Er , dunno , forgot . Who are you , anyway ?
Mike Morgan said:I am I, Don Quixote ... Now where are those pesky giants?
Er , dunno , forgot . Who are you , anyway ?
Slowly moving on. I’ve given it it’s base coat of simi-gloss white and dabbled a few defects with spackle. I’m currently waiting for the black paint to dry and then I can add the trim. I’m getting anxious and impatient. I want it done now…! But that ain’t gonna happen…
Here is today’s progress…with a piece of trim in place. It’s just sitting there and needs to be removed so I can give the black it’s 2nd coat…which I did just before coming back to the puter.
Just posting a little more progress on the tunnel. Sorry if I’m boring everyone to death but look on the bright side…it’s not Queen Hillary or the Shrub…
Currently I’m almost to the point of making it look like concrete. I should have it painted and on the layout in a couple of days. It’s my Christmas present to myself…a finished tunnel. 
Still putting strips on…it looks like clamp city in this picture.
I’ve finally got all the strips on except the pedestrian guard rail.
Guard rail is in place and building test fit.
Detail of the guard rail.
Just need to use a little more crack filler, then sand and paint. The next pictures should be a finished tunnel…Wheeeeeeeeeeee…!!
Warren,
One day I’ll e-mail you the write-up on how to do this the easy way. Part of our “Beyond the Basics” course and as simple as “1…2…3” when it comes to doing concrete tunnel portals and wing walls. 
Thats pretty neat. Good way to hide a tunnel portal. Cant wait to see the final result!
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Warren,One day I’ll e-mail you the write-up on how to do this the easy way. Part of our “Beyond the Basics” course and as simple as “1…2…3” when it comes to doing concrete tunnel portals and wing walls.
I’m always looking for an easier way…
I’d gladly receive your write-up as I still have 3 more tunnels to go…and a concrete monstrosity called a grain elevator. Actually this one wasn’t hard. It went together quite easy. It’s biggest problem is it’s size and location. I have to get up on a ladder to install it…which isn’t an easy task because it’s so large and awkward. But that’s just part of what goes with rather high benchwork (42") The other problem I’ve had with it…size related…is finding a place to work on it. It’s too cold to work in the Garage until next March.
Now this is strange. I just posted this and it vanished into thin air…POOF…!! This project is getting down to the wire…it’s almost done… Tonight it got it’s final sanding and a coat of white primer and is now ready for me to do my magic and turn it into a concrete tunnel. All painted and ready to go!
A little extra was added…a date on the lentil.
Tomorrow I should be able to give it it’s first coat of “concrete”. And I just might also put a coat of "concrete on those tubes and turn them into silos…!!
Aarrrrrrrgh…!! I don’t like the paint. I took polyscale “aged concrete” and had Lowes color copy it with their computer. The match is ok, it’s just that it looks like it was poured yesterday, not 30 years ago. The paint, when wet looks like I just poured it out of the cement mixer…
The tunnel is going to have to have a color change…to what I’m not sure. But it will be lighter. I also took Mike’s advise and painted the silos. Now, I like the color on them. It looks about right there. I also have decided that regardless of what colors chosen, the tunnel and silos have to be different shades. It just doesn’t look right with both the same color. I’ll probably get the other “concrete” color that polyscale makes and try that. The repaint can be done at another time. It’s time to clean up the mess, run trains for a bit and then move on to the next project.
Warren ,
You’re doing OK there , keep on going —it will look even more impressive when you get it finished .
If I may make so bold , be patient , don’t be too mad keen on getting it done . Of course , too long thinking about it is just as bad , so you will have to strike a happy balance . I am sure you will .
While I am coming up with suggestions , may I make so bold as to suggest you may want to look at photos of concrete ? Any poured concrete will do .
One of the problems with concrete on models , big or small , it is very difficult to convey it exactly how you want . The problem is associated with the type of sand used , some refracts light more than others ,and can give some quite tricky light effects to capture . You obviously know that because you mention that it looks “freshly poured” . What you need now is a bit of “Ageing” --may I suggest that as it’s near a rail track , it will be a bit mucky at the lower end where the muck gets washed down over time . If you get a spray can of dark brown , or even a black , practise getting a very thin —almost invisible-- coat of dark at the bottom gradually becoming light as you get up higher . If it doesn’t look right on your practise thing , give it a rest and come back later . Any little horizontal shelves in the concrete need a bit of darker treatment .
The Silos----which look very good already —may also get a bit of graduated muck on them , but here , I would suggest even less , and only on the side toward the main track . The shadow effect then enhances the shape of the silo , giving it “body”
Ageing and weathering are an art unto themselves , too often overdone . But by golly it’s fun trying .
That’s what it’s all about , innit?
Have a Very Merry Christmas ,
Mike
What Mike said.
I think the basic color of the concrete you have is good. It’s just that in real life the color would never be uniform, so some weathering will make a world of difference.
If the portal would have been poured in the 30’s or 40’s it would also have a great deal of smoke stain at the top of the opening.
Another thing that is nearly impossible to achieve in scale without using paint to enhance, are shadows. Even with careful placement of lighting, the details are so small in comparison to the light source that they don’t produce enough shadow. This can be enhanced with a bit of paint.
I know you’ve said that you don’t want to use spray paint indoors. Check out the Krylon H2O line. It is an acrylic and safe for indoor use. You can practice technique on old cardboard boxes. I’ll bet with a few hours practice you can get some pretty good results from a spray can. -OR- the dry brush technique can also achieve excellent results, just a bit slower.
Keep up the good work. The detail work on your portal is excellent.
JR
Thank you guys for your comments. I will agree that weathering will improve things a lot…especially the silos. I like the color on them…but it’s all wrong on the tunnel. Also I will say that the camera did me justice with the color. In normal light bulb light it looks like day old green concrete. A little weathering on the silos will make them look excellent. I’m going to try again with another color of concrete with the tunnel…lighten it up and then the weathering should make it look perfect.
Jon, on the lentil you will see the date “1946”…post war construction…but it will still need “smoke” to make it look correct. Unfortunately that will have to wait for good weather. Not because I’m afraid of the “boom” factor…but this house is just too darn small. I hardly have room to use a paint brush. The house is also a post war home…built in a railroad town (Hillyard) and rather modest in size…no…damn dinky in size… Bend over and you are going to bang your head and get poked in the butt at the same time
Did some playing last night and today. Cleaned up the mess from the construction of the tunnel and stuck up some catenary temporarily. I figured I needed to make sure things were going to fit and find any problems now and fix them before it’s too late. I only ran into a couple and they are going to be easy fixes. My signal bridge sits just a tad too low…and raising that won’t be a problem at all. The other is just a tad disappointing and that is the cat for the outer track will have to have it’s poles on the outside…rather than the inside of the track. When I moved the stub end station siding it became too close to the outside track to have a pole between. I guess we will just have to watch elbows and not knock the posts. My only real concern is that once the cat is in totally you won’t be able to see the trains or anything else for the wires… A couple of views of the cat in place. I only put up enough to make sure things were fitting.
I also took a “just for fun” picture from the freight station’s platform. Looks like a sunset picture.
Merry Christmas.!