Long time lurker here and haven't built anything in a long while. I browse this forum frequently and I'm amazed at some of the builds I see, beautiful work and will try and do this kit justice. Now onto the kit and the cardboard walls.....they have to go and will be using some 1/32nd bass wood sheets and 1/16th strip wood for bracing and that is where the fun begins. Had to do re-adjust everything to take into account the new thickness of the walls so hopefully figured it right. First picture of all the contents and 2nd picture of the new floor for the upper levels.
Regards, Gary
Look forward to seeing your progress.
This ought to be fun to watch
Good to see someone building that kit.
A few pointers:
Watch the white metal parts fit!
The cornices and the parts around the tower are especially critical.
I built it a few years ago, I'll see if I have a pic of it.
Will surely follow this. :)
Found the pics.
Quote from: Graffen on December 11, 2021, 08:57:50 PM
Good to see someone building that kit.
A few pointers:
Watch the white metal parts fit!
The cornices and the parts around the tower are especially critical.
I built it a few years ago, I'll see if I have a pic of it.
Will surely follow this. :)
yes I know what you mean by the cornice metal pieces for the tower, had to measure everything from that point for all the thicker walls.
I've always wanted to see this kit under construction. Will be following along. Mark
Gary, that is one incredible looking kit. Happy to join in and watch. Looks like fun!
--Opa George
Welcome to the forum Gary, I'll be looking in on your build. I've always liked the SSL kits and loved all the details they included in their kits years before there was South River Modelworks, Sierra West and others. :)
Gary,
Welcome to the Forum.
Looking forward to your build.
Tommy
Thanks everyone for the welcome and following along. Today I was able to build the upper floors and roof flats doing away with the cardstock pieces, scribed one of the floor flats and stained with brown AI wash. The tower was a bit more challenging with the angles and making fit into the upper cast cornice piece but I think I got it. Next up are the walls and deciding on the interior, found some wall paper patterns on-line and printed one of them for the drug store walls.
Great progress Gary.
Nice, solid build!
Hey Gary:
Looks good so far. Can't wait to see more.
Karl
Managed to get the front upper walls cut and glued together today and next will be to glue the larger wall section to the tower and cover with the embossed sheet of brick. Back to work tomorrow for a few days then off until next year.
Looking good Gary.
Off until January and hoping to make some good progress on the Drug Store. Been working on interior details, walls and furniture and found my helper sleeping on the job. Not sure on what the kit manufacturer was thinking on the embossed brick sheets but the embossing stops short by about 1 1/2" of the end of the sheet. If they would of embossed the whole sheet there is enough material to be able to cover the wall assembly in one long continuous piece, instead you have to splice on a piece....oh well. Not real happy where the brick joins together but looks some better after I rolled the seam down.....glue was still wet.
hey Gary:
You are progressing right along. Great work so far.
Karl
Those SS Ltd kits are a challenge but they do produce nice structures! Keep with it, you're making good progress on what can be a tough build.
dave
Very nice interior.
A few more pieces to the puzzle have been assembled for the first level walls and entrance for the apartments above. I replaced the brick embossing where I tried to tooth the brick together and moved the joint to the tower....much happier now. Graffen hope you don't mind if I go with a color scheme close to yours, the lighter colors show the details better in my opinion. The re-designed layout for some of the walls that have been changed from cardstock to bass wood.
Nice!
That building almost tells us the paint scheme itself! 8)
The light color scheme I used actually makes the details more obvious.
Hey Gary:
That coming along nicely. I'm following along.
Kaerl
Interior details for the second floor are now finished, completely scratch built and it's only 1 out of 3 to do....at least the pharmacy interior has cast detail parts.
Wow! Great progress Gary!
That is exceptionally nice detail work, Gary. I'm enjoying watching your progress.
--Opa George
Hey Gary:
What can I say but beautifully done.
Karl
Excellent interior details Gary..... 8)
Very, very nice.
So much has happened in the last 3 years, the wife's COPD has gotten much worse and made the decision to retire from my job so I could be here to help her out more. My extra time is now spent on model railroading and getting caught up on things I let sit. I have made some good progress on this kit and have completed the interior details and have moved on to all the windows and trim pieces. Will post some more pictures of the progress once i can get them moved to my computer.
Regards,
Garyjs1024_0410251947.jpg
It's always great to see an old project take on new life (says the guy still working on the Winchendon Machine Shop kit he started 15 years ago...)
dave
Howdy Gary,
Glad you were able to work on the drug store. Nice work painting the details. The interior looks terrific.
