Taco Bell Build

[Christian]

Williams Bros Taurus
EDIT: this reads more negatively than I’m thinking at this time. I’m going to move ahead a bit further on the car. I’m just spoiled by 21st century plastic injection parts.

This ought to go out onto a new thread. But I’m not confident that this model will go very far so I thought I’d bury it in the Taco Bell build. If it is successful this car will go into the parking lot. Otherwise into the scrap box.

Williams Bros, Inc has been around a long time. Since 1947. Still in business with a second owner. Main business is radio controlled aircraft parts. There was/is also an extensive of automobiles. The automobiles currently available are old stock, mostly on eBay, until the current troubles allow the current owner to purchase materials.

The automobiles are clear cast in a tough, brittle plastic which is sturdy. (Thick) Usually one piece bodies with very few details and very brief instructions. Interiors consist of seats. No steering wheel or dash. Wheelsets are primitive. On the plus side the glass is flush with the body and the huge windshields are particularly successful.

There are photos of of nice builds out on the internet and on the 1-87 Vehicle Club site. So it can be done. I have no fear of Jordan Highway Miniatures, nor of Lee Town and Custom Finishes to name some brands of kits. But these Taurus models have had me buffaloed for decades.

What I’ve done so far is mask, paint and start to detail paint. You saw the Tamiya tape masking in the previous chapter of the Taco Bell build. Inside the shell and outside. It took a day. My intention was to build a base model in baby blue. The trim is simple on the base model and I have a series of photographs of a baby blue 1986 Taurus.

Photograph one shows the shell after the blue had set up. There are comments on the photograph that pretty much sum it up. Mushy, lumpy casting. When the paint was in place all the imperfections that weren’t visible to me on the clear plastic showed up. I decided to push on for a bit.

Photo two. Once I could clearly see the shell I realized that it wasn’t the base model but was the high trim model with stainless steel rocker panels and front ends. I masked for the black trim between the body and the stainless steel. I painted down to the bottom of the shell.

Next up I’ll use Microscale stainless steel trim film below the black trim. But that’s going to wait another day. The trim film will tell the tail of whether I’ll continue making a Taurus out of this.

[sd40dash2]

1986 Taurus, eh? I thought that sleek, new body style started in 1987. Oh well. Glad to see you attempting it. I am surprised at how rough this model is. Primitive wheels is a problem as is the lack of a steering well and other interior detail. Glad to see you attempting this build anyway. If anyone can give this the old college try it's you. Thanks for the updates.

[cp6027]

I built one of those Williams Brothers Ford Taurus kits back in high school during the early/mid 1990s. I can't recall if I bought it before or after my parents purchased an actual second generation 1994 Taurus (the facelift before the 1996 oval redesign that Atlas released in HO).
At the time I was just happy to have something domestic that contrasted with all the boxy BMWs, VWs and Mercedes that dominated the Herpa lineup at the hobby shop.
I didn't bother with all the trim and painted it a solid body color (like a second generation Taurus) except for the headlights, taillights and turn signals that I masked off and back-painted from inside the clear shell. I painted the interior in beige. There's so much glare on the windows that the lack of a dash and steering wheel doesn't bother me.
Today's model autos are far better for up-close viewing, but the old Taurus still looks good parked in the background.

[Christian]

Taurus Part Two
This is the last chapter devoted to that Taurus. As it stands right now, it’s not awful but I can’t say I enjoyed the build, at all. I’m going to take cp6027’s advice for the other two in the bag and paint them a solid color. Heck with the trim. Doing that trim yesterday and today was just a study in frustration. Read on.

Photograph one. I pulled off all the masking tape and had a look from three feet. Not bad, but that doesn’t tell the tale. My last comment in the previous post was that I was going to use Microscale Stainless Steel Trim Film for the rocker panels and other lower body stuff. I figured I could cut a straighter line than I could paint. I masked off the black trim low on the body and front and rear bumpers.

