I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

No really, I'm not yelling Nick, I just love the look of the facades and the use of materials.

Great update my friend.

Hi Dave, well, I couldn't ask for much better!!

I had a tough day at the office - so, went home and did something positive!! I stayed up too late! But, once into it, heck, why not just finish it!! That said, now I am tired! No model building for me tonight!

Thanks Dave!
Cheers
Nick

Sorry the day was rough... We've all been there I'm sure. Hope it was a one off, but not like your builds, which I could take over and over again!

Modelling is a good respite from the day ain't it?

I should try it sometime....

Hope tomorrow is better than yesterday was, take care Nick.

Dave

Nothing like a good after work model building "push" to help clear the mind.

—mike

Yeah, Nick seems to be a champ with that too!!!

Universal genius indeed!!

Cheers

Romain

I am always amazed out how much you get done in so little time and........it always looks so good!
I am shaking my head right now at my measly output.
J

Fantastic work Nick

An ugly WIP is sign that you do everything yourself. This are is a mandatory passage and I believe it to be very rewarding to see the transition from ugly to finish.

Greets

Claude

Hi Nick ,

great show and i'm glad to be the spectator !

Cheers

Kurt

Hi guys - Thanks for the comments! I think!!!

I better not mess it up!!! The pressure is on!

Mike - you and Dave!! Haha! Yes, you both fully get why I do it 😄

Romain - I fear you're trying to lead me into a false sense of security! I will try to stay sharp - as you well know, it ain't easy! (Thanks!)

You know Jerry, if I could try to explain, I'm a bit like an NCO at work - I need to keep us moving - but also be responsible for all the various "other" stuff too - it's a handful! So, for the dio, I can do what I want - and that's to build stuff - with no procedure, protocol in sight, unless I want it there - so, on I build 😎 now, if I could just get about 10% of your patience and rigor...argh!

Claude - yes, indeed, as a proud follower and "reader" of your work, I appreciate your comments sir!

Kurt - my brother! Yes! We build, glad for your comments!

I hope to make progress on this building this weekend - I'm probably planning too much - I want to paint, detail and assemble building one - we'll see I guess -

Thanks guys for your comments
Cheers
Nick

Hello -

well, I've a had a fairly productive last few days - working away on the building. It's never clear how this will all come together. So far, as you might suspect, some things worked out just fine - others less so....

First, after paint, the building is assembled and glued! as for the product placement, ironically, I use mostly Vallejo Paints....I'll include more of their stuff next time! haha - take a look:



As you can see above - lots of weight to compress this during the "big glue" - haha! just a coincidence that the pic of the SF Ferry Building is in the background - the clock tower on that building is much nicer than my tower of spray glue -

and the results:



so, this worked out pretty well - you can see some spackle to fill the gap between the floors, really, no big deal.



This closeup sets the tone for what I'll be doing for the debris, looking into the building - here's a newsflash: It's very slow going!!!!

The two below look at the entry area - this is still not done, and is not glued in yet:







Sorry about the bad pics! but, you get the point - there's more going on there than what you can see above, and, it's still not done!! more debris, and of course, eventually, fine crushed glass....

and, onto more S-L-O-W work: making concrete debris:





Above is only a fraction of the concrete and CMU debris I've made....it looks pretty good when done....but, it sure takes time!!! I'll eventually make, and then crack plaster for more debris - - I just hate the mess and lack of predictability with plaster!!!! - I'm not sure this method is much better though, in terms of the general level of model building irritation!

But, the results, pre-more debris, any pigment, ground effects etc, etc, etc...and more etc's:





And, there you have it. At this point, it would be ridiculous to list all of the things I'm going to add, subtract, repaint, fix, etc...so I wont!

thanks for checking it out!!

Nick

....if you say rubble in small scale ..i say NICK !!!

Okay , after the Hurricane from Romain and his buddy we have the Twister from you Nick. Nice rubble , the broken glass ....oeww...not suitable to walk trough it with bare feet , the bricks and concrete debris very convincing well done .

The weight on top of the building during the big glue......phenomenal !

Looking forward !

Kurt

Haha!! Yes, Leo and Romain are putting on quite a show! Great to see, I'm glad he's posting it!

As to this build, that's another story....I'll bet I don't even have 20% of the rubble down yet!!!! That's leave a lot of tedious cutting, painting, glueing, adding pigment, and, more!!

Thanks for swinging by Kurt -
Cheers

Nick

Looks amazing as usual Nick!!! Love it even more when you see the effort it took to get it there. Nicely done sir.

That is brilliant work. So nice to see a damaged/destroyed building that actually has enough rubble. And you say you're not even done yet?
J

Build rubble and the D9 will come! Pile it on, Nick!

—mike

Hi Dave, thanks! Yes, the steps....every now and then I shoot a pic - particularly when trying something new. I'm using rigid pink foam, balsa wood and florists wire. So far so good. All of this in order to put off using hydrocal or plaster. I hate using it!!! The mess gets on my nerves! Don't get me wrong, I really like the results, but, the mess I can do without!!

Hi Jerry - as a fellow observer of debris, you can not really have enough!! Assuming either heavy artillery from afar, an M1A1, or a gunship hit this with something, (oh, or even the eventually-to-be-built Bradley Linebacker), a small pile of rubble just won't cut it. So, maybe taking a page from your playbook, there will be layers of debris. This is just the first level, the big stuff. Next, little nuggets and stones, and finally pigment. I'll be doing debris alone for a week!!! As for the amount, this building only sustained "slight" damage...there's another building to build across the street...it will have sustained some heavy damage. So, a long way to go with rubble!

