????? How can we be back when all the images have been removed!?????

YEA!!!! the notifications are working.

Hi Romain - Matt is right!! Jim and Darren have been hard at work fixing a tech problem - it's fixed!!! Thanks very much guys!

As to the project - I'm painting the walls - I might do a pre-weathering post in the next couple of days; lots of bright and shiny walls!...for right now, lots of tamiya yellow tape and friscket -

Cheers
Nick

Jim has to make some minor code changes to correct the issue once and for all, but the issue was the use of "you're" in the title rather than "you are". Now the problem has been located Jim will have it all singing again soon.

Hello - finally, a real post! - I spent some time painting walls and starting the weathering -

Starting with the walls:



This gives an overview of most of the walls - a classic old gas station -





The grey walls above, will be interior



The red and white will be exterior walls -





The awning and the icon sign turned out pretty well - funnily enough, before I get to weather any of this, it will get a touch up - funny, because, before it looks bad, it needs to look right - then, let the rust, dust, and corrosion begin!



The pic above might look a bit odd, but it actually looks just right! walking home from work the other day I came across a section of sidewalk being torn out - and grabbed a few little pieces of the chipped concrete - I can't believe how close my hydrocal, acrylic grinds, acrylic paint, and alcohol and ink wash foundation nightmare came to the real thing! lucky me....



As this is a gas station, there would have been a small sales desk - and in the spirit of this architecture, it gets a red and white checker, linoleum tile floor. But, as this is abandoned it too needs some abuse. This is the first step, a few tiles strewn about and an alcohol and ink wash.



Next step, above, stipple/dab on a wash of life color dust -


Next to last step above, is to add debris - remnants of a steetrock or plaster ceiling? maybe acoustic tiles? in any case, the debris material is "overflow" of the driveway pour, scraped up, ground up and kept in a little pile. Next, with a brush, paint on blobs of lacquer clear flat on the tile floor, sprinkle the debris over it - there's no glue shine and it sticks really well!

Finally:



While waiting for the paint to dry, I scratched up a couple of soon to be weathered gas pumps. These are evergreen and junk box classics -

Ok - next step - weathering the walls - I did the tile work early because the area will be closed in with walls and tough to reach - - the little sales area and car bays will get a few more layers of debris - more like what you've seen, and then bigger abandoned junk -

thanks for having a look

cheers

Nick

Nick,
I love that sidewalk!!! I don't know where you think you are going LOL! ... But wherever it is, this just keeps getting better and better!!!

--mike

Hi Nick,

thanks for the step by step post! It shows where your tremendous results come from! Tricks and techniques of course, but also a natural talent for these things!!!!

The "real" debris matching your surface (or rather vice versa ) perfectly are no coincidence, believe me!

Superb job! This dio is going to be the next rocker!!

Cheers

Romain

This is just astounding.
J

Lovely work Nick, the tiled floor is fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Anirudh

Yeah Nick ,

really impressive work you've done so far !

Cheers

Kurt

I meant tile floor. .......... too much coffee!

--mike

Hello - thanks for dropping by - -

Mike - well, I think it's because of all the coffee I don't know WHY I'm going, but I do know where I'm going!!

Romain and Jerry - I'm glad to see you two are following me on this admittedly weird build!

Anirudh, thanks! the tile was a real challenge! I made the checkerboard pattern with a frisket pattern over a white base on evergreen - I'm still a bit surprised there was so little paint bleeding across colors!

Hi Kurt- if I can be so bold, nice to hear from my fellow mad scientist! hahha!

Today, finally some decent pics!! I've been working away on debris and have weathered three interior walls - This is all just taped together, but is a good base for discussion.

I haven't started weathering the exterior walls yet - they will be treated similarly to the interior, but a bit less rust, and a lot more streaking, fading, and grime. OK - here we go, starting with a couple of overviews:





These two really set the scene - eventually, this will be weathered - to establish the abandoned look - My "patrol" and their trucks will be located on and around the driveway - maybe a guy or two inside having a look around...







In the first above, you can see the gas pumps - I think these turned out OK - will be better with some touch up and weathering - the other two show you what's going on inside - the "structural" debris is done - next, just regular junk strewn about...






As this canopy is so prominent, I need to get it right - this area will be weathered, primarily toning down and fading the color - but, also, the details - I kept the various missing panels - they'll be scattered about the driveway and nearby desert - a few, tho will be shown dangling. As I'm confident I'll break these off during the build, I'll install them toward the end of this...











Above you get better views of the debris - so far so good- As I mentioned above, the next layer of debris will be remnants - old auto parts, some wood - maybe a smashed up one-time sales desk, and general trash....



The last image is a workbench pic - the debris is like that found on the tile - plus some shredded paper - I might add some more colored paper in there - or something with a bit more contrast, but not too much

Next steps will be to start on the exterior walls and the inside of the front wall (blue)

Ok - thanks for having a look!

Nick

I'm speechless!!!

Bravo!!

Cheers

Romain

Very nice work Nick and great attention to detail. This is one of those pieces that you notice something new each time you look at it. I'm a fan of the genre and I'm hoping to start on a prepper/survivalist bunker later this year.

Do you plan on adding maybe a shelf unit or two inside? Maybe some worn and tattered advertisements?

Getting Romain to be speechless is a feat in itself. I'm just kidding Romain:-)

However, I totally agree with him Nick. Absolutely wonderful work sir. Keep it coming, I love it.

Dave

So nice!!! I do have a question though: How much is 'Regular Unleaded?' ...

--mike

Oops, it seems I've built a reputation here..!!!

Cheers

Romain

The progress is amazing!!!

Hello Romain - thanks very much for the vote of confidence!! Now, to carry on, and not get lazy and screw it up!!!

Hi Alex - thanks for dropping by! And the positive words. You raise a good point about a few more shelves. There's a wood workbench and shelf already, but it was out of view in the pics - I'm compressing the back of the building, but I didn't include the back walls for these pics - you're point tho is very interesting - maybe I'll try some smashed up and dangling metal shelves - why not?

I thought about some old posters, but concluded this place is in such decrepitude, they'd be long gone by now....

Hi Dave! Quit picking on Romain!!!! His "eagle eye" keeps me honest!

Hi Mike - nope - only dust now! Just memories of regular leaded! Thanks!

Hey Matt - thanks for dropping by ....still a long way to go....in fact, plenty long way to go - those bright and shiny walls need to be knocked back a lot....more junk and debris, and then, the really tedious task of....tall grass...in clumps lots and lots of it - no I'm not really looking forward to that.... Then, the dreaded task of...painting figures....

Ok - thanks for having a look -

Nick

This looks fantastic! Really neat piece.

If I may make so bold as to venture an opinion (I'm more adept at critiquing than building, I'm afraid): The scraps of paper look cool, but a little fresh for a building in that condition. Do you plan on giving them a wash to make them look older and dirtier, like paper that's blown across the desert to settle here? Also I think they might tend to gather more in the corners and crevices than out in the open. Just a thought. Either way, I love what you've done with the place!

WOOOOOOWWWW !!!! This project is awesome !!!! Really great work ! It is look like a real !