JL Innovative Design Kit #311 McLEOD SUPER SERVICE

Started by ReadingBob, July 10, 2020, 07:43:39 AM

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jerryrbeach

Bob,


I, too, will be looking in.  I've done one JL kit and had a couple little issues that were probably me rather than the kit.  One thing I really liked is the full size plan drawing. 
Jerry

ReadingBob

Quote from: GPdemayo on July 10, 2020, 09:49:56 AM
Neat kit Bob.....I'll be looking in.  :)

Thanks for checking it out Greg!  Should be an adventure.   :D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Quote from: ACL1504 on July 10, 2020, 01:05:22 PM
Bob,

Great start on this one. I have a few JL kits in the stash. I'm sure this will be a real beaut and Paul will be very pleased.

Tom ;D

Thanks Tom!  I'm sure going to try to do a good job on this one for Paul.   :D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Quote from: WigWag Workshop on July 10, 2020, 01:54:14 PM
Oh Cool! I'm on board, I have a few of their kits in my shopping cart, including this one.


-Steven

Thanks for joining Steven.  Let's see what I can learn from this one!   :D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Quote from: mark dalrymple on July 10, 2020, 07:05:22 PM
Looking good, Bob.

I have the ice cream parlor tucked away to build one day too.  I believe I have redesigned the roof.

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks Mark!  So many kits!  So little time!  I'm not sure when I'll get to the Ice Cream parlor but it sure looks like a neat design.  :D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Quote from: postalkarl on July 10, 2020, 05:24:20 PM
Hey Bob:

Looking good so far. I'm along for the ride.

Karl

Thanks Karl!  Always a pleasure to have you along for the journey.   :D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Quote from: madharry on July 11, 2020, 05:00:56 AM
Nice start Bob. I built this one about 20 years ago. I love JL kits. They are relatively cheap and simple to build. Last count I have built 34 of hem.
Keep shunting.
Mike

Thank Mike!  34 of them?  Wow!  Here I am working on number 1.   ;D  ;D  ;D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Quote from: cuse on July 11, 2020, 07:16:23 AM
that's a neat looking kit...I'll be watching. It must be satisfying to see your excellent builds featured on so many great layouts.


John

Thanks for the compliment John!  Yes, it sure is a lot more fun to see them surrounded by wonderful scenery and rolling stock than it is to know they're stashed away on a shelf in the garage.   ;D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Quote from: PRR Modeler on July 11, 2020, 08:55:02 AM
I'll be following Bob. I have this bubble wrapped in a box currently.  I acquired it from someone else layout already built.

Thanks for following along Curt!  I hope to see your new layout one of these days once we're looking at this pestilence in the rear view mirror and things are relatively safe again.  :D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Quote from: Jerry on July 11, 2020, 09:00:26 PM
Looks very interesting Bob.


Looking forward to following along.


Jerry

Thanks Jerry!  Time to get rolling on this one once again!   :D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Quote from: jerryrbeach on July 12, 2020, 07:35:00 AM
Bob,


I, too, will be looking in.  I've done one JL kit and had a couple little issues that were probably me rather than the kit.  One thing I really liked is the full size plan drawing.

Thanks Jerry!  We'll see how it goes together.  Looks like it should be relatively straight forward.   :D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Okay, time for an update.  I've been doing some painting in preparation for the build.  I'll start by walking thru some of the steps I took to paint the parts.  I wanted to start by priming everything with my airbrush.  After cleaning up the parts I decided which needed to be primed and arranged them on strips of painters tape that were taped upside down on an old jelly roll sheet (thing cookie sheet but with edges which help keep things from falling off if they break free from the tape).  Note that most of the bottom row of tape contains parts for a different, small, build.  Hey, if I'm going to break out the airbrush and paints might as well throw in an extra one.  ;)

 

I mixed up a bottle of Floquil Earth first.  If the paint is in relatively good shape (appears fresh, thin, with no lumps, etc.) I don't worry about straining it through a piece of old nylon.  You can pretty much tell when you mix it up what kind of shape it's in.  If it's not in good shape don't even bother.  I used to use Floquil Primer to prime things but I'm out of that.  I was about to switch over to Model Masters but Testor's has pulled the rug out from under us on that one.   >:(



Using an eyedropper I put the freshly mixed paint into a stainless steel measuring cup.  For every three eyedroppers full of paint I add one eyedropper full of thinner (75% paint/25% thinner).  Then I mix that up.



