Bar Mills Cundy Village Hotel

Started by Jim Donovan, July 20, 2020, 11:44:39 PM

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postalkarl

Hey Jim:

the foundation looks just great so far. I'm following along with great interest.

Karl

Jim Donovan

Thanks to everyone on the nice compliments for the foundation. The laser cut bricks really lent themselves to using the sand tile grout, glad it worked out.

Bob, I am can't believe you have a question, cool! I use your threads more often than not to figure out how to do something, I hope we get to meet someday, perhaps at the mighty A&S central offices. I have been airbrushing with acrylic craft paint for almost two years now. The biggest issue I encountered is clogging but the formula I discussed (I miss spoke on one item, I will correct that post) eliminates most of this issue. Having a pre-moistened q-tip with paint thinner ready to go is the final piece of the puzzle. If you sense the airbrush starting to clog, use the moistened q-tip and gently clean the nozzle. The dried paint is removed and you are back in business. The correct formula is:

70% Cheap 80 proof Vodka
25% Armour All Clear Window Cleaner (any clear window cleaner I am sure will work, just not the blue stuff, the ammonia can eat up the rubber gaskets.
5% Golden Acrylic Paint Retarder

Amazon carries the Retarder as do most hobby shops online that carry airbrush paint. I found this formula in MRH magazine and then again in a war game painting video. Because of the relatively high pressure used to spray the craft paint and the high alcohol content to ensure smooth flow, the retarder is needed to slow the drying down, otherwise the nozzle will clog and the paint dry before attaching to non-porious surfaces. Almost every video that mentions paint retarder says to get Golden so there must be a difference. Give it a try, it really opens up options on color mixing when airbrushing.
Holland & Odessa Railroad

Zephyrus52246

Nice brickwork, an interesting technique using the grout. 

Jeff

GPdemayo

Great work with the brick Jim..... 8)
Gregory P. DeMayo
General Construction Superintendent Emeritus
St. Louis & Denver Railroad
Longwood, FL

Jim Donovan

This kit is going fast, I had no idea how easy it is. Why look I am practically done. Just a couple of odds and ends to finish up:




Sorry, I just had to do that! I am taking the Boss on a trip up and around Michigan tomorrow so I wanted to show what progress I have made and more importantly share some thoughts on this kit before I forget.
Holland & Odessa Railroad

Jim Donovan

To start, a big thanks to Darryl Jacobs for sharing the link on the Cundy Hotel video done by a modeler previously. Here is the link again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivbbJWAt8g4

I highly recommend you watch it at least once before you start this kit. He does a good job of showing his method and also shows things to watch out for as you build the kit.

I often read or hear a person talking about making a model and saying they don't read the instructions. It must be a right of passage thing or something. I guess I have not hit that point yet because I read them cover to cover then put them up on the wall to re-read as I am doing each step. This is one of those kits you really need to study the diagrams carefully and test fit everything until it fits exactly right. I noted in the video the directions were followed, sort of.

The directions are big on diagrams, short on directions and methods. However key points:

1) Page 26 or so has a listing of the keys to making the kit correct. Why it is in the back half of the directions I do not have a clue. Make a copy of them and put them where you can see them. Really helps.

2) As I said Art does not say a lot in the directions BUT everything he says IS important. I am making sure I understand exactly what he means when he gives direction help prior to working on that step.

3) Really study the diagrams before proceeding. The tolerances on this kit are extremely tight as Bar Mills used the laser to its fullest on this kit. Also, parts that look interchangeable often are not. While this is a tab and slot construction, the width of tabs are one of the keys to make sure you have the right parts.

4) Art recommends Elmer's Yellow Glue for this kit. I have been using the strong version of the white Elmers and it seems to working. The reason I mention this is both Elmers allow for a little longer working time then the Aleene's Tacky Glue. I am finding the extra working time a big help.

Finally, I am going to have to re-think my promise not to make changes to the kit. Art strongly recommends to make no changes but the entire back is BLANK, no windows, doors, porch, electric box, well you get the picture, nothing. I guess he thought the kit would be up against a wall or something so no need to properly finish the backside. I certainly do not want to screw up the kit but it is begging to have the back brought to life.

So that is it on thoughts, here is progress update.
Holland & Odessa Railroad

Jim Donovan

#36


First up I decided on the following colors for the hotel:

Medium Gray Primer made by a firm I can not begin to pronounce. It is made for plastic and war gamer modeling. It is very smooth, a little goes a long way (lots of pigment) and needs little or no thinning when airbrushing.

