Samples taking shape

I began cutting sample maquettes yesterday afternoon. These don't feel like great leaps of progress with the project but they are making a difference, especially after various painting experiments.

As mentioned in my interview with Technical Models Ltd, I cut a .5mm outer layer to give recess and depth to the windows which are the main feature of the building amongst the flat brick areas (below).

I decided to etch bricks on to see how it looks. My initial thoughs for this were that it will be too 'railway model' like. However once sprayed they look astheticly pleasing and are'nt quite as overwhelming in detail as I first thought.

By backspraying the .5mm before applying it to the 2mm piece a sense of depth is created on the brick face (below). Ignor the colour! It was a quick mix to test the idea.

Paul suggested I sand back the outer face to matte it down. The sanding also added a more defined look to the brickwork but I'm not sure about how white it appears to be (below sanded area on the right).
I also tried spraying directly onto an etched face which resulted in the complete loss of depth to the brick texture I liked about the sample above.

Using the same piece that I'd cleaned off I backsprayed directly onto the back. This result was ok but really lacked the definition of the brickwork and window detailing (see below).

To try a different way of giving depth to the windows I etched out the main window sections. These turned out partly successful. The main problem is with the laser cutter I used which Ed says is on its way out and doesnt etch as well as it should only doing a small section (center top in the pic below) to the correct finish. The sample still provides an indication of the recessed result I could produce (Ed thinks one of the other lasers could produce a better etch which I will try when I can get in there again).

(Settings used for the etched areas are block areas to black, Vector off, Half tone off, P100 S50, 1000hrz)

I also cut the pavement area and playing surface and applied them to the base. I need to do a little filling and blending with one section of the pavement but this wont be possible till I decide on material and size of the surrounding walls.

Feel like I've made at least a small bit of progress today.