Hi all, back in june, Rob Kluz announced a special gift for Ztrack magazine subscribers: a nice little garage by Archistories. Well, I was already familiar with the great kits by Frank Drees from Archistories and was considering for a while to subscribe to the digital version of Ztrack magazine, so... this came at a perfect time for me. I got mine in the mail over the summer and last couple of weeks I finished the kit. I love this little kit and I really like the way it came out. I haven't read anything about it since the announcement so I thought I'd share my photos in a little build thread here. Matt
Instructions are very concise and accurate. For some reason, they keep appearing upside down when I upload a photo of them, even a copy that I flipped 180 degrees... (?)
Oh well. I do enjoy making minor alterations. I am planning a layout set in the California central valley, 80s/90s. I found the garage a bit too high and the doors a bit too 'New England' for that setting, from what I remember. So I cut of a narrow slice from the wall and swapped the doors for a roll up garage door.
Yep, got the same in my mailed copy about 2-3 months. Just haven’t found the time to assemble it. This was a fantastic marketing effort on the part of ARCHISTORIES and ZTRACK MAGAZINE. This was also covered in another post. And you are correct. Well packaged, as are all ARCHISTORIES products.
The material is very nice to work with and can be cut. However, one has to be careful, it is cardboard and it is fragile. For roofing, a tar paper imitation is included. But again, hoping to model a California type garage, I chose to make a little change and go for a shingles roof. From Mike Basher, I got some extra shingles when I ordered one of his lasercut kits through the bay. Great kits by the way, I hope to start working on those any time soon. I love the separate shingles. It is important to start from the lower end of the roof and build up from there. I decided not to use a inner roof parts that are included in the Archistories kit but use thinner cardboard. I printed parallel lines on them to help me keep the shingles straight. I used UHU alleskleber ("glue everything"), it is a sort of white glue. Apply with restraint. I found it is better to put little beads and not to try to smooth it.
The shingles are in a nice great basetone. I used my wife's art pencils to give some a slightly different color, to to add a little differentiation.
Door, window and all other nice details were added as intended. It al fits nicely. The glass in door and window are simply put in without glue according to instructions. Hmm... I decided to apply a small bead of glue in each corner just to make sure. Applied with a sharpened point of a toothpick I didn't want to paint the kit but while building, I decide I wanted to paint the garage floor in a concrete color. I should have done that before I glued the walls to the floor of course, that's why it is not painted all the way. Oh well.. The garage door is Evergreen sheet, by the way.
The kit comes with a 3D printed detail: a garden tool rack. It is very nicely detailed. I spraypainted it with the intention to add some detail with a small brush. I will, some day, but when the garage was finished, I somehow thought it would look just fine without the tool rack. I am keeping it for later, or or another project maybe.
This morning I took a few more pictures and I would like to take the opportunity to show off some new cars and my 1970 Oldsmobile. It is made by Raffaelo Piccolo (mrztrax.com) and it has amazing details. Like full interior... The other car is by Alvaro, also a great model. The garage is next door to a lovely bungalow by Karen Snyder, Stonebridge models. I regret very much not buying more of them back when they were available. I think they match very well. I am hoping for more bungalow / west coast style buildings from Archistories, Mike Basher and colleagues. Hope you like Any other garages built out there? Matt
Very impressive touch on the roof shingles, especially with the varied colors and shading. I’ve used weathering powders to get the tiles a more worn look but I think what you’ve done here is really nice. I agree with you on the tools. They are nice. Those would look best mounted inside the garage on one of the walls. However this kit is so small they would be lost in being able to be seen. The overall completed project came out fantastic. Nice work.
Here is the garage I built. I opened the doors and put the tools inside. I also painted the floor to look like concrete. The car is from A2 models, painted by me. The red and darker spots have been touched up since I took the photos.
Love the open doors and tools inside, Thom. Nice car too and excellent paint job. Do these A2 models take on paint well? Did you use primer? I have some lying around here, haven’t painted them yet. The material seems sort of rubber-like. Matt
Thanks Matt, there's a tool bench on the wall opposite the wall with the tools too. I washed the car with warm soapy water and let it dry. I don't usually prime any of my models. I painted straight onto it with craft-type acrylic paints. The wheels and tires are stickers that I printed on my inkjet printer. You can see the sticker coming loose on the front right tire in the top photo. It's been glued in place since.
Nice work RVN. Ahhh, I’m sure the little work bench was a challenge. I attempted a sitting bench once…. only once.
Great job on the build!!! I love seeing what is being done with these kits!!! Thom, the work bench is very cool!
