National Geographic: Weathering

National Geographic features a page and a set of images that describe the process of how nature weathers all sorts objects.

"Water, ice, acids, salts, plants, animals, and changes in temperature are all agents of weathering. Weathering describes the process of materials on Earth breaking down."

Modelers mimic weathering in a number of ways. They represent aging, dirt and grime with paint and washes. To mimic aging they may use paint and washes or they may introduce aging during the building process. Broken boards, missing windows, sagging roofs are all methods that the builder can incorporate into the building process. These methods are usully more effective in representing the passage of time and neglect than paint and washe methods.

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Weathering using Washes

Working on the Last Section of the Shack

I have laid out and cut opening for the windows on the last section of the structure, its back wall. I decided to deal with the back door a little differently than the front door and is sits waiting for my glue it down. I should start cladding the subwalls with wood strips, later-on today.

Gold Mine Diorama #2

If you look down in the comments you will find a link to another mine diorama. This mine diorama was the inspiration for the one the author created in this video. It might not be as elaborate, but it is just as inspirational. What I especailly liked about this authors rendering was the authors use of balsa wood for the creation of his mining buildings top side and his skillfull use of styrofoam for his terrain, that is the mine.

Building Materials

I use these paper products from everything from sub-walls to the building themselves. I did a mini-series on business card structures and have used cardstock for shingles, clapboards and individual boards.

Outside of a few index cards and Strathmore board, the majority of materials were fished out of the recycling bucket. Most of it is from mailers, stiffeners, and packaging materials. The supply is practically endless.

Outside of the index cards most of these materials measure about 1mm thick and are pretty sturdy in their own right. However, even when using glue sparingly the structures components have a tendency to warp and must be weighted when waiting for them dry and braced from the inside when assembling.

As with the business card structures I sometimes choose a particular sized material, just to see what is possible.

Slow but Surely

I have one more section to complete and then I will start on the windows and another door. After that the foundation and roofs. It is coming along slowly but surely.

There is another shed I would like to build using cardstock and paper. After that I believe I will build a couple sheds out of wood; Basswood or Balsa? And I cannot forget those Shacks of Rowland Emett.

Building A Realistic Imaginary N-Gauge Model Railroad

It took the author 3 months to build this whimsical n-gauge model railroad.

The Secret Agent

The Secret Agent was three part British mini series around a story by Joseph Conrad by the same name. I have read quite a bit of Conrad's work. Although I don't remember where I first learned of Conrad's work; I am guessing that it must had been while at university.

Unfortunately a couple of innocent people had to lose their lives.

All screenshots are from The Secret Agent.

A New Utility Knife

Prior to my learning about these utilities knifes with their disposable blades my favorite blade for cutting materials was a heavy-duty X-Acto knife with a # 11 blade. However, these blades, although I found that you could sharpen these blades a few times, needed to be changed quite often and they are not all that economical when you are making dozens of cuts at a time.

I recently found this knife at Harbor Freight. It cost approximately one US dollar. It has a great feel it and it balances well in my hand. It contains a set of break-off blades and there’s even a second set of blades under the handle.

The Building of the Main Structure

The main section of the shack is underway. I used nine-inch boards for the walls that are glued to Strathmore sub walls. The bolards were cut from left over bits of bass wood that were found in my “junk” box. The large bare section on the right awaits the addition of the clapboard section.

I cut shingles from index cards. Next time I will cut them a bit narrower. These will be added to gables on both ends of the shack.

Time for an Update

It has been a while since I posted an update for this project. I completed the addition some time ago. I added a stone foundation using the material from an egg carton and glued the bits to a piece of Strathmore board. I probably have enough left-over Strathmore board to complete the roof for the addition and for the sub-walls of the main structure.

The floor piece was cut from that same piece of Strathmore board. I scribed boards into it, painted it tan and added a black wash. I believe it looks pretty convincing.

The Shacks of Rowland Emett

Like the inspiration for Goods Shed these Rowland Emett shacks are inspirational. I can see another project coming from this illustration.

Although I have had these thoughts before, I am seriously considering adding these types of elements to a model train layout. Does everything have to be picture perfect or true to some prototype? Why not add the odd or whimical to ones layout?

Taedium Vitae

Life was so oppressive that even Oberon the King of the Faeries
become weary of life

Taedium vitae

A Quiet Afternoon in the Cloud Cuckoo Valley by Rowland Emett

I have just been introduced to the work of Rowland Emett on the 30 Squares of Ontario blog. A Quiet Afternoon in the Cloud Cuckoo Valley, Oh how very lovely.

The Avengers

	The Avengers ’65 Set 1	The Avengers ’66 Set 1
Disk 1	1. The Town of no Return 2. The Gravediggers 3. The Cybernauts	1. Silent Dust 2. Room Without a View 3. Small Game for Big Hunters
Disk 2	1. Death at Bargain Prices 2. Castle DE’ATH 3. The Master Minds	1. The Girl from Auntie 2. The 13th Hole 3. Quick-Quick-Slow Death
	Avengers ‘65 Set 2	Avengers ‘66 Set 2
Disk 3	1. The Murder Market 2. Surfeit of H 2 0 3. The Hour that Never Was	1. The Danger Makers 2. A Touch of Brimstone 3. What the Butler Saw
Disk 4	1. Dial a Deadly Number 2. Man-Eater of Surrey Green 3. Two’s a Crowd Bonus Episode 4. Too Many Christmas Trees	1. The House that Jack Built 2. A Sense of History 3. How to Succeed …At Murder Bonus Episode 4. Honey for the Prince

The Avengers ran from 1961 through 1969. There two things a remember about my watching the Avengers, one was Mrs. Peal and two: that show had a certain quirkiness to it that I enjoyed. I would have been 10 years old when the show went off the air, so I probably remember being infatuated with Diana Rigg while watching reruns.