Photo Finish

The photo studio section of the Ensminger Brothers building is mostly complete, lacking only window glass, final weathering, and perhaps some signage.  A fence running between the brick building and wood entry will be added when the structure is installed on the layout, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Here are some progress images showing how I built the roof, added shingles and painted the structure.

I used dense file folder material for the roof panels.

Normally I don't like Campbell shingles but they work well here.

I chose an aged white and slate blue for the walls and trim, with a dark mudstone for the stairs and a lighter mudstone for the shingles.  The shingles and stairs received a dark brown wash while the walls received a mudstone wash.  I used charcoal black for the roofing paper, then lightened and streaked for an aged appearance.  

In the third image you can also see the brick walls have received a mortar treatment.  I sealed the paint then applied joint compound, pressing it into the mortar lines.  This can be removed carefully from the surface of the bricks using a damp sponge.  In this case I wanted a sloppy application as seen on the prototype so I was careful to not wipe away too much.  This stands in contrast to the clean look of the facing brick, though most of that brick is hidden by the veranda.

Speaking of the veranda, it received some paint as well.  Moss green for the base coat (applied with a spray can) and cactus green craft paint.  In this image the parts need a second coat of the cactus green.

 Up next, masking and painting the remaining windows and doors!  Entering the home stretch...

Back to the Mine!

To me, that phrase, "Back to the mine!" evokes ideas of drudgery and hard, back-breaking work.  I suppose I indulged in a little drudgery this morning but it was far from back-breaking.  Mind numbing, perhaps, if I set out to do it all in one sitting, but not so much when broken down into manageable chunks.  Good thing this is a hobby and there are no deadlines!

Here is the mine in question, sitting on my portable workbench, at my dining room table:

BTW, the beautiful girl with the big hair in the picture at the back of my workbench is my wife, long before we knew each other.  In that picture she was doing her hair for some formal event.  Yes, I keep a picture of my wife on my workbench.

Anyway, I had set the mine aside for a long time, well over a year, I think.  The workbench had some serious dust on it, which I used to my advantage.  The next step in this model was/is the application of rafter tails.  Tiny little bits of wood that stick out under the eaves.  TINY.  But this work is made easier with a NWSL chopper to cut the little buggers all to the same length, and a piece of masking tape with guide lines drawn on it.  In order to keep the tape from pulling up the paint and rust from the roof panels, and possibly the panels themselves, I stuck the tape in the workbench dust to reduce the tackiness.

Speaking of tacky, if you're a Weird Al Yankovic fan, you should check out this music video.

Here's the tape in place and a few rafter tails applied:

I did a dozen this morning and it took about a half hour, including the set-up time for the chopper and tape.  I had to make a fresh jar of Titebond carpenter's glue since the old had gotten dry months ago.  The next dozen are cut and shouldn't take as long to apply.  I will cut and place the remaining tails on the FRONT of the building, but it is doubtful that I will do the back.  We'll see. 

It may be that life is too short to put rafter tails on the back of the Red Mountain Mine.