Here we go with another kit from KC's Workshop. This one is Pop's General Store.
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This is a small structure, but you certainly get a lot of bang for your buck with it. Here are the walls, strip-wood, doors and windows, laser cut wood deck pieces, roof cards and door and building trim pieces.
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The kit is supplied with several different roofing materials as well as some signs and some screen door material.
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The instruction sheets provided give some good tips regarding the prepping of the walls, but at least with the sheets that I got seemed to end with no information regarding the varied roofs.
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Here is the sheet showing the bracing of the walls. Plenty of 1/8 square strip-wood was supplied.
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I started the walls by sanding the edges so that all were square and smooth.
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I decided to divert from the instructions regarding the front wall of the store. This wall has a false front the extends above the gable roof line. I wanted the visible part of this wall to be more than just blank wood so I drew some pencil lines to show where this portion of the wall was visible.
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I used some of the 2x6 strip-wood supplied with the kit and cut pieces to cover this area to match the front wall pattern.
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As you can see, I left a little space at the bottom of the new pieces so that the roof would tuck in under them later on.
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Here's a view from the front before I cut the pieces to match the top of the wall. Now both sides of the front wall will have visible boards. This is a small thing, but I think that the wall will look better for it.
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That's it for now, more later.
Hey Jeff, this is what I use to sand wall edges, etc: sandpaper glued to paint paddles:
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I attach the sandpaper so one short side is folded over, and the sandpaper goes right up to the other side, which allows me to sand against a corner. Turns out I use these on almost every project!
dave
Jeff, looks like a nice kit and you're off to a good start.
Jeff this looks like a nice little kit. I'll be following for sure.
Here's a picture of the kit from the manufactures website. I wanted to do this first thing but it took me a while to figure out how to do it.
pop's store.webp
Hello Dave, thanks for the sanding tool tip. I can see where that would be very useful.
Hello Rick and Curt, as you can see I finally figured out how to put a picture from a website into a post. This way people can see what I'm trying to do, although my version will of course be different from the instructions.
Nice looking structure Jeff, I'll be looking in..... :)
Hello Greg, thanks for looking in. I liked the looks of this kit. There's a lot going on in a little package.
Continuing on...
Next step was adding the bracing to the walls. On the rear wall the designer only called for 3 vertical braces. I added a fourth where the left side wall meets the rear wall. It's the second from the left in the picture below. This additional brace gave me more gluing surface when joining the walls.
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All of the bracing has been glued on. I deviated from the instructions once again on the front wall. The kit provided a second front wall layer to give a place for the roof to rest on I guess. This piece is visible in the picture where I'm sanding the edges of the walls. I didn't see the need for this piece. Instead I just added some additional bracing strips as seen in the upper left of the picture below.
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Next I stained both sides of the wall with my A&I solution. This step always brings out the wall details, such as the nail holes and and partially damaged clapboards.
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Next I dry brushed some Warm White craft paint as well as a little bit of the Fawn color to give the walls a weathered wood texture.
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I then started on the wall details. The front wall is shown here. I painted the doors and windows along with the building trim wood with an Advocado craft paint color. The trim piece at the top of the wall comes with the kit as one piece and I think it looks great. The circular Coke sign comes with the kit as well. I did add a piece of styrene to the back of the sign to give it a raised profile on the wall.
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The rest of the doors and windows have been added along with some signs. As you can see the two bump-out additions have been glued together.
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Next came the biggest change that I made while building this kit. If you look at the manufacturers website pictures for this kit, you will see that it rests on a built-up wood beam foundation. This was one of the things that drew me to this kit. I was a little surprised when opening the kit that the material for this feature was not included. Fortunately, I had enough strip-wood in my supplies to build my own wood foundation. I drew a scale diagram of the structures footprint. I used wood that is a scale 12x12.
You can see in the picture below that I made the front deck with 2x10 strip-wood pieces. The kit provided some precut deck pieces, but I like the individual board look better.
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This next picture shows the left side deck and a rear deck that I added. The short diagonal pieces at the corners made the whole thing much stronger.
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I intentionally left the main beams longer than the structure footprint. I liked the look of this in the website pictures, so I wanted to make sure my version of the kit had this.
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Here the wood foundation has been stained with my A&I solution. I think that the time I spent building the wood foundation was worth it. I think it gives the store a more rustic, old-time feel. Next we'll see what the foundation looks like with the store on top of it.
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That's it for now, more later.
Very nice coloring and weathering.
Jeff nice start I'll be following along to.
Jerry
I like the foundation. And your decision to use individual boards is smart. It's certainly in the spirit of the kit.
Mike
Looking very nice Jeff.
Tom
Quote from: PRR Modeler on March 13, 2025, 07:41:41 PMVery nice coloring and weathering.
Hello Curt, thank you. I wanted this one to look a little more run down than usual.
