Bar Mills Four Fingered Tony's Build

[UP Fan]

Taking a break from the CNR Depot scratch build and thought I'd work on a kit.  Love Bar Mills kits for a relatively easy build and yet a very nice finished model.  I have three or four on the shelf, along with two FSM kits.  I chose Four Fingered Tony's after doing a search here and not finding a build thread.  It's a unique building and I like the tongue-in-cheek name.  Art has a great sense of humor; Mortimer Stiph's Casket and Tombstones.
Anyway, I'll start with the box and it's contents and take it from there.

[UP Fan]

A little more build time on Tony's today.  Have all the wood parts braced and primed and have most of the 'skeleton' done on the butcher shop.  Next I'll sand and stain the wood floors in the storage area, paint the interior walls of the whole building and install the checkered flooring in the butcher shop.  Finally the windows, lights and display cases.  Whew, I think I need a nap.   

[postalkarl]

Hi Bob:

Looks like your are off to a good start. It's a neat kit. I built the prototype for the long building and Artie added the red building.

Karl

[UP Fan]

Thank you for the compliment Karl.  And thank you for for your contribution to this kit.  This is the second time I've built Tony's.  First time was for a fellow model railroader.  I did not know you and Art were acquainted.  Must be real enjoyable to work so closely with someone that shares your passion.  Did you work on the American Seltzer Co. also?

Bob

[UP Fan]

Got the airbrush fired up tonight and painted the two structures.  The meat market is done in Floquil Depot Buff and the Processing building is Floquil Boxcar Red.  I put Northeastern scribed flooring in both buildings.  Stained the shoppe's floor with Minwax Cherry and the processing floor was Minwax Golden Oak.  Going to let both buildings dry overnight before I handle them.  This would be a good time to start working on the castings metal.  Some real nice detail castings with this kit; fruit and vegetable displays, Coke machine with a wooden case of Coke bottles,  two-wheel cart, boxes, etc.    I'll take some pics after I get them cleaned before priming.   

[martin.ojaste]

Bob,


The build is really coming together. Glad to see the Minwax colours used, it adds so much depth.


Marty

[UP Fan]

I really like MinWax's product line and the wood kits take the stains beautifully.  I'm a die hard Minwax fan.

[UP Fan]

A few more progress pictures on Tony's today.  Interior walls in the processing building building have been painted with Model Expo's English Oak acrylic.  Nice compliment to the flooring.  The walls of the meat marked were done with Testor's light yellow.  I laid a piece of flex track behind the structures and put a refrigerated rail car on track just to get an idea of how the diorama will look.  On to the pictures.

Bob

[UP Fan]

Worked on Tony's today. Been soaking the castings for a couple of days now. Took them out of the 'bath' and dried them on a paper towel. Will get to work cleaning up the flash and mold marks with files and xacto blades later on tonight. Also, thought the back walls of the meat market building looked a little drab, so I bound some wood paneling on the net and copied them to a Word file, resized them, printed them off and cut to fit the space . They were glued with good old Elmer's White Glue brushed on the back. Dresses up the walls a bit, I think. Think I'll do the same thing in the Butcher Shoppe. Not too happy with the finish of the Testors #1112 Light Yellow. It read enamel on the label, but went on like old acrylic. Dried almost too quick. Brush drug across the surface and did not leave a nice finish. I'll let it dry a couple of days and wallpaper the joint. Also primed the windows and got them ready to paint. I want to steel wool both buildings and start the weathering process on them. Found some signs on this site and will put a couple on the big wall spaces.

[UP Fan]

Got the kit supplied checkered floor installed.  I sanded the back of the cut out (it was a little thick).  Applied Elmer's White Glue to the back and pushed in place.  Looks pretty good IMHO.  Also cut the roof to fit with the butcher shoppe up against the processing house.  And added a loading dock to the back of the build for unloading reefers of meat from FSM Butcher's Way kit (to yet be built).  The loading dock was scratch built from 1/32" scrap wood, scored with an xacto #11 blade and the nail holes were put in the ends of the "boards" with a home-build punch.  The punch is a 3/16" (5 mm) dowel with a couple of straight pins epoxied into holes drilled with a #70 (.028) drill bit in a pin vice.  Next I ran a very fine xacto saw blade over the wood to give it some grain.  Next came some A/I and finally some weathering powders.  Also used some #0000 steel wool and an ink eraser over the buildings to weather them a bit.  Also added some A/I wash over both buildings.  Haven't added the weathering powders because these structures will be handled a lot before finishing.

[martin.ojaste]

Bob, great job on the floor.


Marty

[UP Fan]

Thanks, Marty.  After following your Campbells Grandma's House build thread, Four Fingered Tony's seems like a cake walk.  Kudos to you for overcoming all the trials and tribulations in your build to finish with a great looking building.  And the lighting is terrific.

[UP Fan]

Started to add the doors and windows to Tonys this afternoon.  Not much gluing area on the acetate windows if you cut the tabs holding the windows to the acetate sheets.  So I took a pair of scissors and cut around the windows leaving about 1/16" around each window.  That way I have a little extra gluing area.  Also added shades to two sets of the closed doors, then for the doors that will be open, I rolled some masking tape around a #70 drill bit to give the impression of a rolled up shade.

Bob

[UP Fan]

Been adding some details to the Tony's build.  Waiting until I get the interior lighting before I start adding the roofing.  Might be a good time to add a few signs to the outside.

[martin.ojaste]

Bob, a nice crisp build.


Marty