Hi Bruce, stunning work. I can immagine how great will be the final result

I've something to ask you

Maybe you've already explained, here or in another post, but anyway how did you do the base? That floor seems to me very convincing. Did you engrave the tiles directly on the Masonite base (it seems masonite but to be honest I don't know what is it) ? It looks so...

How will you reproduce the wall bricks ? Will you use cork?

Thanks in advance for all your kind replies

You're build treads are always more useful than tutorials

Cheers

Really nice job on the base. The little figurines are so awesome!

thanks guys for the kind words of encouragement. the manhole is a nice item which comes from Plus Models, a company that is new to me and one that i am really impressed by their quality.

the base is cork which was covered by spackle plaster. a complete walkthrough is shown on page 3 of my feature article Never Abandoned for more info on the steps.

i will be applying cork bricks, lots and lots of bricks, to the walls as well. did i mention that this building is huge and will need tons of bricks... thankfully i can envision the final results and just have to buckle down and glue them one brick at a time.

cheers for now, bd.

That is a killer looking base & building you have set up there Bruce! I was wondering how you transfer you drawings so well into 1/35th scale when you print them out, if you do in fact print them out?

I have a better handle on using the Vallejo acrylics after using them to speed paint my 1/48 Hetzer. Still having trouble with white, but I'm hoping that the experience will transfer to my figures.

Bruce that's awesome! I'll be keeping my eyes on this incredible dio!

thanks Harry for the positive feedback. Jeremy, i build the artwork in Adobe Illustrator in 1/35th scale and then print out line art on letter sized paper which i tape together to make templates.

i tape the templates on top of the foamcore and simply cut through the paper and foamcore simultaneously following the lines. really easy. if you want to get fancy you can use spray adhesive like Super 77 to fix the paper template permanently to the foamcore.

another old artist's trick to get artwork transferred from one surface to another is as follows:
1) produce the artwork on to paper;
2) on the reverse side trace the artwork with a soft pencil, say 3B or softer (you can hold the paper against a window in daylight to see through it easily);
3) tape the paper with the artwork facing up and the reversed traced side down against the new surface;
4) rub the artwork area with a pencil or burnishing tool;
5) peel off the artwork and you will see the artwork clearly imprinted on the new surface.

it's like making homemade carbon copy sheets and this is how artists transfer sketches onto canvas. you should try it out on some scrap and you'll see how this is a nifty way to get patterns onto sheet styrene or other materials. hope all this may help. cheers, bd.

Thanks Bruce, that sounds very straightforward. I've never drawn anything to scale like that before, is there a certain method that you use to scale your drawings to 1/35 in Illustrator?

hi Jeremy, i measured my house's rooms, doors and windows and divided the numbers by 35 to get some of the proportions figured out.

i looked over my reference pics of factories and figured they had taller walls, especially on the first floor. i then started making the artwork in the computer, which i then played around with for a couple of nights. i went through 4 revisions of the wall and building designs until i felt i had something unique and also fit my vision of encapsulating the vehicles but allowing multiple view points.

i then printed out the design and taped it together. i used this paper mockup to check out how it worked in relation to the models, this being the best way to see how it all looked before committing any time to cutting the foamcore.

hope this helps. cheers, bd.

I think that answered my question perfectly Bruce. So if I had a 7' tall door and divided it by 35 to get 0.2', then I would transfer that literal value into Illustrator?
If so then I'm going to give it a test run and see if I can create a good looking 1/35 or 1/48 structure from scratch and run it by you to see how it turns out. This is really cool stuff

Jeremy: if you have access to AutoCAD or something similar, another way is to draw it real size and plot it out at scale. Or, you can copy your linework and scale down the copy, then print it at size.

Happy Modelling, -zon

Zon, I don't have access to AutoCAD but I do have limited access to some 3D animation software. I'm not sure if that would work out though.

Jeremy: I'm not sure if animation software would work or not. Also, 1/48th is easy as it is the same as the architectural scale 1/4" = 1'. Most office supply stores sell architectural scales, so then you could measure directly to your paper. However, 1/35th doesn't come near any of the architectural scales, so it is a hard one deal with.

I was playing around with the software and there's really no way to print from either one. I'll pick up an architectural scale and try some quick mockups in 1/48 with it to see if I can get the hang of it, thanks for the suggestion

fields of cork...


...the Red Rain factory is slowly, ever so slowly coming together. but i'm closer to the end of the construction than i am the beginning which is how i look at it.
cheers, bd.

Stunng work Bruce

I'll try it to do something similar

Thanks a lot!

thanks Mauro, if you're interested in doing a cork brick project i would recommend finding a tool like this:

it's a nail cuticle pusher... i have no idea what you actually do with it other than it's for manicures. i permanently borrowed it from the missus and it's great for positioning cork when your gluing them down.

mine doesn't look quite like this one, mine is bit larger and it has a square shovel and a rounded shovel shape on either end. after a few thousand cork bricks i got pretty fast at laying them down using this tool.

hope this helps and look forward to seeing your inspirational project. cheers, bd.

