Neat tip on cutting square ends Bob B.  Thanks!

Things are coming along quite nicely.  I enjoyed building the pens and they add so much character to the who scene.  Keep up the great work!

I'm stayin' out of this.   

Hi Karl,

You know I'll be following along as well.  If Doug hadn't premiered his new Red Light District kit at the EXPO I may well have come home with this one.  As it turned out, however, I ordered the Red Light District instead.   

I'll be following along as well.  This is going to be a major focal point of the layout.  Should be really cool when it's all lit up.    

Oh my! It was at this point I realized I forgot to do something!     after treating everything with A&I I forgot to drybrush the part with an off-white to bring out the detail.  For those who may not be familiar with this step you take a paintbrush (we all find one that becomes our favorite for this step and mourn it's loss when we finally wear it out), load it with an off-white paint (other light colors can be used as well), unload most of the paint (hence the 'dry' part of dry brushing and then lightly brush the parts so the only areas the paint transfers to are the edges and raised surfaces.  With the light color on the edges and the dark color of the A&I in the crevices and recessed areas all the details really pop.  In essence we're simulating light and shadows with paint and ink.

Anyhow, my dilemma was that the glazing had been installed in the windows and dry bushing them now would risk getting paint on the glazing.  So I cut a bunch of tiny little rectangles from painters tape and masked the individual window panes prior to dry brushing everything.  Thankfully there aren't a ton of windows.   

Back to the build..

The roof cards include one that's notched to fit the configuration I chose.  But, when the notch is centered over the building extension the overhang on each end of the roof differs.  No problem.  Too long is easy to correct.     Too short not so much.  But these were too long so I trimmed it so that the overhang on each end was a scale 18".  I cut the card that goes on the other side to the same length.


I decided it would be easier to position the roof cards that go on the extension if there was a truss (?) to support it on the blind wall so I cobbled one together that matched the peak of the end wall. 


I found that the angled end (black) of the roof cards didn't mate well with the roof that was already in place.  I cut two new cards with an angle (green) that allowed them to butt up against the roof for a relatively tight fit.


Here's the extension roof in place.  The seam will be covered later when the roofing material is applied.


That's all for now!  Thanks for following along!   

Thanks Tom, Greg, Donato and Dave!     I forgot to include a picture and make mention of the fact that I did, indeed, use a ponce wheel and add nail holes (oh the horror) to the walls before the final A&I treatment. 

Normally I use MicroScale Industries Micro Krystal Klear to glaze the windows but Kenny has include precut glazing so I used the Micro Krystal Klear as glue to glue the panels in place by first putting a small bead around the opening with a needle and...


...then positioning the glazing in place.  The Krystal Klear, surprise, surprise, dries clear so if tiny bit is visible from the outside it won't mess things up.  A big goober would but a tiny bit's okay.   


I started gluing the walls together making sure to keep them square.  I chose to assemble the structure the way it's pictured in the instructions.


The service window has three openings.  The left and right one are covered with a  screen.  The kit includes a mesh material and the back window itself was cutout of peel and stick material so I removed the backing and positioned the mesh over one of the two openings that needed to be covered and pressed it in place.


Then I trimmed the mesh with some Friskar Micro Sheer Scissors (a very handy tool to have on the workbench).


Hard to see it I this picture with the dark background but the screens are in place.


More in a moment... 

All the walls have been braced and some of detail parts have been painted.  In hindsight I should have braced the peaked walls a little differently.  I like to a piece of bracing along the top edge to give more surface area to glue the roof to later on.  That's just a personal preference though.  I ran just a little shy on bracing material but I keep plenty of that on hand so it was no big deal.  That's why some is stained and some is not.  Normally I wouldn't bother staining the bracing but I wanted it to stand out in the pictures.


After the walls were braced I brushed them with the same Hunterline Light Gray Weather Mix I stained the stripwood with.


I painted the outside of the walls with a thinned PollyScale Reefer White.  They look much whiter in these pictures than they do in real life.  They're kind of a dirty white because the underlying stain shows through a bit.  I then painted the inside of the walls flat black (any flat black will do) in case I decide to light it up later on.


For a peeling paint effect I take a sponge and dab it in some gray acrylic paint.  Then I dab that on some paper to remove some of the paint.  When it's at the point I like I dabbed it on the walls, doors and windows to transfer some of the gray to those surfaces.  "Dry Sponging" if you will.  It's really hard to see the gray on white but it's quite obvious on the blue doors and windows.  If I over do it a quick swipe with a cotton swab dipped in plain old rubbing alcohol will take it right off.


Next up I used a chisel blade to lift some of the clapboard siding.  Depending on how weathered you want the walls do a lot or a little.  It's also a nice effect to tear off a small sliver here and there.  It'll stand out better after the next step.