From that I load up my airbrush.  As you can see it's a top feed.  Even though there's a cap that goes on it you still have to work with it upright.  Don't get wild with it or turn it sideways.  No need to do that anyway.  :P



I work side to side with the airbrush.  Mine's a dual action.  You push down to let the air flow and pull back on the trigger in increase the amount of paint.  I'm normally painting things solid colors so I pull back pretty far.  If I wanted to mist things on, e.g. weathering, I wouldn't pull back as far.  There's a stop that can be set to prevent you from being able to pull back too far.  One of these days I'm going to try my hand at weathering rolling stock and that will come in handy but not today.



After covering everything I rotate the tray one quarter turn and then go over everything again.  I do this two more time to ensure I hit everything from all four sides.  I'll mention that I'm working in my garage with the garage door open and large fan behind be on the floor blowing directly on me to keep the fumes away from me.



More in a moment.... ;)
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Once everything has dried to the touch (a process I speed up by setting the tray on the roof of my car in the driveway and letting the Florida Sunshine give me an assist) I flip over the stuff that needs to be painted on the other side. and repeat the spraying process.



You have to plan ahead, time wise, to make sure you have time to clean the airbrush when you're finished.  You can't leave the paint dry out in it.  At least not unless you're planning on throwing it away and buying a new one for the next session.  :P  After emptying out the feed cup I put an eyedropper or two of thinner in it.



Then I spray the thinner into a container until the feed cup is empty.



Next I disassemble the airbrush and clean the parts individually.



I start by cleaning the needle and setting it aside.  The tip is very fine so be careful not to damage it.



A pipe cleaner dipped in thinner is really useful for cleaning out the inside of the brush.



More in a moment... ;)
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

After everything was primed and the paint cured I airbrushed some of the walls and parts Floquil Reefer White.  No photo's of that.  Let's skip ahead to the third airbrush session where I picked out the parts that I was going to airbrush with Floquil Signal Red.  The two walls on the bottom row are a two tone paint scheme.  White on top and Red on the bottom.  So I masked off the top that is going stay white in preparation for painting the bottom red.  Think about it for a second though.  Why red over white rather than white over red?  The latter would work but it's much harder to cover red with white than it is white with red.



Next up I'm trying a trick I read about many times but never tried.  I airbrushed the edge where the painters tape separates the white from the red with Floquil Reefer White.  This is supposed to create a seal to prevent the red paint from bleeding beneath the tape.  Let's see how well I do.



Okay, everything has been painted Signal Red.



Next up I stained the strip wood with Hunterline Weathering Mix Light Gray.  There wasn't a lot of it so I just brushed it on rather than using my PVC pipe bath tub to soak it in.



Now for the moment of truth.  The grand unveiling.  I peeled off the painters tape and the separation between the red and white was pretty good.  Only two very tiny spots where a little red got up into the white but easy to correct.

 

I decided that the four clapboard walls, which haven't been stained or painted yet, should be braced even though the instructions don't call for it.  I run a little bead of glue along the bracing material (1/8" square) first.



More in a moment... ;)
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

ReadingBob

Next I smear the glue onto the side of the bracing material with my finger tip (and then wipe my fingertip on a paper towel as soon as I'm done).



For the end piece I use a metal square to make sure I have bracing right up against the end of the clapboard wall but not over the edge.



Then I weigh it down until the glue grabs.



I trim the bracing material to length afterwards with a single edged razor blade.  You may note that the end of the wall where the garage door goes I did not place the bracing right up against the edge.  Looking ahead I could see where that might interfere with the garage door itself to I left some room there.



Now that the walls are braced I can stain (same Hunterline Weathering mix) and them paint them.



That's it for now.  That's where I'm at with this one.  Still pondering how to very lightly weather this one.  White is tricky to start with and easily overdone.  I want this to look like a relatively well maintained service station when I'm done.  At least that's the plan.   :D

Thanks for following along!

You
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

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

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