My New Scale Garage. From Start to Finish !

[toyolien 1008]

After accidentally ruining my scale garage and deciding to make another one a few people asked if I'd do a bit of a build thread detailing my progress etc. So here it is.

One of the jobs I kept putting off on my previous garage was weathering. Upon having a go at it I ended up over doing it and ruining part of the wall. Then I decided that I would cut it down a little as at nearly 5 ft wide, and only usually using one corner of it for photos, it took up a lot of space. So, one late evening last week I got my saw out, and started cutting. I ended up cutting a foot or so off the wrong end. I should have left it until I was clear headed the next day, so another lesson learnt.

These little disasters brought me to building another one. This one will be reasonably similar with a few changes. It'll be smaller with 'hopefully' the feel of a small single car workshop.

Now, let me start by saying I'm by no means a 'modeller'. Some of the hand built buildings and dioramas I've looked at online while searching for garage pics show an immense amount of detail, weathering and skill. I can cut wood, paint walls and glue on skirting board. So, once it's all screwed together and ready to use for some photos, I'll do some weathering practice before I go near the garage walls for real!

 

First job was getting some MDF cut for the walls. I used my local hardware store for this, as I couldn't get a perfectly straight cut with my hand saw. I used 12mm MDF and the new size will be 700mm wide, 700mm long, and 600mm high.

I picked up the panels and started adding some detail before painting. I wanted these walls to have the look of a fully plastered wall. So I glued on some lengths of ply that would give the impression (once painted) of some support pillars.

 

This is the slow part of the build. Waiting for glue and paint to dry. I used Evostick wood glue, and left it clamped up to cure over night.

 

Once dry, I trimmed off the over hanging ends. I left the pieces too long so I could cut them exactly to the edge of the wall pieces. This was to ensure there was no gap underneath once it's all screwed together.

 

Next job: Paint the backs of the panels. This may seem like a fruitless exercise but there is a reason. Painting the panels on only one side can cause them to warp or curve once the paint dries. So, painting both sides should help to keep them straight. Probably not needed in the end, but I do like things to be right. I also masked the edges of the front faces to prevent any gobs of paint finding their way on their.

 

I rollered the paint on evenly doing two nice coats. The paint is just some basic water based emulsion. It goes on MDF nicely without any need for a primer.

 

After one even coat.

 

While the walls were drying I started on the floor. The only detail I wanted to add here were some expansion joints. I noticed while in B&Q a while ago that their concrete floors have darker coloured expansion joints, so I wanted to try to replicate them. I marked on the cut lines, and used a small router bit in my dremel. I am contemplating either painting the lines in or using some dark wood filler and the smooth sanding the floor. I'll have a think and come back to this.

 

First coat of floor paint.

 

And second coat. The patchy parts are just the paint drying, and not uneven coverage.

 

The next part was to mock up the door. My last garage had a roller shutter style door, but I want this one to have a pair of large wooden workshop style doors. A simple piece of 3mm mdf marked out. I've ordered some thin 2mm balsa wood strips that will be used for the make up of the door when they arrive.

 

Now that the panels are dry, I masked them up for the lower paint colour. This will be a dark grey.

 

And, lastly, while the bottom colour is drying, the last job for tonight was to stain the skirting boards. I used some Cuprinol Dark Ash stain. I'll also be using this colour for the wooden doors I think.

 

That's all for now. Sorry for the long first post with not much happening, but I've just tried to show my processes and the order I build it. Although this was a few evenings work to get to this stage, I did spend a lot longer looking at real garages to get an idea of what I wanted this one to look like. Hopefully, once it's screwed together (maybe at the weekend), it'll start to look a bit more 'scale' and 'real'. Thanks for having a look.

[ACCEL 1778]

Most excellent.

soon as you mentioned you had to rebuild your awesome hang out, what popped into my mind was to use Hardi-Backer & FRP for floors and walls of course there would be a backer for the FRP for the walls.

you mentioned details, i know someone could spend more time and come close to an actual garage build. Oh! but the joy.

Keep up the great job, i will not provide popcorn until the Grand Opening.

[Lee76 612]

8 hours ago, toyolien said:

After accidentally ruining my scale garage

I might have missed this, but was it over working or did it meet with a genuine accident? Like getting run over by a truck? Or perhaps a scale fire from poorly disposed damper oil tissues in the scale bins.. Looking forward to seeing the finished job!

[Badcrumble 1933]

I think anyone who saw the old garage would class you as a modeller! 

Thanks for detailing so thoroughly. I would love to do one of these one day and my first thought would be 'how thick should the MDF be?'. 

Later on I would probably go 'why have the walls warped? Should I have painted the reverse too?'

I also now know how to get a straight line using that dremel attachment!!!!

 

[Aerobert 413]

Thank you for sharing.👍 Will follow this.

[mud4fun 1397]

Excellent, looking forward to this build

[J@mes 1447]

I hope you managed to save Dirty Richard from the old garage  wouldn’t be the same without him.

