As I wind-down K & W Butter, here's the other one I've been working on during Winter Break. Jeff's going to be releasing this one in O-scale. I've been building the HO version, which he's re-releasing.
The Miller Brothers started this concern back in 1878 in Williamsport, Maryland. As you can see from the proto pix they took advantage of the transportation provided by the C&O Canal, Potomac River, and Conocheague Creek. Remember the Great Johnstown Flood 10 years later? They were wiped out but rebuilt and continued the business.
Trying to zoom-in and see where they were located. Maybe where "City Park" is labeled? What d'ya know, Jeff?
Quote from: Dave K. on January 05, 2017, 05:50:17 PM
Trying to zoom-in and see where they were located. Maybe where "City Park" is labeled? What d'ya know, Jeff?
Dave...it was located at the "Cushwas Basin" of the C&O Canal at the base of Potomac Street, Route 11S in Williamsport MD 21795. At this location there were seceral other buildings that are on my "hit list" off upcoming kits....this area has recently been granted milions of $$ from the park service to become the headquarters of the Canal Park Service and total rehab....it will become the gold standard of the park service from hat has been reported....from Canal Lock 44 to the Cushwas Basin, there were approximately 10 unique businesses/warehouses ideal for turn of the century modeling...thabks for all your help.....your work on the instructions is incredible!!!
Wow...Uncle Sam has provided you with a trove of kits for some time to come. It sounds like an interesting area.
Always exciting to find a little something left on the porch by the nice man in the brown truck (or red white and blue truck).
The goodies found in the box...
A bit of a surprise when you dig deeper into the goodies...no basswood walls. Jeff has gone with an alternative build style using these art board (?) walls. The laser-cut planking will be applied to the walls where the scribed lines indicate, followed by battens (should you choose to use them), add the windows and doors, and then paint these wall assemblies prior to raising the walls. Each wall is numbered so I first used the pictures of his finished build to group the pieces together; front...side, rear and opposite side. Bracing is unnecessary with this method, though I may end up bracing anyway out of habit and an abundance of caution. Jeff has used this material with no warping problems.
And here are the sheets of peel-n-stick wall planks and battens. I suppose you could go with strip wood if you wanted to. Looking forward to working with this material.
Here's one of Jeff's earlier mock-ups. You can see the applied boards to the right. The new O scale version will use individual wood planking rather than this peel-n-stick material. I love the look of this structure...the elevations, bump-outs...
Looks like an interesting build, Dave.
Great to see the prototype pictures too. You can see why it might flood there! I'll be watching your progress.
Cheers, Mark.
Hi Dave:
Looking good so far. I'll be following along.
Karl
Dave,
I'll be following along as well. Looks like an interesting type of wall construction.
Tom ;D
Welcome aboard, gents, and thanks for following.
As y'alls can see here, the longer walls have an ever-so-slight bow to them, so I'll include some bracing. I'll also blacken the interior walls so's the white isn't seen through the windows. I'll probably just use black Sharpie marker.
Easy enough.
Question, Jeff. Without corner trim, any suggestions on making sure you've got nice, tight 'n' trim corners?
Quote from: Dave K. on January 06, 2017, 10:35:55 AM
Question, Jeff. Without corner trim, any suggestions on making sure you've got nice, tight 'n' trim corners?
...I found that after the walls were assembled and dry, I applied the individual boards then...making sure the corner pieces butt and fit tight....but if not its simple tomadd the batten strips to the corners to help make a tight fit....
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
...here are a few photos of my finished structure.....also, keep in mind...that many vintage structures, especially something built during the turn of the century, were not delegated by the crazy building codes etc, of today...so in that day, they just used cuts from the sawmills etc....so tight fits were not always the case....an old timer I worked with at the G.A. MIller Lumber Co. In the 70's told me that many of the buildings along the canal were actually built from materials from sunken canal boats and trees hewn from clearing the canal itself....interesting stuff...
Fascinating stuff...thanks! I read that you've consulted with some of the old timers in the area. Jump in any time with more pearls from these guys!
