Lacasse Feed Mill - A New Way to Model Asphalt Shingles

I've kept a lot of articles under wrap this year because I wanted to post when they would be fully complete or because I thought they would make good magazine articles (I've still to make good from Otto Vondrak's requests). However, the more I wait, the less the process is clear in my mind. Sometimes, writing must be parallel with the craft in fear of losing its teeth.

One such project was the barn... but there was also the water tower, then the feed mill on Monk Subdivision. All that was drown in the ATSF layout exploration and other ideas.

Old shingles on the Lacasse feed mill in Armagh, QC

The feed mill is an interesting fellow because it required a paradigm shift and learning new techniques to commit to it. In the spring, I cut the styrene wall to build the core, but couldn't find a way to replicate the multicolored asphalt shingle wall siding. Using laser cut shingles didn't make it. It was too pristine and required extensive repainting. I needed something imperfect, replicating old weathered shingles. And that took quite a while.

Scribing painted black construction paper

When I started to revisit my US style railroad structures, I had an Eureka moment when I learned new technique to create tarpaper roofing. The most popular way was to start with black construction paper, spray a light coat of paint, then wear down the edges with sandpaper. It was clear I had found what I needed, or at least, some clue.

Weathering the edge with sandpaper

My idea was to spray an entire sheet of paper with the correct colors, overlaying effects with my airbrush and sponges. When the texture and color was right, I used a straight edge and started to scribe lines with a flat screwdriver at every 3.5mm (or 1 scale feet). These lines would mark each individual shingles. The sheet edge was weathered with coarse sandpaper, then a 5 mm slice of paper was cut perpendicularly to the lines, effectively creating a row of shingles.

Cutting rows of shingles

It was then a matter of simply redoing these steps again and again. Certainly time consuming, but not boring and giving quite a convincing look. Gluing however was a labour of love and took several evenings over two months.

Pencil lines make your life much easier

I started by drawing parallel guide lines at every 2.5mm which would be used to align the shingle rows consistently. Then, using some canopy glue, each strip was glued in place. Canopy glue grabs the construction paper quite fast and dry in a few minutes. No need to wait, each strip follow the next one. Once every wall is cladded, I trimmed the excess material with my hobby knife.

Cladded walls ready to be trimmed

The method was simple, 100% hand crafted and accurate. Black paper with pigment, that's essentially what real asphalt shingles are. Varying the degree of erosion with the sandpaper was useful when I wanted to replicate some specific patterns of weathering seen on the real structure. Shingles located on the highest parts were usually in very poor state while the ones closer to the ground or protected by eaves fared better. But I won't lie, scribing the lines wasn't as easy as it may look and I had to deal with paper tearing, stubborn paint and other issues.

A completed wall

Once again, this is a rich year in learning about modelling. Every new building brings discoveries and just for that, even if the layout didn't really progress, makes my day.