I turned to the decal. I cut a strip wide enough for all the trim. I cut off a piece long enough for the side rocker panel. Dipped it and waited for it to release. Dipped it again and waited for it to release. Dipped it a third time and waited a bit before gently sliding a finger to ease it off the backing. It crumbled. That happens and I smoothed on a coat of Microscale Micro Super Film which has always worked for me. Until now. Fifteen minutes floating in water and it crumbled again. One more coat of the Super Film did the trick. And resulted in a very stiff decal. It didn’t really work. I did press the rocker panel decals in place with lots of decal solution and a lint free cloth. Photo two shows the current state of that sheet of trim film.

Out came a bottle of Polly Scale Stainless Steel. I added a few drops of Mission Models Polyurethane Mix Additive which makes the acrylic behave like a resin paint. Badger Stynylrez and AK Interactive 3rd Gen paints are resin paints that you have read about in my various posts. The use of Mission Models polyurethane additive in regular acrylic paints I picked up from one of Brian’s posts about AHM freight cars. I had to paint carefully the front and rear bumper fascias.

Photograph three is one of those digital photos I just hate to post. But there it is with all the tape removed. Lots of tedious work with paints and brush fixed it up as best as I can do with shaky hands and the attention span of a gnat.

Which brings us to photo four. It’s OK for a middle ground. This photo is very close. At a normal distance it looks like a Ford Taurus. The front and rear plates have 1985 stickers. I really should have found 1985 dealers plates for this since the Taurus didn’t go on sale for about 45 days after my cut off date.

Next up. Punch list. Yep, Taco Bell is all but done and then we can return to the site for the rest of the build. If you think structures scare RTR folks, wait until we make, (gasp, it's so hard to say,) SCENERY!

[sd40dash2]

You're gutsy for showing us the closeups on a project you're not happy with. I have a feeling this car looks a lot better in person. I also like your vehicle prototype photos and look forward to seeing how you detail the Taco Bell site. Thanks for sharing.

[lvrr325]

One reason I have avoided those one piece cast autos is I don't think my hand is steady enough to brush paint them and masking the clear parts would be pretty rough too.

[Christian]

Mar 28, 2021 18:55:10 GMT -8 lvrr325 said:

One reason I have avoided those one piece cast autos is I don't think my hand is steady enough to brush paint them and masking the clear parts would be pretty rough too.

Both! The project stretched out over five days, so far. I won't repeat what I did here. I've seen photos on the internet of these cars with a solid color paint only masking for the windows. The models looked good for a middle or back ground. The window masking became tedious because the molding isn't crisp enough to give clear lines between the body and the glass for a knife to follow the edges and trim the tape. I'll never, ever tape off the interior again!. The most successful thing I did was to spray aluminium behind the headlights and tail lights in the interior. The thick, clear plastic does a good job of simulating those lights on the prototype with just a touch of clear amber and red.

[lvrr325]

I would almost prefer someone copy them in resin and at least make the body cast without windows, something like the El Camino they do if you cut up a couple of them you could maybe make separate grille/bumpers too.

Sylvan's HO resin autos don't build too bad, my dad has done a ton of them. In fact he got into one of mine I had specific plans for to replicate a vehicle I owned for a while, a Studebaker pickup. I bought it because the rear fenders were lettered "Scientific Operation" and it had a mascot on one side "Dandy". Turned out that was a garage door opener brand.

[Christian]

Chapter 27 – Punch List
Photograph one. I finished off the restaurant over the past couple of days. My punch list mainly consisted of nicks and dings. I secured the stuff on the roof. There are lots of things that could be done if a builder wanted to take this model even further.

I didn’t do any thing beyond painting the back because it won’t be seen. But there is a lot that could be done. There is the whole drive through ordering board thing. Summit Customcuts makes a Taco Bell drive through for their most modern kit. But other than the menu board there isn’t anything that makes it twenty first century. Photo two. Drive throughs are pretty generic. What works, works and pretty much all the fast food brands use the same sort of drive through.

Photograph three is a closed and abandoned Taco Bell showing signs of being an early build of this style. The electrical box is the main feature. The downspouts are interesting. I used roof drains on mine, but I might be inclined to do this sort of drainage if I was to model the back. Security light, bump posts, trash, and dirt and grime. Note the microwave antenna on the roof.