Have fun,
mike
Great looking interior Gary.
Thanks guys for the comments. Managed some time for working on the sign, the both of them had damage with the attachment points broken off and laying in pieces in their bag, a few pieces of brass rod took care of that.js1024_20251002_144435.jpg
and the store front attached.
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Regards, Gary
Howdy Gary,
Nice save on the signs. The front looks fantastic. I like those big windows to show off the interior.
Have fun,
mike
Gary nice save on that sign. The building is looking great.
Jerry
8) I feel better about my abandoned kits now! Nice Work!
Thanks, Mike, Jerry and Philip for looking in and words of encouragement. The power company stopped by today and got the lights turned on.js1024_20250929_210405.jpg
Howdy Gary, the porch light in the alcove looks fantastic. Nice work. Have fun, mike
Great lighting effect Gary.
Managed over the weekend to get all the doors and windows glazed and installed, used canopy glue to attach the clear plastic to the metal frames. The trim pieces took some time to get fitted right but happy with the results.js1024_20251002_205824_Fotor.jpg
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Started work on the roof and will have some pic's of that shortly.
Gary, that came out looking wonderful!
I also have this kit waiting on my to build list, so it's nice to have this build to refer to when the time comes to finally build mine.
Greg
Those cornice castings can be -very- fiddly, yours came out great!
dave
Excellent modeling Gary.
Thanks guys for the comments, I appreciate it. Next up was the roof access dog house, the directions say to use left over cardboard so I substituted wood instead and some framing because I wanted to leave the door open, ladder from scratch. Roofing is just black construction paper with white glue applied at the joints for that simulated tar look.js1024_20251006_171833_Fotor.jpgjs1024_20251006_174513_Fotor.jpgjs1024_20251007_000744_Fotor.jpg
Wonderful modeling Gary.
Great scratch building on the doghouse.
Jerry
Howdy Gary,
The drug store looks terrific. Nice work on the roof. You've built one beautiful model.
Have fun,
mike
Gary,
First a belated welcome. Hope your wife is doing a little better.
The SS Ltd. Drug store looks great. The interior lighting is a great way to see the interior details.
Well done.
Tom
WOW! 8)
Thanks Jerry, Mike, Tom and Philip for the comments. Next up I wanted to put in the sidewalk around the building. I made a mold out of some thin card board and poured some plaster. I glued it to a thin piece of plywood to keep it from breaking and scribed in the lines for the joints, still needs to be painted/weathered. The one part of this build I was dreading the most is the fire escape made from photo etched brass, can I say frustration level through the roof, had to put it down several times but I'm happy with the results.
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Well, that's a super result! What did you use for mold release on your cardboard plaster mold? That worked very well.
dave
Gary the concrete and the firescape wonderful building!!
Jrry
Quote from: deemery on October 11, 2025, 11:28:48 AMWell, that's a super result! What did you use for mold release on your cardboard plaster mold? That worked very well.
dave
The card board stays wet for a long time after the plaster cures enough to handle so you can just peel it off or it sometimes just falls off.
Excellent details.
Howdy Gary,
The sidewalk construction was clever and a technique I'll emulate. The result looks exceptional. Nice work on the fire escapes; they are so tiny. The roof detail looks terrific.
Have fun,
mike
Thanks everyone for the comments and following along. I think I will call this one done for now, at some point I would still like to add a power drop from a telephone pole to a meter.....need to do research. A few final shots of the build.js1024_20251013_155006_Fotor.jpgjs1024_20251013_152513_Fotor.jpgjs1024_20251013_152550_Fotor.jpg
Very nice work. I like the color scheme.
Jeff
Outstanding Gary.
Great Build! 8)
Very nice build, well done.
Tom
Gary, your drug store is indeed medicine for the modelers eyes!
Wonderful work!
Greg
Great take of an old kit. Really like seeing older and challenging kits finished. Nice work. Mark
Gary, tremendous job on this build.
It looks excellent.
Thank you everyone for the kind comments, I really appreciate them. Started a DPM kit to sit next to the drug store and should have it done in a few days.
Quote from: GaryMc on October 22, 2025, 11:35:37 AMThank you everyone for the kind comments, I really appreciate them. Started a DPM kit to sit next to the drug store and should have it done in a few days.
Rail-Scale Models is doing laser-cut windows to replace the thick cast windows for DPM kits. https://www.rail-scale-models.com/HO-Scale-Window-Inserts-for-DPM-Round~Top-Windows-~-Door-Assemblies Strongly recommend you consider these before you dive too far into the DPM kit.
dave