JL Innovative Design Kit #311 McLEOD SUPER SERVICE

[PaulS]

Coming along fantastic Bob !!!
And thanks so much for taking us through your process in using your airbrush.  Lots of very good tips and techniques there; appreciate you taking the time to take pictures and document that as part of the build.
Really like the colors, and your planned approach with the weathering sounds good, and if you miss by a bit and it gets a little bit more weathered, so be it ....
All the best and be well,
Thanks,
--Paul

[Janbouli]

Wow  Bob , what a detailed build once again , thanks for all the time and effort.   I saw on one of the photo's you were mixing paint with a battery stirrer , I have a little tip for you that won't cost a thing , whilst mixing hold the bottle with an empty toilet roll , then when you take it out you can keep it turning till it's completely out of the bottle , it will save you some paint because it won't cling to the stirrer , and will also keep things cleaner.

[PRR Modeler]

Great modeling Bob. Your work is immaculate.

[Opa George]

Wonderful step-by-step, Bob.  I really appreciate your builds. They go way beyond just tips.  Great tutorials.
--Opa George

[Oldguy]

So far so good.  I like the smallness of this kit.  Good to watch to see where any oopsies occur.

[WigWag Workshop]

Looking Awesome!  Thank you for the detailed updates. Is that an Eagle Talon Airbrush?


-Steven

[ReadingBob]

Coming along fantastic Bob !!!
And thanks so much for taking us through your process in using your airbrush.  Lots of very good tips and techniques there; appreciate you taking the time to take pictures and document that as part of the build.
Really like the colors, and your planned approach with the weathering sounds good, and if you miss by a bit and it gets a little bit more weathered, so be it ....
All the best and be well,
Thanks,
--Paul

Thanks Paul!     She's coming along slowly but so far so good.     I'll get there.  I'm pondering how to install LED lighting so that it's accessible should the need to repair it ever arise.  Haven't quite gotten my head wrapped around that challenge yet.

[ReadingBob]

Wow  Bob , what a detailed build once again , thanks for all the time and effort.   I saw on one of the photo's you were mixing paint with a battery stirrer , I have a little tip for you that won't cost a thing , whilst mixing hold the bottle with an empty toilet roll , then when you take it out you can keep it turning till it's completely out of the bottle , it will save you some paint because it won't cling to the stirrer , and will also keep things cleaner.

Thanks for following along Jan!  I've heard you mention that toilet paper roll trick before and you'll be happy to know I finally thought of grabbing an empty one and putting on my workbench to try it out.   

[ReadingBob]

Great modeling Bob. Your work is immaculate.

Thanks Curt!  I'm slow but I get there.  Eventually.     But the journey is the fun part so why not make it last? 

[ReadingBob]

Wonderful step-by-step, Bob.  I really appreciate your builds. They go way beyond just tips.  Great tutorials.
--Opa George

Thank you Opa George!  Right back at you.  I'm enjoying your builds as well and learning lots from them.   

[ReadingBob]

So far so good.  I like the smallness of this kit.  Good to watch to see where any oopsies occur.

Thanks Bob!  There have been a few oopsies and work arounds required with this one.  I'll try to document them as best I can.  So far nothing insurmountable.   

[ReadingBob]

Looking Awesome!  Thank you for the detailed updates. Is that an Eagle Talon Airbrush?


-Steven

Thank you Steven!  Yes it is.  I like it.  I had to order a replacement needle and tip once when I dropped it while taking it apart to clean it.  Wouldn't you know it I had the guard off an it landed tip first on the concrete floor in the garage.  The Paasche website was a little old/clumsy but I got the replacements with no issues. 

[ReadingBob]

Back to the build.  It's time to try my hand at lightly wreathing things.  One of the steps I thought about skipping was applying any peeling paint effects.  But I went ahead and did opted to add a little (I hope) bit.  I used a piece of grout sponge (Home Depot) and a light gray craft paint for this step.  I dabbed the sponge in the paint and then tapped it on a piece of paper until almost all the paint was out of the sponge.  Then I tapped it on the part I wanted to add the peeling paint effect to.  The light gray stands out much more on the red than it does on the white.  For heavier weathering I'd follow this up with a tan or khaki colored paint but I didn't do that this time around.


I also lifted a few clapboards with an chisel blade in the X-Acto handle.  Not many.  Just few on each wall.  I didn't twist the blade and break any off like I'd do if I was going for a heavily weathered effect.  I skipped the nail holes this time around. 


Now for the really tricky part with white.  Applying the A&I wash.  My current A&I mix on my workbench is pretty light to start with but as I brushed it on I dipped my brush in plain old A to dilute it even more if it looked to dark to me. 


The next step in the construction calls for gluing together some window and door castings.  I sanded the edge of the plastic castings where they were going to be glued together and, using a fresh bottle of Testor's Plastic Cement, applied a little glue to both edges and the glued the parts together.  Emphasis on fresh because I learned the hard way that that stuff doesn't last forever.  I was trying to build a Jordon vehicle one time and couldn't figure out why things I glued together wouldn't stay glued together.  Finally figured out the old bottle of liquid cement I was using just wasn't cutting it anymore.


The front wall went together with minimal difficulty.  There are two small, wood panels beneath the windows that were cut a little narrower than they should have been.  I made sure to line them up with the corner trim rather than to butt them up against the door casting.  Here I'm trimming the corner piece at an angle to match the pitch of the roof using a single edged razor blade after the pieced was glued in place.   


The nice thing about using cheap craft paints for the peeling paint effect is you can 'erase' any heavy, unsightly globs by gently scrubbing them with cotton swab or, in the case, something finer (from Tamiya) and a little plain old rubbing alcohol.  You can also do this while applying the A&I wash.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Okay, here's an oopsie as Bob put it.     At least I think it is.  When I positioned the garage door behind the wall with the garage door opening it fit perfectly.  But it shouldn't have.  I still haven't lined the opening with strip wood (painted red and weathered) like the instructions call for.  Once I do that the door won't fit.


Kind of eyeballing the whole thing and thinking about what to do.


Using the width of the strip wood as a guide and a single edge razor blade I made the garage door opening in the wall a little larger.  That solved the problem.


Next up it was time to start applying signs.  I cut out one of the large signs that goes on the rear wall and decided roughly where it should go.  I wanted this sign to appear painted on.


I carefully sanded the back of the sign from the center out to make the paper as thin as possible without actually sanding all the way through the sign.


Then I hit the back of the sign with my A&I (not too dark).  This will bleed through to the front and tone down the sign a bit.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Here's the sign ready to apply to the wall,


I put a drop of two of Elmer's White Glue onto some paper and added a drop or two of water to it with my finger.  No precise mix.  I just want the Elmer's to be a little bit thinner than normal.


Than I mixed the glue and water together.


I smeared the thinned glue onto the back of the sign being careful not to get any on the front.  The thinned glue makes the thin paper more pliable.


I positioned the sign on the wall, place a scrap piece of plastic bag over it and used my fingernail to press it down into the clapboards.  The plastic helps prevent my fingernail from catching the paper and tearing it.  I worked from the center out and did my best to get the signed seated down onto each clapboard.


Next I cut out the glazing for the windows from the clear acetate supplied in the kit and glued it in place using MicroScale Industries Krystal Klear.  Sometimes I use the latter for the glazing, other times I use it to glue the glazing in place. 


More in a moment...