Building Crabtree: Construction Continues.....

A quick update on a quiet Sunday morning....

Yesterday was pretty productive on my town. The three shops came along well for their test fittings, interior paintings, and weathering for the third. 

I wanted to give the green a bleached out look, where you can see more of the color in the side areas which is protected by the trim.

Today I finish the outside painting on the two shops and then get to work on the windows and interior detail. Once this is done, I add signage, a final weathering and voila! The first three are done....

The assembly line process is good for initial building/base coating painting. However it is important NOT to get parts mixed up with each other.

The easiest way to keep this from happening is to keep the smaller fiddly stuff inside of the plastic bag until needed.

Looking down on the shops. The weathered wood looks quite good. I am pleased....

A angular view where you can see the weathered out green on the Stepped shop. Oddly enough this is easier to accomplish than I originally thought it would be.

While it is true that some buildings were "colored", (ie: "painted"), many of the more cheaper establishments either couldn't afford paint, or just didn't want to spend the money on it, so they had a choice of whitewash, or just leaving bare wood. If the business wasn't going to be there long term, they would just leave the wood bare as they would be picking up and moving on soon, when the goldfield went bust or the oil dried up, or the railroad passed them by...

Men with guns....on the streets (well boardwalks actually of Crabtree)....
Also I think i am going to give the middle building there perhaps a whitewash or cheap white paint job. The jury is still out on this one though....

A good shot of the front of the store, showing the weathering and bleached and worn wood. With these buildings, weathering is extremely easy...

This project, (though perhaps one of my biggest), also seems to be one of the most enjoyable. It is requiring lots of paint, water (for cleaning brushes), paper towels, and space, as well as the focus to paint a lot of things "dark umber brown" for an initial base coat.

But now that we are moving on with it, you (and me), can see the results, and to make things even more interesting,  I've also started on the saloon....

More to come...stay tuned!