Ok, here's the story. I laid out some Lego blocks to make a form for a rubber mold to make some ships for my Bay Area layout. After doing so I realized I didn't have nor could afford any rubber latex to make the darn thing. Disgusted, I thought well why waste the time so I reformed the logos and poured it full of hydrocal I had on hand. I guess I should have named this topic "Happy Mistakes" because there are quite a few of them, as you will see/hear. My new paper weight sit for a day or two and I started doing some carving into what looked like brick/block (I am not giving the nit-pickers a chance here. 
Once again I thought of my friend Fred (Dash10) and his wonderful cast building. (See how we learn!) So I dug into the plaster a little deeper and carved out some window sections and doorways. (Hmmm, maybe this mistake will work, thanks Fred) Well it took me 2/3 days carving to go around this thing, (here comes the next mistake, if you are carving hydrocal do it before it completely dries out), so by the time I got to the so called back side it was so hard I could drive nails with it, I had scribed the horizontal lines in earlier but the going was just to hard for me and my eyes started blurring up again so I just stopped carving and let sit a few more days. While that was going on and waiting so I could see clearly again I went upstairs and rummaged through the attic to see what else I had hid away from my younger days of modeling. I ran across a plastic bottle with some kind of dark liquid in it, on the label was a note, 'Marksberry's Magic Muck', now let me remind you this stuff has been sitting since the mid '60's. So I brought it down and splashed it on my newly formed paperweight. Whosa, how neat it looked so I got to thinking again about Jon’s (Knudson/Monon) shack and the way he stained it and applied a roof. So I set out to-do the same. I used different colors than Jon but used his technique to color the brick/block/rock (Jim covering his butt again) and later I also used the way he made forms for his roof. I used cerealboard (as our old friend Robin) for the forms and the roof coverings. (But Jim where are the pictures? Don't bug me while I am on a roll here! @#$%##) I reapplied the Magic Muck (wow, wish I could remember that mixture, it may be just the aging) and my happy mistake on the back wall looked as if some brick had came off the inner wall leaving just the sheathing left and one end of the building looked as if it had never been covered and just painted years ago. (By now ya gotta love happy mistakes, and boy more are to come). Now everything here is scratch built except for some windows and doors from the scrap box. I wanted to add some roof top details, which I like to always do on the project so again to the junk box. I remembered Drew (Charlie) using HO fencing to make vents on his models so I did the same also adding old diodes, watch parts gears and winder stems, hell I even used a thumb tack and a fishing weight on the roof parts. And again a water tank that I made a form for years back as I think almost every roof deserves one. Again, as most of you know I paint everything black first and then layer my way up to the effect I want. On the lets say work area of the building, docks and warehouse, I wanted and old tin roof look, remember it is cerealboard. So I used rusting juice I made from steel wool and vinegar in two different colors, a natural yellow and tinted reddish. I put it on heavily and more than once on that part of the whole roof. When dried completely it looked great. I used shingles on the other roof area and didn't want to loose the color of them so just used a little dust and stain here and there. Some shingles are missing as if a wind blew them off (as a matter of fact you will see some laying in the yard to the side) I also used the rust on the metal warehouse doors. On the upper cardboard section I painted it flat black on the scribed boards and the dry brushed a very dark blue, navy blue and then a light blue to give it a very weathered look. I used a green chalk under the water tank to represent mildew and mold from the water and shade. There is even N-Scale Pigeons on the roof (and poop) I place the building on 1/4-inch foam board (2 layers) and carved a ditch in the first layer for the track so it would be at ground level. I also used the cheap snap track to show it can look great also. (Bullcrap, it is all he had) After gluing the track I started the scenery, I used on some of the bushes Harold’s (hminkey) style of teasing the brush. Now I needed a flat car to push into the old spur. Well I had one that Fred had sent me from some time back and between his painting it and me painting it again I decided it need to be striped and repaint so in the brake fluid it went!! Another mistake, the fluid on this one made the top deck brittle and broke apart easily, first time this happened to me. But I remembered Paul (Shamus) doing one on his CD so I followed suit. I tore the rest of the deck off and just used the framework of the flat. I had some prestained ties (N-Scale) and I proceeded to make a new deck of these. I used striped insulated wire to make the stirrups on the flat and bingo another Happy Mistake.All n this entire mistake I think turned out pretty well. Using all the techniques of these noble craftsmen came to be only one business, Noble Wine Company. Thanks fellows for helping an old modeler make a Happy Mistake. What do you think?
Jim
If you see a process that you use and I didn't mention your name forgive me but chances are I used your idea. Thanks guyz and tell me what you think. :thumb: Jim