Photograph four is a repurposed Taco Bell that is now an Italian restaurant. This is an eighties build with stucco sheeting. Note that the Mission false facade has been removed. The wall caps and flashing are a distinctive change from Taco Bell. The drive is concrete with asphalt outside the drive through lane. Not unusual.

Gas and electrical connections/meters are on the back walls of these two examples. And that would be very common. Walthers has the parts. As do other detail providers. Years ago I decided that accurately modeling pole utilities – electricity, telephone, cable TV – was an entire hobby that I really didn’t want to indulge. My little world has under ground utilities. If you look at lots of photos you will find that there is frequently some weirdness about how a utility comes into a building. One Taco Bell had the main electrical panel on the front wall. Photograph five shows a gas connection that boggles my mind. The meter is gone – whew!

A final note before we move out to the parking lot. You will recall that I felt that the restaurant was too low about about thirty inches. The final photograph is a quick PhotoShop of my model with thirty inches spliced into the wall height. If you were to put back the inch I chopped off the rear end of the restaurant the whole model is better proportioned. If I was to have done this modification I would also have sheeted the walls with stucco panels. Splicing HO scale brick is very, very difficult.

All in all I have really enjoyed building this kit and also reading all the comments about favorite Taco Bells. Me personally would rather have built a McD’s, but the license gods have yet to allow that. Scratch build, sure. But there are only so many days in a life.

Next up – parking.

[riogrande]

A bit of trivia from my Uncles Taco Bell franchise from 1967 to 1987 located on Sepulveda Blvd in San Fernando Valley CA. They were broken into and robbed on a number of occasions. In one event, the perpetrators removed the swamp cooler from the roof to gain access. My cousins Jack and Joe, who were resourceful, fashioned some pointy spike out of sheet aluminum to line the swamp cooler opening so that anyone attempting entry that way again would be impaled if they actually tried to go through that way Apparently it was an effective deterrent. So the next time a robbery happened, they actually chiseled through the wall on the back side of the building. I don't think they got any money because the safe would have been pretty much impenetrable but it was amazing what lengths thieves would go to to break into the Taco Bell! Maybe they really loved Taco's!

[lvrr325]

Well, but you can have a McDonalds in HO if you want to spend the money. Life-Like made a pretty nice one around 1969. They'll set you back about $100 on eBay. Maybe more for a kit. Or you could just buy the ice cream stand it evolved into after they got busted for no licensing, and make your own signs.

Of course it builds into a vintage one, the last original one like that in this area was torn down around 1988 or so, but then they started building retro ones that look the same with a larger footprint.

The architecture of the mansard style McDonalds isn't that complicated, a brick box with an angled roof that got a facade added to it with ribs and such. Might be worth a shot to scratchbuild, if you have one local you can work up measurements from. You're on your own for a playland out front though.

Personally I'd like to do a Carroll's or a Red Barn.

[sd40dash2]

Apr 1, 2021 9:53:53 GMT -8 Christian said:

Next up – parking.

Looking forward to this!

[Christian]

Chapter 28 – Maps and Stuff
Last month Jon Klein posted a comment suggesting Bing Maps as an alternative to Google Maps. Since his post I’ve been looking at things using both. Bing aerial view is from an airplane, but is not as close as the satellite images that Google uses. Bing uses a much more aggressive smoothing algorithm than does Google. The result is that the images usually look better, but you can’t zoom in as much and the detail sometimes gets mushed. Where it is available the Bing street views are much nicer than many of the Google street views. But, again, the aggressive smoothing sometimes makes things hard to see.

Below are several images of the Hamilton Ontario Taco bell that I have occasionally used for a reference. It still is in use and represents an eighties building. The Summit Customcuts model is very close to this building. Except for the height as I have mentioned several times recently.

Photograph one is the Google satellite image which you have seen before when I was planning the roof details.

Photo two is the Bing aerial view which is, in this case, unusable. Total mush. Most Bing views are much better looking.

Photograph three is a Google street view from 2020. As is photo four. Bing has no street views of this restaurant.

