Over the years I have been collecting Fine Scale Miniatures kits. My train buddy Bob Pieczyk (may he rest in peace) turned me on to these kits. He had built a few of them but he really enjoyed scratch building them from the magazine ads.
The very first FSM kit I tried to buy was Duffy's Coal Yard. I recall calling FSM as soon as I got my Model Railroader in the mail and seeing their ad. Alas, the kit was already sold out. That was one hard lesson. So, when I have a chance to buy an FSM kit I don't already own, I buy it.
The very first FSM kit I built was Yehuda's Heating Company. That was an undertaking. I had a blast. I've since built several others. I have many more to build yet.
I've decided to start building the kits in my collection in the order that they were released. The first FSM kit to be released was number 25 - Branchline Water Tower.
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I wish I had paid $4.95 for mine. I paid a bit more than that.
Here is mine.
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I don't recall how much I paid for it. Notice mine is in a yellow box. The first ones to be released came in a white box. The kit was first released in 1965. I was born in 1966.
Here is what came with my kit.
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That is a lot for $4.95.
I am going to change something about it. See that red brick paper supplied in the kit. I am replacing it with some way cool brick embossed sheet from Foggy Mountain Models (http://www.foggymountainmodels.com).
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I'm using the sheet on the lower left. The other two sheets are probably more suitable for O Scale.
Here is a comparison of the brick paper supplied with the kit and the one I am going to use from Foggy Mountain.
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And here is a closeup of the Foggy brick.
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This is a small kit but it packs a lot detail into a small space.
The walls are die cut from thick cardstock. The cut lines are sharp and accurate.
I used some laminated cardstock gussets to give the walls some rigidity.
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What is odd is that one builds the little structure with the glossy white surface of the cardstock facing inward.
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Once the structure is glued one laminates the brick sheet onto it.
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And then one cuts out the window and door openings.
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The instructions suggest gluing "gravel" to the roof of the structure and to laminate some rows of decorative brick work to the outside surface. A "cap" for the walls is fashioned from strip wood.
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Did any of you out there build this little kit from FSM?
More as it develops.
Jaime
Your going to find building the early kits, compared to the #100 and up, will require lot of crafting and updating of the materials, like you are doing with the brick.
Like the #35 2 stall engine house verses the later release again of it as #135, many changes and improvements.
If your going to build each one numerically, that's going to be extremely enjoyable to watch. Have fun.
mike lynch... MADMIKE3434... HAIRBALL
Quote from: hairball on February 08, 2020, 09:12:09 PM
Your going to find building the early kits, compared to the #100 and up, will require lot of crafting and updating of the materials, like you are doing with the brick.
Like the #35 2 stall engine house verses the later release again of it as #135, many changes and improvements.
If your going to build each one numerically, that's going to be extremely enjoyable to watch. Have fun.
mike lynch... MADMIKE3434... HAIRBALL
I am enjoying how much detail these early FSM kits were designed to have once the modeler took the extra time to carry out the instructions provided.
On this kit the instructions guide on how to craft the ornamental brickwork on the structure (curved detail above windows for example). None of that is needed but it sure does add to the kit.
I decided why not build them in the order they were released. It ought to help one build one the experience George Sellios added to each kit.
Jaime
Looks interesting and I'll be following.
Jaime
Great looking build. I will be following along.
That's really great textured paper...you'll like it.
Thanks for all the feedback.
Here is an example of how the detail on this kit is made by the modeler. Let's take a look at the only door in the kit.
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You see how the door is printed in two parts on the pale yellow card with the water tower's roof template. The modeler is to cut out the panels on the main piece of the door and glue that to the door's backing. Then a pin's head is used as the door knob.
Here is how that goes together.
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It's actually quite satisfying and there was no need to prime and paint a metal/plastic casting. Is the detail as sharp as a casting? No. But with practice I am sure a dedicated modeler could come real close. Plus, if you screw it up all you need to do it is cut another one. With a casting if you screw it up you need to go buy another one lol.
Here is a look at the ornamental brickwork. I need to redo the curved detail above the windows. The band of brick around the building looks ok. This little guy is ready for the tank to go on top.