...George Hooper Wolfe was the local historian of the canal, and a friend of the family....and I had the privilage of working and knowing several people that worked on the canal, and had family that were canal people.....I kick myself daily for not getting together with those people and doing interviews of the days of the canal....I also had lots of friends and family that worked on the Western Maryland Railroad during the heyday of the Hagerstown yards.....another missed opportunity of legendary stories....
Excellent resources...when I think of all the WWII vets in the neighborhood as a kid, now gone, I bemoan the loss of their memories as historical sources. 😔
Looking good Dave. For the corners I start the board flush with one end of the wall then leave the last board off until
the mating wall is in place, then add the last board and trim flush. And as Jeff said if need be use a batten on one or both walls
to cover any gap. Did the same on real buildings.
rich
Sound advice, Rich...thanks a bunch. 👍🏻
And away we go...
Two of the walls with windows dry-fitted into place.
Dave, don't cut around the notch on the ends. Run the board straight over it.
That way it covers the tab on the adjoining wall and gives a nice corner. You
should be able to remove the first board on the left end of the one wall and
the right on the other.
But other then that the walls look great
rich
Whoa...thanks!
Back to school week put me behind on updates, but I've gotten my evening 60 in almost every day, so here's where we're at.
Jeff recommends a technique I've never done before, so I'm hoping this goes well. I'm accustomed to painting the windows and doors separately, giving them a little pre-weathering, and only then installing them into the walls, which have already been distressed and painted. He's recommending installing all the doors and windows into the planked walls and then painting the whole shebang. So, here are the walls with doors and windows in place and lightly primed with grey.
Dave,
It all looks good to this point. I'm sure it will turn out really well. Jeff has and had some great structure kits.
Tom ;D
So, after the light priming with grey, we use a synthetic kitchen sponge to dry-dab Polly Scale Earth.
While that's still wet Jeff calls for Polly Scale Dirt. Didn't have any Dirt, but had Roof Brown.
Next diluted Antique White. I've been wanting to try Dr. Ben's washes, so I went with Huck's Whitewash. To make sure I didn't overdo it I just dipped the bristles in, let the solution wick up into the brush, and then wiped a bunch off on paper towel before applying.
After all has dried, a light wash of inkahol diluted 50%.
We have walls!
Looking good Dave. Thanks for all of the progress photos.
Dave, the colour scheme and blending look just right. Can't wait until it is in its spot.
So here are the walls after finishing. I can see why Rich suggested not cutting flush with the slots and tabs. Makes for more fill-in work later. Oh well...live and learn.
Some of the back-and-fill I'll need to do in spots.
In the meantime, Jeff's got this nifty method for installing rafter tails. He's laser cut y- and t- shaped pieces that go into the slots, with the bottom "leg" resting vertically flush against the inside of the wall. Easy peasey.
I did learn that you need to make sure you opened up the slots deep enough so that the tails settle down deep enough not to interrupt the roofline. Also, if you opted to use wall bracing, as I did, some of your bracing may interfere with the placement of the tails, requiring some trimming along the way.
On to the roofs. Using both roofing paper and corrugated "metal" for the various "rooves". Here I roughed-up the roofing paper strips with my emery board and added nail holes with my vintage Monster Nailer. This'll then get an inkahol wash, maybe another sanding, and then battens. Powders ought to weather her up fine.
Another roof piece.
For the corrugated the kit supplies a wood stand-in material. Not sure what it's called. I primed it gray, cut it into roughly 3' x 6' sheets, and laid it down with "Karl Tape" (3M transfer tape).
Slop-painted with Polly Scale Roof Brown and Rust (almost the last of my supply of Polly Rust). I'll inkahol and powder them and see how they look.
Time out for a public service announcement.
Looking good so far. I much prefer the paper corrugated material to the metal. No shiny spots!
Jeff
Your rusty roof is looking really good Dave!
Nice work on that kit Dave. :) 8)
Stay cool and run steam.......... 8) 8)
Thanks, gents. As you can imagine, I'm further along on the build than I am on the thread!