Photograph five represents something that is new to me. Google has historical street views. This one is the Hamilton restaurant in 2007. Note the carpenter gothic trim which is missing from the 2020 view. And notice how little else has changed.

Yes, I am stalling. Or planning. Choose one! I’ll be back to it soon.

[lvrr325]

You can pull up historic aerials too, www.historicaerials.com/viewer typically has all of the previous Google satellite images, going to black and white ones from the 90s, then if there are any aerial photos available from before that they have a lot of those too.

They are a little aggressive with reminding you it's copyrighted material, though, sometimes you can see more zoomed out a bit than you can at the highest zoom. And the pre-90s aerials vary in quality.

It may even seem silly but rules for things like how many and where the handicapped parking spots are located have changed a lot over the years so a look at an aerial close to your modeling era might help make sure there's nothing out of place even if it's something no one else would even realize is incorrect.

[Christian]

[Christian]

Chapter 29 – Site Plan and Modeling (!)
This chapter marks the start of the finish. The Summit Customcuts prototype model has a great setting. A great setting that takes a lot of space. I have to compromise a lot. If you remember way back at the start of this build I wanted some parking, the drive through, and some greenery. I’ve been stalling on this next phase trying to think of a better way than what I planed a long, long time ago. Nope, no divine revelations. No dreams of Linn Westcott pointing the way. So, it’s time to work.

Photograph one is a new take on where we left off with the site planning. Photo two shows how I want to develop this site. Essentially, I will build up the concrete and asphalt with EVA sheet. Then I will do the green stuff with RTR scenery products. You can put away your static grass machine for this project.

The gray EVA sheet under the building is 2mm gray sheet. You can find EVA in a riot of colors at your local craft store. I use Amazon because I can get a variety of thicknesses and sizes that are in neutral colors. White, gray and black. For this project I wall use gray in concrete areas and black in asphalt areas.

Photograph three. EVA doesn’t much like white glue, even Weldbond. Craft folks use hot melt glue, (HMG) but that doesn’t scale down to HO scale very well. Yes, for scenery uses EVA and HMG is great. EVA does take well to CA. But I needed a better coverage for the initial laminations. So, spray glue. This had a well deserved bad rap for health issues a while back. The modern sprays are about equal to rattle can paint in terms of health danger. Never the less, I will do almost anything to avoid using it. In this case it was really the only viable solution to cement the plastic sidewalks to the underlying EVA. I prefer 3M Photo Mount. But there are other sprays out there. Krylon, Elmer's, Loctite, Gorilla and so on. I prefer photo mount because it isn’t as aggressive when pressing the two surfaces together giving you a possibility of mixing an oops. The yellow 4.2 OZ can in the photograph is no longer available.

Photo four. After letting the spray set just a few moments on the back of the sidewalk I pressed it onto an oversize sheet of 2mm gray EVA. Oversize so that I didn’t have to worry about positioning.

Photograph five shows trimming the foam. I cut to the sidewalk except for the drive through pavement. I left that pavement full length for now but I will later be cut back to cover only two or three car lengths at the drive through window.

Finally I dressed the edges with my Vallejo foam sanding blocks.

Next up, more fun with concrete.

[Christian]

Chapter 30 – The Concrete Jungle: Part One

Lets get two things about modeling concrete out of our systems right now.

#1 – real concrete is gray for only a few days.

#2 – You can’t paint concrete with one bottle of paint. Even if it is Floquil.

Whew. I’m glad we had this talk.

I’ m not going to get all civil engineer on you. But I will a bit. “Concrete” is made from Portland cement mixed with course and/or fine aggregates (gravel and/or sand.) It is put into a workable solution with water. It hardens fairly quickly, but requires several days to cure to the point that it can be used. It continues curing for it’s lifetime. When it is wet it is primarily the color of Portland cement. Gray. As it cures it takes on the color of the aggregates.