Quote from: Jerry on March 16, 2025, 10:25:29 AMJeff nice start I'll be following along to.
Jerry
Hello Jerry, thanks for looking in.
Quote from: Michael Hohn on March 16, 2025, 10:29:00 AMI like the foundation. And your decision to use individual boards is smart. It's certainly in the spirit of the kit.
Mike
Hello Mike, I think that the foundation makes the kit. It's the main feature that caught my eye when looking at the website pictures.
Quote from: ACL1504 on March 16, 2025, 11:08:00 AMLooking very nice Jeff.
Tom
Hello Tom, thank you sir.
Continuing on...
The main walls have been glued together and the structure placed, not glued yet, on the foundation. The two bump-out additions are also glued in place. It's starting to look like a building now.
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I'm liking how the individual board decks look next to the building. I'm glad I decided to do them that way. The one piece laser cut decks that came with the kit were alright, but I wanted to go the extra step.
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The small back deck was another addition in my version. I'm glad that I went with it.
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Here's a good look at the extra bracing that I added to the front wall with the pieces that support the roof cards under the false front. I think that the extra work in adding to the back side of the false front with the individual boards was definitely worth the effort. I'm very happy with how it looks.
There's a lot going on with such a small kit. KC's did a good job with the design of this one.
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Next up, we start with the roofs.
Great looking progress Jeff.
It's coming together nicely and looks very good.
Howdy Jeff, the store is looking great. Your nice work on the back of the front inspired me to do the same on Parish livery. Thanks and Have fun, mike
Quote from: PRR Modeler on March 16, 2025, 07:58:00 PMGreat looking progress Jeff.
Hello Curt, it's starting to come together now.
Quote from: Rick on March 16, 2025, 10:37:12 PMIt's coming together nicely and looks very good.
Hello Rick, thanks for looking in and for the nice comment
Quote from: friscomike on March 17, 2025, 12:23:53 PMHowdy Jeff, the store is looking great. Your nice work on the back of the front inspired me to do the same on Parish livery. Thanks and Have fun, mike
Hello Mike, I'm glad that you like what I did on the back of the false front. I've done more than a couple kits that had that feature and always thought that it could be made to look better. Let us see a picture of what you have done.
Continuing on...
For the roof over the front deck I cut a piece of cardboard using the back of a legal pad. I got this trick from ACLTom. First I glued on some of the black paper provided with the kit after cutting it into scale 3 foot wide strips. I glued a piece of 1/16 strip-wood across the top to give me some more gluing surface and then added the roof joists. I have it sitting on the piece of wood to preserve the small overlap of roof material at the top that will be glued to the front wall of the store.
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Here I am gluing the front deck roof to the front wall. Sorry that it's a little out of frame. The piece of wood is holding the angle of the roof in place until the glue dries. In this picture you can also see the ridge beam that I glued in place to help give the front and rear walls a little more stability and also to provide more gluing surface for the main roof cards.
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Now it's time to glue the building to the wood foundation. I used whatever I could to put some weight on it so the store laid flat on the base. I also glued the two bump-out additions in place.
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I used the roof cards provided for the main shingle roof. Along with the kit order, I purchased a couple of slate shingle sheets from KC's. The roof cards had some exposed roof boards embossed on the card so I had to leave them exposed.
I know that Greg will be on me about another roof leaking, but I think it looks good. The shingles went on easily using full strength white glue. I first drew some lines to help me keep the shingle rows straight. The one side has been glued on and in this picture I'm gluing on the other side.
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Here's a look at the other side. I don't know what happened with the roll roofing on the left side deck roof. The roof card that I cut was square and the lines that I drew to help me keep the rows straight were square, yet when I glued the main roof on the rows on the side deck roof are crooked. Of course I didn't notice this until I was looking at the picture.
The one piece left side roof was another change for my build. The website pictures show two roofs on this side. One for the rear bump-out and another for the deck.
You can also see the sign on the front deck roof here. I used some strip-wood from my stash for the backboard and rear supports for the sign, which came with the kit.
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Next it's on to the fun stuff. Some weathering and adding some details.
Nice job on the roof. Now you need a couple of blue tarps! ;D
That is a nice little kit, looking good!
Really a nice kit and build!
Philip
Very nice build.
Jerry
Jeff looks like a really nice kit and you're certainly doing it justice; really nice work.
Quote from: PRR Modeler on March 17, 2025, 08:06:38 PMNice job on the roof. Now you need a couple of blue tarps! ;D
Hello Curt, you've been talking to Greg I see. I don't think they had blue tarps in the late 40's.
Quote from: DaleM on March 18, 2025, 06:21:00 AMThat is a nice little kit, looking good!
Hello Dale, this is a nice little kit. KC's did a great job with the design. I definitely recommend it.
Quote from: Philip on March 18, 2025, 09:26:15 AMReally a nice kit and build!
