Down on Beaverbrook: Co-op feed mill first texture...

I've realised whilst building the new N scale micro cameo layout how colour and texture play a key role in setting the tone of a scene...

The real Co-op feed mill is clad in shingles, but my concern with the model version (which I've compressed somewhat) was that individual shingles would look messy, there would be too much 'noise' in it's finish. I had planned when I built the structure using Slaters embossed material, to represent most of the texture with just paint, but it isn't until this week where I have begun the process of layering on the colour. I started with a very pale grey (Humbrol 28). I masked the haphazard panels based upon photos and observing their placement and shape, and then mixed Humbrol 72 and 28 and airbrushed on the darker shade. Encouraged I used Humbrol 245 on the lower flanks and it started to look 'something like'.

There is a long way to go but these scenes with my Canadian National GP38-2W show real promise and I am fired up to push on with the painting - a few more panels to add in a darker shade. The upper panels are much more weathered, which I will dry brush... once most of that is done I can begin to add a few 'key' small details including lights, conduits and most importantly, the Co-op sign!  

The most wonderful thing about Beaverbrook is the way I keep coming back and falling in love it over and over again. I am now excited to get some more scenic work complete here, at the mill... and yet just a few inches away I have bare baseboard waiting the first stages of ground work. An evolving scene, a layout which is teaching me to take things slowly and evolve both my thinking and practice both skills and theories. Until next time, more soon...