Keep up the good work. I've been following along.  Looking forward to seeing the machines set in place along with the belt drives and assorted details.  Mark

First, I'm in no way associated with Bar Mills, and when I saw this kit yesterday, I was blown away.  For the price it appears to be a total home run.  Just my 2 cents.

Nice fix Tom.  I did that once with a Bar Mills kit that wasn't cooperating. 

That looks awesome!  I have that kit, to see it finished so nicely is inspiring.  Mark

Thanks for providing that picture.  It definitely appears to be exactly what they intended.

Your pigeon painting solution is about the only one possible once off the sprue.  Any lights to this build Bob? 
Mark

Hi Dave,

Yeah, I purchased everything.  I assembled the machines and painted them years ago.  My father owned a steel office furniture company in Aurora Il.  Bentson Industries, and they had punch presses galore, with trays of stamping equipment, complete tool shop, welding department, paint line, ovens, you name it, and I'll bet there are few if any pictures of the interior. 

The building was torn down a few years ago, it stood in various forms for over one hundred years.  Most of his machines were painted shades of green, some were built around 1912, many were from the 30's and 40's.  They had their own motors, and many had huge fly wheels.  I worked there in the summers, while I was attending college. I did various tasks including final assembly and working in the shipping area, and front office. 

This kit is a real challenge, looking forward to seeing your efforts.  Mark

I'll be following along Bob, but I believe it's easier to leave the pigeons on the sprue for painting purposes, same might go for some of the other smaller items.  I have no idea how to 'fix' this since they are so tiny. Just look at it as a real challenge.  I'm sure you're up to it.  Mark

I'm really looking forward to this.  For this is my white whale of shelf orphans.  I started this kit years ago, and there it sits, collecting dust.  Can't wait to see how you tackle the machine placements and belt applications, your work should provide the kick start I need to finally finish this one up.  Good luck, and thanks for posting.  Mark

Quote from: Mark Dalrymple on May 12, 2025, 03:41:31 PMBeautiful work on this kit, Mark.

The photography is also very well done.  I love the attention to detail on all the flashings.  Very nice to see.  I'm not a fan of pitch used as a flashing, and if done poorly I feel it can ruin a good model.  Were all these flashings supplied as part of the kit? Also some good information for anyone planning on building this kit.  As noted by others, the painting and weathering is all extremely well done, but what really stood out to me was the fit you have achieved and the attention to detail.  Thank you for sharing your work with us.

Cheers, Mark.

Hi Mark,  In an answer to your question regarding flashing. The flashing was provided for Cooper's Hardware, the rest I made using the excess material supplied by Bar Mills, or from thin black construction paper.  I stippled on some Americana Sea Breeze DA256, allowed it to dry, then added some dark grey weathering powder.  Thanks again for your kind comments.  Mark

Many thanks to Rick, Tom, Jerry, PPR Modeler Curt, FriscoMike, Jeff and Phillip.  I do more lurking than posting lately.  I'm always checking in on Tom's many posts and projects.  I also check in on posts from many of you.  Tom mentioned Fos Scale Model's Flat Iron district, I built a diorama for that as well, though I haven't posted anything regarding the build.  I used cork sheet for the road surface for the first time since it was such a broad expanse.  I'll post some pictures over the weekend if the weather holds.  That project covered the fall of 23 into the spring of 24.  This diorama remains in the bedroom it was built in, and I would like to take pictures of it outside in natural light.  My 'shop' is an upstairs corner bedroom with natural light from the East and South.

Whoops!  I tried to update the pictures and managed to duplicate them all in that first post.  Here are a few more.

This is my take on Bar Mills Coopers Way, their limited-edition 'big' kit for 2024/25.  I don't have any in-process photos, but I do have some tips and ideas on how to proceed with the kit for those of you fortunate enough to have purchased it, and will attempt the build.

The kit includes five buildings, plus a garage.  There are six separate instruction manuals, plus an introduction booklet that provides an overview of the entire scene.  The kit also includes a base along with plenty of bracing and various wood for trim etc.  They intended for the modeler to start with Cooper's hardware, and build in each proceeding structure that abut one another, this encompasses the first four buildings.  I recommend this be followed.

As for Cooper's Hardware, the windows provided are 3D printed, and the backs of those windows included with my kit were rough and uneven.  I recommend sanding or filing them a bit until smooth, but even then, I ended up using Micro Kristal Klear for those windows.  I thought using the supplied acetate window material would be very time consuming to get them flush, and I wanted to finish this build without it taking too much time.  I believe those 3D printed windows will curl over time, as this did happen with some of the windows and the 3D columns.  I weighed down the columns and they are holding in place after a month.

All the parts fit well within all the supplied buildings, but I would caution against building the roof as a separate component to Cooper's Hardware as per the instructions.  The back brick wall is integral to not only supporting the roof, but you will probably want the roof to overhang the edge if building the kit as intended.  The bar, Timothy Tubbs, is intended to fit against Cooper's, so the only overhang required, will come at the ends of each side.  If you intend to build them as separate structures, be aware that there will be a notch in the back brick wall near the top where the roof support plugs into the back wall of Cooper's Hardware.  Obviously, this can be hidden by a sign, there is also a notch along the bottom of the back wall at the bottom, but this can be hidden as well.

