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The Mainline => Kit Building => Topic started by: Ensign on May 08, 2026, 07:07:45 PM

Title: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Ensign on May 08, 2026, 07:07:45 PM
Hi everyone, I purchased this kit here on this forum back in February from forum member Dan Pugatch.
I guess I mostly liked it because it was a tribute kit to George Sellios, one of my favorite modellers.
Which I also wanted to pay tribute to him on my future layout that I am now finally starting to work on!
I had never built a kit from Jason Jensen or CCK before.
Strangely this kit also features a third contributor to this kit "Rusty Rail" who produces the cast resin shed and many other details that this kit icludes.
So I'm guessing the Jason Jensen designed the kit CCK did the laser cutting for it and Rusty Rail supplied all of the cast resin structure & details.

_DSC3206.jpg

Here are some of those cast resin details that come with this kit, minus the resin shed that stand beside the larger wooden one.
The resin shed has details cast right onto the interior walls, and must all be painted before you glue the shed together.

_DSC3208.jpg

I did not use most of those detail castings simply because I'm not certain where this scene will be used yet on my layout.
I have built the 2 separate structures and incorporated LED lighting into them and placed them on a temporary base for now to allow me to hook up the LED's to see that they are working and how they look.
I ran into a few problems with this kit, some of the walls were smaller than they should have been to meet evenly at the corners.
So I had to remake those to the proper sizes, and also the roof card for the main building did not line up with the dormers properly so I had to make up my own roof cards to fit them.
I was also disapointed with the kit's signage just a not very well photocopied sign to use.

_DSC3207.jpg

So I still have to make up a sign to use, and I think it will not be for a tool & die business.
Instead I will pay tribute to George's actual business "Fine Scale Miniatures"
So here is how my version of this kit came out looking.

_DSC3195.jpg

I turned the resin shed into the place where George produces all of his scale lumber for his kits.
The larger wooden structure is where he cast all of his wonderful details and packages all of his kits.

_DSC3197.jpg

Here's how the LED lighting looks when darker.

_DSC3203.jpg

So that's all I have for now, I will post other pics of this kit when I find out where I would like to place it on my layout.

Thanks for having a look!

Greg











Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Pennman on May 08, 2026, 10:41:21 PM
Wow! Greg, as usual, your buildings look so well when constructed, and the
lighting is always an excellent feature. You have done a marvelous job with
this construction. Looking forward to seeing it planted on your layout.
Thanks for sharing.

Rich
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Jerry on May 08, 2026, 11:17:38 PM
Greg beautifully done!!  Looking forward to seeing your layout progress.

Jerry
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Rick on May 09, 2026, 07:26:04 AM
Greg, thanks for sharing another one of your beautiful builds.
Sorry you ran into those difficulties, but looks like you overcame them well.
Very excited to see you building a layout.
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: ACL1504 on May 09, 2026, 07:41:02 AM
Greg,

Excellent build. I've built many of the CCK kits. Although they are great structures, I've found issues that needed to be fixed as well.

For me, most of the fun building a kit is fixing the problems associated in the construction.

Looking forward to more photos of this beauty and layout photos.

Tom
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: PRR Modeler on May 09, 2026, 07:47:07 AM
Outstanding modeling Greg. The lighting really brings it to life.
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Zephyrus52246 on May 09, 2026, 07:50:30 AM
Nice color scheme and weathering.  Great work.

Jeff
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Ensign on May 09, 2026, 09:52:24 AM
Thanks very much guys for your kind remarks, I really appreciate them!

Greg
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Larry C on May 09, 2026, 09:58:09 AM
Greg very nicely constructed kits; you'd never know you had construction issues by the end result. That's a lot of details, use what you need and you can always use the remaining on other projects. Love the lighting effects!!
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Michael Hohn on May 09, 2026, 11:10:43 AM
Greg,

You've done a fine job. 

It's nice seeing one of your models once again.  So, you're building a layout.  I'm hoping to see you post progress from time to time.

