Not bad, just rusty




Emporium Seafood: Part I

I said to myself I’d leave this kit for last. It’s the focal point of the harbor and thought it would be great to build last up. I’m diving in already.

First order of business was priming all the castings.

I separated everything out by material and worked from there. It’s the easiest way, I find, when opening a box chock full of details. If I don’t separate like this, I end up disarming myself from even knowing where to start.

After this, I started aging my walls. This involves nail holes and lifting clapboards. This is a building that will have been lashed by salt water everyday and used within an inch of its life — so I set out to weathering with that in mind. Now, George calls to stain the walls before adding the bracing but I wasn’t comfortable with that given the size of the walls. So, I braced, stained, added trim and started on the signs:

The patchy areas on the two left panels is deliberate as these areas are to be covered by sub-structures later in the build.

The clapboard was stained with multiple thin layers of Hunterline alcohol stains. Driftwood, Light Gray and Blue Gray were used. I also used the standard A&I mix on certain areas like corners and lifted clapboards. One additional step was a super light layer of Hunterline’s Golden Brown stain. I wanted to change the temperature of the walls to a warmer look and this did the job perfectly.

In multiple step passes like this it’s always worth doing detailed workup notes as you go — especially true when there are additional walls to be painted further along in the build that need to match up.

At this stage I added AK’s Moss Deposits to the bottom of each panel as well as some pastel chalks. As Doug Foscale often says, you want the structure to look like it lives in the Earth, not just placed on top of it.

Moving on, before everything can be assembled all the windows and doors had to be painted and installed and all other signs added as well:

These castings were painted with a combination of different branded oils. Using oils allows me to practice one of the favorite methods of painting: “the subtraction method” — a technique where you paint to 11 and then use mineral spirits to pull it back to 10. Here’s my workup:

  • Primed with “Neutral yellow” Stynlrez
  • Straight wash of Mr Hobby Weathering Oil Wash (Brown)
  • Diluted pin wash of Mr Hobby Weathering Oil Wash (Multi Black) in cracks and crevices.
  • Use mineral spirits with brush and/or Q-tip to clean certain areas, presenting a variation to each board.
  • AK Interactive’s enamel “Track Wash” and “Moss Deposits” to weather appropriate areas.
  • Hinges and door handles painted with metallic acrylics.
  • Pastel chalks used sparingly to add dusty appearance.

This resulted in some impressionistic yet realistic looking wood — well worn was my aim. Naturally, the more mineral spirits you use, the cleaner (or newer) a piece appears — “the subtraction method”, remember.

With everything glued in place, I added my quick window dressing (see how to section below for more):

I also added the electrical meter. I used EZ line, instead of the included brown thread:

Then, the instructions called for assembly of the main building, followed by added the cornice (painted using the oil method above):

The EZ line is taped on the back side of the wall to keep it out of the way.

More soon.

by Craig on February 17, 2021