I would encourage any of you to reconsider this being a hardware store.  There is no loading dock, and only one way in for supplies, and that's the front door.  I think it might be better if the structure were used to sell women's clothing, as mannequins would probably fit within the large ground floor windows found on either side of the front entrance, or maybe forego the back staircase, and add a loading dock instead.  It could also serve as a hotel, and other purposes.  Overall, it's a really cool building.

I would also caution trying to enhance the holes supplied in the brick staircases by drilling to expand the holes.  I tried this on two or three, and each time the casting broke away.  You're better off leaving them alone and installing the railings over the holes as best as you can.

If I had any reservations about the kit, it's that the sizes of the bricks for the chimneys and staircases are vastly larger than those of the walls.  I would also recommend cutting a full inch off the supplied chimney for Cooper's, as it would stand incredibly tall after being installed.  I ended up using that cutoff portion for the fifth building, since the metal casting for that structure didn't match up well with the other chimneys supplied with the kit.  The chimneys are very well done outside of the metal casting for building five.

Okay, on to structure number two, Timothy Tubbs.  Straight up, it's pretty simple, I added a tile entry at the front, and ended up adding a 'concrete' slab over the rear brick portion atop the loading dock and rear door, but otherwise, it's straight forward, and shouldn't supply any real issues.  The 3D casting over the front door and bay window was broken in my kit, the ends had broken off, and you will need to file the right side when fitting it to Cooper's Hardware.

You will also need to shave or sand the back of the top cornice casting since it is very rough.
I also didn't paint the fire escapes.  I merely added some pan pastels and weathering powders.  Bar Mills also sent out a separate 'care package' that included some signs, a complete set of fire escapes, and a few other parts that they felt they may have left out of the kits.  My kit came with everything minus maybe one missing window.  I did make a mistake and placed the chimney on the wrong side, so ensure you place it on the opposite side so it's not going over a window as in mine.

The Dentist's office.  Another straight up build, but be aware that the rear of the building is reversed from their prototype.  I also substituted the large vent with one half its size.  I couldn't see the reasoning for a dentist's office to have need for such a large vent.  I used cedar shingles for the street side roof, and green tar paper for the rear roof.  I also added some 1x4 strip wood along each side of the entry.  It seemed to be lacking without it.

The supplied trim to go around the 'Dentist' sign was not used, it is rather small and covers portions of the sign, so I trimmed out the edge of the sign using some scrap wood.
The Pharmacy.  Another straight up build, but Bar Mills did place the chimney partially over a window, so you may want to move it to a position away from a window.  They also supplied an arched brick entry to place between the pharmacy and the last building which I did use.  I kept the pharmacy neat and clean, with little weathering.  I doubt customers want to use a 'dirty' pharmacy.

Building five is Howard Cheaten's.  I did not care for the name, and changed my building to Blackmore Fine Tailors.  I stenciled the name on the side.  I intend to add some signage in the future, possibly including another business within the structure.  As mentioned before, the tall chimney was taken from Cooper's Hardware and added to the upper roof.  I added a concrete base and brass tubing to finish it off.

The last building is a garage, and was simple to build.  I intend to add some signs to this building, and I will note, that the driveways from the two stalls are flush with the sidewalk.  I filed them down to street level using a nail file.  The base material takes filing very well, and the finished product was very smooth.  I simply covered the areas I didn't want to file with some blue painters' tape, and they came out really nice.
This kit does come with a base, but I didn't use it until the end.  I built each structure in order and added them to each other over a piece of glass to ensure they remained flat and level.  I painted the base and then added structures one through four, added the arched brick piece, then added building five and the garage, followed up by some weathering.  I used various detail parts, some from Bar Mills, Fos Scale Models, Mine Mount Models, Sierra West possibly Fine Scale Miniatures.  They also supplied some pictures for the interiors, but I got the impression that one or more were missing.  I don't remember any of them being useful for a bar.
I hope this helps anyone who has this kit in their collection. 

I worked on it over a period of roughly five weeks.

Mark

Quote from: Rick on March 04, 2025, 06:48:48 PMMark, I'm just seeing your thread for the first time and haven't had time to go through all the pages yet.
But what I'm seeing in the last couple of pages is excellent.
Painting, weathering, detailing scenery is all very good.
Great job!

Thanks Rick.  I'll post some new pictures of the completed project in the near future.  Probably over the weekend.  So many photos were lost during the rebuild of the site.  Sadly, this happened quite often.

Hi Michael, this forum was shut down multiple times and was brought back to life by Craig from Keep It Rusty.  Most of my photos were lost in the transfer.  If you like, I could upload some of them again.  Let me know and I can repost some of them.  Mark