Years from now, you're going to be playing with someone new, and they're going to ask what washes you used for the grime effects. I'd almost put money on it. Looks like you were able to salvage more than you originally thought, though. Glad you're gettin' back in it and keepin' your chin up, I can only imagine how overwhelming the whole experience has been.
Just came here to say that! He mentions perhaps sealing the dice tower, and before he said that I was also thinking if he could just spray a matte sealer over the piece? Might work!
I think just sealing everything with a varnish sealer might be your best bet. Good luck -- you don't have a lot of really great options, so anything you do is probably for the best.
Thank you, so far I have one piece I'm comfortable to call 'clean'. So I'm confident there will be some items saved, and for the others, I'm feeling ok about rebuilding a few things. I might even do a better job on the second run around :)
Good update, you have a pile to work through but you are staying with it, so keep at it. Glad you could salvage so much. That truck looks awesome. Cheers!
Cheers. There is a bit there, I won't be able to clean all of it enough I'm sure, but there's a few things I know will be ok in the end. The truck has been so much fun to work on.
Hey Shawn, nice RC truck. I new that the stuff you salvaged would be covered from head to toe in this damned tar/dust. It goes everywhere and because it is hot at the time it sits on the surfaces, it tends to kinda melt them and blend with them. That's why it is so hard to clean it especially in these little holes and crevices. You need to buy dedicated cleaner liquids in spray cans or vaporisators, spray them and leave them to wet the surfaces in order for them to penetrate that smoke. You will save huge amount of time and depression, as you will see that the objects you are trying to clean, do get cleaned quite easily. Soap and water, dish soap, chlorine, or any other non dedicated cleaner will not perform well at all. You'll waste your time to no results other than surmounting frustration. Trust me, I've been in your shoes twice within a month back in December 2019. But it is a good thing that so many of the stuff you created did survive, because you can always repaint them after cleaning, or if the dirt has not left any obvious marks, leave them be as a kind of weathering. Cheers bud. Stay safe and keep up.
Thanks John, I'm going to have a look this week and see if I can get my hands on some. I started on the cleaning yesterday and had a little success, but a proper cleaner would be best. There should be some items here that are recoverable, so I feel pretty good about that. Cheers for your comments, take care and all the best mate.
I know some it may be a killer for you, but its awesome to see a well used hobby area. Looks like you got a decent set up thats working for you for the time being! Happy to see you have projects in the works!
Thank you so much. I have saved a few things from the house, and been lucky enough to have some amazing donations. Plenty to keep me busy :). Picking myself up every day is still the hardest part. Take care and all the best.
It's good to hear from you. I'm sure I speak for many when I say, keep taking the time you need to get you and your family taken care of. It was good to see how much you were able recover, albeit, soot covered. Looking forward to the next one.
Thanks Earl. I'm glad to have saved at least a few items. There's so much I would have rathered be able to get out of the house, but having some hobby gear and a few of those memories is way better than nothing. I'll get these sorted out and have plenty more to come yet. Cheers.
All great builds. I can certainly see how it's hard to part with. Really hope you can restore them. Just found your channel. You and your family have sure had a rough go, but prayers for brighter days ahead!
Thanks mate! It's been a hell of a ride this year, and last year, and so on haha...but I slowly get enough to happen here where I can share some progress :) . I hope you and your family are doing well. All the best.
Glad to see that you might be able to recover some things. Take all the time you need, I think it's completely understandable that things are taking a while right now. Cheers and good luck.
Nice. Great to see you’re up and running again. I have a night haunt army to paint up as well. Got it in a Starter Kit with Stormcast Eternals. I’m actually going to incorporate some glow in the dark pigment in mine. Should look cool. I’m actually planning something really big for the hobby community at the moment. Will let you know more when I’m done.
Thanks. I found both the Stormcast and Nighthaunts were fun to paint...to a point haha. As with anything, if you have more than a few, the novelty can wear off before the end. The glow in the dark pigment sounds amazing. Some pigment that reacts under certain LED light would be fun, especially when creating the terrain. Keep me up to date on how this goes! If you need any help with your community project, let me know, I'm always happy to help out any way I can. Take care and all the best.
if you didnt tell me that was from the fire, i would have said that weathering on the terrain is so realistic. just glad your still making content!! doesnt matter how long it takes, ill be here for every video! cheers bud!!