The dig at Floquil is really a dig at model railroaders. Back in the day if a modeler wanted to have concrete HE reached for his bottle of Floquil Concrete and slapped it on the model. (In those days it was always a HE. That’s certainly changed!) Never would the modeler look at his driveway or sidewalks. That would have been considered cheating. Just like painting a Pennsy locomotive with anything other than Floquil Brunswick Green. Later on Floquil and Polly S had an aged concrete paint which actually looked pretty good. But that was for advanced modelers. A final note on all that – if you have a set of Floquil weathering markers, one of the colors is “aged concrete.” I always thought that it was ironic that Floquil’s last product introduction was a marker. Markers and marker ink are how Floquil got started during WWII.

Real concrete is grayish, brownish and splotchy. And flecked with aggregate color. I will use AK Interactive Terrains Concrete as well as some pure pigments, lining fluid and washes.

First there is a bit more prep. Photograph one. I put the restaurant in it’s position on the sidewalk laminate that we did in the last chapter. I used a scribe to mark the location so that I could tape off the areas I needed to keep free of the textured concrete.

I then laid a sheet of 150 grit paper on a flat surface and worked the restaurant until the bottom was as flat as I could get it. I actually used another surface at home which was flatter than my work surface and then staged this photo. Photograph three shows the resulting joint between the walls and the sidewalk. Not perfect, but probably the best I can do given the manner that the walls and sub-floor as constructed. Usually I would just sweep some dirt into the gap. But I don’t think I can on this model.

Photo four shows the drive-through trimming that I did. I later changed my mind as to how I was going to do this drive so I didn’t paint it along with the rest of the concrete.

Photographs five and six. I did a test section on some sidewalk that would be later hidden by the back wall. It was a learning test which will have corrected a couple things from my original intentions. Also shown are some materials and tools that I will use. Maybe.

Photograph seven. I used Tamiya tape to mask the places where the walls meet the sidewalks. I used Tamiya rather than Washi here because the Tamiya can take the abrasion of my rubbing finger better than the Washi.

Photo eight is the jar of AKI concrete. It is a thick, gritty material. It’s real purpose in modeling is for the folks modeling 1:35 military subjects. It is intended to be troweled on and than smoothed with a wet float. Pretty much like real concrete. What it appears to be is acrylic gesso with pumice which is used by pastel artists. Also in the mix are flecks of black stone of some sort and mica powder. If you rub it between your fingers it is about as gritty as machinists hand cleaner.

Speaking of fingers, photograph nine shows my applicator tool for the concrete. A useful note, don’t check your email after painting but before cleaning your finger. This stuff sets up like, well, concrete. Get it off ASP rather than take a break on your way to the sink.

I worked over a sheet of card but should have used a sheet of kraft paper. The gritty crumbles get everywhere. I applied it with a circular motion and worked back over it several times to get rid of any pattern. After a few minutes I brushed it with a paper town to knock off the crumbles. Then I rubbed it with my paper towel. The stuff sticks very, very well to raw plastic and you can abrade it a lot. After it hardens I will use one of my Vallejo sanding blocks to knock off high points and almost loose grit.

Photograph eleven. I used my dissecting needle to emboss the cracks back into the sidewalks and patio. I pressed rather than dug. Next session I will run lining fluid into the cracks as seen in photo six.

That’s it for today. Next will be pigment and liner work on the concrete.

[lvrr325]

I don't know if you noticed a lot of your drive throughs have a concrete pad. My mom worked at Burger King for years and at some point they put sensors in that pad so they could determine how long a car was there. It was how they kept track of service times for the drive-through customers. I think also the pad by the menu board would turn on an alert to show people inside a car was there.

I'm just not sure how old that technology is, if it applies to mid-80s. It might, but would be fairly new then, I suspect. Until they went to PC based tech for the registers and so forth the electronic end of it didn't appear to change a lot from when they opened a store. Hard to say as the store she started in was a mall store without a drive-through.

What I have noticed though is particularly where cars stop to place and pickup order, it's like the parking spots, you'll have dark stains from cars leaking oil and so forth. Sometimes even to a streak all the way around down the middle of the lane. They can hide that on asphalt by re-sealing it every so often but it's tough to get out of the concrete.

