The Bunker: Beginning the Crow's Nest

Now that the facade is done for the moment, I can start working on the interiors.  Might as well start with the first room inside the front door!  This room is going to be base heavily on the "Crow's Nest" or "War Room" of the Men of Letters Bunker in the TV series Supernatural.  Photo stills from the show can be seen on my Mood Board post.

Firstly I've been playing around with the flooring.  On the set, the flooring (I think) is generic grey vinyl tiles, in keeping with the 1940's feel of the Bunker.  I've printed out two different versions to try - the first is a large linoleum tile pattern, expanded to fit the size of the room.  I did this because you can't see any joints between the tiles on the set, so I figured if I scored them on it might look more realistic.

The second print out is the same tile but shrunk to a ½" square and tiled across the page.  Although the first option would look better scored, I am leaning towards the second one, just because the grout lightens to room?  It's less accurate but there is a LOT of black and grey in this room, with only the upper half of the walls in white subway tile to add variation.

Next I think I will start on the stairs so that I can get a better idea of the layout of the room.

Shapeways order

My order from the 3D printing service Shapeways, has arrived.  I chose the delayed delivery option to save some money because I knew I wouldn't be needing them for a while.  All the items were from the store, Pretty Small Things.

The wing chairs will go with an Art Deco side table with a chess set on it and the electric chair belongs in the Dungeon - obviously!  The filing cabinet will go in the War Room and the stove in the kitchen (of course).

Two Victorian wing chairs

Electric chair!

Vintage stove and oven

Filing cabinet on castors

Obviously all of the items require painting; I'll have to do some research on the best way to prepare the surface and which paints to use.

The Bunker: Facade finished? For now perhaps...

I fiddled around some more with the facade, trying to age it.  I tried adding some dirt, moss and rust to the windows.  I'm not completely happy with it, but it can wait now until I get the rest of the build together!

The Bunker: More painting and aging on the facade

I added a random black wash to the bricks this morning, which improved them slightly, but I still wasn't happy with their colour at all.  I tried dry brushing on a mixture of 1 part Semco Tuscan Red with 3 parts Jo Sonja Gold Oxide and it made a difference in lightening and reddening the dark brown.

I'm still not happy with the depth of the colour though, the facade still seems very one-dimensional.  I don't have any chalk pastels, but I found some watercolour paints so I tried lightly brushing on black, dark green and brown (and various combinations) in places to simulate aging and moss.  I also added some orange and dark orange to a few areas on the windows to look like rust.

It's hard to tell from the photos, but it is getting better.  I have a ways to go yet - I'm still not happy with it - but I will think on it further (and look at some more pictures) before I do too much more.

The Bunker: Brick Painting

I've started painting the facade exterior.  I ended up going with a mixture of 1 part Burnt Sienna to 2 parts Earth brown, because I didn't have very much Burnt Sienna left, although in hind sight I should have used straight Burnt Sienna.  I put the first coat on last night and when I looked at it this morning it was much too dark for what I wanted.  First I sponged on some more straight Burnt Sienna, and when it dried I dry brushed the bricks with Vallejo Game Color Cold Grey and then Vallejo Bonewhite, to tone down the dark brown.

At that point my husband thought that the concrete should be lighter (he actually wanted me to paint  all the trim cream and make it pretty!) so I also dry brushed it with more Antique White.  It's hard to see that in these photos, it still looks very dark...

My husband was working at the same table as me, so I got distracted talking to him and forgot to seal the bricks before I started grouting, oops. Luckily I had only spread the grout on two side sections before I realised I was having a lot of trouble wiping the grout off and it was starting to lift the cardboard bricks!!

Once I had sealed the bricks with matte Mod Podge and it had dried, I applied grout which I tinted with a few drops of Cold Grey paint.

Now the grout really stands out in the photos but it is still wet, so hopefully when it dries properly tomorrow it will look a little better.  Then I will age it with a few grey and black washes anyway, although I'd still like to try and make the bricks a little more red, to contrast with the concrete trim...

The Bunker: Facade bricking finished!

I finally had some time this morning to get the rest of the egg carton bricks glued onto the facade, and fix up the edges etc. I'm glad it's done and I'm doubly glad that I am going to age it substantially because it seems I cannot for the life of me, glue in a straight line!

I ended up using slightly less than 1500 egg carton bricks I think.  Now I need to touch up the areas I spackled on the trim, and start painting the bricks. If only I could decide what colour to paint them!

The Bunker: 1000 Bricks...

... And back to the cutting board because I have run out.

I still have a bit to go on the front of the facade, and I haven't started on the side yet, let alone the sides of the shell, so I guess I will use at least another 1000 bricks?  Better get to work!