Seeing the Paper Creek models in person did encourage me to give it a try myself. There is a nice old weathered barn 10-15 miles from where I live, and I've photographed it a few times in the past. I made another trip and took some full sided shots with my digital camera. Two of the most interesting sides were in full sunlight, the other two were obviously in the shade.
I printed the shots of the two good sides - one end and one side - on some heavier parchment like computer paper. I used this as I thought white paper would make the lighter areas too bright. I printed two of each end/side, and glued them to some photo matte board. I then assembled them into a barn, using large pieces of stripwood to reinforce the corners. Since you cannot see both sides and ends at one time, its not too obvious that they are duplicates.
The nicely weathered rusty metal roof was a little harder, as I could not get a full shot of the sunny side due to the angle. So I just copied half the roof image next to itself, getting the proper length. The edges of the matte board on the roof was darkened with a black felt pen to hide the white edges.
The result was quite pleasing, and quite realistic with the natural sunlight shadows, and even grass around the perimeter. I may give it a try on other structures.
A lot cheaper than $29.95!
Bob Boudreau Canada