Sunday, June 23, 2013
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
Sicken Tire Co.
My second pre-fab kit from Woodland Scenics, Sicken Tire is a good kit at a decent price, that suffers from some of the same issues as the previous kit I reviewed, such as holes in the walls.
It also suffers an issue with the name: is anyone else just tired (sick and tired, har har) of the puns in model railroading? I don't want to name the building this, and was hoping for a selection of signage. Indeed, there is a selection of different signage, but unlike the previous kit, it all says the SAME THING. Blah. I'll have to make my own.
This is what you get in the kit:
It also suffers an issue with the name: is anyone else just tired (sick and tired, har har) of the puns in model railroading? I don't want to name the building this, and was hoping for a selection of signage. Indeed, there is a selection of different signage, but unlike the previous kit, it all says the SAME THING. Blah. I'll have to make my own.
This is what you get in the kit:
Seymour Block
Yes, an HO scale kit, and a work in progress. Stretching my artistic muscle a bit by going larger.
Tempera
Experimented with 'tempera' aka poster-paint last night, and the results were less than desirable.
If you're looking to create a model with realistic looking peeling paint exposing the color beneath, then go for it. Perhaps mix it with a bit of acrylic to give it some pull. By itself however, it just doesn't stick to styrene.
Wood may be a different story, since its ultimately made for paper and not plastic, but even then I suspect it may be easier to make it look distressed than acrylic.
What I may end up doing with this particular model is painting over the acrylic-tempera layer with straight acrylic, to give a bit of a 3 dimensional surface where its obvious a coat of 'new' paint was applied hastily over a previous peeling coat of paint (people do it, you know they do). My thought is that the new layer would help bind the previous layer, or at least the parts that had "stuck" well enough to have not flaked off prior to repainting.
If you're looking to create a model with realistic looking peeling paint exposing the color beneath, then go for it. Perhaps mix it with a bit of acrylic to give it some pull. By itself however, it just doesn't stick to styrene.
Wood may be a different story, since its ultimately made for paper and not plastic, but even then I suspect it may be easier to make it look distressed than acrylic.
What I may end up doing with this particular model is painting over the acrylic-tempera layer with straight acrylic, to give a bit of a 3 dimensional surface where its obvious a coat of 'new' paint was applied hastily over a previous peeling coat of paint (people do it, you know they do). My thought is that the new layer would help bind the previous layer, or at least the parts that had "stuck" well enough to have not flaked off prior to repainting.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
April 2013
Ever since I started selling my N scale kits on eBay, I've noticed a dramatic uptick in the amount of competition. Today for instance, there are 18 listings for built-up
DPM kits in N scale, vs. 4 in HO, even though HO scale has 4 times more
modelers. It's like people realized how much money "someone" was making,
and decided to suddenly copy him. Well, guess I know where to refocus
my efforts. At least until others catch up with me there too.
I'm also contemplating going smaller and making some Z scale buildings; part of me wants to try making Sea Monkey habitats, tiny little towns perhaps with animation and lighting.....something novel, different.
I received my second 'pre-fab' kit in the mail yesterday and have started construction there, and will post pictures shortly. I think I still have to catch-up on my progress from the first as well. Hmm.
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