[Christian]

Apr 8, 2021 10:36:20 GMT -8 lvrr325 said:

I don't know if you noticed a lot of your drive-throughs have a concrete pad.

The pads were around in those ancient times. Usually with rubber hoses to set of a dinger. But IR sensing was also certainly in use way back then. It was a big deal in home security and also a big deal in model railroading. We don't hear much about detection circuits now days, but at one time designing detection electronics was a quick trip to publication in the model railroad press.

The reason I didn't do that pad at the same time as the sidewalks, which had been my intention, is that I wanted to think a bit about the height relative to the curbs. Since posting I added another layer to the pad to bring the concrete right up to the walls. It'll be visible in tomorrow's work photographs.

Thanks for the notes on the weathering at the drive up window. You'll see that soon!

[sd40dash2]

I wonder if Taco Bell corporate has picked up this thread yet. I can see this being "retweeted" on their social media marketing channels. Surely some sort of google alert has informed them.

[Christian]

Apr 8, 2021 13:33:36 GMT -8 sd40dash2 said:

I wonder if Taco Bell corporate has picked up this thread yet. I can see this being "retweeted" on their social media marketing channels. Surely some sort of google alert has informed them.

Or a cease and desist order!  

[sd40dash2]

Why? You're providing them with publicity, free advertising etc.

[Christian]

Chapter 31 – Concrete Jungle: The Final Episode
Today there are a lot of gray photos. It matches the Virginia sky, but that is only coincidence. Or is it?

Photograph one. The drive through concrete pad as I originally intended would have been too low for my eye. So yesterday I omitted the pad while doing the concrete work. Later I put a 2mm layer of white EVA over the base layer. I fingered the concrete paste over the white as I did over the plastic sidewalk pieces. The result was better than I’d hoped. It is the “right” brownish gray for older concrete. If I had known I would have primed the rest of the concrete work with white and then proceeded with the AK Interactive Concrete. I didn’t feel the need to do the dry pigment treatment over that pad that I’m now going to describe.

For this project I won’t repeat my lecture on dry pigments because I covered that thoroughly in my earlier builds.

On the test section I layered the pigments. I didn’t see any advantage to layers so I mixed the pigments together. Photo two. I used about one part CMK Light Dust and two parts Abteilung 502 Concrete. The stainless stir stick is Tamiya. I didn’t mix too thoroughly since variation of color is what we want.

Photograph three. I dipped a fairly stiff brush in the pigment and flicked off the excess. It went all over the place. Oops!

Photo four. I swirled a heavy layer of the pigment over the base. Avoiding obvious direction and brush marks. Photograph five shows the result of the first application of the pigment(s.)

Photo six. I scoured the surface with a shoe brush. A tooth brush is fine, but smaller. I then dusted with the fluffy makeup brush until the surface was “clean.” Dry pigments don’t smudge much when they are brushed out so there isn’t any fixing coat.

Photograph seven. On the test section I used panel liner in the cracks. On the test I did this BEFORE the pigments. I didn’t remember. Oops. Photo eight. Pigment sucks up wash and spreads.

I brushed on a bit more pigment to smooth out the liner work. Then I traced along the cracks with a 0.02mm draftsman's mechanical pencil. Just like we did in the 1950’s! Photograph nine.

Photos ten and eleven. I used some washes near the entry door to darken the concrete and to add a stain from a food spill. I also did a motor oil stain on the drive through pad and added some oil drips where the car would stop. Thanks Ivrr325.

Later those stains will be worked with a bit of pigment but this step is finished for now.

Eagle eyed readers are probably wondering, “where is that long strip of Walthers street sidewalk with the drive entrances. It’s concrete. Shouldn’t it be painted now?”

Well, as of this typing I am thinking about a bit of a change with the site. More next time.

[el3672]

Apr 8, 2021 15:06:19 GMT -8 sd40dash2 said:

Why? You're providing them with publicity, free advertising etc.

Edit: Christian my apologies, I've retracted parts of my original post that were unnecessary in the first place.

