Ok, I have built their barn. It really is a great looking building for sure. Very well detailed. I thought it was a tad large (although I think we proved in another thread that it is scale), but that is another story altogether. So I get to looking at the modulars. The edges of the buildings well...they look unfinished (and by that I mean the finished structures). The seams of the sides show...I am not sure why. Is it just me? I mean I still might buy their grain elevator to replace one of mine because I think it looks fantastic. But these new ones have me puzzeled. Is it just me? Or is there some way to hide the seams? Not trying to flame or anything. It just looks like they are not as quality as their previous releases.
I would prefer thin strips to hide the seams too. I kind of like smaller structures myself, but I am sure the need for larger ones will come up sometime.
I believe Evergreen makes very good corner strips. Instead of white, they are green. Dementionally they are excellent for the vertical trim on clapboard buildings, etc. and there are several sizes to choose from.
Fred, that first model of yours is fantastic! If I decided to get one of thiers I think I'd have to get something like that to hide those seams. I wondered if it was just me.
Joe, can you post a macro (close up) of where the issue is so I (and others) can better visualize/understand. .
I agree with Robert, The corners are the achilles heel of the Z kits. That's the hardest area to model in most cases. Either you put a corner cap on the seam or a butt joint which doesn't look right either.
It is very difficult to laser corners and not cover them somehow, this is where modeling skills come into play.
I wanted a cement/stucco look for my building, so I dabbed on joint compound to cover the walls and dado joints. It looked perfect at first, but as the wall warped when I glued the window frames, the dado joints came back. Still, not too noticeable when viewed.
Have you ever seen a building that has been shot creted to cover damaged brick and stone work well it would look similar to what you have as the stone corner block are still visible under the surface. When I am building laser cut buildings I tend to build the whole wall before assembling them on a base and I think I get less warpage and I can fix it if it does occur that way and have less difficulty installing windows and window glass and window decorations that way. just a thought - looks nice - would like to see more of the building.
In some ways the slight way you can see the seems in Tom's makes it look even more realistic. Looks good Tom!
I've just posted a new installment in the Z Build Corner series of articles and in this article I went with a very aged concrete look using the GCLaser modular buildings. I used wood filler to create my corners. Maybe this will give someone else an idea on how to push this corner idea further along. Ztrains: The Z Build Corner John Ztrains: Z Scale (1:220) Model Railroading Information
John and Tom, These look great but I wish GCLaser had lasered them in brick and not plain material. John
John-- that's an idea! Laser one side in brick and leave the other Flat, for stucco or whatever. Not sure if edges or windows would fit- but the modeler can crash and bash. These are relatively simple buildings and I'm sure in original design this could be worked out. They seem to have windows and doors symetrical. Fred Adding a cornice (sp) around the top and signs would be nice. Fred
Fred, I contacted GCLaser a few weeks after the release of their modular buildings and recommended that they revise the kits to be "bricked". They told me that they thought it would raise the price too much for the modeler. I further recommended to them that if that was the case that they should just produce one kit brick lasered, evaluate the sales of that kit as compared to the same version of the kit in “plain” to see if customers preferred brick to plain. Your idea is a good one but as you mentioned I'm not sure that the windows and doors would line up. What I am continuing to hope for is someone in the Z world produce DPM-like plastic injected molded modular brick walls which would really release our inner-bashings. John
DPM-That's the ticket!! I tried to get Searails hot on that but to no avail. Just some nice city flats
Fred, Those are nice but I wish they had more stories to each of them. I am trying to convince KingMill to produce their Radical Flats in Z scale. They said it was on their "to do list". They would be great for backgrounds. My thought is that MTL has all the correct injection molding equipment to attempt this and is therefore the best hope to produce Z scale DPM-like plastic injected molded modular brick walls, but I believe that this may be the last thing on their minds right now with the fallout of their Chinese supplier. John
As it is we really don't see a lot of kitbashing now in Z and we do have a pretty large pool of structures to draw from. From MTL to all the independent laser manufacturers, still not a lot of kitbashing happening. On the brickwork we do have quite a lot of really good brickwork available for kitbashing from companies like Micron Art, Paw of a Bear, RSLaser, etc. A lot of it isn't in DPM form, open it up and go, but it is there and it is very good stuff. John Ztrains: Z Scale (1:220) Model Railroading Information
