Thanks for the compliment Steven;

I know you have just recently joined the fun making craftsman kits, you came to the right place for advise and learning. These guys have been tremendous help in my own learning the past couple of years. You have a question these folks will sure have the answer. Best group of people I have ever worked with. Thanks for following along, any ideas are of course welcomed.

Jim D

Thanks Opa George;

As I build this kit I am also dismantling the northern layout it will sit on. We are selling the house up in Ohio and will just be in Florida. So I need to figure out how to get the layout down there in one piece, or as close as I can. Might slow things down a bit on the hotel build. Oh well, times change I guess, wife wants the move, me, not so much.

Jim D

Thank you Jan;

Hope everything is well in Netherlands. As I am sure you have seen we yankees seem to have made a pretty good mess on response to the latest world virus. Really not sure why, it is not like the scientists have not been warning us it was coming. I look forward to when Deb and I can next visit Europe but looks like it is going to be some time. In the meantime we have a great hobby to enjoy. Thanks again.

Jim D

Thanks Bob;

You put a smile on my face, appreciate the compliment and will try to keep up the quality on this really nice kit.

Jim D

Thanks Curt;

What you are seeing is what I've learned from you folks the past couple of years. Thanks for the great ideas.

Jim D

Welcome John;

Thanks for checking in and for the encouragement. Please send any ideas you have as this kit moves along. I am following the directions as far as the sequence of building the kit goes The modeler who did the video I watched seemed to create some issues by jumping around. However, I hope to add something extra where appropriate and suggest changes where I run into issues.

For example, right after I did the last update I put the walls in place for the roof. The directions call for putting all the shingles on as well as the upper finish strip. I have had to remove the strip as each section needs just a little sanding to allow it to curve correctly on the frame. I am painting prior to placing so removing the strip caused some issues. Moreover, placing the strip after provides a nice square look.

The directions say not to glue the various floors together yet. However here is how the four floors look at this point when assembled and lighted. The one picture shows how I have connected in series the lights for each floor. We will figure out how they all work together when I get the main building put together. I will be sealing the various holes on the back so there is no light 'bleeding'.







We are caught up now and back to following the directions. Hope to get more done soon.

So the general method of how I completed the interiors has been covered. For the second floor foyer I put the Heron Tapestry (bottom edges not glued to produce a slight hanging effect) on the back wall. The other walls are a stripe wallpaper and I again put two LED lights hidden behind the stained cornice on the back wall. However, this time the wires were put through the wall and soldered to copper tape. Two more lights were put in same spots on back wall of the first floor. No cornice is needed for the lobby due to the doors and photo already in place. Here are the results:


I previously modified a post to show I replaced the hotel name and added ceiling bracing.

Just got caught up on your build Bob. First class as always and I have already picked up a couple of great ideas. I have watched you make signs over and over and still can not figure out how you make them so perfect. I'll be following from here out.

Jim D

Hi Bob;

Thanks for following along, if you have any ideas I am all ears. Have you posted your interior work? I would love to see it.

Jim D

The 4th floor (roof) of the tower is not added till further in the construction so I used Krylon Matt Finish and sprayed the photos then set the assembly aside. I have not glued the roof panels in place, they are just placed to make sure scene looks right.



The next section to work on is the third floor. The 4th floor has slotted walls that lock into a slotted floor. The floor is also the ceiling for the 3rd floor and they lock into each other when assembled. You can see what I mean in the pictures. Prior to applying any of the following prints I used a gray colored Sharpie pen and carefully slid the edge of the paper across the side of the tip so that the design has a finished look and you do not see the white edges. One of the members on the Forum taught me that trick and it really makes a difference. Be careful as you color the paper edge or you will slip and mark up the printed design (yep I know, that's one reason I make extras).



I put one of the 'ceiling murals' on the ceiling side of 3rd floor using contact cement. The back wall gets the picture of bookshelves and door. HOWEVER, rather than being glued completely only glue the center of the picture at this point. We are going to use the area where the corner bracing meets the picture to hide some wires in a few minutes.  For some reason the jpeg I uploaded does not have the books on left side, if you cut and paste it will fix that. Finally, the animal print pattern is glued to the sides and front. I sized the print (about 3.5 cm) so it pretty much covers the corner bracing. I did not worry if the bracing is seen a little, with windows in place it will be hard to see corners. AFTER the contact glue fully dries, yes I know I used an exacto knife with a NEW blade (the paper dulls these blades in no time) and carefully trimmed out the window and doors.



I again used the gray Sharpie. The ink bled a little on the wall patterns which actually turned out great. The inside of door and windows looks trimmed out. Here is view when back wall wall glued in place.





I had some cornice moulding bought for another project and decided it to use it to trim out the ceiling and more importantly act as a shade so the LED lights would provide soffit lighting. Using my little modeling table saw I cut the moulding to the correct length and then miter cut each so the four sides would align like real moulding. Frankly this was over kill and I did not accomplish a very good fit (but it works). You can use a 1 x 12 board cut to length and accomplish the soffit look needed. In either case the wood trim was stained using Hunter Red Barn, followed by Hunter Medium Brown (like the flooring). The brown wash really brought out the shades in the wood, too bad it is up next to ceiling and will be seen only briefly. When dry, and key, glue the trim pieces to the corner braces at the point just below the ceiling so that a gap is left between the trim and the outer wall.



