Blackwater Canyon Line - May 17, 2024 - Thinking About a Downtown Structure

Thank you, Gene, T-bone1214, Ted, Dave, Mike!!

T-Bone, the cheese grater and coffee grinder sound like good ideas.  I don't have either.  I guess I am a minimalist when tools are concerned.

Ted, your examples of the Mig Ammo paint do look great!

Dave, yes, I guess it is becoming my own monster.  Yes, I do plan some interior detail due to the good sized windows and doors an it's planned location near the layout edge.  What goes is is still to be determined.

Mike, I have heard of making the chalk wet for weathering, but haven't thought of it in a long time.

Good morning Mark! Sorry I haven't commented lately but I have been watching your wonderful work and I think thigs are looking great! I hope to get there one day!

From where I sit now it just seems so far away!

I will keep watching and chime in when I can!

Please take care and keep up the wonderful work!

Mark, great work on the building. The concrete can be tough to get just right. I think it looks good, but you are the one that has to be happy with the results. I use Pan Pastels weathering powders and have found that a little goes a long way. But again, if you find the chalks are better for you, then that’s the way to go. I like the detail you’re providing with the build. The building will be a great addition when you’re done, keep up the great work.

Andy

Great job Mark!  You have the patience of Job!

I don't know Mark, looks great to me! Can't wait to see it finished and on the layout!

Thank you, Mike, Andy, 42trainman, Darrell!

Darrell, yes it is growing on me.  I was looking too closely at it.  When I moved over to the layout where I plan to park it, I liked it.  I'm with you and others.  The color Dennis recommended is right on for aged concrete. 

42trainman, Well Job did have his moments; but thank you.  I have heard people comment on my patience since I was a teenager; which was long, long ago. 

Andy, I think I am going to buy some Pan Pastels.  I do not like to weather much, since I like things to look like they are well maintained.  However, concrete, stone, and other like structures just keep on with no maintenance so after a while they need weathering.

Mike, I can sympathize.  I spent about 20 years when the girls were growing up without a layout.  I got on various email groups, bulletin boards, forums, and always felt sad spending my time fixing toys, going to music practices and performances, and umpteen girls basketball practices and games.  Holly played for 13 years, and I don't like basketball.    I prefer baseball.    However, it was all worth it!  Holly teaches private lessons and performs as a soprano and harpist.  Heidi is an artist working in some very seldom seen art mediums.  They are in their 30s and are responsible, well adjusted adults with great husbands!

The Mig Ammo Terraform thin concrete arrived yesterday.  The color is great for newer concrete, but I was surprised how gritty it is.  Ted, you did show me.  I painted it on the inside walls of the lowered floor section.  The difference in color between it and the Krylon Desert Bisque spray makes this look like concrete that hasn't seen any weather.  That is good.  I did find it too rough, so I sanded and filed down the rough edges when dried and popped the lowered floor back in.  This photograph shows the difference between the two.  The bisque is seen on the top of the foundation and the new paint on the interior wall.  I like it.

The building is coming along nicely Mark. Looks good.

I have a set of powders that I've tried a few times. One thing I have found it that they tend to disappear when topcoated with a clear matte spray. I haven't tried sealing- weathering- and sealing though. I've added a couple drops of water to moisten the powder before applying.

NOTE:  ebay link deleted per TOS.  Bob....please review the TOS.

Some acrylic washes may help tone down the foundation too. Think of the splash up from the ground and how the base will be darker than the top.

Bob

Morning Mark, I think it looks just fine! Remember it is a coffee building and its going to get dirty so just throw a little grime to it and call it good! Either way you have been doing such an amazing job on this building it make me want to get a Dennis building! Just to see how I could do! LOL

Mark, while reading the discussion on weathering it educated me to new possibilities. For your immediate purposes would dry and/or wet coffee grounds work?

Jay

Thank you, Bob, Mike, Jay!

Bob, I know what you mean about weathering, shading being hidden by matte spray.  Maybe you should spray before and after as you wondered.    Yes, the mud splatter at the base is a good plan!

Mike, Yes, it does make sense to make it grimy; like Dennis' example.  Dennis' instruction sheets are top notch!  The instructions make it easy to identify all the parts.

Jay, Coffee grounds is a good idea.  I actually thought that was where Mike was going to go when he reminded me it is a coffee building. 

I made a little more progress on the interior of the Sanky Wanky Coffee Co kit.  I decided to see if I could get a removable second floor built before deciding on where to put interior walls.  This is mainly because I wanted to do something, and this part I knew what I wanted.  Confused yet?     I used some 1/8" x 1/8" styrene stock that I had on hand for the braces on 4 walls.  I decided since I was going to use some 1/8" thick styrene for the second floor sub-floor, I didn't need the braces to go the whole way to the corner.  No, this wasn't any calculation; I only had this much 1/8" x 1/8" styrene.    I did this on all 4 walls.

Here is the 1/8" subfloor resting on the braces.  To do this, I had to keep the end wall not glued to the structure, so I could slip it off and slide the floor in from the side.  You can see the window backings are in the way to slip it out.  I think I recall Myles 'Trainman2001' had a similar situation where he made a two-piece floor split down the middle to get it in and out. 

