Howlin wrote:Coming along nicely!
Thank you. I'm quite pleased with it.
Howlin wrote:Do you make any textures like the roof bricks? or are those refab sheets? The hobby shop I use does not have any brick looking pieces, just roofing and siding like material.
They are all pre-fab sheets - life is too short to make my own textured styrene. I use a combination of sheets - either from Slaters, [url]
https://slatersplastikard.com/[/url] an English firm, generally available from model shops and definitely available online. I used their sheets to make the bases for the musketeer models.
I also use Evergreen because that is also generally available in the UK from the model shops I frequent.
I chose a mix of scale sidings for this project, specifically because I could use them in different areas (which i haven't really done) but also because I can then rotate them through 90 degrees and use them as flooring/decking.
The roof texture on the Addams spire - and on the bay windows is actually a 4mm scale (OO gauge or 1/72-1/76th scale) brick sheet.
Actual roofing sheets are available, but this is sufficient as asphalt shingles lie pretty flat.
Howlin wrote:Also, what is that grey puddy you use? I have used milliput and I like it but its expensive and looking for other options too...
That one is actually an old and in not very good condition putty I found in a drawer. I think it might be Squadron Green, or something like that. I immediately went out and bought some new Revell modellers filler, which is a tan colour.
Other than that I use ordinary Miliput (not the fine white stuff, no need), principally because I have used Miliput for since I was a teenager, and the local hardware store round the corner stocks it.
I tend to not use Greenstuff as a filler, as it's tricky to use in that role. However GW's Liquid Greenstuff is very good for filling figures and the like because you can brush it into places and smooth it into textures with a brush.
Howlin wrote:Any tips for bending the plastic? do you heat it in like a plug in tea kettle to boil?
I really need to get more dynamic bends.
It depends on what it is.
Normally I don't use heat. I
could, but I'm just too lazy to traipse up and down the stairs from the attic to the kitchen and back.
In physics the term 'plastic' describes the ability of a material to bend or deform. Obviously styrene has plastic qualities, but surprisingly so does wood and ice, among others. Wood, responds to heat and/or moisture - or both in the form of steam, it can be bent, (Iron age british wheelwrights used to make the rims for chariot wheels out of one piece of steam bent ash - as opposed to six or eight cut and shaped sections -
that is is pretty hi-tech) but so can ice - glaciers are a good example how they bend to fit the shape of the rock beneath them.
Styrene can be manipulated quite easily by pressure, just gently pushing it far enough that it deforms into the new shape.
So generally I work with thinner, more flexible sheets - the base of the cylindrical tower was thin styrene - paper thickness - rolled around a form (20mm internal diameter PVC pipe) several times and glued, in effect I laminated it.
This made a thicker walled cylinder, to which I added the siding. That was quite thick but I scored each of the gaps between the 'boards'. In itself this causes the sheet to curve, but it also makes it easier to bend around the cylinder.
Strips of styrene can be bent into curves by holding one end between finger and thumb of the left hand and drawing it through, pulling it back over the thumb. Do this several times and the strip takes a natural curve of its own, which can then be coaxed tighter and glued into place.
Masking/painter's tape and small clamps are your friends.
As I have said Tamiya Thin is my glue of choice, it glues quickly and doesn't mark the surface too much if you go outside of the 'lines'.
Howlin wrote:thanks for the updates
You're welcome, I wasn't sure how this one would go down. The ME and musketeers stuff using different type of polystyrene foam was very different and - for me - pushing the envelope. As far as I am concerned, this is much more mundane. I am just glad that you're enjoying it.