Bar Mills Majestic Hardware 2021 build challenge

[Keep It Rusty]

I've got this kit too. Looking forward to your progress! Great start Bob

[postalkarl]

Hey Bob:

this is A great kit.  I test fit one for Artie. Have fun with it.

Karl

[Oldguy]

Well Karl, I hope it to be fun, but  . . . . .

Yesterday afternoon, I gave the clapboard parts a wash of my 90% A&I stain.  Then I weighed them down with machinists blocks and angles across all sheets.  So this afternoon came back to the below.  Well this sucks.  Never had a wood kit do this.  Okay, I'll just paint the back side black, add the weights back, and try again.  It partially worked.  On the back wall, I needed to add some wash water and reweigh.  Before I left for the evening, it would seem that everything would flatten out okay.   Of course, during the walk back to the house, it occurred to me that I still need to add the bracing (wasn't going to brace until after the A&I).  And I painted the inside black.  Doh.  Well, some judicious sanding, and I'll get it to work.  My plans are to spray paint the main body Vallejo Fantasy Bloody Red.  It's close to a heritage brick in craft paints.  Then use Vallejo Fantasy Bonewhite for the trim.  I did a test spray on excess carrier sheet and will see if I still like it tomorrow.  Like an idiot, I didn't take a photo of the colors.

Thanks to Jim Mooney I might have some kit additions to add.

[Keep It Rusty]

Some of Bar Mills' clapboard is thinner than you might think. If you're using 70% rubbing alcohol (higher water content) and no bracing(!) then I think you got away lightly!

Bracing and reweighing should pull it back okay.

[postalkarl]

Hey Bob:

Don't worry about the warping the wall bracing will most likely take care of the problem. Let me know OK. Waitng for more progress shots.

Karl

[Oldguy]

Some of Bar Mills' clapboard is thinner than you might think. If you're using 70% rubbing alcohol (higher water content) and no bracing(!) then I think you got away lightly!

Bracing and reweighing should pull it back okay.

I mentioned that I use like 90%.

[Oldguy]

Hey Bob:

Don't worry about the warping the wall bracing will most likely take care of the problem. Let me know OK. Waitng for more progress shots.

Karl

The wall bracing should work now with the back wetting.  Before that, not so much. 

[Keep It Rusty]

Oh, I read that wrong!

[Oldguy]

Well.  If stupidity was an Olympic event, I'd be a gold medal winner!

I gathered all the clapboard pieces and corner pieces from the painting area.  And now thoroughly dried I can brace them.

So, it seems that pressing the warped pieces underneath a foot square 1 1/2" thick piece of granite, seemed to flatten them right out.  So then, it was a matter of sanding paint away from where the bracing was going to go and applying them.  I might have gotten a bit zealous as I ran out.  No biggie I have a healthy stash of 1/8" bracing.  But then Bar Mills bracing is thicker.  And here I thought all my blades had dulled.  Now that the walls were mostly flat, I added the corner bracing.  It was a matter of referring to the photos, add the bracing as it shows.  I was still concerned over the foundation and how it looked different than the photos.  Then I reread the instructions of the main wall bracing and noticed an important point.  The building will slip over the upper part of the foundation.  By adding the bracing, the walls gain some spacing and . . . .  idiot.   Okay.  At least that conundrum has been answered.  But then, that means the lower part of the bracing installed on the four main walls are too long.  A micro-saw and some chiseling and no harm to no foul.  Next up is bracing on the upper towers and dormers,  Well, the bracing there needs to be trimmed as well as the roof comes really close to them.  No photos were taken to protect the guilty.

I really like the sliding side door that Jim Mooney used on his build, and I'll do something similar.  But, with the door open, I'll need some amount of visible flooring.  I already had gotten some weathered wood textures and found one that looked good for this area.  It was just a matter of cutting it out.  I need to provide a small lip to accommodate the thickness of the lower wall  and the small lip on the upper wall.  The photo was of a test look see.   I will need a similar piece for the covered truck dump/receiving area on the other side.  I had painted the back side black and that just won't do.  With the clapboard having a 1/16" spacing, it was a simple matter of resizing the printed boards to that width (or close thereto) and gluing it on, before the trim pieces are added.

[postalkarl]

Hey Bob:

Looks like you are off to a good start. Love the wall color.

Karl

[Oldguy]

Been having connection issues, which is probably just as well.  This building has been kicking my backside and I maybe slowly losing it. 


I tried to use the excellent stencils, but the little inside bits didn't like me removing the backing.  So, I used some tape and some rod to hold the stencil down while I sprayed on the paint.  Yuck.  Okay plan B.  A number of the mills around here had sold Purina products, so the red.white checkerboard was prevalent.  In fact. One of the included signs had the same pattern.  So, I'll just make up a checkerboard to go across the front, covering up covering up the bad paint job.  The easiest way for me was to use Excel.  Figuring that I need three rows and measuring the distance to be filled easy.  11/32" distance, comes to 0.34" and at 96 pixels per inch, that come to 33 pixels or 11 pixels per row.  Then using the 11 pixels for the sides of a square, and knowing that the area to be covered is 3 5/32", that comes out to 27.5 rows wide.  Yeah.  If I could just measure better.


So not sure what happened, and I redid the spreadsheet art to be 8 pixel square.  Printed that out and okay that works.  But, wait.  There's more!  There is a canopy over the front door.  That takes up space.  That means this version is also too wide.  Back to Excel and changed it to a 6 pixel square.  At this size, it gets a bit squirrelly looking.  Like is has a wave.  Maybe once it has been cut off the page, it'll look better.

Meanwhile . . . . the little bits under the windows kept bothering me.  They show up in some build photos, but not others.  Then the light bulb went of.  Idiot, those bits are the window sill parts.  So why didn't I pick this up earlier?  That bothers me.  They did come off without breaking.  I'll save then once the walls are up and glued. 


So I got thinking about this kit.  It is really a kit bashers dream.  The instructions are bare bones.  Photos of major assemblies like the walls and roof, but not how to build it as "shown."  Interpretations are welcome.  Nothing showing what roofing product goes here or there.  Just add whatever where you want.  Which is what I will be doing.  If I can ever get the facade done.

[Oldguy]

The one thing that has gone right was the interior portion of what will be a truck dump side wall.  The resizing of the wood texture did come out decently and still needs a bit of weathering.

[ReadingBob]

Using stencils like that can be....err...a bit of challenge for me too at times.  I just finished doing one for Moscone's and I messed it up a little but was able to recover. 

I have to confess, when I first opened the thread and took a quick glance at the pictures without really examining them I though what the heck is Bob thinking painting the walls that shade of blue like that?    On closer examination I realized the blue was the blue painters tape holding the stencils in place.  D'oh!      

[BandOGuy]

Hey, Bob.
Look at the bright side of all of this. You got all of your mistakes out of the way early in this build.
See, the glass IS half full. 

[ACL1504]

Bob,

As Bob stated, stenciling is one tough job. Looks like you did fine.

I've always liked this kit but just don't have the room on the A&S.

Tom