It's been a while since I blogged about the N Scale Coffee Table Layout what with the minutae of life having taking center stage. Whilst there has been a huge amount of progress on the layout I just did not have the motivation to record it.
Cardstock Low Profile Buildings
Before Christmas I chanced on a joblot of low profile cardboard building kits for a bargain price. These were all from the scale model buildings N gauge range and are semi photo realistic and obviously taken from photographs of prototypical buildings which have then been photoshopped.
These were perfect to line the edges of my layout and I developed a technique of cutting out the buildings in layers to add a little depth and visual interest to these already great kits.
Doors and Windows
Using a fresh blade in the trusty craft knife and a steel rule, laboriously cut out each of the windows and doors and put them to one side. It is important to store these in the same order and orientation in which they were removed for when you want to put the windows back.
This will leave you with your base layer.
Add Depth with a Second Layer
Take your base layer and stick this to a second piece of card of a similar thickness using a glue stick. The buildings are generally small enough that there is enough excess unprinted card to let you do this without needing to break out anymore card stock but following in the footsteps of Michael from the fantastic Chandwell YouTube channel, you can resort to your favourite brand of cereal packet.
Now repeat the exercise cutting out all the window and door apertures. This will leave you with a double thickness layer.
Abutments and Protruding Structures
Some of the buildings feature various protruding structures which can be cut out and carefully peeled away from the second layer. Glue stick is pretty weak stuff so you should have no problem removing these elements. Stick these to similar thickness card and cut around them.
Glazing Windows
There are a couple of ways you can glaze the windows either by adding a layer of acetate to the whole base layer or by covering the window with cellotape. I prefer the second method as it does not add a lot of thickness and it is easy to cut through the tape if you are simulating broken glass.
Using the cellotape technique you could go the extra mile and remove any tape from the mullions and transoms of panelled windows for that matt look.
Using the acetate technique you can simulate larger moder multipanel windows by scoring the acetate gently. You can then rub these with coloured pencils which will colour in the scratches to form the mullions. This does tend to warp the acetate creating a sort of bubbled shape to the windows and lots of reflections. If this is not to your taste then you could just draw the mullions on using a permenant fineliner.
Edging with Watercolour Pencil
The edges of your building (and window apertures) will now have clean white edges which need to be coloured with paint or my favourite water colour pencils. This does not need to be a perfect colour match and in fact my dark grey pencil seems to get the most use.
Reconstruction
Any abutments that you created can now be reglued back into their rightful places giving you a solid wall again.
Rebuilding and Reinforcement
Adding all these extra layers of card that they weren't originally designed into the kit can make them a challenge to keep square when you finally come to fold them together and rebuild the low profile type structures. I found that adding an interior skeleton of 5mm foamboard was more than enough to produce a rigid structure. This also gives you a much better surface to attach your roof panels to.
Replacing Windows and Doors.
You can now refit your windows in their relevant recesses simply fixing them in place with tape. For particularly deep recesses you can repeat the earlier step adding additional layers to the window apertures to suit your tastes. If you are gluing these to your backboard as I was then I recommend keeping the final number of layers to a minimum.
Roofs
The roofs included in the kit are the worst aspect. Typically using just patterned textures as these are likely to be completely unuseable from the prototype photograps, they are a little lack lustre and can either be replaced by better textures from other companies or weathered using the watercolour pencils.
If you are making a silhouette style building the included roof textures are more than acceptable. however, if you are going more for the low profile look intended by the kit then a stage of artistic weathering is definitely required.
Accessories and lighting
How far down the rabbit hole you go is dependant on your tastes and skill level. Adding some gutters and drain pipes with strips of card or styrene is an easy way to add that extra layer of detail.
Some of the buildings clearly include security lights and adding these to your building is trivial. Simply drill through the relevant spot with a small drill bit and fish through an appropriate voltage prewired SMD LED. These can be affixed with the modellers friend photoreactive resin glue or even white glue.
Signs and Names
Some of these kit buildings come with signs printed on the buildings. Whilst the maority are simulating painted on signs some would benefit from being raised from the surface. You could scan the building sheet into the computer before you start cutting out and reprint the signs onto card to make them a bit more three dimensional.
If you have access to a 3D Printer you could also model these letterforms and print them out. This is much easier than it sounds and I have a tried and tested technique for making signs which can be used to great effect here.
Weathering Cardstock Buildings
This is an area of modelling relatively new to me but using a set of cheap artists pastels and watercolour pencils I managed to dirty up some of my buildings. This is an entirely subjective exercise and is probably best done when you have selected spots on your layout for the buildings to go and then you can weather them into place and achieve a realistic and consistent tonality to your scene.
Cardstock Buildings at Upper Carrom
Bowerings Animal Feeds - LR-I-009
The Bowerings compsny sign was scanned in and then 3D printed using the technique I menetioned above. LED lights were added alongside 3D printed drainpipes.
Modern N-Gauge Warehouse - LR-I-011
Wood Brothers Ltd - LR-I-001
This buildings roof texture was okay but I needed to heavily weather it to make it look like rusted tin. The aperture for the sliding door is currently masked with some black card whilst I decide on a suitable interior.
Lion Brewery - LR-I-006
This two storey structure features a loading bay with protective steel posts which I modelled using styrene rod. Drainpipes were added using the same styrene rod. The roof is a little lacking in detail and I think could do with a replacement slate tile texture. Sometimes you are never really happy.
Obligatory Running Video
I recently invested in a tiny action camera measuring no more than 2cm cubed. After some messing about I managed to get a semi decent bit of footage. I highly recommend playing this back at half speed.
