Wombats N Scale Structure Builds


Char's Soda Shoppe Build

Got a little bored so started on the next build. Basic work up is the same and am at the first coat of paint point:

vJFM2yx.jpg


Two under way, 12 to go :)
 
One way to speed the process is to work on multiple buildings at a time: say, paint 16 walls, once dry, mask and paint the details of all 16 walls, glue up the 4 buildings, then finish the details 1 building at a time. That way, you don't have long intervals waiting for each kit's walls to dry before continuing.

For your lighting, you want to consider "warm white" LEDs over "bright white". Run a test with one of your nearly completed structures. A frequent problem in lighting structures is the intensity of the light (LED or incandescent) causing the walls to glow. There are 2 ways to combat this: reduce the intensity of the light and / or paint the interior of the walls flat black. It's easy to reduce the intensity of an incandescent bulb, just reduce the voltage. With an LED, it's a little more complicated, but doable. With an LED, you can't just reduce the voltage. Below a certain point, the LED just shops working. It's possible to get a very dim glow from an LED with a process called PWM: Pulse Width Modulation. If anyone is interested, I can start a new thread on how to do it. You may also want to consider adding dividers to the interior of the structure so that the whole building isn't lit when one lamp comes on.
 
Red Oak & Western said:
One way to speed the process is to work on multiple buildings at a time: say, paint 16 walls, once dry, mask and paint the details of all 16 walls, glue up the 4 buildings, then finish the details 1 building at a time. That way, you don't have long intervals waiting for each kit's walls to dry before continuing.
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Building more than one at a time is a good idea and some thing I could do obviously. Right now I am doing 2 at a time just to keep things simple and so I don't (accidentally) get the building parts mixed up. Now one of those of those structures is assembled, another can be commenced this evening.

I know that once I get into a routine and become comfortable working on N Scale, the buildings will go together quicker. Most of the time involved is letting the paint dry and dry "properly" before doing anything else. While paint instructions give you a drying time, I prefer to leave them 24 hours there abouts to make absolutely certain.

For your lighting, you want to consider "warm white" LEDs over "bright white". Run a test with one of your nearly completed structures. A frequent problem in lighting structures is the intensity of the light (LED or incandescent) causing the walls to glow. There are 2 ways to combat this: reduce the intensity of the light and / or paint the interior of the walls flat black. It's easy to reduce the intensity of an incandescent bulb, just reduce the voltage. With an LED, it's a little more complicated, but doable. With an LED, you can't just reduce the voltage. Below a certain point, the LED just shops working. It's possible to get a very dim glow from an LED with a process called PWM: Pulse Width Modulation. If anyone is interested, I can start a new thread on how to do it. You may also want to consider adding dividers to the interior of the structure so that the whole building isn't lit when one lamp comes on.
Click to expand...

All of the interior walls of my structures are painted with a black primer, whether I put lighting in or not. That is just a habit I have gotten into.

LED selection is always a problem I think. I inadvertently bought "bright white" LED's instead of the "warm white" so I am really going to have to tone them down a lot. I have no idea what PWM is but it sounds complex. The only way I know of "dimming the brightness" is through the strength of the resistor. Most companies recommend using something around a 480 ohm resistor, at least for HO anyway. To me, that seems a little low for N Scale. I used 1000 ohm resistors for the LED's on the practice Control Panel and they did glow fairly brightly so I think I might need something heavier than 1000 ohm even. What I do is place a light in a building and just keep adding resistors until I get the look and feel that I think comes close to reality. Once I have done that, I will be able to buy the appropriate sized resistors.

Another thing I have done in the past is coat the LED with a yellow acrylic paint. That seems to dull the brightness a bit BUT does emit a yellow glow. That could be great in fact for my structures.

To be honest with you, I would use incandescent lights in my structures rather than LED's if I could find ones small enough. I like the ability to be able to adjust the "glow" by turning up or down the "speed controller" (voltage) of the DC power source. Not to mention they are easier to install :)
 
wombat457 said:
Did a little more to the building. Re did the windows and completed the one wall. Needs one or two touch ups but didnt come out too badly I don't think:

ym821oc.jpg
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Looks pretty good to me! I would give it a wash of light gray acrylic (maybe 1 part paint to 10 parts water) and then use a cotton ball to clean the gray off the bricks. It will leave the gray in the mortar lines and really make them stand out. It will also nicely weather the wall.
You did a nice job on that! ;)
 
flyboy,

Thank you and it is far from being finished. I need to touch up around the windows a bit where the white "bled out".

