Bar Mills Cundy Village Hotel

[ReadingBob]

Holy cow Jim!     That's terrific! 

[Dennis Bourey]

Beautiful Job Jim....Dennis

[postalkarl]

Hey Jim:

Beautiful jobs so far. Love your colors.

Karl

[GPdemayo]

Looks like one heck of a lot of work going on up there.....looking great Jim.....

[WigWag Workshop]

Love seeing interiors, you sure are knocking it out of the park!  What is the model of your cutting machine?  I have my eye on the Cameo 4, I also looked at the Circuit Maker.


-Steven

[Jim Donovan]

Thanks Daryl;

I keep finding things I want to do with this great looking kit. I need to slow it down some and just get the kit together.

Jim D

[Jim Donovan]

Hi Steven;

Thanks for following along. I have the Cameo 3 which is a good machine but because it only produces 210 psi while cutting and it does not have the gear type drive of the Cricut Maker it is more limited. I am told the Cricut Maker 4 will cut 3/32 basswood. I need to see it before I would buy it, but if it does I want it for Christmas!

Jim D

[Jim Donovan]

Bob, Karl, Dennis and Greg;

Appreciate you all checking in. Any ideas you have let me know. It has been slow going on the building so I need to post some updates before I forget which went when.

Jim D

[Jim Donovan]

It has been a while since I posted so please hang with me if I put something in out of sequence. There is a lot going on at this point.

With the interiors essentially done I need to make the electrical connections to bring everything together. Each wing has 8 warm LED lights and the tower has 12 so we have 28 LED's installed. There are seven circuits, each wing has one for the second floor and one for the first floor. The tower has one for the first two floors and one for the third and another for the top floor. I previously showed the type of LED I am using throughout this structure to simplify the power usage.

I used the tower as a central conduit for all of the wiring. The back wall and back bracing had copper tape placed in a manner so the wings and tower wiring could be soldered to them and the tape would go to the base were all the circuits would be completed. Each circuit is limited to having a total of four lights on it. I plan to use a 16 volt DC transformer for power of accessories. With current limiters on each circuit none will have more than 15 volts including the current limiter. Here is how the tower section looks wired up. It looks more confusing then it really is but it sure does not look elegant. I

If you are going to light your structure it really helps if you have paid the money and bought a first class soldering unit. Mine is a fast heating Hako model. It takes about 5 seconds to go from off to 650 degrees and will run for hours. I have full digital control of temperature needed and the tip required. This type of soldering outfit allows for fast welds, limiting the possibility of destroying the LED from too much heat. Trust me I know. My first two soldering irons were easy to hold and low on results.

[Jim Donovan]

With the wiring done enough to allow the wings and tower to be mated it was time for the wings to be carefully placed on the foundation and the tabs inserted into the slots located on the tower. The directions indicate mating the various parts is finicky and requires some careful sanding. That is very true. Moreover, careful application of clamps and weights were needed to keep everything where it belonged. NOTE: I needed to use the Elmer's Yellow Wood Glue to keep the foundation solidly mated to the wings. I let everything to sit and dry for a day.

[Jim Donovan]

Finally, to complete the basic structure I braced the foundation by cutting to shape 3/32 balsa wood and inserting (and gluing) it into the foundation. It greatly improved the firmness of the foundation and will act as the curiet board for the wiring.

NOTE: I think putting the bracing in is a good idea regardless if you decide to put lights in or not. The basic laser cut foundation is fairly flimsy. I broke it twice on the backside. Fortunately I was able to get the breaks to glue together without showing. If I had put the bracing in before the wings I would have saved myself the repair jobs.

Placing the bracing:


Bracing in place and all circuits wired and labeled.

[Jim Donovan]

Using the Woodland Scenic Plug and Play power controller for testing I hooked up the various parts and made sure everything worked.

Looking down you can see installed interior and the lights are located at each corner. The lights are off in this photo:



I don't have any pictures of the structure lighted but windows not fully installed. This picture shows how all looked once windows were in. Installing the glass windows is another story and we will stop here for the night.

[Jim Donovan]

I do not have a photo of the structure together (less tower top) and lighted but without windows (which were installed after the walls were up). Did I mention that I really screwed up by not putting the windows and frames in place prior to putting the walls together?  So here is a photo showing wings lighted:



Making the glass windows and installing them is another story for another day. We will stop here.

[S&S RR]

Jim


This is really looking great - I love the interiors.

[PRR Modeler]

Amazing modeling Jim.