Fire station in HO

[graffen]

Starting a new project...

A really old kit that I bought a while back.
It´s going to be fun to build a really old craftsman kit. Printed cardboard, some stripwood and a lot of instructions....
 

[Chris333]

I recently built an old Alexandra Scale models kit. The walls were die cut and horrible. Just about every single piece of the kit needed to be altered or replaced. The most valuable part of the kit was the scale drawings in the instructions...

[peteski]

That comes to show just how far the hobby has come. Laser cut kits make things so much easier.
What you have there is what we call "craftsman-style kit".  If the cut-outlines weren't printed on the materials (only raw material and plans were provided then that would be an "advanced craftsman-style kit". 

[graffen]

That comes to show just how far the hobby has come. Laser cut kits make things so much easier.
What you have there is what we call "craftsman-style kit".  If the cut-outlines weren't printed on the materials (only raw material and plans were provided then that would be an "advanced craftsman-style kit". 

[graffen]

The fire station kit build has begun...
Cutting the windows and doors. A new blade was definitely a must
The walls was a pain to cut out in 1/8" cardboard.
I have glued the brick faces to the cardboard, and they are now drying under a ton of lead weights....

[Chris333]

Geez      

[strummer]

I recently built an old Alexandra Scale models kit. The walls were die cut and horrible. Just about every single piece of the kit needed to be altered or replaced. The most valuable part of the kit was the scale drawings in the instructions...

You know, I just did the "NYC Freight Station" kit from that old line. I had to straighten the warped sides with strip wood, but other than that, I thought the castings were good, and it built into a pretty nice looking model. Remember the "Haunted House" kit?

Mark in Oregon

[graffen]

Been building the wall details.


The brick surround is cardboard.


Doors....


The gables are almost finished.


Painting bricks.... The walls are quite large, so it's going to take a while.

[graffen]

This is how I did the walls:



I primed them with burnt sienna and then picked some bricks in lighter and darker colors.

Note that they are way to strong in contrast at this stage.





I then lightly Airbrushed some of the base color to tone down the bricks.



To make the mortar, I painted the walls with warm gray oil paint straight from the tube.



I then wiped it off while wet.

I lastly used a towel that was very lightly damped in mineral spirits to remove the oil paint from the brick surfaces.





Just the way I liked it.

[peteski]

I love the brick arches around the window openings. Are those done brick-by-brick?  That is a detail often overlooked in scratchbuilt brick structures.

[graffen]

The arches are done as a fan (almost).
I cut almost all the way thru so I could bend the strip to shape.

[Chris333]

Would that mineral spirits peeling paint trick work on styrene?

[graffen]

Would that mineral spirits peeling paint trick work on styrene?

It could work, as the mineral spirits function is to create a water on oil effect...

[graffen]

The fire station build continued.



I've assembled the walls and built the windows and doors.
They are mostly made out of cardboard with printed plastic glass.



The embossed brick walls were a real chore to work with....But it worked out okay.

[peteski]

You did a great job on the window arches on those large windows, but what is missing to me is the sills. Either brick or some sort of slab, like concrete or stone.  Same goes for the side and rear windows. Even a simple piece of strip styrene painted gray (concrete or granite color) would make the window complete.  I also think that adding arches (or whatever the top part of the window opening is called on flat window openings) would also enhance the look and finish the wall nicely.  Again, either a course of bricks like you used on the arches, or a gray-colored slab.