Weekly Herald: Roof work and finishing up.

The kit's roof had to go. Not because it's bad, but because the skylights don't make much sense to me. Unlike the Operating Engine House, which is where the roof comes from, there's nothing to see inside the building. The roof is simply a manufacturer's expediency so they didn't need to provide a new roof moulding. 

 

 

Kit's roof.

I built a new one from 0.040" sheet styrene, and strips of 0.020" x 0.040" and 0.020" x 0.060" styrene. A fitting was built-up to incorporate a vent from the kit, and an air conditioner was added from Walther's roof top accessories package. The rooftop sign was eliminated because I thought it didn't make sense in the layout's environment. Instead, I just applied a roof ridge of 1/16" L-angle styrene.

 

 

Debra and Donna were asking to see how the painting is done. I didn't provide much in the way of instructions on how the brickwork was painted, so I thought I'd give a little detail on painting the roof.

First off, the roof is brush painted, and I used a No. 7 round for the job.

I started the process with Tamiya XF-6 Copper and XF-26 Deep Green acrylic paint. Straight from the bottle the copper is too shiny, so the green is used to dull it. Also, the green somewhat mimics the colour of copper oxide, so it fits in with the overall paint scheme.

On a palette - I reused the lid off a premixed salad container - I mixed the copper and green with the brush until I got a loose mixture of the dull copper colour I had in mind. The proportions are roughly 2 or 3 parts copper to 1 part green, but what I do is not worry too much about exact proportions, and look for the colour as I add small amounts of green to the copper until I see the shade I'm after. If the paint started to dry and got a little too firm as I was working, I'd add a couple of drops of acrylic thinner to loosen up the mix. I try not to over blend to keep the mix somewhat uneven. This allows some green and bits of shiny copper to show, which is something I like. 

 

Comparing a copper strip to the finished roof.

It took 3 coats on the roof to get the uniformity I was looking for. When dry, I finished up by brushing on a thin, loose wash of flat black acrylic. The result is a coppery roof with the look of panels that are relatively new. I didn't want anything too old and rundown looking. I should have scored the panel lines deeper as they filled up with the rather thick paint. Live and learn.

 

 

 

 

Here's the finished loading dock and service entrance side. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was applying decals I got the impression the designer had a thing about parking. Each wall has some sort of command about whether or not you can park.

 

 

 

 

You can park out back as long as it's only for business. No personal parking back there buster :-)
 

Ok, well there isn't a parking command on the front, but maybe there's a no parking sign on the street :-) Although, it appears pedestrian friendly as a bench is provided out front so one can sit and sample the wares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's still lots of detailing and finishing that could be done, but when I got to this stage I decided to call it quits. I figured I had accomplished what I had set out to do: build up a classic Weekly Herald kit that would look reasonable as a set piece on the layout. That's the thing with model building, there's so much that could be done on any particular project, construction can become overwhelming. Vince was mentioning to me a not uncommon condition of experienced airplane modellers. They buy advanced kits, search for all the aftermarket photo-etch parts, decals, and resin replacement part upgrades, engage in extensive research and find the exact paint colour matches, and then sometimes stall out early on in construction, or never even get started, because of the daunting task ahead. I felt something like this when I started the Weekly Herald, but eventually bypassed that route by deciding that all I really wanted from the project was decent looking walls, and some localization in the time and space of my layout without losing the character that attracted me to the kit in the first place. If I ever want to build a super-duper Weekly Herald in the future - which is unlikely - I'd replace the random stone facade with cut stones, build up an interior so the skylights would let you see something interesting, open the doors on the loading dock, add lighting, and spend more effort on paint effects.

If dear reader you're the owner of the Weekly Herald moulds - if they still exist - please consider re-releasing this venerable kit. There's lots of life left in it.

Next up: A short break from tradition as I finish up some Wallace and Gromit and Godzilla kits.