Mike
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Ensign on May 09, 2026, 08:17:55 PM
Larry & Mike, thanks so much for your posts and kind words within them!

Mike, I have waited 63 years to finally get my own layout room & hopefully a layout to now go in it.
So now having fewer years ahead of me than behind, I better not waste anymore time in finally getting to build one.
I will post photos as I progress.

Greg
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Pennman on May 09, 2026, 08:35:26 PM
Quote from: Ensign on May 09, 2026, 08:17:55 PMLarry & Mike, thanks so much for your posts and kind words within them!

Mike, I have waited 63 years to finally get my own layout room & hopefully a layout to now go in it.
So now having fewer years ahead of me than behind, I better not waste anymore time in finally getting to build one.
I will post photos as I progress.

Greg

63 years? What changed? Have you decided to no longer eat in your dining room?  :-X

Rich
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Ensign on May 09, 2026, 09:35:15 PM
Hi Rich, after living in our 1894 Queen Anne home for the last 37 years now, we are now in the process of moving into a smaller more modern home that will allow me to build a layout.
Not a huge layout, the room is only 11.6 feet by 13.6 feet. in a finished basement.
So it will be a around the walls layout, I want continuous running.
I will also use my Magoun pier module as a peninsula coming out from the layout to the middle of the room.
I always imagined my Magoun pier to be a large urban/city pier, so I will now build the city portion to go with it.

Greg
 
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Mark Dalrymple on May 10, 2026, 01:23:57 AM
The structure looks great, Greg, and the lighting adds a great deal.  A pity about the problems, but you overcame them well, as expected.

I'm hoping we will see a layout thread where we can watch all your progress - not just the structures!  Your room size sounds fairly similar to the competition size they used to run annually in MRR magazine.  I used to enjoy studying all those plans and dreaming when I was a lad.  Looking forward to watching your journey!

Cheers, Mark.
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Ensign on May 10, 2026, 07:40:27 AM
Thanks! Mark.
I will indeed start a layout thread to document my progress.
I just hope I can make it just as interesting to look at as your layout is already!

Greg
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: deemery on May 10, 2026, 09:27:10 AM
Quote from: Ensign on May 09, 2026, 09:35:15 PMHi Rich, after living in our 1894 Queen Anne home for the last 37 years now, we are now in the process of moving into a smaller more modern home that will allow me to build a layout.
Not a huge layout, the room is only 11.6 feet by 13.6 feet. in a finished basement.
So it will be a around the walls layout, I want continuous running.
I will also use my Magoun pier module as a peninsula coming out from the layout to the middle of the room.
I always imagined my Magoun pier to be a large urban/city pier, so I will now build the city portion to go with it.

Greg
 
Greg, could you post a photo of your Queen Anne house?  

dave
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Ensign on May 10, 2026, 10:35:21 AM
Hi Dave, here is a photo of my house as it looks at Christmas all lit up.

_DSC5793.jpg
_DSC5790.jpg

I even built a model of it, show what my neighborhood looked like in 1900.
The Grant Trunk train station was right behind my house, and that's the general store right beside my house.

overview.jpg

I will miss this old house.

Greg




Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: deemery on May 10, 2026, 10:46:29 AM
Brick Queen Anne is a bit unusual.  Nice diorama with your house, store and train station, too.

dave
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Yannis on May 11, 2026, 11:48:02 AM
Great work there and very nice lighting work! Thanks for sharing!

Yannis
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Ensign on May 12, 2026, 09:00:56 AM
Thanks very much! Yannis,

Greg
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Jerry on May 12, 2026, 09:05:36 AM
Greg a beautiful home.  I can see why you would miss it.

And the model is excellent of it and the neighborhood.

Jerry
Title: Re: "Sellios tool & die" from Jason Jensen & Carolina Craftsman kits
Post by: Ensign on May 12, 2026, 11:55:23 AM
Thanks! Jerry.
Lot's of great memories in this old house.
It will indeed be sad to leave it.

Greg