[ChrisRx718 2516]

Love it, the scale garage in your pictures is what makes your threads so captivating. Look forward to following the progress of the "Mk2"

[Seanster43 172]

Subscribed loving this! Sorry to hear about your other one I’m sure this will be amazing though 👍🏻

[toyolien 1008]

18 hours ago, ACCEL said:

Most excellent.

soon as you mentioned you had to rebuild your awesome hang out, what popped into my mind was to use Hardi-Backer & FRP for floors and walls of course there would be a backer for the FRP for the walls.

you mentioned details, i know someone could spend more time and come close to an actual garage build. Oh! but the joy.

Keep up the great job, i will not provide popcorn until the Grand Opening.

Thanks very much. Looking forward to the Popcorn!

14 hours ago, Lee76 said:

I might have missed this, but was it over working or did it meet with a genuine accident? Like getting run over by a truck? Or perhaps a scale fire from poorly disposed damper oil tissues in the scale bins.. Looking forward to seeing the finished job!

An accident of my own doing. Started weathering and failed. Then tried to cut the length of the panels down as it was a little too large. The shutter door broke and then I cut 12 inches off the wrong ends. So a series of unfortunate errors has resulted in this one being started so it's not all bad i guess.

12 hours ago, Badcrumble said:

I think anyone who saw the old garage would class you as a modeller! 

Thanks for detailing so thoroughly. I would love to do one of these one day and my first thought would be 'how thick should the MDF be?'. 

Later on I would probably go 'why have the walls warped? Should I have painted the reverse too?'

I also now know how to get a straight line using that dremel attachment!!!!

 

Thank you very much. You should start one. It's a lot of fun seeing stuff in real garages then reducing it down 10 times and making it small.

12 hours ago, Aerobert said:

Thank you for sharing.👍 Will follow this.

Thanks. Much appreciated.

9 hours ago, mud4fun said:

Excellent, looking forward to this build

Thank you :i)

8 hours ago, J@mes said:

I hope you managed to save Dirty Richard from the old garage  wouldn’t be the same without him.

Dirty Richard is safe and sound, along with all the other contents. He will be making a return for sure.

7 hours ago, ChrisRx718 said:

Love it, the scale garage in your pictures is what makes your threads so captivating. Look forward to following the progress of the "Mk2"

Thank you for your kind comment. :o)

2 hours ago, Seanster43 said:

Subscribed loving this! Sorry to hear about your other one I’m sure this will be amazing though 👍🏻

Thank you. I think this one will be a little better. And hopefully have an older feel to it.

[toyolien 1008]

The strips of balsa wood arrived this morning. So, after work I started the task of making the garage door. I decided to not do another roller shutter style door, and instead opted for a nice wooden double door. After some googling I spotted this pic.

I started with a piece of thin 3mm mdf cut to size and laid on and glued the strips.

 

This is where it will live, along with the door frames.

 

Some nice dark ash stain.

 

And here's my attempt at making it look old. I hit it and scored it with a screwdriver, some scissors and the end of a pencil then start adding a little light staining.

 

And here it is done (minus the hardware).

 

Next up will be me practising some weathering in an attempt to make the walls and floor look as old as the doors without ruining it. Fingers crossed!!

[mud4fun 1397]

OMG, that is pure class, amazing. 

[Seanster43 172]

Amazing mate absolutely amazing! 

[ACCEL 1778]

On 10/7/2020 at 3:21 PM, toyolien said:

Now, let me start by saying I'm by no means a 'modeller'

Who's he fooln'? 

[Carmine A 1331]

YOU SIR...... are indeed a Modeler!! 👌👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 

My Scale Garage was stalled about 5 years ago. Seeing this has been an inspiration. I can't afford to do anything significant - yet....  However this really kicks me in the Butt to at least work on SOMETHING. 

A lot of People don't realize (you possibly do), but Modeling in the larger Scales is MORE difficult than Small Scale!  I've been a Model Railroader since 1974... Done many Scratchbuilt Structures in HO (1/87) Scale and O (1/43-48) Scale..... 

Structure Designing, Building and Weathering is much more of a challenge in 1/10th Scale!!  KUDOS to you, and I will be happily watching!

[TwistedxSlayer 1015]

This is AWESOME. So far. Lol. Loving it.

[CoolHands 567]

I like this. I’d sort of be tempted but not sure on how I could do the graphics on the walls ie to make it look like brick or whatever 

[toyolien 1008]

On 10/8/2020 at 10:46 PM, mud4fun said:

OMG, that is pure class, amazing. 

Thank you Sir!

On 10/8/2020 at 10:53 PM, Seanster43 said:

Amazing mate absolutely amazing! 

Thank you. Much appreciated.

On 10/9/2020 at 1:26 AM, ACCEL said:

Who's he fooln'? 

You're too kind...

On 10/9/2020 at 7:06 AM, Carmine A said:

YOU SIR...... are indeed a Modeler!! 👌👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 

My Scale Garage was stalled about 5 years ago. Seeing this has been an inspiration. I can't afford to do anything significant - yet....  However this really kicks me in the Butt to at least work on SOMETHING. 