As I mentioned tho, " great work on this Taco Head build so whats next?".Your work is Highly appreciated

by all of us including me. Your a master model builder and an inspiration to all. Keep up the great work

and looking forward to your next build!

[Christian]

Apr 9, 2021 18:28:27 GMT -8 el3672 said:

OK please wrap it up already, Yawn, great work on this Taco Head build so whats next? KFC, Pizza Hut ?

Next, maybe a healthy food truck build?

We're getting there. Just a handful of posts remaining because I'm also getting bored with the model. I'm subjecting folks who click on the heading to this bit of scenery construction because nobody on Atlas Forum seems to show scenery under construction if it isn't a mountain.

I'm done with food models for the time being. My next project actually won't be an online build. It will be a Sunday Photo Fun post when it is finished. I've been working on it for a year, so don't hold your breath.

[sd40dash2]

Apr 9, 2021 18:28:27 GMT -8 el3672 said:

Apr 8, 2021 15:06:19 GMT -8 sd40dash2 said:

Why? You're providing them with publicity, free advertising etc.

OK please wrap it up already, Yawn, great work on this Taco Head build so whats next? KFC, Pizza Hut ?

Next, maybe a healthy food truck build?

Settle down. This isn't about you.

[kentuckysouthernrwy]

Apr 9, 2021 18:28:27 GMT -8 el3672 said:

Apr 8, 2021 15:06:19 GMT -8 sd40dash2 said:

Why? You're providing them with publicity, free advertising etc.

OK please wrap it up already, Yawn, great work on this Taco Head build so whats next? KFC, Pizza Hut ?

Next, maybe a healthy food truck build?

Thanks for sharing this build, Christian, obviously some have no appreciation for the fine job you've done and how well you've explained everything.

[Christian]

Chapter 32 – Asphalt – the Other Pavement
Lets make pavement. Although my Taco Bell is in good repair and maintenance, my sidewalks and pavement need some rehab. Today's chapter is about working the land contours. At some point I asked my self “Why didn’t you just stick everything onto the black base?” it’s because of the Walthers sidewalks. The driveways let off into the air. So I needed to build up the pavement. I could have just covered everything outside of the Walthers pieces with 2mm foam and have been done with it. I don’t have a great answer other than I didn’t want to do it that way.

At the end of the last chapter those sidewalks were in question. Actually, they have been in question almost from the time I cut and fit them together. My intention was to use the city sidewalk to make a front to the project even though the other three sides are just chopped off. I also wanted green in front, a green view block in the back for the drive through lane and also enough of the drive through lane to be plausible. If I left off the sidewalk I would gain a bit more than a half inch. As I moved things around this morning I came to the conclusion that that half inch wouldn’t really help. And so the sidewalk is now part of the base.

Photograph one. I spray glued the concrete pieces and Walthers sidewalk to the black base. I ran out of the 3M Spray Mount that I’ve used for years. Looking at the current selections of spray glues I found that there were a lot more possibilities available. Also the 3M is now pretty pricey. I went with Gorilla because I like the brand. It worked well, but the fumes were a bit more than the 3M. So I moved outside to do this part of the work.

Photo two. Because this sidewalk shouldn’t match the Taco Bell paving I did a variation on what I had done. I used a splat of the AK Interactive Terrains Concrete, a glug of airbrush medium and a squirt of AK Interactive 3rd Gen Silver Gray. Very precise and scientific measuring is important in building models. I remembered to do the lining fluid in the cracks before the paint this time. I slopped on the paint and blotted it with a paper towel. And repeated a couple of times until the pinkish Walthers color was covered.

Photograph three. I cut pieces of the 2mm gray foam to cover where there would be asphalt. This is not the final layer so I wasn’t terribly careful with my cuts. Where the black base remains there will be greenery and mulch.

Photo four. I cut curb pieces from the 2mm white foam and used CA to bond it to the base. No brand endorsement as to the bottle of CA in the picture. There are a lot out there. I use slow cure and flexible CA. I do like the StarBond accelerator which comes in pints along with a little refillable pump sprayer.