Here is the floor with the same Northeastern stock I used for the first floor.  I think it looks passable.

Notice in the last photograph that I have installed the brick strips at the top of the two long walls.  I did this waiting for other glued parts to dry because reading on, that is the next step in Dennis' instructions.  He states that the roof assembly has to be pushed up from the underside of the building and these act as stops for the roof.  All 4 walls will be capped with strips painted to look like concrete. 

Since I glued the ground floor flooring into place, but left the brick walls unglued I can still install the roof assembly from the underneath.  That is good.  However, since I would need to build interior details on these floors before covering everything over, I could do that with the second floor sitting on the workbench then slip the whole thing into the building before attaching the 4th wall permanently.

Rubin's question about lighting must be considered before putting it all together.  I wouldn't be able to take the roof off this building like my other buildings for troubleshooting if lights go out.  Maybe I should just concentrate on accumulating some details for the interior and building some interior walls and doors, and then a "light" will come on as to how to do the lighting.    Bad pun.

Thank you for taking a look, and any suggestions are appreciated!!

Mark:

That looks great!  Can’t wait to see it completed.

Nice progress Mark, looking good.. keep going'...👍😁

Thank you, Zac, Ted!

Nothing new to report!  😮

It's coming along very nicely!! The detail in the flooring is outstanding!

Congratulations Mark that is looking masterful. Perhaps you could rig something on the ends of the second floor so that it could be lifted out. I would put it out there looking for lighting recommendations.
Jay

Thank you, T-Bone1214, and Jay!

Jay, I have thought about something like you mentioned to pull out second floors from buildings like you suggested for other buildings.  Since this building has extra strips around all four sides that show bricks on the sides of the walls facing the roof, I don't think that would work.  That is why I thought of not gluing the end wall into place.  I do not think that would be very practical for moving the building and to seal the joints from escaping light.  There is always a new twist to each project.  That can cause more headaches, but make them more enjoyable as well.

Yes, I should check on lighting ideas, just as I need ideas for interior details.  I envision this building as a warehouse where coffee is off loaded from trains and then loaded onto trucks for local and regional delivery.  The product could be moved from larger containers to smaller containers for delivery.  It seems that most of the interior detail would be crates and boxes.  That would possibly be good enough to convey something is going on inside the building.  Yes, I would need a few employees as well.  I will have to research ways to make a lot of crates and boxes since buying ones on the market could easily be more expensive than the building kit itself. 

Mark, the last structure I built featured an outside enclosed staircase. I had a plan as to where it would go. But plans can always change. I really didn’t want to glue it in place and excavate terrain to get it to sit right. I glued a small piece of thin steel inside the staircase and glued a rare earth magnet to the buildings inside. Place the structure and then the staircase and the magnet holds it in place. You can get fairly small magnets. You may be able to come up with something that will let you make that end wall removable so the flooring can all stay in place.

Being a detail junkie. It can get expensive. Especially buying multiple castings such as shipping crates. With the arrival of 3D printing. You don’t read much today on plaster casting details. While still an investment. If you had one casting of crates to work with to make a mold off of.  You could create a rubber mold and pop out as many castings as you need. Hydrocal can be removed from a mold in about 20 minutes. While it’s curing you can work  on other projects. Or if your like me. Time for another cup of coffee.

Mark:

Another idea is that the company manufactures coffee roasting equipment. Here is a picture of a company in NY that built roasters.  NOTE:  picture removed per TOS copyright.

Mark- I was going to suggest magnets like Dave did to hold a wall panel in place. The angle could go on both walls of the main structure to catch the magnets.
This would serve to block any light from leaking out of the seam too.
For interior details, look for an image of a crate/ crates and print on cardstock and make your own.

https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/shipping-crate

Bob

I really like this picture, the time frame and the graphics on the building. But the structure you’re building so well, Mark, may be a bit small for a manufacturer of equipment. But maybe some building flats might solve that problem.

Thank you for the replies, Dave, Zac, Bob, Rubin!!

Dave, I like the magnet idea!  It sounds much like how Lionel uses them on diesels to hold the covers for switches.  I am thinking I would put the wiring bus/conduits on the opposite end of the building from the end that is removable.  I can finagle something.  Our older daughter has made molds to make multiple doll parts.  She poured some kind of polymer so the arms and legs could be flexible.  Anyway, I saw how the process went, and yes lots of cups of coffee! 

Zac, it seems they have every kind of company in New York.  That is a great photograph!  For some reason I love anything from before I was born in the mid '50s.  I hadn't thought of anything other than coffee beans or ground coffee for the business.  I'm thinking since I am trying to model small town West Virginia that would still work best, but I always appreciate ideas since I am not very good at thinking outside the box. 

Bob, I really like that web site you linked.  Looking through the windows from a foot or two away I would never think they are cardstock.  Wat a massive variety!  I had been thinking of cutting blocks of wood and painting them.  On the first page, I saw some that would make good small crates and even some cardboard boxes.  I think the intermodal containers I saw towards the bottom of the page are out though! 

