Help needed with my first scratchbuild

[Thunderchicken]

Hi all,

I finally took the plunge and I'm having a stab at putting my first building together. It's a small run down Victorian forge/blacksmiths and with a lack of 25/28mm British Victorian buildings on the market it should come in handy for the VSF games.

Anyway, I thought I'd show you some WIP pics then ask for some advice.

This is the basic frame with an Ironclad Minis Guardsman for scale:



Then I added embossed plastic for the roof and brickwork with cardboard for the lintels and balsa wood for the door. I also used Green Stuff to fill in any gaps:



Once it was undercoated and the brickwork painted I added a boiler type thingy and pipes to the side (it is for VSF afterall and I dont think I'd get away with rivets!):



I then 'dirtied' up the brickwork:



And finally added the windows (printed from a pic on the net):





Where I'm having the problem is painting the roof. As I said it's embossed plastic (courtesy of a trade with Jimbibly) but the tiles are not very raised so it's hard to drybrush with it or use an ink wash - I've tried both and it looks crap  You may be able to see from the last two pics I've given the roof a light dusting of dark grey and green for the weathered look but it still looks too dark. Any ideas anyone?

I've still got a fair bit to do on it so any other advice or criticisms are gratefully accepted. 

[Malamute]

This might sound odd, but it has worked for me in the past.

Instead of drybrushing downward on  the tiles from top to bottom, try drybrushing upwards, so the paint only catches the bottom edge of the tile. It might just give you the lift you need to pick out the detailing?

Otherwise it looks wonderful, love the grimy brickwork.

[Red Orc]

I'm sorry Thunderchicken, but are you serious? You want criticism of the piece and have a fair bit to do?

OK, criticism number one, it's not at my house right now staging a shoot-out between my VSFers (I have some of Ironclad Line Infantry, they are lovely aren't they?) and some Daleks... apart from that, err...

In the fourth shot, the seam where the chimney's 'shoulder' goes in looks like it could so with a tiny bit of filler (there's a 1/4mm gap there). Nothing seems to have spilled out of the boiler ever, it looks a little clean. The roof, far from looking to dark to me, looks excellent in the final shot. Just right for Welsh slate. Love the sooty streaks on the walls too, masterful work there. But I think it could do with being a little dirtier. Not the soot, that's perfect, but little bits of grass and moss living in crannies where surfaces join.

These things however are merely about polishing what is I have to say a terrain-making diamond; I started scratchbuilding terrain decades ago (I've even finished some of it) but I've never made anything that looks as nice as that (except from a kit, and even then...). You get more thumbs up from me than I have thumbs, sir.

[Mr.J]

For a first scratchbuild that is amazing! I really like the grimey feel.
I agree with Red Orc, the boiler does look very clean... maybe try ageing/dirtying that a bit. Not a criticism as it looks awesome anyway.
You could always try picking out a few of the roof tiles in a slightly light colour, but i think it looks great anyway!

[former user]

only thing I'd have to add:
not sure if the arches over the windows and gate work in one piece
maybe You should make them look like stonework

otherwise - 4 thumbs up
about the roof - if it doesn't please You - You could add some structure by dabbing with a dry sponge the drybrush colour and then repeat the drybrush with a lighter tone - to add some depth and structure

[Lowtardog]

Looks bloody good to me and I saw a similar building (think it was a Barracks room) in Stirling Castle

[Thunderchicken]

Thanks for the kind words chaps.

Malamute, I have to admit that's the only direction I didn't try for drybrushing! I'll give that a bash.

Red Orc & Mr J, I should have said the boiler is still to be painted, I haven't made my mind up what to do with it yet but it will definitely get dirty! I'll do a bit more work on the chimney too.

former user, I've copied the lintels from an old building near me. It may be that the stonework has been plastered over.

Thanks again for the help and comments chaps. 

 

[Skrapwelder]

It looks really great TC. The weathering job on the brick is great.

There has been a nice surge of brickwork scratchbuilds going up recently. Very inspiring.

[duhamel]

you can try to give a little relief, adding a little clearer picture on the edges of the tiles, but it will be long. but your model deserves to spend some time

[Silent Invader]

Its looking great.

The problem is that the roofing material is embossed WITHOUT a discernible ridge (ie, its just shallow grooved), right?  If so, when you wash it the wash just runs out, right?  In which case you might need to rotate the roof so that the panel being painted is on the horizontal, then apply a thin darker wash to the grooves, then leave it as this angle to dry before doing the other side.  I'd also do the same as Malamute suggests, which is changing the direction of the dry brush so as to catch the lower edge of the embossed 'tile', though rather than brushing upwards I'd rotate the building. 

 

[former user]

this may very well be the case

learned a new word, thx
please tell me anyone, the brick sheets - are these from railway accessories or something else?
what I can get here are plasticard sized 12x20 cm with a good profile, but if I want to do big buildings, it gets rather expensive

[Dewbakuk]

Looks fantastic.

My only suggestions would be to potentially add some guttering along the long edges of the building using half tube plasticard, and to put some form of bracket or similar along the roof edge to hide the foamcore that shows. As a note for future builds, make the roof bigger than the building, that way you can hide the joins easier.

[Ray Rivers]

I remember my first time... 

It was a disaster!   

[gamer Mac]

Excellent work Neil
I don't think you need much advice.
A great building. I think the paint work is great as it is. For the roof how about picking out the odd tile in a lighter or darker colour just to break it up a bit.
I like the boiler where did the bits come from?
Are you going to mount it on a base? If so what kind?

[Smokeyrone]

Very nice work!

One thing, not a criticism, but a suggestion:  I always "mess" up a few roof tiles. 

With plastic, you carefully score the outline of the tile (except for the top horizontal edge,) a bit deeper than it already is score, then, by gentle prying and very shallow cutting, twisting of your blade, and whatever it takes, raise up a corner or more of the tile, flake it, split it, etc.   Do that to several tiles, and they will really go along way.

Heck, I even remove one or two in a section (just cut out), then put them back or even better, have a backing of very fine sandpaper painted black to simulate roofing tar paper , or plywood, or whatever underneath.


Great first build!   


Just my style, probably because I am an old school Soviet armor 1/35 modeler, where everything is rusty, damaged, and mud caked.