Woo hoo another fresh start.
Bar Mills boxes are kinds cool in that they include a basic scale ruler on the box flap. Of course, I didn't get it in shot. But attached are the box and contents photos. The brown strip is to be corrugated metal. We'll see.
Walls are aged lap siding. The lap is not uniform.
Instructions are basic, but with good photos and parts notations. I do like the included photos of the kit builds by others. Something to get the modification juices going.
Here is a first for me, a correction to the instructions right up front. Interestingly, the photo shown with the warning is correct. So a nice heads up.
Another first for me - a help line notice, Albeit via e-mail, Cool.
And yet, another first - the build starts at the foundation. The laser cut concrete block looks good and an attempt was made to get the block corners look right. I.e.e long block, short block, etc. up the wall. But, since it is end grain and laser cut, it'll take paint a bit different. I did sand the burn off, and the joint was a bit off to begin with, so the short end blocks are a tad shorter now.
One must add the floor along with the foundation walls. I did notice that the floor will fit only one way, so be forewarned.
While that was all being set up, it was on to the castings. After the last kit, it seems a bit sparse. But, since I couldn't use all of the last kit's detail parts, they will have a new home.
Bob, got a front row seat to see what you do with this early Bar Mills kit.
I'll be watching, Bob.
I think you were a bit spoilt with your last kits castings!
Cheers, Mark.
I'm in for the journey too Bob. Should be fun. I built the N Scale version of this one a long time ago. ::) It was a fun build.
I'm in for following this one, Bob. I've always liked the look of this kit and interested to see how it comes out for you. Not sure I would have room on my layout for this one, though, even if I decided I really wanted to try it.
--Opa George
I'll definitely be following.
I will be following along.
Great kit Bob.....I'll be looking in. :)
Very nice kit , I loved building this one.
Bob,
I'm be following along as well.
Tom ;D
Now there's a novel concept: a building with a foundation. One of my favorite "nits".
Might have to buy the kit based on this feature alone.
Please keep up the sharing efforts and thanks for your time.
man that's an old one....I made some add-ons for that one and posted them to yahoo groups back in march 2003, if you want the pdf I can mail it to you (the pic is on the lower left of the instructions color photo page) loading docks, shed, different vent
Quote from: JimMooney on February 02, 2021, 05:42:12 PM
man that's an old one....I made some add-ons for that one and posted them to yahoo groups back in march 2003, if you want the pdf I can mail it to you (the pic is on the lower left of the instructions color photo page) loading docks, shed, different vent
That would be great if you would. rmdye at aol dot com.
Wow. It looks like I'm being followed by NASCAR drivers and I'm in a clown car.
It didn't realize this was an old kit. I need Midwestern looking buildings, especially small structures such as this one. It would appear that most decent kit manufacturers are located on the east coast, which naturally, flavor their kit designs. Basically, my railroad operates in the DPM world. One reason why I sold off most of my FSM kits. They just wouldn't fit. I do have the typical stash, but for whatever reason, Artie got my attention with his Monday Morning at the Station and I ran across this one.
So, anyway, I got started with clearing off the flash, using a dab of Fast Grab by Aleen's on a dowel, in preparation for priming. I normally use Tamyia fine grey primer. For wood looking bits I use a Leather Brown by Army Painter, also in a spray can.
By now the foundation has dried and I have added some scrap bracing left over from other builds. I doesn't look like the same foundation form photos in the instructions. Maybe, they added a blank area just above the windows? At first I thought maybe, the outer walls would slip down over it, but no. Hmmm. Okay, I'll treat it as a rim joist and paint it trim color. I'll need to fill in some of the upper gaps with joint compound, sand, and this piece will be ready for grey primer.
I decided to add nail holes every two feet and beside each door and window frame. It's a lot easier to do the small parts while still on the sheet.
The it was a quick brush over with the A&I, weighed down, a left to cure overnight.
I've got this kit too. Looking forward to your progress! Great start Bob
Hey Bob:
this is A great kit. I test fit one for Artie. Have fun with it.
