Quar 15.3: Round Windows. More Timbering. Texture

I’m be using hard plastic rings from a craft store for the round windows. I’ll spray them KRYLON FUSION semi-gloss black (made for plastic), then another coat of KRYLON flat black. Inspector S’hard hasn’t found any undesirables lurking about yet but he‘s ever vigilant.

I like the look of the windows on http://brandlin.blogspot.com/ (Instructions, Painting and Finishing PDF) so I’m using those techniques.

TOP ROW, L-R: First I painted a large area of thin card a dull, dark blue (I used FOLKART INDIGO craft paint), then drew rows of circles that were each a bit larger that the ring’s inner diameter, using a circle template. I drew the circles with plenty of room around each… Added white to the Indigo and painted the bottom two-thirds… Added more white and painted the bottom third. BOTTOM ROW, L-R: Painted white reflections with an off-white craft paint, then gloss coated… Cut out the circles a bit smaller than the ring’s outer diameter… And super-glued the disc to the underside of the black ring. TA DAA! A finished round window… The reverse side.
I’ll need twenty or so windows for the project.

A whole array of windows ready to be cut out and glued to rings. Note that the edges will be covered by a ring so I didn’t have to be overly precise with the painting.

On each box I lightly sketched in where the interior timbering and windows were going to be, then glued the windows and cut/glued the timbers in place. I used the scraps I had saved.. Next, for texture, I used a 50/50 mix of white craft paint and SIG MICRO-BALLOONS (another brand is K&B) and painted it between the timbers. The micro-balloons are a filler material used by model airplane hobbyists and is basically a very fine white powder. I mix enough for a single box at a time since it dries quickly.

Nine room boxes awaiting final painting. After the photo was taken, I finished painting the rooms by using medium brown for the timbers and a very, very thin dirty wash for the wall surfaces.

LESSON LEARNED: Well, I certainly could have been much more efficient with that part of the project! I should have precolored the timbering sticks with a marker that matched my dark brown paint (instead of using a black one) before they were cut and glued into place. It would have saved me a LOT of time!