I'm working on the town of Centerville for Prairie Scale Model Railroad here in suburban Chicago. The town will basically be a main street business district with some truck-served industry as background. I've been working on background buildings and this is where things are.
Kenny of KC's Workshop is coming out with a line of simple structures that come sans instructions to keep prices down. The first in the series is Joe's Barbershop. I thought this would be perfect for the shopping strip in Centerville.
Here's the kit, and the structure as presented on KC's website.
I'll be building mine as "Lyle's Hobbies." Lyle was my father-in-law who we lost to brain cancer at the too-young age of 53, my current age. He was an avid model railroader and for years an officer of the Rock River Valley Division of the NMRA. My big regret is that I came to the hobby after his passing. So a hobby shop named for him seems like an appropriate tribute.
And here's the "goodie bag". It's a simple structure so not coming with instructions should not be a big deal if you've got any prior experience. Having said that, I ran into one small "oops" I'll share later in the build. I will say now the "oops" was all on me, not a fault of the kit's design.
Baxter is my 10-month-old modeling superintendent. He knows when I sit down at the bench in the basement it's going to be a couple of hours, so he assumes his own postion and settles-in.
I've come out of the closet on previous build threads as a "nail hole guy", so first thing I do after using an emory board to make sure the wall edges are nice and square is measure and draw the lines for the nail holes. No, we aren't replaying the Great Nail Hole Debate, here. ;D I'm doing mine at two-foot intervals. Sometimes I'll do three feet. I've seen them done both ways.
I don't like pounce wheels. We've posted before about the Monster Nailer, no longer available. Here it is in action.
I've gotten a nasty case of carpal tunnel in my right pinkie during the last couple of builds, so you can see I've got it splayed-out straight while using the Nailer.
Now for the "Tools You Absolutely Do Not Need But Are Kinda Cool" discussion. One of the guys at the club works at an engineering firm and he picked this out of the trash and brought it to me. A power eraser. Makes quick work of getting rid of the pencil lines for the nailholes, although they ultimately wouldn't show after inkahol and paint, anyway.
Normally I would now lift a few clapboards and do some other distressing of the walls, but Lyle's building will be an unusually "clean" one for me. Even though I've yet to light a building the club talks about doing it at some point, so I've gotten into the habit of painting the interior walls black after bracing and leaving easy access in case we want to wire down the road.
Here's where you guys might be of help. It's much faster to spray paint the black but I find I get a little bleed-under onto the exterior of the walls, so I've been doing it with a brush. Too time-consuming for such an uninteresting task. any advice?
I've always used inkahol for the initial weathering wash, but thought I'd try Hunterline's stains for a change.
Colors chosen...Antique White and Wedgewood Green.
Good time to paint windows, doors, trim, and cornice pieces. Parts that get glass will get A/I'ed and drybrushed for highlights before glazing.
Glazing windows is my least favorite part of a build. I hate it. I've tried Canopy Glue, Gallery Glass, acetate, etc. I get bubbles, scratches, fingerprints...you name it. In the past I've tried real glass using microscope slide covers, but they always splintered on me. For this build I got one of these diamond-tipped doo-hickies from MicroMark.
Hallelujah! It works! ;D Now to get them installed without Gulliver's fingerprints all over 'em.
And there she is.
And now the corner trim. Trim is stained, painted, lightly sanded, then stained one more time.
Kenny includes some ghost signs for the side walls. I don't think the side walls will show but in case the layout of Centerville changes, or the building gets used elsewhere, I'm installing them now anyway.
I sand the backs to thin the paper, trim the sign, and apply with white glue, using my fingernail to snug it down onto the clapboards.
The other side, with windows glazed and installed and window shades added.
And now we raise the walls...
...and the front wall.
Dry fit before tackling the storefront.
Dave,
Great job on the barbershop. I love the colors but then my Atlantic & Southern RR colors are white and green.
Looks really great!
Tom ;D
Thank you kindly, Tom. It's a nice little kit and goes together very well. Nice job by Ken.
Here's where my "oops" came in. Without instructions to follow I recommend carefully fitting everything together beforehand and carefully studying photos on the website. I only used the photo on the front of the package and didn't think to look for different angles. As you can see, I ran the bracing for the front wall all the way up to the top. This doesn't work, because the top of the wall is a "false front" affair (not sure of the architectural term).
Nothing major, but a "pro" would not have made such a mistake. So, had to get some new, sharp blades and carefully trim the bracing back.
And here's the fix painted and ready to resume. ::)
I was making such good progress I didn't take photos of the storefront portion of the build. >:( Kenny offers several neat storefront kits on his website. You can check them out here:
http://kcworkshop.com/t/ho-details (http://kcworkshop.com/t/ho-details)
I'd bought a few a couple of month ago to check them out. Here's a picture of one of them: Storefront #3. Again, this is not the one that comes with this kit but the picture will give you an idea of what it entails.