Karl
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.
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.
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
Quote from: Rusty Robot on February 04, 2021, 08:25:02 AM
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%.
Quote from: postalkarl on February 04, 2021, 09:10:02 AM
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.
Oh, I read that wrong!
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.
Hey Bob:
Looks like you are off to a good start. Love the wall color.
Karl
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.
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.
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? :o On closer examination I realized the blue was the blue painters tape holding the stencils in place. D'oh! ;D ;D ;D
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. ;)
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 ;D
I'm working a bit slower since I am waiting for some matching bottle paint to show up. With the recent snow/freezing rain/freezing mist, I haven't been able to make it up to the mail box.
The front wall. Not only is the stencil work lousy, but there is a canopy that has yet to be added so the lower half of the lettering would have been obscured. I finally got the R/W checker stripe done and applied. The scene of the crime has been covered up.
Included in the kit is a piece of pressed paper. After being primed, it reminds me of Transite panel material. To save some from web search time, Transite is a cement/asbestos material that was pressed into roofing and siding material. All I need to do is check my references as to sizing. I'm sure it was a bit over 2 foot wide and cut in various lengths.
Nice progress, Bob.
I'm interested to see how you paint and weather the asbestos roofing. I was thinking about having a go at this only yesterday. Here in New Zealand the corrugations were wider than those on corrugated iron. I was thinking S scale material would probably be about right.
Cheers, Mark.
Nice job on the cover up Bob. The checker board looks like it belongs there.
Good recovery Bob. Well done!
Mike
Hey Bob:
Love the colors and the signs look just great.
Karl
Quote from: mark dalrymple on February 09, 2021, 10:53:06 PM
Nice progress, Bob.
I'm interested to see how you paint and weather the asbestos roofing. I was thinking about having a go at this only yesterday. Here in New Zealand the corrugations were wider than those on corrugated iron. I was thinking S scale material would probably be about right.
Cheers, Mark.
Actually, I'm using it as siding and if possible, for the roof as well. S scale? Probably could work to get the wider rib spacing.
Quote from: madharry on February 10, 2021, 12:59:38 PM
Good recovery Bob. Well done!
Mike
Thanks. I seem to always need a plan B, or C, or . . . .
Quote from: postalkarl on February 11, 2021, 01:28:26 AM
Hey Bob:
Love the colors and the signs look just great.
Karl
Thanks, I got real lucky.
Bob,
Great progress and interesting to see how much different your kit and materials are than those in my (very) old plastic box kit of Majestic.
The corrugated material scaled out to 11 foot high, so I cut it to a 6 foot and 5 foot pieces and then cut them to a scale 2' 3" width. As it turned out, a 5 foot piece for the bottom row works, followed by two 6 foot rows. I started on the back side, followed by the side sides(?), and then did the front side in an effort to minimize the seen edges. I tried to get the overlaps to hide the corner seams. Wasn't perfect, but I got close.
I decided to add a wrap around loading dock. First up was to make a template for the frame and decking. The Shenandoah Crossing has a good idea of having the 4x4 for the roof supports also form the dock support legs. I'm going to frame the dock with 1/8" bracing material. It will be set back 6 scale inches from the outer edges as this will allow for the 4x4 roof posts to stick through the decking to also form the dock supports. The 1/8" material should aid in keeping the supports vertical in one direction. Then, a 2x12 front board will be added to hide the 1/8 material. Building the dock in a prototypical fashion seems to be a waste as it will be completely hidden. To aid in keeping the frame square, I salvaged corner pieces of wood fret material. And yes, I did double check to ensure that they were in fact square. The 5x8 note card used for the template itself wasn't square.
One of the few kits I did in H0 , you can find it here http://janbouli.com/?p=/H0%20Scale/majestic.html (http://janbouli.com/?p=/H0%20Scale/majestic.html)
(https://modelersforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjanbouli.com%2Fimages%2Fh0%2Fimages%2Fgebouwen%2Fmajestic%2Fmaj24.jpg&hash=04fe0eea614ff4ba428c65f53cbadefc1a51c50d)
Hey Jan:
WOW!!! You are really going to town on this kit. Love the colors and the roof look great.