Thanks so much mate. Some of it genuinely looks better haha, but that soot is pretty awful stuff, on top of it being just messy to handle. Thanks for watching and commenting, take care and all the best.
Wow! You've been really productive with the new stuff! I wonder if an airbrush would be a good way of cleaning those damaged builds. With just air to blow off loose particles, then water and detergent of some kind. I know it works for normal dust and grime, no idea if it could handle this level of soiling, but I think it might be worth a try.
Thank you. I was thinking the same thing. I've managed to clean off one of the projects so far, first with a brush, then some water and detergent. I'm quite happy with the results, but it won't be very effective for some pieces just due to how they're put together, or the materials I used, so I was considering the airbrush (even with some sort of cleaner in it), to get into some of them. I'll let you know how it goes once I try out a few more pieces. Thank you for watching and commenting.
I wonder if you could apply some kind of sealant, either a thick spray or a PVA mix, maybe like the midwinter minis wash?, and then repaint over that sealant. Assumign the stuff really can't be washed off
Glad to see your progress. You've got a lot still setup for painting and such, which is great. Steady as she goes! As someone also mentioned here: would you be able to simply seal with a matte sealer some of the terrain (like the hanger) that you can't clean off? I'm wondering if that would work. Perhaps for some buildings (like that nice red brick one with the magnetic signage), you could clean/paint up the roof with the miniature circles, and then just seal the whole thing with a matte sealer which might keep that awful black stuff contained!? Since much of the terrain is apocalypse style, a bit dirty doesn't really affect the overall look! Good luck with the continued progress!
Thanks Perry. The color of the models isn't too bad, and although the camera doesn't show it well, looking from the top down everything is the same black soot color. I'm hoping I can wipe away some of the dust, and clear coat these before seeing if they need any touch ups. I'll post some updates as I go. Thanks for watching and commenting mate.
Wishing you luck. Smoke and water do so much more damage than the fire itself. Seal everything with spray matt as best you can, then weather over the sections that show the most? And, yes, that soot is seriously nasty stuff, all that burnt plastic and chemical residue can screw you up. **manly hug**
The soot is very acidic. I possibly would dispose of the terrain unfortunately. If you keep it they make a vacuum that has a hepa filter that you should use and possibly after cleaning clear coat over the top. Same with the books... if you keep them I would store them away from any books that are unaffected. You can buy a soot sponge thay you can use dry and wipe off everything. It's a bit more aggressive but would get more material off. They do make solutions for washing items bit for paper books and cardboard based items it would be more infused.
Thank you for the advice and suggestions. I won't be keeping anything that isn't able to be fairly significantly cleaned. As it's in a very large workshop space I don't mind it hanging around for now, but I wouldn't be moving any of it inside. I'm hoping I can salvage some of these things with cleaner and coating, but the reality is that some will be difficult to even coat effectively. Thank you for watching and commenting, I'll try to post another update once I've had a play around with getting this stuff off. Cheers.
i will admit, some of the pieces look better to me. That hangar especially. But obviously, if it's a hazard, that isn't something you play around with.
in some cases (eg. the Nissen Hut) the grot doesn't seem to affect the overall colour scheme. I was thinking that you may be able to fix it with artists fixative spray.....and then you mentioned varnish later in the video. Perhaps trying a stiff bristled brush would do the job. If it doesn't get rid of everything at least it will even out the tone.
I had a go at one of the items today and even though it was mostly constructed of the corrugated paper, I was able to clean it up nicely between a brush, a rag and some water. This might not work so well for the foam buildings, but if I can get the bulk of the soot and stuff off, I'm fairly confident a fixative as you mentioned, or a varnish might work to save them. That soot is nasty stuff, very messy. Thank you for the comment.
Great to see some of the stuff recovered we know from earlier videos. I am sure somehow cleaning and sealing in with varnish and repaint is still easier then rebuild everything. Plus: You somehow have beaten the fire by taken something back that was not eaten by flames or water. Good to see you keeping it up. BTW: The beetle in the garage is awsome, lovely car. My first car in 1994 was a beetle :) Take care of yourself!
Thank you so much. I think I should be able to save a few of these things. I've started on cleaning and had some success, but I'll try to upload a quick update once I get through some more of it. Take care and all the best.
So very awesome to get another update! Looks like you've been working on a ton of stuff as of late - I definitely know the feel, juggling multiple projects. Looking forward to seeing your experiences with printing out that RC body