Now I drilled the two small holes  (just big enough to allow the LED to pass through) for the LED lighting. Each hole is about 1 cm from corner of the bracing on the back wall and located  behind the cornice moulding. The LED lights were put in place and the wires are run down either side behind the back wall photo. Two notches are made in the bottom of the back wall so the wires can come out at the floor and then go into the main building. The lights are locked in place using UV activated CA glue and then the picture is completely glued in place using contact cement. Sounds like more then it is. One thing I did forget was to coat each picture with the Krylon Matt Finish. Since the walls are in place the matt finish needs to be applied prior to attaching to inside walls. I plan to use my  airbrush and use Dulcote to accomplish the same thing.


The lights are on the left side in this photo.

Here shows where to place the lights and glue them in place:



The two nano lights are connected in series and will eventually be hooked up with all the other lights. To test each series I have a Plug and Play module from Woodland Scenics. Using it with their connectors is great as it is essentially a voltage regulator. I start at zero and turn the knob until (hopefully) the lights turn on. This way I can test without current limiters or resistors and not burn out the LED's. Those will go on when we finish up connections.



That covers the third floor library.

Hi Curt, thanks!

Glad you like it so far. Have a long way to go but just taking my time and enjoying the ride. It is a great kit, hope to due it justice.

Jim D

Thanks Steven;

Appreciate the compliment. I like what lighting does for a building, adding another layer of realism and depth. Slim at Micro Lumina has some great articles on his site, must reading before lighting something up. One thing to watch is the voltage, since the LED's operate on only 3 volts (more or less). He addresses this issue very well.

Thanks Again

Jim D

Opa George;

Great to hear from you and thanks. I'm like you, I love the old Victorian age / style hotel over the new square block buildings. When the Boss and I travel we always try to find a unique hotel or B&B.

Jim D

After completing shingling of the four roof panels I set them aside. Next I adjusted all the photos and designs selected for use on each of the floors. I use Inkscape for this purpose as it is a vector program (allows for much clearer designs when printed) like Photoshop but is open source and free. It has more than enough features to handle any work I need accomplished and there are plenty of YouTube videos and how-to postings to educate you on how to get what you want. I suggest you set your preferences to millimeters in order to make your shapes as exact as possible, also eliminate the 'snap to' function, it is annoying. I find the metric system so much easier to use then the English system I almost always convert to it whatever I am doing, modeling or 1:1 work.

To print the final designs I used a brother inkjet printer using premium grade letter size paper. Make sure the ratio is set to 100%, sometimes (especially if the printer thinks there are boarders) it will 'fit to size' making the picture smaller then needed. Set print quality to the best and hit print. I first test print each design to test make sure they are the right size and provide the look I want. These are just black and white draft quality and cut using a pair of scissors. After more corrections then I want to admit I was ready to print for real. I combined the designs onto two pages. I make sure I print enough to complete the job and at least one extra of each picture, just in case. Using an exacto knife and ruler I carefully cut out the various pictures.

I took three of the four observation deck pictures and using Elmer's Rubber Contact Cement put a picture into a quarter panel using a concave manner. I did not put a crease in the middle, rather let the photo be rounded and centered. Make sure the three panels selected are the front and two side panels. The rear panel is going to have more electric and needs more work done before the photo can be applied. I don't normally use contact cement but it is a must in order to glue the photos in place and not have them wrinkle (trust me I know  ). To use contact cement correctly you must spread glue smoothly on BOTH surfaces in order for it to adhere correctly (again, trust me I know  )

Next I installed lighting for section using four, 3 volt, warm LED lights. I drilled a small hole in the top of each center quarter panel and ran the bulb wires through the quarter panel and then through center hole of the rear quarter panel. I made sure the bulb was snug to the hole opening. To keep the bulbs locked in place I used UV activated CA glue. Used primarily by fishing lure hobbyists I was put onto this great product by Daryl Jacobs. It is a CA glue that remains a liquid until UV light is applied, then it hardens in seconds. It is great for applications like this as it allows you working time to get things lined up and then hit it with the light. I don't use the manufacture type Daryl recommended any more, I find using the same stuff as made for lures works great and the light that came with it is much more powerful and faster. You will see a photo of it below and it can be bought on Amazon. With the three lights in place that already have the photo glued into the panel I glued the 4th light into the rear panel near the hole with the wires coming through. Then I placed copper tape 'pads' on the wall and wired the four lights in series, soldering them together at the copper pads. I will need to figure out how best to bring the wiring into the main building and keep it out of sight but that will wait till the main walls of the hotel are up. So here are the pictures which hopefully show you better what I did.









Well computer out of power. I will post more tomorrow.

Jim D