Inaugural Expo Kit; Hayden Lithography - 2021 Winter Build Challenge

Started by NEMMRRC, January 01, 2021, 07:08:19 AM

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NEMMRRC

Quote from: deemery on January 01, 2021, 01:43:28 PM
As part of my New Years Resolution Day, I've been organizing (shuffling around :-) ) kits.  I discovered I have several of the CSS kits, including this one.  So I'll be following along.


dave
Do you have the super elusive 2010 CSS kit with its even rarer instructions ?


Jaime

NEMMRRC

Quote from: postalkarl on January 01, 2021, 03:50:06 PM
Hey Jaime:

I have one of those kits. Nice looking structure. I will be following along with great interest.

Karl
You should build yours and post a thread. I'd be curious to see your take on it.


Jaime

NEMMRRC


Howdy!


Time to start gluing some stuff together.


The instructions direct the modeler to apply bracing to the wood walls prior to staining and painting.
I did just that using the 1/8" square strip wood provided in the kit. If one is careful, it is possible to
brace the walls in a manner so the corners can be glued against each other square against the bracing. Furthermore,
this also helps to provide surface area to glue the 1/16" square strip wood used for the corner trim.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.


I measured the required lengths of strip wood and cut them to size.








I line up the 1/16 corner bracing so as to make sure I get the 1/8 bracing in the right spot on the adjoining walls so everything is
tight when it glues up. I use the machinist squares to help keep things perpendicular.




















I find it helps to stab the strip wood with a fine point and use that as a handle in order to position the wood
in jus the right spot.





I cheated on this build and glued the bracing with CA glue so I didn't have to wait for stuff to dry. I hate CA glue.
However, I am getting more tolerant of it the more I use it. Go figure ?!


Once I had everything braced I lined up the walls to see how square it all ends up and to make sure my corners would all
go as I planned.








This is going to end up being a somewhat large structure.


More as it develops.


Jaime

Mark Dalrymple

Nice start Jaime.

Is a different approach for me to glue the walls of a wood kit together before painting and weathering.  Its how I approach almost every other medium, just not wood.  I'll be watching to see how it goes.

Cheers, Mark.

Keep It Rusty

Cool kit! And you're off to a flying start!

I'll be checking back in Jaime.

NEMMRRC

Quote from: mark dalrymple on January 02, 2021, 09:36:44 AM
Nice start Jaime.

Is a different approach for me to glue the walls of a wood kit together before painting and weathering.  Its how I approach almost every other medium, just not wood.  I'll be watching to see how it goes.

Cheers, Mark.
Thanks, Mark.


I did not glue the walls together yet though. I only mated them up together to make sure my bracing was in the correct spot. I guess I needed to make that clearer. Although, there are some that glue it all together and then paint and weather. I've only ever done that with plaster castings before


Jaime

NEMMRRC


Howdy!


Here is where the challenge begins.


There has to be something challenging about this to qualify, I surmise. The challenging part will likely be
different for each modeler. I have chosen to try new techniques for doing regular normal stuff during this
build. Already I have been using CA glue to brace strip wood to my walls. I'll try to stick to stuff like that.
For example, recently I read of a different way to black out the backs of wood walls.


Why would one want to black out the backs of wood walls?
Well, it helps if you light up the inside of your structure. It keeps the light inside the structure giving it a more realistic look.
Also, it helps to avoid seeing the insides of your building
through open windows. It can be distracting to see an unpainted braced wall inside your model.
In the past I have painted the insides with craft paint or sprayed the insides with a rattle can. This time I am
trying something new to me. I am staining the backs of the wood walls with leather dye. I read about that in the
instructions for a Smokey Creek Desings kit.


I bought some Fiebing's black leather dye and applied it to the back of the wood walls as one would any
other wood stain. Here it goes.








It went fast and easy and a little of the dye goes a long way. I loaded up the dauber once and it ran dry just before doing
the very last wall. That means a bottle of leather dye ought to last me a lifetime.


And now to test how good this works.





The top wall has been treated with the leather dye. The bottom wall was left "virgin" out of the box. I would
say it works fantastic. By the way, the dye did not warp the walls and it did not seep through except at the edges
where I was careless. But, those little seeps add to the character on the front of the wall as you will see later.


