Hello - I'm building a 1/35 truck fabrication shop:



I've been working on build this for about a year, but only just joinned Armoram.

The idea is an old and abused building on the outside - inside, light and medium duty truck fabrication and prototype development - primarily special purpose, all terrain vehicles for armed forces.

This idea came form a project I recently finshed, same scale but off road performance trucks - this project is the next step - No racecars this time. The two pics below are of the first project, which I called done about a year ago:





This building was initended to look well used, but not abused, and is all wood construction. There are several trucks in various states of repair inside + shops etc.

I wanted another look for the next build - old, industrial, metal, and abused. Like other parts of the forum, I'll do a short walk through the intro, then a walk around the building, outside then in (you'll see, it has a long way to go!) - here we go:



the concept dwg



this building is nearby - i liked the general decrepitude and big windows



As this is scrathcbuilt, and a different type of build for me, i decided to start off with a hydrocal foundation. As its pretty big I ran some rebar in the foundation - florist wire! the base will certianly flex, and i dont want too many cracks - and this worked just fine. I shot a few squirts of acrylic into the hydorcal for base shading, and it worked fine.



The construction is styrene, various metal wires, and laser cut, thin plywood window frames

OK - on to the walk around, outside, then inside:



[/img]https://gallery.kitmaker.net/data/500/9gateclose.JPG



These images are of the front and left side - now, on to the back:







In these, you can see, i wanted to try out a few non-convnetional building forms and elements - the tilted wall, and the curving wall - I have a plan to put something on top of the tilted out area, as it will be part of thhe second floor - as for the red and white checkerboard, i was curious to see if i could do it! - maybe part of the building's distinctive past(?)

The curved wall - who knows, maybe a rail spur once ran by. In any event, it was a real challenge to build!
Looking in, you can see a flight of stairs on their way up to what will eventually be the second floor.









You can now see this is modern era - the trucks each have various mods - some based on photos, others that come with the license associated wiht being a prototype shop If the change is within the general realm of reason, I'll give it a go (no, I am by no means an expert on modern vehicles - but, they are fun to manipulate a bit)



The small machine shop is in front with service bays around the shop - I've built lifts, roller cabinets etc, but they won't be placed for some time still. Right now, building shleves, storage cabinets etc -

https://gallery.kitmaker.net/data/500/20Truck.JPG

I just liked this picture - i thought i'd build this rig using the resin kit for the cab, but as the mail was slow, I became tired of waiting, and instead, I cut the doors out and top off the kit version and went from there - I added a rollbar and built until i was satisfied.

Ok - thanks for taking a look! Sorry for being so long, but, now you can see where the building sits today.

Cheers,

NIck

Ok - Just took a look at my attempt - sorry, dropped a few images - second try!





and last one!



OK - there they are - sorry about the doubles and the gaps in first post(!)

Thanks for checking it out

cheers

NIck

That is really COOL!

Cheers,
Joe

You are cheating...they are all real, no model at all!!

Seriously now: THAT is impressive!!!!

Great show Sir!! Do us a favour and post a lot more!!!

And welcome to the forum Nick!!

Cheers

Romain

What the f....?

Could you please write near every picture if it is an original or your copy?!

This thread is impossible to follow otherwise!

It's Sunday morning here and I will take a look again when I am really awake.

In short, this is gorgeous!

Greets
Claude

THIS...is simply mind boggling. For the sake of general decorum and politeness, I will not write the string of extreme expletives which come to mind as I look at this incredible brilliant miniature work...
Once upon a time, skills such as yours would have been highly sought after in the world of film...completely realistic miniatures were often used in movies, and your work ranks among the top examples I can think of...
This is brilliant.

Wow that is amazing, I thought I was looking at the original building you planned to copy, not the actual model. You can be extremly proud of that Build my friend, and please post more. I am sure this will inspire a few of us to build more dioramas.

Superb.


Pete

I am lost
Which photo is model???
The M1078 wrecker is your job????

