Next up is a Downtown Deco Kit. In the town scene on the layout, there is dead end street that needs a structure. I had a small bar there, but it was too small, so I looked over Downtown Deco's site when he had a sale and picked up this kit (as well as two others as it was buy two get one free :D ).
Jeff
Four hydrocal walls. Some plastic bits. Windows/doors. Signage. plastic roof. Instructions.
Jeff
Since my camera broke, I've been using the iPhone for pictures. It has a short depth of field, and my lighting makes the pictures look too yellow. This pic was taken on the layout, where the lighting looks whiter. I'll need to work on either a new camera or different lighting. There was a boo boo on the front wall. A chunk of plaster over the door has broken off and the door area also has a crack and missing some plaster. The door will be covered so that's not an issue. The chunk area will be covered with a sign, but I'll repair it with some spackle. I'm sure I could call Randy at DD and he'd send another, but this fix will work fine.
Jeff
Looks interesting and I'll be following.
Thanks for following, Curt. First step is to sand the walls. The gluing surfaces need to be flat, and the plaster on the backs is usually wavy and uneven. The edges can also be irregular. I don't sand the visible surfaces. I do the bottoms of the walls and about an inch of the backs of the walls where they will meet. This step is kinda messy.
Jeff
I then glue the walls using 5 minute epoxy. My epoxy didn't set after an hour, overnight it was OK. I think it was due to the age of the epoxy. I threw the pictured ones out and got out new ones and it set in 5 minutes as advertised.
Jeff
Glue on the side walls first. Then fit the back wall to just slide in. Don't force it, or something will break. I use some wood bracing to further strengthen the corners which is added, again with epoxy, after the initial corner bond cures. Gently clamp, again, don't force anything.
Jeff
I should have sanded the walls better because after the first two walls set, and were perfectly flat on the bottom, the other side wall wasn't a great fit. This is another reason to use the wood corner brace as there's more gluing surface.
Jeff
To fill these seams, I use this spackle. Place painters tape on the very edge of each side and spackle the center with a spatula like this, i usually use a wet finger to flatten the top.
Jeff
After the spackle dries, pull off the tape and the gap is fixed. Does it look great? No, but this building will be 3 feet into the layout and the sides won't be visible. It actually looks like mortar/concrete. If there's finished bricks on both sides of a joint, I'll use the back of a #11 blade to make spackle look like bricks. The building is then spray painted with white from a spray can to seal the plaster and the spackle.
Jeff
Neat structure Jeff.....seriously #3.....I haven't even gotten started on #1 yet. You must be having an overachiever moment. ;D
Quote from: GPdemayo on January 15, 2022, 09:41:00 PM
Neat structure Jeff.....seriously #3.....I haven't even gotten started on #1 yet. You must be having an overachiever moment. ;D
Right there with ya'. I"m still trying to wrap up a small build I thought I'd get done back in December before I start my challenge build and here's Jeff working on number 3. Sheesh.... ;D
Seriously though, I love the Downtown Deco kits. They have so much character. This will be fun to follow along with. ;)
Jeff
You are on a roll, I will be following along.
Thankds Greg, Bob and John. I'm so far ahead of others as I had most of lasat week off. I've painted the structure. Red bricks and a blue/violet for the stucco.
Jeff
The pictures of the finished kit show no delineation between the colors, heavy black weathering is at the junction. I thought I'd try some grey like the stucco broke off. I also dry brushed some grey on the large front of the structure and around the doors/windows. We'll see how it looks after weathering.
Jeff
Yesterday I cut out the signs and started applying them. The black signs I use the very edge of a black Sharpie to hide the white edge. You have to be careful because on some papers the Sharpie may bleed into the rest of the sign, I always test first. Then I use the Derwent pencils on the color signs to hide the white edge.
Jeff
I didn't want to get too involved with the sides of the structure, as they won't really be visible on the layout, but it's nice to finish all sides in case plans change. I applied the vertical sign first, so I could position the horizontals. As these bricks are "aged", the lines aren't parallel, so lining up the signs is a challenge. I used a straight edge to position one sign and marked the spot with an xacto knife cut.
Jeff
Glued the signs on and gently rubbed them with my fingernail which was covered with a plastic bag. You don't want to tear the sign, note the top and bottom of the wall look curved in the picture. It's not the camera, they really are this way.
Jeff
As the tops of the walls aren't even, I cut a piece of cardstock to fit under bracing so the roof would be level.
Jeff
Excellent job on the signage Jeff.
Hey Jeff:
looks great. I like the signs also.
Karl
Thank you, Curt and Karl. I did a similar thing for the front signs to make sure they were truly horizontal. Cut a piece of card to the size needed, drew a faint pencil line and glued the sign on with the bottom even with the pencil mark.
Jeff
The other signs were then added. Cut the signs were the stucco has "broken off". Noticed after resizing the picture that the right edge of the long sign wasn't attached and it's been fixed. ::)
Jeff
Before weathering the structure, I wanted to check the roof fit. I'm amazed that even though each wall is slightly curved in it's own way, I managed to get the structure pretty square. This might be the "squarest" Downtown Deco kit I've ever built.
Jeff
Gotta love all those signs.
Thanks for looking in, Jan. Painted details for the roof. Why are there so many paints out on the desk? I usually leave out the primary paint colors for touch ups, but a lot of these paints aren't even being used. I need to be tidier. ::)
Jeff
I decided for a gravel roof. I spray painted the white plastic sheet black. Painted it with white Elmer's glue and dropped ballast on it. Then used a glue/black paint to simulate tar on the edges. A couple of coats of A&I toned down the ballast nicely. There's a plaster cast skylight, which I sprayed black. painted the frame and used diamond glaze (like krystal clear) on the windows. The kit came with a very tiny brick chimney which I thought didn't work, so found some other stacks in my parts bin. The A/C unit is included and was painted as well. Tar used around everything but the A/C unit, which would probably be on a base.
Jeff
There was a door included for the back, but it was wood framed and as Bob mentioned before, isn't appropriate for a masonary structure. So I saved it to the parts bin and just painted the doorway brown. The sign was an experiment to see if an unsealed sign would be ruined by the raw umber wash. It wasn't so I didn't seal any of the other signs.
Jeff
There were some small lamps included to go on the front over the doors and windows (see the original picture on the first page), but I thought they'd look weird sticking out of the sign, so I didn't use them. Also there's a large "Fat Lou's" sign for the front which is to be perpendicular to the building overhanging the side walk. I didn't like the look of this either. I thought of using it against the building pointing toward the street, but it didn't really look good, either.
Jeff
Two more views of the finished stucture.
Jeff
Here's where it will sit on the layout. I think it fits well. I might put a billboard on the roof as well, but we'll see how all the other structure fit together first.
Thanks for following along!
Jeff
Definitely The Wrong Side of the Tracks...
dave
You did a wonderful job on this kit Jeff. At first I wasn't sure about the wall color but it turned out nicely.
Yes, Dave. The whole town will be quite that.
Jeff
Thanks, Curt. I had some paint similar to the picture on the box and thought it looked right.
Jeff
Very nice, Jeff. Tons of character in that one. Good job on the corner joints, too.
--Opa George