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To get started on the tank one needs to stain the strip wood provided in the kit. The instructions suggest a stain made of turpentine and lamp black oil color. I've tried that method in the past. It yields great results. However, it smells up your modeling area some kind of awful. So, I decided to try something different. I've seen on the YouTubes where cool wood workers use a stain made of white vinegar and steel wool to age wood. So I gave it a try. Basically you take a wad of 0000 steel wool and you dissolve it in about a pint of white vinegar. It took 5-6 days for my concoction to finish brewing. You then take the resulting "brine" and you can either use it full strength or you can dilute it. I made a batch of 1/2 diluted "brine". Basically I took a cup of the "brine" and to that I added a cup of fresh white vinegar.
Here is what I got.
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That length of strip wood was stained with the vinegar/steel wool brine on either end. The middle is left "virgin" from the kit. Here are my observations:
- it leaves the wood with a warm brown tone
- it smells up your work area but not as much as the turpentine suggested by the kit
- it takes much longer to dry than rubbing alcohol and India ink stain
- it makes the grain on the wood pop better than alcohol and India ink
- it does not penetrate as deep as alcohol and India ink so you basically have to soak the wood with the vinegar/steel wool brine
- I like it as an alternative to traditional model railroading stains
Here is a comparison with the middle of the length of strip wood stained with alcohol and India ink.
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And here is a batch of more strip wood stained with the vinegar brine.
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You can see where I missed a couple of spots when applying the brine.
Have any of you tried the vinegar and steel wool stain either on models or full size wood working?
More as it develops.
Jaime
Looking forward to this build and your FSM series Jaime, I'll be looking in. :)
Better choice for the Foggy Mountain brick. It looks much better than the paper that came in the kit!
I'm using transfer tape these days to laminate brick sheets to subwalls, putting the tape on the subwalls and then lining up and pressing the brick sheets. You have to be careful things are in alignment, but so far the attachment has worked well, even in the 14" long walls of my mill buildings...
dave
Glad to see you finally getting around building the kit. I believe it cost you $16.00. And oh, looking good.
Jaime,
That is looking very good. I do remember the steel wool in vinegar technique from back in the 80s, I think. If I recall correctly, it was covered in Model Railroader as Sweet and Sour Weathering! :) I did try it, and am pretty sure I liked the results, although do remember the strong smell, and probably for that reason did not stick with using it.
--Opa George
Jaime a very nice job on this one.
I'll be following along.
Jerry
Quote from: Opa George on February 10, 2020, 05:19:09 PM
Jaime,
That is looking very good. I do remember the steel wool in vinegar technique from back in the 80s, I think. If I recall correctly, it was covered in Model Railroader as Sweet and Sour Weathering! :) I did try it, and am pretty sure I liked the results, although do remember the strong smell, and probably for that reason did not stick with using it.
--Opa George
Sweet and Sour. I like that. You have to keep the container shut tight and do the staining deed real quick.
Jaime
that's what outside decks are for .......opening floquil paint and cracking the cap on sweet and sour staining mixture.
I made some and used it once then stopped. Am pretty sure I went to FIEBING LEATHER DYE and 99% pure isopropinal alcohol. Tended to stick to USMC black as giving me exactly what I wanted to achieve, I also believe I was experimenting with Fiebing in various shades of browns, before I laid down tools in 2013 and started building 1935 Chevrolets full size HOT RODS.
3 of them, 2 done and roadster under construction in garage still in 2020
mike
This is a really neat idea for series of build threads Jamie. It'll be great to see some of these older kits put together and the steps that involves. Thanks for sharing! :D
Hey jaime:
Thanks for the info on this kit. I always thought the Signal Tower was the first kit. It's coming along nicely so far. Yeah I used to have almost all of them. I sold some and have 25 left.
Karl
karl............the white box and the yellow box version of first kit #25 water tank.
I used to see wanted ads for the WHITE BOX version, think was Jimmy D. Probably less made of those making the desirability higher along with price asked.
I also remember when people were selling EMPTY FSM kit boxes and plans.