Philip
Hello Philip, see answer to Dale above.
Quote from: Jerry on March 18, 2025, 10:10:27 AMVery nice build.
Jerry
Hello Jerry, thank you for the nice comment.
Quote from: Larry C on March 18, 2025, 02:50:35 PMJeff looks like a really nice kit and you're certainly doing it justice; really nice work.
Hello Larry, I've had a lot of fun with this one.
Continuing on...
It's time for the styrene base. I first sprayed it with some rattle can grey primer and then used some brown craft paint for the ground cover areas.
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Rafter tails are so much fun. I do mine on 2 foot centers and make them longer than necessary for ease of installation. The trick for me is to get the area accessible. That usually means placing the building upside down and using whatever I can get my hands on to balance it so that things are not moving around.
I usually wait a day or so before cutting them to length so that the glue has a chance to set properly.
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I've started with the ground cover. First, I spread some white glue over the area I'm working on, then sprinkle on some sifted dirt from my yard. Then I set things in place with a mixture of water and matte medium.
I go back later and add other layers such as ground foam bushes and grasses and finally any details I have on hand. In this case, I worked one side at a time.
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The detail castings bring everything to life.
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That's it for now, more later.
Jeff that is looking very good. I like your approach to doing scenery and I'll have to try
the water & matte medium; I've always used water & white glue but that makes it look too flat.
Jeff, great looking roof and the scenery and details are done well too.
Jeff, Blue tarps are a fact of life in FL. ::)
I think the era is pre-blue tarp? More like canvas or something containing asbestos?
Behind the 8 ball here, just read the post, nice looking building...
Quote from: Larry C on March 20, 2025, 08:32:26 AMJeff that is looking very good. I like your approach to doing scenery and I'll have to try
the water & matte medium; I've always used water & white glue but that makes it look too flat.
Hello Larry, I've been using the water and Mod Podge combination for quite a while on everything from scenery to track ballast. It works really well. I'm quite sure that if you try this method you'll like it. I use about 1/5th medium and 4/5ths water.
Quote from: Rick on March 20, 2025, 10:06:22 AMJeff, great looking roof and the scenery and details are done well too.
Hello Rick thanks for looking in and for the kind words.
Quote from: PRR Modeler on March 20, 2025, 10:54:12 AMJeff, Blue tarps are a fact of life in FL. ::)
Quote from: Philip on March 21, 2025, 06:48:25 PMI think the era is pre-blue tarp? More like canvas or something containing asbestos?
Hello Curt and Philip, I know how prevalent the blue tarps are today Curt, but I agree with Philip that they weren't around in the late 1940's. I think that I'll just wait for the handyman to finish the repair work over at Linda's Luncheonette and then get him on the job at Pop's.
Quote from: KentuckySouthern on March 21, 2025, 08:20:33 PMBehind the 8 ball here, just read the post, nice looking building...
Hello Karl, thank you for the nice comment. This is a fun little kit and I recommend it.
Jeff looks great with the details and scenery.
Jerry
Thanks Jeff; I'll have to give the MP & H2O a whirl.
Jeff,
Your enhancements add a lot of realism. The model certainly captures small-town America.
Mike
Quote from: Jerry on March 22, 2025, 09:56:38 AMJeff looks great with the details and scenery.
Jerry
Hello Jerry, thank you so much
Quote from: Larry C on March 23, 2025, 08:36:59 AMThanks Jeff; I'll have to give the MP & H2O a whirl.
Hello Larry, I think that you will like it. After overnight drying everything is held firmly in place
Quote from: Michael Hohn on March 23, 2025, 09:07:46 AMJeff,
Your enhancements add a lot of realism. The model certainly captures small-town America.
Mike
Hello Mike, I had a lot of fun with this model, KC's did a great job with the design.
Continuing on...
After adding the support posts for the front roof, I also made some basic display cases for the fresh fruits and veggies. A little colored ballast and some green ground foam in the boxes did the trick. A lady shopping and a guy relaxing in the sun completes the picture
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Some trash cans on the back deck area and assorted junk from my casting box along the side along with some ground foam gives a busy used look. I still have to trim the rafter tails I see.
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A support post for the left side roof, a few castings and some ground foam completes this side.
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The ever present ice machine and a pallet with a couple of crates fill in the left front corner nicely I think.
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This completes the workbench phase of this build. Next I will place the build on a larger styrene base with a couple of other small builds to plant on the layout. Thanks to all who looked in and commented.
Quote from: PRR Modeler on March 20, 2025, 10:54:12 AMJeff, Blue tarps are a fact of life in FL. ::)
What's the significance of a "blue tarp" Failed roof?
dave
Jeff beautiful detailing of the store. I think all of us would be happy to have it on our layouts.
Dave in FL when roofs are damaged normally through storms the blue tarps are used as a temporary fix until the roof is repaired.
