Just a quick tour of the corner. North E Street with its concrete surface runs the length of the siding while the older brick pavement of 13th Street is still showing. Both use foam core sheet as a base with the top paper layer peeled off so I could introduce a water shedding crown by sanding down the outer edges. For the visible pavement, JTT weathered brick sheet does the job for 13th Street, while the concrete surface of North E is lightweight spackling compound. The storm water grate near the corner is scratchbuilt and it needs to be replaced by a better effort in my opinion. I’m also disappointed with how the lane markings turned out. Yellow is such a transparent color, therefore it’s hard to get the opaque coverage needed with a single coat. I sprayed the markings after taping off the surrounding areas and as you can plainly see, it didn’t work as planned. I need to try a different approach. Both streets represent a solid beginning but require many more details and touch up before I consider them complete. -Mike

6 Comments

  1. Chris Mears

    I’m really impressed with the effect of your refocusing, Mike. It feels like you’re making some terrific progress and you’re engaged in the work and I’m thrilled with what I see in the output.

    Would an area like this even have road markings? Thinking back to similar industrial areas in Atlantic Canada, they seldom seem to have or maintain them.

    In terms of building the yellow colour for the road markings why not mask, as you did, but instead dry brush or stipple the colour for the markings? With the dry brush the paint would have less time to soak into the base and might leave more colour on the surface. Either option would also provide some subtle colour variation that might be missing when the paint is sprayed – so the yellow has the same wear and age as the pavement in the same area. I guess one other option to consider might be the use of a yellow pencil crayon instead of paint.

    Chris

  2. mike

    Chris,

    No, lane markings really aren’t required in this situation. There are a number of streets in the industrial areas of town without them. As you’ll see in future posts, I’ve painted over them. The character of this scene and the role these two streets play will be clearer once the buildings are placed. Stay tuned.

    Regards,
    Mike

  3. Ctown

    Mike,
    A Civil Engineer would be proud of your first photo. The slope of the drainage off the brick looks right to my untrained eye.

    Have you thought of a photo etch for your drain? Thanks to your blog postings, I’ve been reading some amour modeling magazines recently and the reoccurring theme with many of the builds is the use of lots of photo etched parts. Would that solve your problem with the drain?

    Craig

  4. mike

    Hi Craig,

    An etch is certainly an option. I confess I didn’t bother looking for commercial details like this because I assumed it would be fruitless. Instead, I did a little searching online for the dimensions and figured out what I need to do to scratch build one.

    What bothers me about the one in the photo is the sloppy workmanship. I’ve since replaced that effort with a better one, which I’ll share soon.

    You’re right about the armor guys. They use etched details to achieve terrific results.

    Mike

  5. Simon

    Amazing how such a simple scene can be so absorbing, and yet so neglected as a subject for a cameo, either on its own or as part of a layout.

    Simon

  6. mike

    Thank you Simon. -Mike