Now to stain the front of the walls. Normally I would use the tried and true alcohol and India ink wash. Not this time.
This time I am using the "sweet and sour" stain. I've never tried it before. If you don't know it, it is basically
a solution of white vinegar and rust. You take some white vinegar and you let a wad of steel wool dissolve in the vinegar.
It takes a couple of days to "cook" and it is stinky. I used one pint of white vinegar and one wad of 0000 steel wool.
I then diluted some of it by half and some of that by half again to end up with three strengths of the solution. For this build I went with
the 1/4 dilute solution since I am in uncharted waters. You can always add more. You can't always take it off.


You basically brush the stuff on the wall and wait. Here I go.





I had to shore up the bracing on the walls and weigh them down flat as the sweet and sour stain started to warp the walls. The alcohol stain is practically 9% water and 91% alcohol so any warping is minimal and the walls dry quickly. The sweet and sour
solution is for all practical purposes 91% water and 9% acetic acid. It will warp your walls some kind of awful
and it takes overnight to dry.





Here are the results.








I have mixed feelings about the sweet and sour stain. I really like how it ages the wood. I don't like the warping and I don't like that the stain doesn't penetrate like the alcohol stain. Notice I inadvertently left a small area on the wall uncovered and well, it didn't stain.


I took this time to check that the window and door castings fit in their respective openings after all the staining.


More as it develops.


Jaime

Opa George

Jaime,

Interesting to compare the methods. Thanks for the experimentation and results.  I remember the sweet and sour method from way back and used it on some models that I no longer own.  I remember that I liked it; don't remember the warping but that may be due to a foggy memory.  Makes sense though, considering the high water ratio in the mix.

I believe I read that shoe dye (not polish) may also substitute for the India ink in an A&I mixture. Never tried it, though.

--Opa George

NEMMRRC

Quote from: Opa George on January 03, 2021, 07:49:15 AM
Jaime,

Interesting to compare the methods. Thanks for the experimentation and results.  I remember the sweet and sour method from way back and used it on some models that I no longer own.  I remember that I liked it; don't remember the warping but that may be due to a foggy memory.  Makes sense though, considering the high water ratio in the mix.

I believe I read that shoe dye (not polish) may also substitute for the India ink in an A&I mixture. Never tried it, though.

--Opa George
Hi, George.


My train buddy that introduced me to craftsman kits way back used black shoe dye and alcohol instead of India ink. I haven't tried that yet. I was warned though to use USMC Black for the shoe dye color. Apparently some black shoe dyes have some blue in them and when diluted in alcohol it makes your models look not so good  ;D


Oddly enough I found out about the sweet and sour stain from a YouTube video on woodworking. The fellow in the video wanted to make his garden shed look aged and run down lol. Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.


Jaime


deemery

Just be careful each time you open the bottle of 'pickling stain', so you don't get an explosion from the hydrogen....  Keep away from open flames.  Oh, the humanity!  :-) 


The idea of staining the back walls is interesting, I wouldn't have believed how well that worked without the evidence.


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

NEMMRRC

Quote from: deemery on January 03, 2021, 09:46:26 AM
Just be careful each time you open the bottle of 'pickling stain', so you don't get an explosion from the hydrogen....  Keep away from open flames.  Oh, the humanity!  :-) 


The idea of staining the back walls is interesting, I wouldn't have believed how well that worked without the evidence.


dave
Mmmmh... I will be sure to extinguish all scented candles in the train room prior to using the sweet and sour stain again.


I was pretty impressed myself wit the blacking effect as well. It almost made me want to light up my structure interior. I'll leave that for the 2022 challenge.


Jaime

deemery

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

Mark Dalrymple

Looking good, Jaime.

I can see another advantage to using that leather dye - if you were to scan that box, shrink the image and print it off you would have a pretty cool sign!

Cheers, Mark.

ACL1504

Jaime,

Nice build, very informative. I've never cared for the vinegar and steel wool stain. The interior of your walls came out nice with the use of the dye.

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

NEMMRRC

Quote from: mark dalrymple on January 03, 2021, 11:49:01 AM
Looking good, Jaime.

I can see another advantage to using that leather dye - if you were to scan that box, shrink the image and print it off you would have a pretty cool sign!

Cheers, Mark.
Hey! That there is a pretty nifty trick for making cool advertising signs. Thanks!


Jaime

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