French POW dio WIP **update: 2/26/09 pg 11**

Ever have one of those times when, you get to the end of a process within a project and think to yourself, "Wow! I really enjoyed that part of the build. I wish I wasn't done, so I can do it some more!".

This wasn't one of those times. I am so glad I am done with the roof, I feel like crying. I still might.

Seriously, I am happy with the roof; more so than I would be, trying cut and fit the Custom Dioramics (or Construction Battalion- I get them cornfused sometimes) single resin piece that I original bought for this. These are "slate tiles" from Hudson & Allen. However they are, from what I can tell, cardboard. Pretty cool, but they all had some ugly flash, a leftover from the factory cutting process, which needed to have a quick trim with a #11, or they wouldn't line up very well. That is where it got to be a bit of a PITA. But, I ain't complaining.

Here was my process...

Glue the first tile in the row down solidly. Pencil in a reference line, from one side to the other, for keeping the row aligned, and then "paint" the pencil reference with carpenter's glue:

Lay tiles in place with dental pick:

Keep it level along the way:

Make permanent with CA.

Here's a peak under the roof, at the rafter detail I tried to give:

Coated with Dull Coat, and will give second layer of protection with dilluted white glue, so the tiles don't warp when painted- being all cardboard and all. The finished roof:

Close up of the sheet metal crest covering (thin craft tin):

Shot for scale, with my knock-around fig:

Now, it's time to paint this beast. Tomorrow, tho. Tonight I am gonna sit back and enjoy being done with this part.

All critique welcome. I should note, though, that I am not building this barn to pay back a debt

Steve 

Simply outstanding...the tiles almost have that "pebbly" quality to them that roofing shingles have today---they look great, very uniform...I am begining to envision this puppy being painted in a whitewash and then hevuily distressed, with flaking, peeling and fading going on, and lotsa bare wood showing through...One question though, from what I know of barns, the inside was not typically painted nearly as often as the outside, correct? Have you decided how you are going to finish the wood yet???

"I should note, though, that I am not building this barn to pay back a debt."--LOL !!!

Ive been watching this oneand wow you are both massivly talented and patient,some of the best work ive seen on scratchbuilding, AAAAAAAA++++++++++++

wow 

Sheeesh, man--that looks freakin' AMAZING!

Just superb!!!!!!

Hey Manny- thanks for continuing to drop in here, and for the encouragement and painting inspiration.
My plan was to leave both interior and exterior natural wood, with the outside much more weathered down to a brownish gray (save for a few newer planks that have been replaced). However, been toying with the "painted" notion, and have looked up Doog's hairspray toot as reference. Might come down to flipping a coin.

Bodge and Doog- thank you very much for your compliments! I appreciate that you guys continue to check in here. You both have, IMHO, an exceptional eye for detail, so please chime in if you see anything that could be added or corrected. Doog, I simply adore the Charger you built. I want to drive away in it.

Vespa- the Realism King!  Thank you for your encouragement, and the names that you throw out there. I have looked up both Chuck Doan and Ken Hamilton and, I've gotta say, their work has truly inspired me. Loads to learn from them, and I really want to thank you for turning me on to those guys.

I am doing some last minute touch-ups, and the very small detail work, that I've been saving for the dinal stge before painting the barn. Stuff that I knew I would break or simply wouldn't survive while handling.

Sure, one could say that I was putting of the inevitable, and possibly detrimental, paint job. I wouldn't deny that. For me, breaking out the airbrush still involves a certain amount of... shall we say, psyching myself up? Me and the compressor are gonna have us a little team huddle.

"Burnt Umber on 3... ready?... break!!"

Steve

Keep it coming Steve. Another amazing interior modeller is Alan Wolfson. His period is very much the 1970s NYC, but great details and may serve as inspiration nonetheless.

 http://www.alanwolfson.net/

Thanks for that name, Vespa. I looked up Alan Wolfson. That is some mind blowing work.

Ian- you been holding out on me??? You have a barn and you haven't sent me reference pictures? Oh, man!

