Bar Mills Queen City Coal

Started by vinceg, May 19, 2020, 09:07:03 PM

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vinceg

Quote from: Oldguy on May 19, 2020, 11:00:09 PM
Ooooh, this is going to be good.

Thanks, Bob. It is nice to be working on a kit that I haven't see a lot of threads on. Haven't seen any on this kit, in fact.
Vince

Protolancing the Illinois Central Chicago District from Chicago to Kankakee

vinceg

Quote from: Oldguy on May 19, 2020, 11:28:32 PM
What % alcohol do you use? I've tried 90+% and it evaporated in seconds.  Those stones look fabulous.

Thanks, Bob. I use both 70% and 90% (not together....I just have bottles of both). In this particular case, I believe it is 90% (I poured some into a separate little jar a while ago and it's not labelled). I have talked to Brett Gallant from Sierra West on a few occasions on a variety of topics. He has said that he has no real preference for the concentration.

What might make a difference is the ink. Sierra West recommends NON waterproof ink. So, the wash I used on the stones is inkahol using that water soluble ink. When you go back later and apply the chalk suspension with more alcohol, it definitely re-awakens the original wash. I have seen this on wood walls. For stonework, I think I like that property because it helps with blending. However, for walls that I first stain with alcohol, I don't like that because when I put paint on later, it seems to pull up some of the ink and darkens the paint. Depending on the color you're using, that might not be the effect that you want. So, for wood I use a waterproof ink wash. Or, more recently, I actually "prime" the wood with gray acrylic paint washes and then only apply the alcohol on top at the end after the paint is applied.

Maybe none of this matters at all - could just be my inconsistent painting skills. But I do think the water soluble ink does matter when doing non-porous castings such as stonework.
Vince

Protolancing the Illinois Central Chicago District from Chicago to Kankakee

postalkarl

Hey Vince:

Great job on the kit so far. Can't wait to see more.

Karl

ReadingBob

As a fan of the Reading Railroad you know I can never get enough of good coal business.   ;)  I'll be following along.  Sure looks like a neat set of structures.  :)
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

There's a fine line between Hobby and Mental Illness.

GPdemayo

Good looking kit and great start Vince.....I'll be looking in.
Gregory P. DeMayo
General Construction Superintendent Emeritus
St. Louis & Denver Railroad
Longwood, FL

PRR Modeler

Beautiful modeling Vince. I love the stone work.
Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
Freelanced PRR Bellevue Subdivision

tom.boyd.125

Vince,
Well done !
That structure looks great.
Coloring of the stone work is five stars too.
Tommy
Tom Boyd in NE Minnesota
tommytrains22@yahoo.com

Mark Dalrymple

Looking most excellent, Vince.

Your fix on the comb rafter tails worked well.  I find if I wiggle a single edged razor blade back and forth on the bracing it cuts off ok without unwanted damage.

Cheers, Mark.

vinceg

Quote from: mark dalrymple on May 20, 2020, 03:35:36 PM
Looking most excellent, Vince.

Your fix on the comb rafter tails worked well.  I find if I wiggle a single edged razor blade back and forth on the bracing it cuts off ok without unwanted damage.

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks Mark. I like that...."unwanted damage." I will give that a try. I have been using a #17 X-Acto blade, making little cuts at 90 degree angles until I'm finally down to the clapboard. Slow but it has worked for me so far.
Vince

Protolancing the Illinois Central Chicago District from Chicago to Kankakee

vinceg

Thanks Tom, and Curt. I am pretty happy with the stone work results. I think this will be my go-to process for this kind of stone work going forward.

Wish I could do more with the tar paper roof. I really like the effect that Jack Ellis gets with the center of each tar sheet looking very faded and then darker at the edges. Then chalk streaks on top of that. I want to learn to do that. There are a lot of tar paper roofs in our "business." Would be nice to have some variety.
Vince

Protolancing the Illinois Central Chicago District from Chicago to Kankakee

vinceg

Thanks Karl, Bob, and Greg. I have now started the Main Office building. Large stucco building. Inset windows. More new frontier for me. I will definitely be posting progress along the way this time, not just after the fact. I think I will need to as I am already coming up with some questions and could use some help for the collective wisdom and experience here.
Vince

Protolancing the Illinois Central Chicago District from Chicago to Kankakee

ACL1504

Quote from: Oldguy on May 19, 2020, 11:00:09 PM
Ooooh, this is going to be good.

Vince,


What he said and more. Your planned location seems perfect of this one. I'm all in.

Tom ;D
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

vinceg

Thanks, Tom. Glad to have you watching.
Vince

Protolancing the Illinois Central Chicago District from Chicago to Kankakee

vinceg

#28
OK, on to building 2 - the Main Office and Storage building. Here's the starting point:



As mentioned before, there is a separate manual for each of the three buildings. There are also two packages of parts for the building - one for the sheet parts and one for the sticks (bracing and trim). Lots of people separate the sheet parts for different buildings. This is the first time I have seen separating the sticks. Nice touch.

More shortly.
Vince

Protolancing the Illinois Central Chicago District from Chicago to Kankakee

vinceg

The sheet parts bag has all the laser-cut stuff....walls, floors, windows, glazing, some details. Here are the sheets that contain the main wall parts for the building:



This is going to be a stucco building. All of the exterior walls are made out of task board. You can see that they laser-etched in some brick work in a few places to simulate stucco coming off and exposing the previous exterior.

I haven't done much with task board - the gas station from Bandit's roost was my only other experience. For that building, Doug has you do the usual Durham's putty thing. For this building, the task board is already a somewhat rough finish. Bar Mills recommends that the final finish will be done by stippling on acrylic paint, taking advantage of its natural high viscosity.

That sheet in the lower left is wood, not task board. It is there to help form the irregular footprint for part of this building. This piece is not actually a base. Rather, it is attached 3/4" or so off the ground. I haven't sorted this out completely, yet, but it appears that it can also used as a displayable floor if one of the doors is left open. That little tab that you see on the right (near the piece that says "stair spacer" fits into the doorway of the wall you see at the top wall closest to my pallet with the pastel dust in it (that's what I used for the stone walls for the Yard Office). The wall I am talking about is the one with the door in the lower middle and the four windows. The fact that this wooden "base" is off the ground makes the bracing a little more complicated. More on that shortly.

Of course there is also the chipboard sheet that contains the roofs. The piece that matches the wood base is obvious. The other big piece with the two square holes is the other half of the building. Very interesting design on this one.

Please take a peek at the sheet with the slim slices on the lower right (TSK16). We'll talk about those in a bit.

More shortly.
Vince

Protolancing the Illinois Central Chicago District from Chicago to Kankakee

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