Day 03 - Beating it up!

With the clear sealing coat dry on the wood parts it's time for the next step which is "beating up" or giving the lap wood siding a little character.  Kevin said "As far as the kit itself goes, I envision it as definitely having seen better days........some peeling paint, a few boards needing repair or missing on the porch...".  I'll start by "lifting" some of the boards on the lap siding.

Here's a picture of my "2 story farmhouse" showing the effect..  The lifted boards are not real obvious and that's the point.  I've added arrows to the picture to point them out.

Here's a closeup shot of the same house second story to show the lifted boards in more detail.

For this process I'll use my hobby knife with a #11 blade and slice under the boards where they overlap.  I run the blade underneath the board and then slightly twist the blade to pull the board away from the rest.  This process takes time as you have to be careful not to go too deep and when twisting not to get carried away and break the board - unless that is the effect you are trying to achieve.

So here is one panel completed.  I wonder what is going on with the white balance on this photo - it looks yellow!  It will take some time to complete the process for the rest of the kit.  I will probably do more of this near the bottom of the structure and near the corners as this seems where boards naturally pull away on prototype buildings.