Karl
Jan, very nice. Interesting to see that over time, they redid the castings and some siding/roofing materials. Thanx.
Thanks Karl and Bob, I still have to finish this , one day I will . I remember having slight problems with the smaller templates Bob , I tried them with a spray can , didn't work , I think stippling or with a much preciser airbrush would work better.
Oh , and Karl , where do you think I got the idea of using those colors from ;)
Started gluing the building together. With one wall having a long step to it and the front wall having a bit of wave in it (door issue) I needed to start with the back wall and the full side wall. Then I could move to the other wall. Once that all set I could move on to the front wall. The front wall was just used as a spacer to aid in keeping everything square.
While that was setting up, I moved on to the wrap around dock. I use 2x8 for the entry area and 2x10 for the dock area. So far so good, I like the color differences from the left over A&I stained material and unstained wood. I got really lucky that this section ended perfectly as the remaining dock deck will be oriented 90 degrees to these.
With that started, I can move to gluing on the front wall. Kinda hard on figuring out where the step wall should align up with the front wall, but I cut out the long step piece left on the carrier sheet. Then it was easy to ensure it was properly placed. Normally, I try to use and tabbed roof pieces to aid in alignment and holding walls in place. But I ran into a problem. I'm off by a half a corner trim. The roof cut out for the little dormer does match it's width. So it looks like I need to cut out a bit more off the roof deck. But then that will throw off the tab that is aligned with it. I'll just save this for tomorrow.
I looked back at my build and found that I had had the same problem Bob, took a bit of sanding. You're doing great so keep the pictures coming.
Hey Bob:
Nice progress shots. Looks great.
Karl
Found that I had doubled up on the corner trim for the rear upper wall. It was a semi-simple matter of removing the trim off the flat section. While that was drying, I looked at a section of roof as to how it is going to fit. Trying to get the slot lined up and at the same time working the roof around a dormer was a pain. Doable, but a pain. But then it wouldn't fit. Seems as something is off. Then it was a matter of making a decision as to which side was off and make corrections all the while paying attention to the slot for the short side wall. I think I'll finish installing the roof before I glue it to the foundation. The same issue arose on the other side.
While I was futzing with the roof pieces, I managed to finish the wrap around dock. I needed to add the 2x12 angled board as it will have a 4x4 going through the end of it. I hope.
Nice colour variations in the decking, Bob.
I like the piece at 45 degrees at the corner - a nice feature the looks very flash.
Cheers, Mark.
I agree with Mark, that 45 degree cut is very nice!!
Hey Bob:
Looking good. Keep the pic flowing.
Karl
Before I could button this up, I needed to add some view block walls as the sliding doors are glued open. Then the walls and the foundation were permanently mated.
I drilled out 4" diameter holes for the support posts. Found that I need to start with half size, then 2/3rds, before getting to 4" Then it was a matter of using a square file to get the holes fit for a 4x4.
I installed the two main roof cards and worked on the small dormer. The slots, like the ones on the other side, were off a bit. That and the tiny sidewall pieces had no tab to fit in the slots. If I wasn't careful, they could fall inwards, where they would be a royal pain to get out again. In fact these pieces had two boards removed to fit under the rood. So, I just covered the slots with scrap note card bits and called it good.
All of the roof pieces have been added. There is a tower that fits over the junction of the higher and lower roof sections that will be added after the roofing has been installed. It'll just be easier that way.
I have reconsidered my roof covering choices. The provided tar paper will be used for the lower roof pitches, such as the left hand roofs. I have some black three-tab shingles coming in and those will go on the main roof and connecting sections. The kit came with some paper self-adhesive wood shingles that I won't use. The dock roof sections will be metal along with the center tower.
While waiting for the roof shingles, I can attack the dock roof and and a tar paper covered shed for the back. Good idea Jim Mooney.
Looking really good, Bob.
Love the extra effort to get such beautiful square holes for the posts.
