Recently I inherited a couple of locomotives, freight cars and two out of production craftsman kits. Among them was a Period Miniatures Berghoff Brewery kit, that appears to be missing the window glazing. Does it fit in to the Southern California scene? Does it look like it can produce a car full of beer? No, but it is a brewery and a cool, retro kit, and at 3.5"x6", it's tiny. Now for the hardest part of the build, what color should it be?
I always liked that kit, in fact I have one in my unbuilt N Scale kits collection. As for color, I would think a white or tan color would look better for a SoCal look, and a green or gray if there is a river or waterfront scene. What fun!
Jeff, I am going to ditch the tank, and build it with a standard roof...I want to try to model really peeled paint, too bad it is raining....
Personally I'd think that a header tank would be required to ensure a complete 'brew' is made or else you would need a fully working nearby windmill/ pump arrangement for artesian bore water? No expert, but town supply isn't likely, and the tank gives 'character' I'd keep. But it's your layout i know... d
It Smelled Like Turpentine, it Looked Like India Ink...I think that I need Love Potion no. 9... Working with this old Period Miniatures kit has been a challenge for me. I am going to need to do some creative bracing on the inside. The wood was a lot more brittle and dryer than I was expecting. Since I mostly work with styrene, a wood kit is a welcome change…but next time, I am buying either a new kit or new wood. Either way, I have done a lot of work on this kit, and come hell or high water, I will build this kit. With any new project, I am looking forward to trying out new for me techniques, and I found videos for replicating peeling paint on wood that I had to try, and I think that it worked well….for the most part…. The first thing that I did was stain the wood with a mixture of 91% alcohol and India Ink. Second, i brushed on a coat of turpentine, and a quick, liberally thick coat of cheap acrylic paint. Once the paint was mostly dry, I took an old Xacto razor saw blade and drug it across the grain of the wood, covered the painted surface with Scotch Tape, and pulled more paint off…so far, it looks like an old building. I have also painted the doors and windows burnt umber….more to come
These thin walls are a &%*$# to work with, but it is coming along. I decided to build it without the tank and extend the roof to the full length of the main building.
Yup...I found out you have to have the patience of a Saint to work with laser cut wood kits. The building is looking great so far though.
One thing you should do is prime your wood on both sides- a can of auto primer would work- or some thing like a enamel primer. This will keep the wood stable. Should be done before you try cutting the parts away from the sheets .
the issue with that is... 1. it would have made the staining almost impossible 2. the cut lines were printed on the wood...
You don’t put on that much paint color, you are just trying to seal the wood. With white primers you should still be able to see the cut lines., if not wipe some of the primer off. Has for color on the out side depending on the color the primer could effect that.. has you have seen the paint you applied caused the wood to curl up. Let the primer dry while holding it flat. It will still curl so use bracing
I built a N scale sand depot that had problems with warping when I put stain on one the wood. Turned out it was okay, made it look old and in poor condition. I did add some bracing to the dryer house to negate the warping, not much just enough to make the walls fit together better at the corners. Joe
I wound up removing the end wall with windows, and the upper long wall.I trimmed a little bit off of the end wall and glued them back together, made sure it lined up, and I am much happier with the appearance. While trimming the holes for the upper windows on the long, tall wall, half of the area between the windows near the upper door snapped out. These walls are extremely brittle and I have never had this much trouble with a Micro Trains laser kit. As soon as I got the windows and the piece of wall that popped out back into place, I decided that it was a great time to go to bed. The roof is ready for installation and the roof beam is already prepped. After I get the rest of the doors and windows in, I am going to start on the trim, paint the interior and install the “glass” using the plastic sheet that Micro Trains puts in their jewel cases. Once that is done, on to the roof and I will build a dock for both sides. I am waffling back and forth about building the 2 out croppings due do the pieces just snapping in half.
I have shared this build on multiple forums, and all of them have had people tell me the same thing, wood kits need additional bracing. I looked in the kit and realized that I didn’t see any extra lumber. A few nights ago at work, I looked over at the coffee station and I remembered what Railroad Model Craftsman’s Harry Wong suggested…use coffee stirs!
I was originally planning on naming it Petty Crate and Barrel, in memory of Bruce Petty who recently passed away. His modeling of the Southern Pacific through the San Fernando Valley was influential to me. His close friend Joe D’Amato informed me that naming a model after him made Bruce uncomfortable. So now, the yet to be named Crate and Barrel company is sitting next to D’amato Lumber.
It's your layout, but to me that is a very harsh and intense green. really overpowers the structure and the layout. could be toned down considerably with a very thin antique white or light grey wash followed by another india ink wash, finally stippled with another very thin dry brush of the off white/grey stroked from top down, just catching the bottom edge of the clapboards. A painted surface that is old enough to be peeling heavily would have also sun faded almost pastel/whitish. Check our Jason Jensen Trains videos on you tube, he is a master of weathering techniques. I'm going to build this same kit shortly (just bought it on ebay), but I intend to use the water tower and all the annexes it's what gives the building character and interest. Oh, and please weather that roof! Looks like it's covered with some awful dress fabric. My father was a roofer and I never saw shingles that color in my life. Sorry if that sounded too harsh. Roofs are a sore subject with me, 90% of the kits and modelers get them wrong.