Though this "It's a Snap" kit doesn't come with instructions, the storefront portion comes with this parts diagram. Studying it and the pix on the website make it a "snap" to build.
Surfed the interwebs for some pix to copy, reduce, and print to serve as a faux interior. Here the storefront prior to installing in the front wall.
And here's the storefront installed in the front wall, before adding the pilasters.
Alas, I also failed to document the sign-building. It's pretty straightforward, though. Kenny provides the paper signs, stripwood, and laserboard backing. Here's the storefront with pilasters installed and signs mounted. I liked the way he did the sign for the barber shop so I followed suit.
Despite recovering from the 16.5" of snow we got the last two days, the good ol' U.S. Postal Service was on the job. Got a supply of stripwood from Kapler so it's bath time. I like to get it all stained ahead of time so it's ready to go when a new kit calls.
I also didn't document the building of the top cornice. It is made of the same materials as the storefront and goes together the same way.
Corbels and top cap in place.
Now to cap the walls. You can see from the website photos that Ken used some thin pieces.
Well, I must've let these pieces go missing in the clutter of my workbench, so I just used more of the 1/16" corner trim.
On to the roof. Braced the underside of the chipboard.
I like the self-adhesive roofing paper from BEST. I use a course emery board to sand it down, tatter the edges, wear-down the corners, etc. and then lay it down.
I had a smokestack already painted and waiting for something to do, so I used it instead of the plastic tube supplied for use as a smokejack or vent pipe. I use this Gallery Glass Liquid Leading for the tar around roof fixtures. Using a white glue/paint mixture is just as good. Then it's a matter of playing with weathering powders and inkahol to muck up the roof.
I've never used this gloss medium, but Doug Foscale's video on roof details suggests it does a good job representing puddles or standing water. Found it in my supplies cabinet...don't remember buying it but there it is.
Well, that's where things stand as of this evening. When the roof dries I'll apply tar along the edges and see how things look. More roof details would be good but the layout at the club is pretty high so unless you get up on a stepstool the roofs aren't really visible, anyway. Gotta touch up some paint on the corbels and other places, and maybe dirty the walls a bit more.
Dave... It turned out great ....love it ... thanks for the support
Still a few things to do. It's been a very enjoyable build. Everything goes together very well. Would also lend itself to a lighted interior if anyone chose to go that route. Looking forward to another KC kit!
Dave,
Nice work. :D I need to give that Gallery Glass Liquid Leading a try. I also like the standing water effect you got with the Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish. Thanks for sharing. I love this place. I'm always picking up new ideas. ;D
I like the Liquid Leading because it's so thick and doesn't run like a glue/paint mixture, but whatever works.
Here are the final pix before I take it to the club. The building doesn't look as "clean" as it seems in the pix.
In all it's been a fun kit to build. I look forward to more releases from Kenny's li'l company and encourage you all to give one a try.
Dave I really like the Gallery Glass Liquid I'll be sure to pick some up ! Thanks again for your support !
You bet! Thanks for following along!
Dave- a great thread. A lot of pointers and tips that can be used on all of our builds.
Early on you mentioned "bleeding through" a problem when spraying the back of walls black. I keep them flat on the surface of my make-shift spray booth out in the garage, with a little masking tape to keep the walls snug. If the walls are well braced, it's almost less hassle to use black craft paint and a ½ inch brush to get the job done neatly with no bleed-through worries.
Thanks, Mike. Hope winter is treating you kindly "Up Nort'."
Nice build, Dave. I've not had the bleed thru with the spray paint. I use light coats and attach the pieces with the blue painters tape after they are braced.
Jeff
Thanks for chiming-in, Jeff. Perhaps I should call it bleed-under, as the spray paint often creeps under the wall and mists the outer edge of the exterior wall. Perhaps I'm applying the spray too heavily.
Dave, I've seen the same bleeding. It can be useful at times to create shadow lines to add depth. I've sprayed the backs before cutting out opening, but with precut laser openings in walls that option it tougher.
Marty
Thanks, Marty. 👍
Nice build Dave, I am really glad I stumbled onto this wonderful site. I am learning so much from each and every one of you wonderful craftsmen (and craftswomen). Dave if possible would you share the link where you obtained the graphic for the storefront interior?
If I can track it down I will, Donato. Thar was some time ago, however. If I recall I just did a Google image search of "hobby shop display" or "store shelves" or "store aisles". I belive I had better results with that third option.
Great build, Dave. Like Donato said, I'm learning a lot from the great builders here on the forum.
Hi Dave K.
Nice job. Like the paint and all the saigns.
Karl
Great job on the build Dave.
Tom ;D