Large Scale Central

Yard Office

Modeling
#1

My recently extended yard looked too empty, so I thought it needed something - perhaps a small building. One of my books had a picture of WY Tower at Frankfort.

Nice, but I wanted a brick building. So, I shrunk the dimensions down a bit and made it brick. The basic structure is acrylic. As an experiment, I mixed up some Magic-Sculpt and spread it over each side. I then pressed some Precision siding brick against the Magic-Scuplt and the result sort of looks brick like. :wink: Same for the foundation. The door and windows were made from styrene strip. The smoke stack is brass.

ARTICLE: A Master Index for the J&B RR
#2

Wow! Nice. I hope the Magic-sculpt sticks to the acrylic longterm weatherwise.

#3

Cuteā€¦ Iā€™ve often thought of using that Precision siding as a mold. Matter of fact I did use the windows sheet but wasnā€™t to happy with the results, ā€¦now, whereā€™s the engine house?

#4

Bruce,
That looks great! Did you put anything like a spray on the form to keep it from sticking?

#5

What a quaint little office building, it looks fantasticā€¦

Iā€™m curious now, as to how it will hold upā€¦

#6

Thanks. Iā€™m really curious to see how this holds up. That was one reason that I wanted to try it on a small project first.

Itā€™s pretty neat stuff to work with, but really stuck to the mold the first time that I tried it. I found that putting some water on the surface took care of that problem.

#7

Very interesting!

I never heard of this stuff before, so I checked out their website. Wow! Magic-Sculpt sounds like something I can really put to good use.

#8

Did you dip the form in water or spray a little on the surface? I think Jan has sprayed the plastic form from Precision Plastics with ā€œPamā€. She has used the concrete that she uses with ā€œJigstonesā€ to make walls with some degrees of satisfaction. She imbedded 1/4 inch hardware cloth in the concrete for strength.

#9

I had a container of water nearbyā€¦dipped my hand in it several times and spread it directly on the Magic-Sculpt. Then I pressed the brick siding against it.

#10

Hey Bruce
Howā€™d this hold up to the weather the past year?

#11

YEah Inquiring minds wanna know!

#12

Yea, I have a big brick building in mind that having seamed 15" panels wonā€™t cut it. This would be great for it, if it weathers ok.

#13

Donā€™t worry about the weathering. This thing seems impervious. Iā€™ll get some pictures of it later. It IS dirtierā€¦

#14
Bob McCown said:
Yea, I have a big brick building in mind that having seamed 15" panels won't cut it. This would be great for it, if it weathers ok.
You could always hide the seams with downspouts like I did with my firehouse.
#15

Good to know, Bruce. Thanks. Have to order some of that stuff and give it a whirl.

#16

Dirtier, for sure, but I canā€™t see ANY sign of deterioration. This stuff is VERY durable.

(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Structures/YardOffice/P1040456.JPG)

The snow is gone, but thereā€™s a lot to clean up.

#17

I bet you are glad to see dirt of any type. :slight_smile:

#18

Nice. And its workable for a couple hours? That seems like more than enough time to work a wall or 4.

Did you do anything to the acrylic box to get the Magic Sculp to stick, or did it just attach?

Iā€™m gonna have to order some. I wonder how much I need?

#19

Yes, itā€™s got a good long working time, but I recommend doing only one side at a time. Itā€™s just too easy to smush some of the detail if you work two sides. After it hardens awhile, itā€™s easy to carve, if you like. This helps when youā€™re adding on another section.

I didnā€™t use any thing to make it adhere to the acrylic, but the FAQ (http://www.magicsculp.com/faqā€™s.htm) recommends using cement.

I bought 5 pounds and have plenty left. I was thinking of using it for figures as the Sculpey ones break too easily. Iā€™ve used it just for a few other details, like the arm rest cushions for my Mikado. It really is nice to work with.

Youā€™ll want to use a mold release if youā€™re going to try to mold bricks using those Precision Panels. They recommend baby powder/talcum powder.

#20

Iā€™m pondering building each side separately, detailing it, then assembling the box.

Great! Another project! Garyā€™ll be proud!