Update: remade the interior ladder, as the initial one looked like it was from a doll house collection IMO. Also put on the 2nd floor ventilation window-door-cover thingie, with latch and hinges.

Steve

If I were building this, I definitely would've done the shingles during my recovery period from my hernia operation. That would've helped pass the time!

The shingles look great, but I was thinking that for an old, weathered barn that's been battling the elements, at least a few of them should be broken off or missing. Storms over the years would cause damage to them. Just a little food for thought.

All told, that's a fantastic barn! You can almost smell the decades of manure, hay, oil, mud, dust and so forth. If you can work up the courage to bring it to Phoenix, you should display it at the IPMS Nationals in 2010 (along with the doog's "Lair of the Rust Bunnies.") I'll be there; it's just a five mile drive from my house!

Jim, I think you're right about the lack of lack of shingles I wondered about that midway through, and blew it off, and now I'm wonderin'. Maybe I can go back and abuse a few.

My original thought was to have a bald patch on the roof right above where the cart will be sitting,. Then place a water-stained tarp covering the cart. But then I thought, "why would he cover the cart, instead of just getting up there and patching the roof?"

However, I can go back over the shingles with a dremel and weather-battle them up a bit. Good suggestion, thanks for the input!

Steve

SteveM wrote:

But then I thought, "why would he cover the cart, instead of just getting up there and patching the roof?"

Hey gang...

I've spent a week, hours here and there, trying to get this barn painted up. I started with burnt umber / black mixture, and steadily brought it up to a distressed gray  for extrerior, and aged / stained interior. From air brush to drybrush. Then, I gloss coated it, and washed with burnt umber, both inside and out. Followed that with a very light, light-gray drybrushing.

Still has it's glossy luster in many spots, but this, of course, will be dulled back down. I wanted to get some opinions on the progress before I sealed up this layer of paint. Pin washes, spot-aging, and pastel dusting (interior, exterior rusting) will follow the dull coat. Let me know what you think...

Exterior reference shot...

Mine...

A shot for Jim Barton (thanks for the inspiration, Jim )

Interior...

Plenty more shots here, if you're not completely bored by now...

I'm the slowest dioramist on this forum. Guys like Bodge (who rendered half of the Normany countryside in a week) leave me in the dust. But thanks for looking in, and I welcome all critique.

Steve

Thnx, Ian. Yeah, you're right. I need to get some different shades of brown, gray, light green even. I was toying with the idea of going the oil dot method on this, after dull coating, to put some subtle variations in there. You think that might work? I'm too lazy to experiment

Steve

Steve, you really nailed it as far as I'm concerned---just beautiful.  A few nitpic suggestions:

* In my experience, the inside of the barn would also have that "greyish" look to the wood as well...I spent summers in rural Georgia as a kid and many hours in barns like this. Maybe not AS DISTRESSED, but the wood inside of your barn looks decades fresher than the outside wood.

* Ian makes a good point about breaking up the pattern a bit...I wouldn't drive myself crazy over it, as in making every board unique, but it might be wortwhile to lighten a few boards here and there and darken a few as well (maybe even replicate some repairs with newer looking boards or boards that are painted)...Also, in your ref pic you can see a greenish stain on some of the boards...this is caused by small plant-life in moist areas (mildew or lichen, perhaps) growing on the wood---I often saw it on the base of barns and it extended up in random spots from a few inches to maybe a couple of feet---very subtle though...and sometimes moss as well.  

Having wrote all that---if you did nothing else to this it would still be outstanding in every way!

Ian- I think I might try a dot method to a small section. I thought Doog brought up that the dull coating is what gave the oils some "teeth" to get grabbed by, but I'll go back to those dot posts to be sure. By the way, that goose looks just amazing, sorry I haven't chinmed in on your post yet. I'll be there soon.

Bodge- deepest thanks for your compliments.