Cheers
Seb

Very impressive build and painting job Nick. The photos taken outside really add to the realistic feel. Looking forward to more.

I think WOW sums my feelings.

I think everyone so far has used all of the words that I immediately thought of to describe this work.
Absolutely some of the top top work I've ever seen!! Holy cow man,
J

Wow! thanks to you for taking a look and posting comments! So, the good news is that I really appreciate all the feedback and support! - the less good is that i apparently made a bit of a mess of my own post! - a bit confusing - by popoular vote nonetheless!

So - below, I'll provide a more clear summary of what I'm up to with this build - first tho:

Joe- thanks for checking it out! I'm glad you like the project - it has been fun and a real challenge so far -

Romain - Ha! thanks! yes, I'll show more, and would like to keep going as the build moves along - i hope to clarify what I'm up to below -

Hi Claude, sorry for the confusion! I was looking for a way to pack a long history of idea development and work into a few slides...not a great idea....

Warcloud -thanks! if i could just quit my real job and do this..."Priceless!"

Pete, thanks for checking it out and the words. I'll keep posting and with construction pics - you can see how it's coming together

Hi Seb, sorry for the confusion - as noted already, I was trying to summarize too much....and led to confusion -

As for the pics - only the brown-ish building with the loading dock is real. When im working on a project like this, and something catches my eye - a good prototype that is, and this was one of them.

The M1078 is the trumpeter kit. As this diorama is intended to depict a shop which fabricates and repairs light and med duty all terrain rigs, this fits just fine.

I originally wanted to build the "warpig" variant and ordered a resin conversion - but, the postal delivery was so slow, that i built my own. I cut the doors out of, and roof off of the cab and went from there. I used the voyager etch kit, extras from eduard, and when the pro art kit finally arrived a few details from it too - but, as im hardly an expert, i did take some license with the build -and, as this is diorama is of a fabrication shop, i'd expect to see some variations - thanks for your comments!

Hi Frank - thanks for your comments - I really like taking pictures outside - As this diorama is big, its tough to take them indoors - bad lighting, and "non-prototypical" backgrounds - uhhhh... like my couch, TV, lamps, etc....

Paul, I appreciate that, thanks - still a long way to go

Jerry, glad you like it and for checking it out - thanks for the nice words.

In order to clear up the process and build so far, I've added some more photos - a bit more linear this time. Please take a look:





The basic idea is to build a dio of a fabrication shop. It is the second in a series of dioramas. The first building is shown shaded in the first pic. This project is on the right, with no shading.





For an experiment, i decided to make the foundation from hydrocal. I don't want it to either pull off the base, or crack too much, so i made rebar from florist wire.







Then built up easily removable form boards - with scribe marks to represent stacked board form work - and poured in the hydrocal - it worked out fine - the few big chips were perfect for weathering!







Then weathering with several materials - acrylic sprayed on, acrylic wash, and a wash of alcohol and ink - none of this build goes too fast! - The colorful MATV is for scale only - and not a part of this project -





An early challenge was figuring out how to mount the walls to the foundation in a convincing way, that could be made to eventually look real and be square....not fun. The yellow posts brace/support the walls.





The walls are styrene and windows, thin, lasser cut plywood frames - yes, more slow going. The finish is a variety of coats of acrylics, followed by enamels - mostly off the shelf products fromm Vallejo and AK - in some places, where I wanted heavy, nasty rust, added pigment.





And here we are - most up to date images are in the first post -

Thanks everyone for the nice welcome to Armorama, comments, checking it out - and, i promise, no more LONG posts!

cheers

NIck

You build reinforce concrete like the real one??
This is amazing.

The overall layout is crazy.
No roof???

Hi Seb,

Thanks for checking back! Again, sorry about my somewhat confusing intro post.

Crazy?!??! Hey! - model builders have feelings too! (Haha!) yeah, this has been a challenging build.