Cheers, Mark.
Hey Bob:
All I can is Wow!!! beautiful job so far.
Karl
Love it , and the deck is great.
Bob,
Looks great!
Thanks all.
I realized that I needed to roof the main sections before I could do the dock roof. Mainly based on perceived fragility of the dock roof system. I am going to do the roof in metal and wanted to use thin plastic for the roof deck. So I did a bit of experimentation on adhesives for the same. I chose Deluxe suoer 'phatic, medium super glue, and Aleenes Tacky Glue. I added some cardboard to the mix as a control sample. To my surprise, all worked as needed. I dislike any super glues as we don't play well together.
I decided to go ahead and roof the left side roof sections using the provided self-adhering material. I had spray painted with a black primer which worked fairly well. With the drawn lines, I was able to keep each row fairly straight. Then I turned my attention to the upcoming three tab installation. But . . . . the three tab has a 1/16" spacing and I had marked the main roof sections for the tar paper. I tried to add additional lines, but it just won't work having already been installed. So, back to original plan - rolled roofing.
Bob,
Your built is coming along great.
Time to get up on the roof.
Tommy
hey Bob:
Looks like the roof is coming along nicely. Can't wait for more pics.
Karl
Good thing I didn't wait for the three-tab black shingles as they haven't arrived yet.
I went ahead and used the provide rolled roofing. One each sheet, there is one wide piece (I took it for the first row piece), one narrow piece (I used for the cap) and the rest are all the same width.
I went ahead and made a shed addition. The "tar paper" was tissue paper sprayed black. I did have a fook up as I wanted the walls supported on the concrete block material, but the shed itself having a dirt floor. This was to be a simple matter of extending the doors down to dirt level. I was having way to much fun making the doors out of 1 by material and 2 by material for the trim. I used thin brass rod for the external hinges.
So, it was a matter of adding a ramp up. I also added supports for the dock roof.
The dock roof is made up of 0.40" plastic and covered with Campbell metal roofing. Right now these have been pre-primed and are just sitting in place to see how it will look.
Bob,
What a great looking structure. The roof weathering is very realistic. Great job on all of the build.
Tom ;D
Hey Bob:
Looks just great. Love your colors and as Tom said the roof looks just great.
Karl
Good job Bob.....neat looking structure. 8)
Awesome looking build Bob! Appreciate you sharing.
-Steven
Great job, Bob. That deck and weathered roofing is wonderful.
Thanks all. Can't believe I have been at this for 3 months!
I found a bit of foam core, got it painted and measured for placement of the building. First up was deciding how close the building needed to be from the base edge to the track. With that determined, it was a matter of getting things attached. I did find a short elbow that I took for an exhaust vent. Since I had glued the building down, I simply drilled a hole in one end and inserted a brass rod. The drilled a matching hole where it made sense for an exhaust duct and super glued it in place.
On the back side, I wanted to add a scale and grate, but having done one before, I realized that it wouldn't be seen. So I skipped that part. With everything else on some sort of foundation, the little curtain wall felt a bit left out, so I made a one block high foundation and cut off a equal amount from the wall.
So, this is done. I have this and my last two builds to receive some sort of scenery. I use real dirt, run through a blender to a fine powder and then add foam bits and ballast for greenery and gravel roads.
My work bench is a total mess and needs a deep cleaning and reorganization. It'll give a bit of time to figure what to build next.
Great looking build, Bob.
Jeff
Hey Bob:
Just beautiful.
Karl
Good looking build Bob
Doug
You really did a nice job on this build Bob!
Quote from: MAP on March 08, 2021, 11:27:52 AM
You really did a nice job on this build Bob!
Bob,
I agree with the others, very well done. It looks wonderful.
Tom ;D
Majestic Hardware is probably the 'quintessential Bar Mills Kit'. Nice job!
dave
Beautiful job Bob....Dennis
Jeff, Karl, Doug, Mark, Tom, dave, and Dennis, thanks one and all.
Super job on the build.
Great job. The kit bashing looks nice