Next up is to dip the castings in an A&I mix and brush the A&I mix on the walls to tone everything down.  A&I, for anyone new here, is a mix of rubbing Alcohol (the A) and black ink (the I).  The preferences as to which A and which I to use and the ratios could be debated in depth but for now let's just leave it at A&I.   


That's all for now.  More this weekend (I hope).

Louie's Lobster Shack is one of the kits available from KC's Workshop.  Kenny sent this sample to me to try out.  This is a neat little structure which can be assembled a variety of ways and used for quite a few different things.  I stuck with the original configuration because, well, I'm not very original.     Here's what I received when Kenny sent me this kit, a bag full of parts and the instructions.


Inside the bag were several bags containing parts.  There was a lot of stuff included in that little bag.


As far as doors, windows, glazing, metal castings, etc. here's what I found inside.


I started by giving the stripwood a bath in some Hunterline Light Gray Weathering Mix (I love this stuff and brought back several bottles of different colors from the EXPO).


Before I start a new build I put new blades in my handles and get a new single edge razor blade ready.  I tend to use the single edge razor blade the most so that one's a definite.  The others I may not bother with if I didn't use them very much during the last build I did (in this case I did so they all got swapped out).


I braced the walls next following, for the most part, the instructions.  For this wall I had to leave enough room on the end to allow for the bracing on the wall that would be joined to it.  I glue the stripwood on, weight it down with a marble block (part of an old bowling trophy) and then trim it to fit after the glue dried with my single edge razor blade.


More in a moment (or two)...

Quote from: Raymo on April 27, 2015, 07:15:06 PM
Jimmy,I placed an order and it said it would be waiting at the host hotel. Does this mean I'll have to make another trip to Scranton.

Yes.   

Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on April 24, 2015, 05:55:54 PM
You're making good progress, much faster than mine.     I read today that the Diet Pepsi formula is going to change, they're taking the aspartame out.  I'm already Pxxxxd off that they made the Diet Dew bottles smaller.  When will the horror end?

Jeff

Thank Heavens Coke never changes their formula......ohh....wait.....never mind.   

The second level is really coming along nicely Tom.  I can't wait to see the progress you've made. 

Looks real good John!  Compliments that beautiful little engine quite nicely.   

Quote from: ACL1504 on April 24, 2015, 09:06:30 AM

Quote from: GPdemayo on April 24, 2015, 08:14:01 AM

Quote from: ACL1504 on April 24, 2015, 07:39:54 AM

Quote from: UP Fan on April 23, 2015, 10:21:54 PM
Beautiful work.  You must have some great op sessions.

Bob,

Thanks for stopping by. I've never been to one of Howard's ops sessions but he tells me he has had as many as 16 at one time. I'd love to be a part of one though.

Tom

Road trip......or maybe sky trip! 

No more road trips , if I can't fly I ain't going. The last drive to Scranton cured me of any thoughts of ever driving to another Expo  or anywhere up North . Just saying for real.

Tom

Aww...c'mon.  I wasn't that bad during the trip was I?   

All kidding aside Howard was a very gracious host and seeing his layout in person was one of the highlights of the trip.  Once I clean up and upload my photo's I'll add them to Tom's thread.  Non-model railroads that I've shown my pictures too (and the Alan Keller video) have been truly amazed by what they see.   

Hi Eric,

Everything is beautifully done but those pine trees deserve special mention.  They are outstanding!     Wonderful work.  Thanks for sharing.   

Quote from: S&S RR on April 05, 2015, 10:18:31 AM
Robert


Great spot for the Fox Run - and Bob you do great work! Did I mention that there would be room for a Bob Butts build on the S&S RR - I have a few of those Yellow and Red Boxes .  Just sayin.  Great work guys - and Robert thanks for all the hard work on the EXPO.

Maybe one of these days my friend but I have feeling Tom may have some other plans for me between now and the NMRA Convention in 2017.   

Quote from: Doug Fos on April 07, 2015, 01:11:19 PM
Looks great Rob; I like the natural way it sits in the scene. It's an excellent build of Fox Run; I saw it at the Expo and it has the some of the best concrete I've seen.


Doug

Thanks for the nice comments on my build.  That was the first time I did a diorama using that material for the concrete streets.  Before I used it on Fox Run I experimented with it on a piece of GatorBoard and documented it in this thread: Arizona Rock and Mineral Co. - Concrete Paving Material.  I'm sure there's a lot of tips and tricks about using this stuff that I haven't learned yet.    

I still have to experiment with their Asphalt Paving Material.  I have some but haven't tried it yet.