As for the roof, that won't come for some time. I'm currently working on interior details...all of the benches, roller tool chests etc etc are scratch built. Two of the rollers started as 1/32 scale cast, but I needed to add the top box etc - you get the point - floor jacks, jack stands, hydraulic lifts and so on - thankfully, there are aftermarket tools and odds and ends!

Maybe like building enclosed vehicles, once it's closed in, it's tough to change anything on the inside. After the first floor interior is done, I'll roll out the second floor and roof framing, and start that part.

Thanks for checking it out
Cheers
Nick

I really like your truck. That looks cool!

Looks totally awesome!!!!!

I've been planning a factory type dio for a while now. I'm kind of basing it loosely on the Facility I work at. The oldest buildings are from around 1900 with additions & new buildings being built from the 1970's till today. The overhead crane in the assembly plant is capable of lifting 200 tons will machine tools in the next aisle over. I just need to figure out where the heck to keep it when finished!!!

Here's a pic I found on Flickr:



It shows the Former PRR roundhouse (that the test dept uses for storage) as well as the addition built in the early 1990's as a class 1 Hydrocarbon test facility.

this is just an awesome build.

Is this for real? youre building skills are brilliant and an inspiration of what can be created if one puts there mind to it.

What a GREAT job dude. Your weathering skills are the stuff! Fantastik job, really.

That is simply crazy!!

This cannot be your first build - where have you hidden all the years?

Some pictures of your builds look 100% realistic - awesome!

Please show us more of your works!

Cheers
Thomas

Hi - thanks for checking it out!

Peter - thanks! - yeah, i enjoy working on trucks, almost as much as the buuildings...good fun!

Matt - thanks for your comments - maybe you could repost those pictures? - im always looking for prototypes. I live in an are which has transformed from industrial to mixed use and residential, but lots of crappy old buildings still around - so, i take pictures of stuff - the kind of things my friends think is crazy - cracked concrete, rust, metal to wood, or concrete, or metal connections....that gantry crane at 200 tons! wow - a fun build by itself -

Petro - thanks

Oliver - Ha! yeah, its a model alright...slow going at that. The trick so far has been to be at least somewhat methodical in a quest for some level of visaul consistency - in english: simialr parts look the same, even though they're being built over time...and sometimes prety tedious to build...like all the various bolts used to "attach" the siding to the framing - many many small sections of small hex rod, cut and glued on....no fun.

Big D - thanks - the weathering has been a big part of this - trying to translate what is usually done on a fender, body panel or bumper...to an entire building...slow, slow slow!

1967er, nope, youre right - this is not my first build, just new to Armorama - I came acrsoss the site a few months ago - and have been blown away! by the great model builders here - wow!

I was a model railroad guy - and discovered, i liked building things miuch more than running trains - hence, my railroad layout looks pretty good - but,man, what a crappy railroad line! hahaha - so now, im back to buildig things.

I'll post some more pics in the next few days - My immediate goal is finish the ground floor detailing - I don't want to include EVERYTHING you would see in a real shop, but enough to look realistic. The plan is to work from the "back" of the shop to the "front" - taking a little area each night after work -so little cabinets, workbenches, junk, clutter etc....until i finish. Then go back across the floor - jacks, etc - and so on -

thanks for checking it out!

NIck

Nick,

I'll have to try to take a few this weekend from off the property (as I don't have photo privileges on the property)

I might be able to sneak a couple on the property if I'm careful

Using Google maps try using "Dresser-Rand Co, Paul Clark Drive, Olean, NY" for the address.......

Hi Nick!

I´m really happy with the feedback you have received about your oustanding work!
The first time you sent me the pictures I was in awe with this unbeliveble project.
Thanks for taking the time to share it with us!

Cheers

Nick , there was no real confusion, I made a joke, like probably all the others who commented in the same spirit.

Well done

Claude

Here's a few pics I found of the inside of the shop:

http://s60.photobucket.com/user/mdlbldrmatt135/library/Misc%20more%20modern%20Factory%20pics