Photograph five. I had some of the concrete mix left from earlier and sloshed it onto the white curbs. Too bright. So I used some Vallejo Air Concrete paint over the still wet base mixture. This concrete paint seems dark to me for all but the oldest concrete. But it mixed well with the wet mixture already on the curbs. I also dry brushed this paint onto the rest of the curbs. I did some additional drips and drabs of paint on the sidewalks to add to the staining.

I don’t think I’ve done a shout out to my paint pusher yet in this build. I use Competition Minis which is in Maryland. Mom and Pop with a brick store specializing in military, gaming, figures and cars. They stock the entire line of Vallejo Model Color, Game Color, Model Air, and Game Air as well as Scale 75, Citadel, Mission Models, AK Interactive 3rd Gen, and Army Painter Warpaints. They also stock most other AKI products as well as oil paints and pigments from AKI’s Abteilung 502. If listed, it is in stock and ready to ship. My shipments have always, so far, been within a couple hours of placing my order.

Next time asphalt will continue.

[Christian]

Chapter 33 – Asphalt – An Experiment
One of the oddities that appeared under the tree this Christmas was a tub of foam clay. This is interesting stuff. It is a lot like clay and a lot like silly putty. My initial thought was that it would be a great substitute for Sculptamold and Celluclay. It isn’t. Not fluid enough. It can be softened with water, but it still doesn't work like those mâché products. It also doesn’t work very well as a filler or as a putty. The folks who seem to use it most are the folks into Cosplay. I’m not. I am determined to find a model railroad use.

Because I want my asphalt to have plenty of frost heaves and pot holes I thought this would be good stuff to work onto the EVA sub pavement. I had intended to use 1mm EVA for the top surface. Last night I remembered that I had some Heki foam highway material left over from another project where the self adhesive stuff worked very well. Photograph one. Lots of folks make the foam highway material now days. Including Walthers. In the parking lot in the photograph I cut strips the width of an asphalt machine and stuck them onto a base that had previously had painted pavement. It conformed well. Took the various pigments, paints and pastels very well. And the stripes. I sure wish I could remember how I did them with their nice square ends. I couldn’t find it this morning so I started the days work intending to use a layer of 1mm EVA over the substrate.

Photo two. Foam clay comes tightly bagged in a tub. Lots and lots of brands. So long as you keep the air pressed out it has a very long shelf life. The stuff reminds be of the plastic asphalt roofing cement you get in gallon cans to patch roof leaks. Photograph three. Its not at all sticky and washes off your fingers at the end of the day. Unlike roofing cement.

Photo four. I first used it as a filler for the gaps in the sub layer of the pavement. It didn’t want to do that, but I persisted and got material pressed into all the voids.

Photograph five. Since it’s not sticky I used a sheet of 0.030” styrene to press it down where I needed to make sure the anticipated 1mm top surface would be flush with the concrete. I spent a lot of time trying to clean it off the curbs but finally decided that it would be easier to touch up the concrete paint.

Photo six. Working on a sheet of nonstick foil I rolled out thin patches of the foam to use on the pavement for the heaves.

Photograph seven. The heaving is not placed with regard to prototypical civil engineering knowledge. I also used it to ramp up the parking and the drive through. It didn’t fill cracks very well so I smeared Tamiya putty into the cracks. Photo eight.

The stuff takes over night to harden but I’m not particularly patient. So I did a bit of painting with my asphalt material as shown in photograph nine. I think it will work. I’ll know better when it has hardened and I can apply the whole asphalt top layer.

Yep. I set aside my roll of 1mm EVA and my Heki search. I’ll use the AK Interactive Terrains Asphalt material for the actual surface. About 630 of you might remember that I posted a little sample pavement that I made about ten months ago. Photo ten. Including the foobie Maverick. I’d wanted to use less messy foam for this Taco Bell. But, that asphalt worked well for me on the sample and, why not?

If the clay patches harden up well I’ll be back Tuesday with another episode of Asphalt, the Other Pavement.

[edgecrusher]

Hmm... I don't seem to recall Taco Bell having haggis on the menu. Must be a regional thing. And well done with the various pavements, that's not easy to pull off.