A lot of People don't realize (you possibly do), but Modeling in the larger Scales is MORE difficult than Small Scale!  I've been a Model Railroader since 1974... Done many Scratchbuilt Structures in HO (1/87) Scale and O (1/43-48) Scale..... 

Structure Designing, Building and Weathering is much more of a challenge in 1/10th Scale!!  KUDOS to you, and I will be happily watching!

Thanks very much. Interesting you say that, because I've looked at some small scale scenery that people have built and thought how incredibly difficult it looks to achieve. Where as 10th scale seems easier. Measure a rear door, divide by ten and glue some wood together...

On 10/9/2020 at 9:00 AM, TwistedxSlayer said:

This is AWESOME. So far. Lol. Loving it.

Thanks very much. It's such an enjoyable project.

On 10/9/2020 at 7:26 PM, CoolHands said:

I like this. I’d sort of be tempted but not sure on how I could do the graphics on the walls ie to make it look like brick or whatever 

You can use foam board and 'score' all the bricks on by hand, then paint and weather them. OR, like I did on my first garage, you can just build some 12th scale dolls house self adhesive wallpaper on eBay and stick it on! :o)

[toyolien 1008]

Here I am at the next part. The part I've been least looking forward to doing. Weathering!

It seems to be a dark art. Lots of people can do it, and show you how to do it, but then you're on your own. Even though you've watched loads of instructional videos, when it come to doing it yourself, it can go one of two ways. Good, or very bad. So, here goes my attempt, using my own method.

I started my mixing some brown acrylic paint with water so make a very runny wash.

 

Next I painted it on (just the white part) with a large soft paint brush, let it dry then 'dabbed' it off with some kitchen roll.

 

And the other side, before dabbing it off.

 

And, both sides done. I then did the wash a second time.

 

And the final result, just rested together to get an idea of how it will look.

 

This garage is two thirds of the length of my previous one. Here's my part build M-07 for size comparison. You can see that it's about 2x M-07 lengths, which should be perfect for build photos.

 

With the windows installed, and the weathering wash done, next up was to glue and screw it together. I neatly marked, and countersunk the holes.

 

And finally the bare shell is complete. The last pic is just to show the strip light I used. This won't be in the shot of any photos in the future (hopefully).

 

Next up is probably my favourite part. Adding all the scale goodness and small details. Hopefully I will have time to start that this weekend.

[matman 1462]

Great thread so far @toyolien & thanks greatly for doing this and for your time making the thread .

Loving the thread and the Pic's , looks fantastic . 

 

THANK YOU 

[mud4fun 1397]

Do you do warhammer? if not why not? you'd be amazing at scenery!!! This is absolutely amazing stuff. Love it!

[Aerobert 413]

That's great. I know what you mean regarding the weathering. When you start it's looking good, second step is looking good, next step is looking good and then suddenly it's too much. But your walls turns out really nice.

[Badcrumble 1933]

That looks great! I think you've aged those walls nicely. Looking forward to seeing all the details installed.

[toyolien 1008]

On 10/10/2020 at 11:40 PM, matman said:

Great thread so far @toyolien & thanks greatly for doing this and for your time making the thread .

Loving the thread and the Pic's , looks fantastic . 

 

THANK YOU 

Thank you @matman very kind. It is a bit of hassle taking all the pics and typing the thread out, but I've found this forum so useful in the past that I'm happy to do it.

On 10/10/2020 at 11:41 PM, mud4fun said:

Do you do warhammer? if not why not? you'd be amazing at scenery!!! This is absolutely amazing stuff. Love it!

Thank you. Never done any Warhammer stuff, but it kind of appeals to me. Maybe in the future I will.

On 10/11/2020 at 9:10 AM, Aerobert said:

That's great. I know what you mean regarding the weathering. When you start it's looking good, second step is looking good, next step is looking good and then suddenly it's too much. But your walls turns out really nice.

That's exactly it. It's all going fine and suddenly you've over done it and it's either ruined, or you've got to take it all off and start again. Fortunately on this occasion I was lucky!

On 10/11/2020 at 10:32 AM, Badcrumble said:

That looks great! I think you've aged those walls nicely. Looking forward to seeing all the details installed.

Thank you sir. I'm quite pleased with the final look. It's got the 'used' look I was hoping for.

[toyolien 1008]

I spent a couple of hours moving in to the garage this evening. Now, what workshop would be complete with out a TV to watch while you're working? A little bit of styrene and some black paint later...

 

Ooh, look! Some 2CV Racing.

 

And here's the completed garage. I'm so pleased that it's only taken a week from start to here. It's ready enough to start using it for pics, but there's still a few things I'd like to do.

 

So, here's the pics of how it looks with some tools, furniture and accessories in.

 

Thanks for all the kind comments and for following along. I'll be sure to update this thread as the garage progresses.