Hi Mike, so, in addition to the comments above, I don't think the dozer would be used if there wasn't something big in the way - in this case, a big, big pile of rubble from the damage. So, it looks like I'm going to have to find a more efficient way to make a mess!!!

Tonight, I'm making a couple of signs - I can't read them, so I'm hoping, based on the graphics, they have something to do with general merchandise!! At least something for sale!! I cropped some signs out of pics, fixed them up with photoscape and mounted them on little box frames....I'm waiting for the matte finish to dry, then, on to weathering!

Thanks for checking it out and your comments, guys!

Cheers
Nick

Plaster or sheetrock... would probably be much more efficient than cutting/filling/painting/weathering balsa... I/m sure you could find some nearby construction or remodeling & get some from the workers (knowing a 4*8 sheet isn't too bus friendly ) I know there's not many Dirt roads around either... I like getting some of really fine dirt/sand/silt from them to use as well.

It's coming along nicely.

Hello fellow model builders -

I had a fairly productive weekend, which included more than my share of scratch un-building - yes, more debris....and then, more debris. The nature of this debris though, varies quite a bit. There is the obvious small hill of fake rubble, but also a lot of pigment, some water effect in my little pot holes, more pigment, paper and debris and so far, two air conditioners - one mounted, the other amidst the rubble -

Sorry in advance for some slightly mediocre pics and weird light - as this gets further along I will take it outside for pics - in fact, I'm looking forward to it! I am optimistic that it will look pretty good with the right light - please check it out:



the goal - to get the CAT to look like its "in" an not just "on" the debris!



So, like Kramer did on Seinfeld, I used...Layers! of rubble that is....



Above shows some context - another building will be on the right of the CAT as the source of the rubble





This project requires all sorts of debris, so, I'm adding it as I go along - I guess for now, the goal is to get this building equipped with debris, rubble and more detail, then start an M1114...





To the pics above - the AC unit is evergreen plus some HO scale long hood fans, and left over PE stuff. The paper is paper - it will get some weather to tone it down a bit.

















And there you have it - mediocre pics and all. Seems to be moving along ok. I included the last few pics to illustrate something of a problem - the blue-ish tint to the lower level debris - I used a different color - pretty clever eh? so, that will need to be fixed - I realized when crunched, concrete can take on a grey hue - but that is a bit much for me....I think it will be coated with grey pigment - that ought to tone it down!

thanks for checking it out -

Nick

Coming along nicely... I'm sure it'll get the much needed dust from the "demo".. there's always dust. Really need to find more plastic time.. the computer is sucking all of the little time I have been getting.

Yeah, Buddy!!! ... Great update! You've been busy indeed!

Rubble ain't easy but you've definately got it goin'-on here, Bro!

And as George Costanza would say ... "I'VE GOT NOTHIN!!!'"

—mike

Hi Nick,

glad you are "on" again! ..And I'm back from hospital...yeepee!!

Nothing can stop us now (hopefully!!)

Nick, I've noticed some breaking edges on the debris that are flawless....not dusty/sandy as they should be after what happened! I think you'd better see to that!

Otherwise........awesome!!!! Absolutely awesome!!!! Enough to humble us all!!

Go on....and make your days!!

Cheers

Romain

This is coming along well. I'm really liking this project, you work wonders with that pink board. If mine for the Fallujah build come out looking even half that good I'll be happy. Those Juweela pavers were a great idea, how hard are they to work with?

UUHHHH WWOOOWW??

Nothing else needs to be said.
J

We humbly bow before thy creation, oh great worker of the plaster and wood...and beseech thee Brother, to carry on with thy works of wonderment and rubbling, so that we may become full to overflowing with amazement and that the great sound of merrymaking may be heard throughout the Kitmaker empire!

And forget about the lighting, it is but a lite and momentary affliction good sir builds a lot.... The sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that....well you know the rest.

Looks awesome, I like the bluish tint, helps to give some depth to the whole show. Like the top stuff has cast a shadow on it...

Later.

Hi guys, glad you took a look!

Matt - believe it or not, there's lots, and lots of pigment - and a bottle of fix already used! I think it's the lame pics!

Hi Mike, haha! Yes, I'm building enough rubble for all of us! You'll be posting soon enough I'm sure!! You better be!

Ahh, Mr Romain, well, in case your docs don't know it, I'm pleased to let them know you're eyes are operating at 100%!!! Glad you're back, buddy!

Hi John, glad you dropped by! I'm watching yours too - yes, the pink board, model builder's friend! If you fool around with it a bit, you'll get the hang of it! The Juweela blocks are pretty nice - each the same and easy to cut, glue, and even smash up if you want!

Hi Jerry, don't be too blown away, but thanks!!! Actually lots of the inspiration for the ground plane comes from watching your work! Someday, I'll be there 😄

Hi Dave - thanks, but way too much! I like your thoughts on the "blue" - interesting point, in a sense shading/filter for rubble - who'd have guessed?

As for tonight, adding texture, at the suggestion of a certain European model builder, I will simply refer to as, Romain! So, out with my little trowel and a jar of Vallejo acrylic gel with, a sand texture!! For those of you wathching at home, I'll bet this is probably a lot easier to do before your model parts are: primed, painted, weathered, pigment added, and, installed!! We'll see, I hope it works!

Thanks for checking it out
Cheers
Nick