28mm Buildings - Part 4

Satisfied with the work done on my test model, my production line can now swing into action. I am beginning with the floors...

Though, those with eagle eyes will have noticed that I've cracked on with my 'green cafe'. That was simply because I happened to mix up a very nice fawn green which I felt was a bit to waste! I had originally intended to do the cafe - the largest building - a lemon yellow, but I really liked the green when I saw it.

The most challenging buildings - in my opinion - will be the burnt out ones (the two primed with black), as these will demand weathering/effects applying to them no matter how quickly I need this project done.

Again, I feel I need to reiterate, I'm making this all up as I go along. It's one of those sink of swim situations.

Walls and roofs
Having established the pattern of painting with my test model, I simply adjusted the wall colours for variety. I tried to make each room a little different, but - basically - they were all permutations of magnolia, sky blue and a very light sea green. I did have a dark green and a dark blue which I could mix with white, and - of course - I could have any shade of grey I wanted by mixing my white and black...

I have four shades of brown, an orange-brown, buff, terracotta and a mahogany brown. So, I think I had nine colours in all to play with. BUT, having said that, I did delve into my Vallejo Model Color collection for small detailing jobs, like the window shutters, window and door sills and doors.

The cheap acrylic paints aren't great, but I am glad I went for this 'quantity over quality' option as the MDF - which the buildings are made from - simply drinks paint even after being primed (my brother has suggested that I should try a proper MDF sealant). As an example, the sky-blue needed at least three coats to get fairly opaque coverage, but even then it was still a little streaky in places.

In varying states of completion and various styles, my roofs near completion.
Some I am happy with, others were less successful experiments.

One Frustration...
This will sound really obvious, but one thing became pretty clear early on and that was how much easier my job could have been if I had been able to do the painting *before* the MDF models had been constructed!

Unfortunately, because these were not my models they had already been assembled for use unpainted. This meant that painting ground floor walls became a little tricky, and there were plenty of nooks and crannies that were hard to get too.

(When it comes to painting my own 1/72 MDF buildings, I will do a lot of the base colours by spraying the unassembled walls. This will make things a lot less messy and time-consuming.)

Another building completed...
To meet my deadline I need to knock out a building a day this week, though because I am using a production line method chances are that the majority will be completed together later in the week. But, some of the buildings are more straight forward than others and were more easily finished...

Cafe Rene nears completion (just the roof to finish off).

The cafe model was very straight-forward, and the printed signs helped to decorate the scene!