Manny- much thanks, and good points. I just assumed the "graying" was sun bleach, and wouldn't affect the interior wood. I'll go back in and age up the insides a bit. As for the greens, I've been wondering if I should approach those shades with a drybrushing, or a filter. I'm leaning towards filter, because that might seem less like a highlight, and more like a growth.

Cool, thanks again guys. Just the type of feedback I'm looking for. 

Steve

  Man Steve thats some of the best work I've seen in a long time. The color and weathering are great.  And work as slow as you want something this sharp should'nt be rushed.

Wow.

That wood looks amazing! I can't wait to see the final product with figures and all. Great job.

Erik

WOW, man! That's serious!

HOLY $%#^&!!!!!

Just tremendous, Steve--again; I just run out of superlatives!  

smeagol the vile wrote:

Since I have to get to class, Ill put this as simply as I can... Son of a B*****! that is absolutley amazing, you make me want to just crawl up in a ball and not build again.  That looks really, really good

panzerguy wrote:

Man Steve thats some of the best work I've seen in a long time. The color and weathering are great.  And work as slow as you want something this sharp should'nt be rushed.

I guess that means you wouldn't want to listen to Moving Pictures or Permanent Waves when you build this.

I was thinking, as you age the interior, perhaps you can knock one or two unimportant boards askew or have them hanging loosely by one nail; maybe even have one missing completely. That'll add to the effect of a neglected barn.

Now you got it on the shingles! Those look much more weatherbeaten. With Halloween coming up, all the barn needs is a few ghosts!

Man- guys- I've neglected to thank you for all the kind words... I really appreciate the support and advice. I have taken Ian's and Manny's suggestion and have been giving each board it's own amount of undivided attention.

Sorry, Manny- I do believe that I drove myself crazy afterall.

Thanks, panzerguy. I wish I had a buzzer in my room that went off when I was at the exact correct point between "rushed" and "overworked". Anybody got one of those? I'll pay for it..

Nick- thank you. Your structures are fantastic, and that means a lot coming from you. Smeagol- thanks, you crack me up.

Geist- thanks very much. Final product, figures and all, should be be too far off... say, November (2009)

Doog, thank you for your continued praise. I've got a superlative for ya: howawbout "slowest"?

thanks for dropping in, agentg! I appreciate it!

Jim, thank you for your suggestions. Yeah, I'm more pleased with the shingles now. Still need some paint, tho. On a side note- there are 2 types of Rush fans in the world, in my opinion: married and unmarried.

Unmarried) rabid, fanatical, devout; these people (guys) will plan their work vacations around Rush's tour schedule. They will pay the government extra $$ for personalized license plates like "YYZ-R30" or "By-Tor", will request phone numbers like 555-1001, and are on the waiting lists of multiple apartment complexes, holding out for unit #2112 to become vacant. 

Married) closeted, suppressed, defeated; although they will not stick up for Rush at parties and in clubs, they will undoubtedly fall into a drug-like state of euphoria when "Limelight" comes on the radio. These gentlemen have a grip on the understanding that they've traded prog-rock for relations. They know that pointing out complex arpeggios, 64th beats, and 7/8 time signatures falls on deaf ears, and they are not allowed to listen to Rush in the house. They are resigned to the fact that Rush will forever be their "musical porno".

No offense to Rush fans, or their wives, intended

Steve

I think I'm done painting the barn...I went back over each plank of wood with oil dots, swiped, blotted, stained. Burnt umber / black washes, and then a light buff / grey drybrushing. Only thing left to do, that I can think of, is rust up the exterior metal (hinges, handles, chain), and paint all pof the knot holes with burnt umber.

I've since moved on to all the junk that will be stored with in it, but thought I'd throw these final paint progress shots out there. Feel free to speak your mind. I'm not so much going for a "working" barn, as I am a "storge space / work shop". I know you all are probably bored looking at this thing. 

garage door vent

hayloft door

hayloft vent

1st floor interior

2nd floor interior

Hope to show progress shots from different aspects of this dio soon. I'm done looking at this barn.

Thanks for looking,

Steve