Thank you also for the tip on doing mortar. Mortar is one thing I have always had a hell of a time getting to work. 9 times out of 10 it isn't the method I have used (which are numerous) but my screw ups. I'll definitely be giving your way a try and especially thanks for the "mixing ratio". I think that is what I have been doing wrong in the past either too much paint or too much water.
 
Both Structures

Completed a little more on both structures as follows:

GBMAkwe.jpg


I really thought I got the masking right this time ... maybe next time :rolleyes:

I think this has turned out reasonably well, so far:

WabXEEm.jpg


Getting there a bit at a time.
 
A little more progress:

Js9isif.jpg


E37yz6m.jpg


That looks lop sided because it isn't attached to the rest of the kit, it's just leaning up against the other walls.
 
flyboy2610 said:
Looks pretty good to me! I would give it a wash of light gray acrylic (maybe 1 part paint to 10 parts water) and then use a cotton ball to clean the gray off the bricks. It will leave the gray in the mortar lines and really make them stand out. It will also nicely weather the wall.
You did a nice job on that! ;)
Click to expand...

I'm going to try the mortar tonight, well around about now. If it doesn't work and I stuff it up you owe me a kit :rolleyes: :p

Well, I did as said but don't know if it worked or not. It certainly changed the color of the bricks but I don't see it as mortar, in between the bricks? Maybe I need to let it dry before wiping the excess off?
 
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This is how it came out:

wmRm94q.jpg


To me it looks like too much color OR I just haven't cleaned the brickwork off well enough. I'm assuming you just need water to clean the bricks. Maybe, as said, I need to thin the paint more - perhaps got to 1 paint to 15 water?
 
I would use Robert's Mortar (website is on the back pages of most Model Railroader magazines). Rub the product on wet and let dry and the rub off to expose the bricks, leaving the product in the mortar lines. Use sparingly.

Follow up with a wash of Indian ink solution with alcohol. Mortar isn't usually white and the ink with tone it down.

Using white paint is usually hard to control and remove once dry.

Thanks.

Greg
 
Greg,

Thanks, I'll give that a try and see what happens. Most likely it is me doing something wrong.

With the lack of decals for the DPM Kits, and as a result of all the recommendations I have ordered these from Blair Line:

ztQQ4DE.jpg


mln179p.jpg


82uRrPO.jpg


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I think they will give me a good start.
 
More than a good start, that many signs could be enough for a model of the city of Albany! :cool: I have three of those in HO as well as a couple of others like gas stations and industries.

Willie
 
Darn it, I forgot about a gas station for the layout, guess my towns will be horse and cart. Crap, that's no good, I didn't get any feed signs either. Well, unless there is a Bicycle Shop Sign amongst all of them, looks like it is foot power only :)

You might be right, well probably are if you have some of them as well. I didn't really consider how many or how far they would go, I figured if I got all the main street signs, I'd be able to cover whatever structures I had. I just hope that there is a good variation of business' and they don't focus on half a dozen business types with different designed signs. Either way, I am sure I will use them.
 
I don't really have a designated time frame as such. All my buildings will end up being DPM kits so DPM period architecture that spans all era's and is appropriate for virtually any time from from (at least) the 1920's. What I don't want is modern structures though.
 
Greg@mnrr said:
I would use Robert's Mortar (website is on the back pages of most Model Railroader magazines). Rub the product on wet and let dry and the rub off to expose the bricks, leaving the product in the mortar lines. Use sparingly.

Follow up with a wash of Indian ink solution with alcohol. Mortar isn't usually white and the ink with tone it down.

Using white paint is usually hard to control and remove once dry.

Thanks.

Greg
Click to expand...
I've done this in the past, works well just using my thumb to rub off . Important note though , lay the building down flat so the wash goes in all the mortar joints. Your walls look pretty good Tony.
 
Thanks guys. I'll give the "wash method described a go and see how it does go. Worse comes to worse I can "wash it off" and try again. I'll also take the advice and NOT use white paint as the wash. That could be part of the problem I'm having getting it to look right.
 
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