Another excellent tip Bruce, will be getting one of those as well for sure

Bruce the factory looks fantastic. How do you cut your cork bricks?

thanks Jeremy and Pat for the kind words.

here's more info on brick making as requested:
1) i use the standard Chopper machine bought online quite a while ago. if you own one you'll want to put some Blue Loctite thread glue on the bolt circled in red. this completely stops the handle from loosening, which it does and then it cuts slightly off angle. don't use Red Loctite which you have to heat to unthread a bolt as the handle hinge is plastic.

2) i cut strips from 5mm cork tiles bought at the DIY store. use a sharp blade, don't be shy to change blades as soon as it starts ripping the cork and be prepared to go through many blades... it's just part of the cork experience.

super important to cut the strips consistantly, if you cut one too fat or thin just don't use it as you will bugged by them when these skinny bricks pop up during the bricklaying. it's okay to have a slight variation just don't accept the wonky strips, you can find a use for them elsewhere depending on the project.
3) before you know it you have a bucket o bricks. this pic is the extra bricks i made for some broken wall portions and for the rubble.

i leave them clean cut for laying down and then distress them once glued using a needle file. lots quicker and having them clean cut helps keep the rows straight.

4) most important for me is to break up the monotony of fields of cork projects. i make a batch of strips, then chop them into bricks, then glue them down, then cut some strips again, etc... doing it this way keeps my brain from completely shutting down and perhaps loosing a fingertip LOL.

there you go. this is just how i do it and i'd love to hear if others have some tips or tricks. i really enjoy the dialogue these blogs can start which is my primary reason for posting in-progress pics so i hope to hear from you.

cheers, bd.

Bruce: Great looking building. The archways and spandrel details are nicely rendered. Thanks for the tool tip and the DIY flooring tip. I just bought some automotive cork, but it is rubberised, so not sure how it will work. The DIY flooring might be the right ticket.

Happy Modelling, -zon

Thanks for the tip about the Loctite too. I would have used the red without thinking about it since that's what I'm used to using.

Your bricks are outstanding Bruce, lot's of ideas coming to mind after seeing that section of wall you have there

thanks guys for nice feedback, very much appreciated as always.

i don't know if the rubberized cork would distress as easily as regular cork, the regular cork breaks up really nicely for edges that are crumbling. but you may have a new effect using rubberized cork. i find it interesting to take an established technique and tweak it to fit my needs and skill level.

i just need to scratchbuild the window frames, sashes and mullions from Evergreen styrene strips and the building is ready for assembly and final plastering of the interior walls. then it's ready for paint... finally.

i look forward to seeing the progress on all your projects and happy modeling everyone. cheers, bd.

Beat me to it there Pat, I was going to ask the very same question !

Thanks for explaining Bruce, this brickwork is stunning, looking forward to seeing the end result. I am definitely going to give this a go.

The only remaining question is how do you cut the initial strips square ? Every time I have tried this with a steel rule and a scalpel, I always seem to cut an angled edge.

Thanks in advance,

Andy

thanks Andy for the nice comment and the good question...

... cutting the initial strips square IS TROUBLESOME!

i had the same problem which seems to have gone (mostly) away after cutting a hundred strips or so.

here is what i did to help with this issue: i use a steel ruler and a number 11 X-Acto blade. i stand up and lean over the cork i'm cutting to get a "top down" view. i hold the blade angle low to the surface rather than pointing straight down at the cork which provides more cutting edge to stabilize my cut. i look right down the X-Acto handle/blade and don't try to cut through in one go, usually in three passes.

most importantly, don't really sweat it. the crooked angled strips are just as good as the "perfect" strips to make bricks with. since the bricks are spaced to allow for mortar/plaster the angled bricks work fine. when gluing focus on the top surface of the brick for lining them up.

pile all the bricks in a container and when you find a perfect brick place it aside in a second container. this second batch can be your go-to source for bricks needed for the edges or for rubble or wherever a truly fine specimen is required.

everyone will find the cutting of strips straight and consistently the same thickness an issue but with practice you will get better... i promise it does become easier to nail the thickness and that you won't be cutting 45 degree angles anymore.

if you're starting out here's a good tip (geez are these really good tips or just vague notions?): take a full tile and cut it in half. then cut your strips along the short edge. this way you can warmup making short strips, practicing all the above without wasting too much material. though it takes less time to cut strips from the longest length of cork you aren't saving much time of you are making strips you can't use.

thanks for the good question and happy modeling. cheers, bd.

Regarding the rubberized cork:

I have used this material often to create custom shaped gaskets for automotive and other applications. It is quite different from the regular cork, and is a lot tougher on the blades to cut through. I have to use steel straight edges and french curves to keep the blade on track, and this still doesn't garauntee success. I would not think that it would work well for this application, but I don't know for certain. I know that I wouldn't use it for this based on my personal experiences with the rubberized material.