Rubin, I agree the building in Zac's photograph has great graphics and fits my time frame, but a company like that would need supporting structures.  Since this is going to be a foreground building with a curve just beyond, flats wouldn't work out.  The kit itself is so large for my small layout, that is the only spot where it would work.  I ended up with more track than I originally planned! 

Looks great Mark! I also used straws as electrical conduit to hide wires. Below is a photo of card stock I used for one of my loading docks, thanks to Bob and his wonderful link!

I just sat them back about half an inch from the opening as I was making this a building flat!

I hope everything else is going well and you're staying safe and healthy with the little misses!

@Mark Boyce posted:

...snip...  I ended up with more track than I originally planned! 

Don't we all!

Thank you, Mike, Dave!

Mike, I remember your straw conduits.  The loading dock looks great!  I'm still looking over printable crates and boxes from the link Bob gave me.  I did order a couple of detail parts, one of a man with a manual pallet lift and crate and one bending over open boxes.  Those will give me some workers doing something, and hopefully I can do the rest the cheap way.  I still need to look at lighting.  I know Bob and others have used a lot of Evans Designs.  The wiring won't be a problem.

Dave, yes we do.

Always better to have more track left over than not enough to finish the job. I can always find things to do with that excess track.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Thank you, Mike, Dave!

Mike, I remember your straw conduits.   ...snip...

Dave, yes we do.

I have been saving my soda straws for pipe loads.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Thank you, Mike, Dave!

I'm still looking over printable crates and boxes from the link Bob gave me.

@Mark Boyce

Mark:

Can you please post Bob's link again, I missed it and would like to see it.

https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/shipping-crate

@John H posted:

https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/shipping-crate

Thanks John.

@John H thank you for sharing the link for Randy!!

Hi Mark, here are three links for cardboard boxes and other paper items you may find interesting for your Coffee building'...

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/492649950817816/

https://i.pinimg.com/originals...a15105e2e02b3eff.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals...71c8383faf3e3975.jpg

Let me know what you think' .😉

Ted, there are some good possibilities there.  No not the Starbucks box!  😄.  I will see about some others and post something.  Thank you!!

Ted, I did save some 'cardboard boxes', printed and assembled one for a trial.  Not bad looking in the window with the desk lamp shining to brightly on the top.  Now I need a bunch more.

Bob, I'm still looking at the crates since you can only copy 10 on the free trial.

I finally got something more done on Scenery Hill.  It is pretty rough looking, but a start.  I found I had trouble as I moved along painting, that I was picking up strings of the batting with the soaked paint brush.  The picked a bunch of little paint soaked fiber balls off the part under the hotel after the paint dried.  Working with the scenery chest high, I couldn't tell until it dried over night that I had missed a bunch of spots.  That can be fixed.  The variants in grade are just 1-inch Styrofoam under another layer of batting.  All in all, it's not bad for a first try.  I broke my misting bottle for soaking down the ground foam to add more.  I need to buy some more varieties of ground foam as well.

Eventually, here will be rock cuts along the track that is covered with blue tape.

As an aside, the name Scenery Hill just came to me this afternoon.  There is a place called Scenery Hill south of Pittsburgh along US Rt 40, The National Road.

Mark that looks great for a first attempt or after 20.  Its all about imagination and what the area tells you it wants to be. Looks like you are going to need a few more trees.   Scenery Hill is a great name.

Thank you, Jeff!  Yes, more trees for sure!     I was able to balance the tree you sent me on the flat surface with just the base/root structure.  Not so once I glued the batting down.  I'll have to put a finishing nail or something into the bottom of the trunk to anchor it to the scenery.

Mark I have somewhere in my files, been looking for it, free shipping crates (paper) in 1/48 scale... They are very life like.. Just can't find the darn file...

Looking good Mark. The name is fitting for the scene.

Gene

Hi Mark,

Your scene is coming along so incredibly detailed with an overall continuity of purpose. Great job!!!! I like the name Scenery Hill also, that reminds me when we first got our yellow Lab puppy, she would always go up the side of the driveway and use that area as her bathroom. My wife always would joke about being careful while walking around poop hill.  LOL Great Job Mark!

@Mark Boyce posted:

Bob, I'm still looking at the crates since you can only copy 10 on the free trial.

I finally got something more done on Scenery Hill.  It is pretty rough looking, but a start.  I found I had trouble as I moved along painting, that I was picking up strings of the batting with the soaked paint brush.  The picked a bunch of little paint soaked fiber balls off the part under the hotel after the paint dried.  Working with the scenery chest high, I couldn't tell until it dried over night that I had missed a bunch of spots.  That can be fixed.  The variants in grade are just 1-inch Styrofoam under another layer of batting.  All in all, it's not bad for a first try.  I broke my misting bottle for soaking down the ground foam to add more.  I need to buy some more varieties of ground foam as well.

As an aside, the name Scenery Hill just came to me this afternoon.  There is a place called Scenery Hill south of Pittsburgh along US Rt 40, The National Road.

Sometimes these limits will expire after 24-48 hours. Try again another day. If the images can be downloaded, then you can save them to your computer and print to your hearts content.

I like the name Scenery Hill too.

Bob