Delta Ceramcoat Light Ivory as the color for the clapboard siding and corner stripping. For airbrushing I go 50/ 50 paint / thinner, using my good old vodka paint thinner formula.

Folk Art #4663 Crocodile Green for the vast majority of trim. I find the Folk Art a little more runny then the Delta product so I go 55 paint/ 45 thinner. The key I have found to air brush with craft paint is use a good thinner, make small batches, do not store any left over on the batch, just a pain to use next time. Finally, use a Badger battery operated paint stirrer. About ten seconds and the mixture will be smooth. Hand mixing just chances getting lumps , clogging the airbrush and making a mess.

Folk Art Barn Red and Harvest Red for the chimneys

For the floors I am going with Hunterline Barn Red. I will then follow up with Hunterline Medium Brown. This mix seems to produce a nice Cedar Floor look. The porch and floor laser cut boards look like they have the grain going in correct direction for this to look right.

Delta Ceramcoat Charcoal Gray for chimneys and inside walls where blacking out is needed.

I will be primarily airbrushing and using a hand brush only when I must. Airbrushing allows me to slowly build up the color, apply far smoother then I can paint with a brush, avoid most if not all of the warping that can happen using acrylic water based paint and frankly I can see the difference. I am just not a very good hand painter.
Holland & Odessa Railroad

Jim Donovan

#37
As you can see from the paint bottle picture I airbrushed most of the parts prior to assembly. The kit comes with the various sub assembly parts bagged together. It makes finding parts easier. The directions provide life size templates of the various laser cut wood with all parts numbered.

The directions indicate not much needs to be done for the hotel entrance as it is not seen much. I decided to go the other direction and make the entrance look like a 4 star hotel. This is where I decided to make the flooring stand out like it would in a top resort. I also used the false front for the door section to place a photo of a top grade lobby sized to scale and mounted on the back tower wall. The Hunterline washes were hand painted resulting in some wicking up the back wall. However, this area will not show so I did not fix it.



The doors were part of a sub assembly built up from laser cut tack board and wood. I made my first mistake here, putting the tab backing for the doors upside down. It is hard to see the needed direction from the plans. The correct way allows all the windows to show. By doing it wrong the bottom two windows have wood behind them. I used copper to highlight the frame and doors so I think it turned out OK. I will be lighting both on the inside of the doors as well as in the foyer.



To complete this area I had first put a decal across the top announcing the name as B. Alan Hotel. It is hard to see and if I did it again I would use a cream colored background to help bring the name out, but it works and will not show much in any case.* (I have changed this further along in the build. I covered the sign with a 1 x 12 that was stained per the flooring method, then I put 2 x 6 stringers from the front ceiling to 1 x 12, placed 2 feet apart and also stained.) Here is end result of changes:



You will note that I am using real glass in the doors. I intend to use glass for all windows as well. With the doors and windows laser cut this is a great kit to learn to use glass. It is easy to cut the glass to the needed shapes using the acetate versions  provided with the kit as templates. I think the glass adds a touch of better realism that can be seen.
Holland & Odessa Railroad

Jim Donovan

So that is as far as we have gone so far. Until next time.



Jim D
Holland & Odessa Railroad

Opa George

Beautiful work so far on this, Jim.   Colors are excellent choices, and I really like the idea of the red floors.  Very classy.
--Opa George

deemery

I like your lobby photo!   Are you going to do any interior lighting?

dave
Modeling the Northeast in the 1890s - because the little voices told me to

postalkarl

Hey Jim:

I agree the Lobby Photo is very nice. Great job on this so far.

Karl

WigWag Workshop

I really like the lobby photo, nice touch!


-Steven
A BIG Thanks to all the folks who share their knowledge, and for giving me the inspiration to push the limits in this great hobby!

Jim Donovan

Hi Opa George;

Great to hear from you. I want to have the hotel look like the bell of the party, thus the varnished floors. I hope I can do this kit justice, the more I work on it the more I am amazed at the detailing and overall look.

Jim D

PS: Hope you are getting your grandkid hug fix this summer. We are. They are coming over today and Wednesday. Being called Papa is the best!
Holland & Odessa Railroad

Jim Donovan

Dave, thanks for stopping by. You are right, this kit cries out to be lite. I will at a minimum be lighting the interior of tower so that glimpses of the lobby photo are possible. The foyer will have hidden ceiling light and I picked up two wall entrance lights (Woodland Scenics, not cheap and need to be re-painted) to lite the front of the tower. I am thinking of more interior lighting along with a controller to turn rooms on and off to produce 'lived in' look. I have never done that so we will see when I get to that point.

Jim D
Holland & Odessa Railroad

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