeable. Looking at my research photos, from pics on the other side of the tracks you can't see the mortar lines. You can just start to see them if you're up close. The brick in these old kits is oversize and I'm not sure I want to highlight it more.

Peter

[C855B]

OMG that was quick! I was really SWAG'ing the size and proportions, too. Glad to lend a hand, that does dress it up.

Yeah, placement of those painted-on banner signs was inconsistent, but added space in between stories is a natural placement. Anyway, in pictures of old downtowns I really notice the ones that were at the top, right underneath the cornice. We have a couple of "ghost" examples just down the street; one is the old Montgomery Wards building, so faded you really have to know what you're looking for to see it.

[wm3798]

I printed the National Wholesale Distributors sign on a simple Avery label and pressed it around the relief of the pilasters.  There isn't brick detail showing through, but at a regular viewing angle, it does the trick, I think.

Lee

[wazzou]

I'm always torn on mortar applications ...at typical viewing distances its not that noticeable. Looking at my research photos, from pics on the other side of the tracks you can't see the mortar lines. You can just start to see them if you're up close. The brick in these old kits is oversize and I'm not sure I want to highlight it more.

Peter

@pdx1955 - this is an old Heljan building from approximately the same era and I used plain white flour and Dullcote as a sealer, just to give you a sense of what I mean.

[pdx1955]

@pdx1955 - this is an old Heljan building from approximately the same era and I used plain white flour and Dullcote as a sealer, just to give you a sense of what I mean.

Ok, I see...more subtle than I thought. I got some foreground buildings that I'll try this on.

Peter

[wm3798]

The kit he's using, though is the old Heljan that was sold as HO or N, depending on which door inserts you used.  The bricks on that one are almost too big to be cinder blocks in N.  On my brewery, which comes from a similar kit, I painted it to look like it's more of a brown stone structure.  I want to do the mortar, but I think I'm going to go with something darker rather than lighter.



Lee

[jmarley76]

Follow up on one of my little buildings... finished and in place.

[John]

Well, this is no masterpiece, but it fits the bill .. I used mainly styrene, some PVC pipe from some plumbing work I did a while back, and some junk out of the scrap box ..  Automated Packaging is a real rail served industry in Keyser WV -- they get plastic pellets in covered hoppers .. usually the 4 bay kind . the type where you hook a hose to the botttom ..

http://binged.it/1NMBzlv

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[Ed Kapuscinski]

I dig it man!

[wm3798]

Nice industry, John!  Didn't realize you used scrap PVC for the bins... nice...

Dig the little structures, too.  You can never have enough of those things.

Lee