Pages

4.29.2012

hitting the wall

I came across a well weathered wall while I was on holiday. Stood back about 20 feet and took a shot. This should represent looking at an O scale wall from about 4". Notice what isn't in the picture.


You guessed it; no nail holes. You can make out the odd nail head, and easily see indications of where the studs are. Lots of flaked paint down at the bottom, and lots of chalky (or dusty, the rain doesn't hit it up there) looking paint at the top. This illustrates the importance of modelling something by looking at real world references rather than based on impressions, memories, or word-of-mouth approaches. Find the actually item you want to model, or take a picture of it in good lighting conditions, and try to emulate what is really there. 

3 comments:

Bruce Mohn said...

Hi Chris:

I think I've seen an unpainted wall in which rows of nail holes were visible, but can't say where. I've had some gripes about some model masonry (particularly the modular walls made by MDC) for years that just seemed too random to make sense in terms of piling stones, even with mortar. Then I saw a barn in PA that looked like it could have been used as the pattern for those model walls...

bobcatt said...

HI Bruce,

My concern is that there are now many modelled walls completely covered with nail holes that are each a scale 2" across. Nail holes don't hold siding to studs, nails do. What we need to do is emulate a nail head, not a nail hole. I'm just advocating that we model what we see, not what we think we see. :-)

Bruce Mohn said...

Hi Chris:

I totally agree with you. Rereading my comment, I see that it reads as it I don't.

Too bad it is easier to make a hole than a head! An old friend of mine had scratchbuilt a beautiful Forney, but couldn't figure out how to do the rivets on the smokebox. So he drilled holes instead.