George must have worked up a real sweat producing some of those 5000 units.
mike lynch.................HAIRBALL
Quote from: hairball on February 10, 2020, 08:43:10 PM
that's what outside decks are for .......opening floquil paint and cracking the cap on sweet and sour staining mixture.
I made some and used it once then stopped. Am pretty sure I went to FIEBING LEATHER DYE and 99% pure isopropinal alcohol. Tended to stick to USMC black as giving me exactly what I wanted to achieve, I also believe I was experimenting with Fiebing in various shades of browns, before I laid down tools in 2013 and started building 1935 Chevrolets full size HOT RODS.
3 of them, 2 done and roadster under construction in garage still in 2020
mike
Cool rides there.
Jaime
Quote from: hairball on February 11, 2020, 03:07:19 PM
karl............the white box and the yellow box version of first kit #25 water tank.
I used to see wanted ads for the WHITE BOX version, think was Jimmy D. Probably less made of those making the desirability higher along with price asked.
I also remember when people were selling EMPTY FSM kit boxes and plans.
George must have worked up a real sweat producing some of those 5000 units.
mike lynch.................HAIRBALL
Did the white box version come with the blue embossed thick paper?
Mine is the yellow box version and it must have been made some years after it was originally released. In the box was a "catalog" of 10 other FSM kits still for sale.
Anyway, 5000 is a lot of kits. I wonder how many have actually been built up.
Jaime
Quote from: ReadingBob on February 11, 2020, 08:07:18 AM
This is a really neat idea for series of build threads Jamie. It'll be great to see some of these older kits put together and the steps that involves. Thanks for sharing! :D
There is a lot of detail in this kit. For a 50+ year old kit I'd say it is definitely a good representation of what a real craftsman kit ought to be.
Jaime
Time to get the water tank itself going.
The kit includes a section of a mailing tube and some scribed wood siding to fashion the tank.
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I am not sure why the kit did not include one sheet of scribed wood long enough to wrap around the tank. The modeler is to butt join both pieces of wood siding to make the necessary length to wrap around the tank. That was one tricky feat.
The instructions say the siding ends up wrapping over itself and to trim the excess. I debated over that. Instead, I measured the tank's circumference and transferred that to a piece of paper and then that to the butt joined siding.
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I wanted to make sure I was not going to come up short so I cut the wood siding a tad longer so I could trim it to fit once on the mailing tube. I then rolled the piece of mailing tube along the length of the wood siding to ensure it was all going to fit.
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You can see where I made a mark on the tube and rolled it from one end of the wood to the other. There was a tad more length of siding than necessary to wrap around the tube. I am in business here.
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I used wood glue to secure the wrapped siding around the tube.
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And in my zeal to prove my efforts worthy, I made a huge mistake. I was supposed to scribe the siding with grooves where to lay the metal bands around the tank PRIOR to gluing the wood to the mailing tube.
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Well, ain't no step for a stepper. I will have to deal with it as I go along.
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I will stain the tank with the vinegar and steel wool brine once the glue is good and dry.
Meanwhile, I have to figure out a way to wrap the metal bands around the tank adequately. So, I wrapped the banding template around the tank and marked where the bands should go on the tank.
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This is what one is to use for the metal banding, some fishing line included in the kit.
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I spray painted the fishing line a rust color.
Here is how the fishing line is secured to the tank. You press some pins through the tank and wrap the fishing line around the pins which serve as an anchor for each of metal bands.
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I managed to salvage the whole effort after a lot of fidgeting with the fishing line. The pin heads and the loops of fishing line around them will get covered with the water depth gauge later on.
More as it develops.
Jaime
Wow, nostalgia city!
One of the 1st 'craftsman' kits I ever did. Learned a lot from George's instructions, back then.
Super nice build, Jaime.
Jim
I remember going thru what you just did with scribed siding and pins to hold the bands, was not fun as I was just learning.
Scribed siding has to be butt joined because the lines are length wise rather than up and down. I believe that north eastern actually presses the lines in with a die.
If I was to build that now I would use scale 2 x 6 or 1 x 6 or 8 , and apply each board, would radically change the appearance for the better.
Keep going you have a decent audience following.
mike lynch..........HAIRBALL