Jeff great job on the build; luv all the details and I bet it'll look great on your layout.
Very nice. Especially the details.
Jeff
Jeff, congratulations on a very good looking model.
Adding all those details completes the scene.
Very nice and the added details really finishes it off.
Jerry
Jeff,
I agree with the others, well done from me.
Tom
Quote from: deemery on March 23, 2025, 11:23:10 AMQuote from: PRR Modeler on March 20, 2025, 10:54:12 AMJeff, Blue tarps are a fact of life in FL. ::)
What's the significance of a "blue tarp" Failed roof?
dave
Quote from: PRR Modeler on March 23, 2025, 01:41:00 PMJeff beautiful detailing of the store. I think all of us would be happy to have it on our layouts.
Dave in FL when roofs are damaged normally through storms the blue tarps are used as a temporary fix until the roof is repaired.
Hello Dave and Curt, first of all, thanks for looking in and taking the time to comment. Dave, I hope that Curt explained the significance of the blue tarp roof. They are commonly used here in Arizona as well for storm caused roof damage temporary repairs. But since I model the late 1940's, I don't think that the nylon/ plastic tarp had even been invented yet.
Quote from: Larry C on March 23, 2025, 06:05:56 PMJeff great job on the build; luv all the details and I bet it'll look great on your layout.
Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on March 23, 2025, 07:14:14 PMVery nice. Especially the details.
Jeff
Quote from: Rick on March 23, 2025, 07:26:27 PMJeff, congratulations on a very good looking model.
Adding all those details completes the scene.
Quote from: Jerry on March 23, 2025, 11:57:30 PMVery nice and the added details really finishes it off.
Jerry
Quote from: ACL1504 on March 24, 2025, 02:02:27 PMJeff,
I agree with the others, well done from me.
Tom
Hello Larry, Jeff, Rick, Jerry and Tom, thank you all for the kind words. One thing I've learned from the many fine modelers on this forum over the years is that the details at the end of a build really bring everything to life. I had a lot of fun with this build and now it's waiting along with the Luncheonette build for a third small structure so that all three can go on the layout together as a block of businesses on a street in one of the towns on my layout. I'm waiting for delivery of a FOS kit that I've had my eye on for a while.
Howdy Jeff, you hit that one out of the park. Great job on the structure and details. Have fun, mike
Quote from: deemery on March 23, 2025, 11:23:10 AMQuote from: PRR Modeler on March 20, 2025, 10:54:12 AMJeff, Blue tarps are a fact of life in FL. ::)
What's the significance of a "blue tarp" Failed roof?
dave
Roof leaks Dave, often seen by the hundreds after hurricanes..... :(
Quote from: GPdemayo on March 25, 2025, 10:36:20 AMQuote from: deemery on March 23, 2025, 11:23:10 AMQuote from: PRR Modeler on March 20, 2025, 10:54:12 AMJeff, Blue tarps are a fact of life in FL. ::)
What's the significance of a "blue tarp" Failed roof?
dave
Roof leaks Dave, often seen by the hundreds after hurricanes..... :(
I guess our equivalent here would be leaks from ice dams (where the ice forms at the gutters, then the water underneath the snow gets blocked from the gutters. The result once the water level climbs high enough on your roof is for leaks in the ceiling. We had that this year, which is why we're getting the roof replaced. As part of that, they'll install the ice dam blocking membrane much higher, particularly on the 'dark side' of the house.)
dave
Good plan Dave, there are a number of manufacturers that make good products for that purpose(Grace, GAF, CertainTeed, Owens Corning) for that purpose.
Also check your attic insulation to make sure there is enough to keep the heat from the living areas from migrating into the attic and warming it up which will melt the snow and ice on the roof.
Quote from: nycjeff on March 23, 2025, 10:54:13 AMSome trash cans on the back deck area and assorted junk from my casting box along the side along with some ground foam gives a busy used look. I still have to trim the rafter tails I see.
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Jeff, Very nice work! Thanks for posting all the details. There's one detail I might have missed but am very curious about: How did you trim the rafter tails w/o dislodging them?
Hello Mark, thanks for looking in. I always wait until the next day to trim the rafter tails. This overnight wait gives the glue a chance to solidify. By using this method, I've never had one break loose.
Jeff, I am trying to figure out what tool you use? I can't see getting a knife or saw into there with out the rafters being supported somehow. Or do you use flush cutting pliers?
I like the technique. It actually mimics a 1:1 technique where the rafters are left a bit long on installation, then a line is snapped and the rafters can be cut to final length accurately so that the fascia will run dead-straight.
For modeling, I'm not overly concerned with the straight line, but your technique looks like it makes a finicky task so much easier.
Hello Mark, I use a small pair of flush cutting nippers. I don't remember where I got the tool, but it has come in handy for a lot of tasks at the workbench.