Bar Mills - Sokol's Furniture and Mattress Company Build

[GPdemayo]

Okay, for those wondering what the joke is (including Tom  ) when were at Tom's place on Saturday Greg picked up the vest Tom hangs on one of the chairs in is train room and tried it on.  Being retired law enforcement you can guess what type of vest it is.  When Greg tried on the vest I inquired as to whether anyone had a pistol handy so we could try it out to see if worked.  Several people jumped a the chance to offer me one.   

Thanks for bringing that up that story again Bob.....I'm still having nightmares about all the people who offered you shotguns, buffalo rifles, AK47's, bazookas, shoulder fired ground to ground missiles and even an Abrams tank. 

Don't feel too bad Greg.  The Judge didn't offer anything.  However that may have been because he was too busy laughing.   

Oh, I have a plethora of friends! 

Greg,

We're always willing to help. Next time you come over please feel to slip on the body armour. It's Kevlar reinforced on the back just in case we turn you around!

Tom

Not a chance.....back against the block walls at all times. 

[ReadingBob]

Okay, okay.  Enough messin' with Greg.     Back to the build.

After the walls were braced I stained them with Hunterline Light Gray Weathering Mix.  This is the first of several layers of finish that will be applied to the walls.


I painted the inside of the walls with grimy black.  Any flat black will do.  I did this because I hope to light this one up so I don't want the walls to 'glow'.


The next layer of paint on the exterior of the walls was Polly Scale Reefer White.  I dip my brush in water first, then the paint and start painting the walls.  I want a relatively even coat of paint but I don't want a thick coat of paint. 


As I'm painting the walls absorb some of the paint and the light gray stain underneath peeks through.  That's what I want.


I mentioned earlier that I wished I had braced the walls a little differently than the instructions suggested.  As a result of my painting the top section of a few of the walls warped outward ever so slightly.


To correct that problem I removed a section of the horizontal bracing, just above the vertical bracing, where it wouldn't interfere with the assembly of the building and glued two scrap pieces of bracing material to the wall with 5 minute epoxy and a few clamps.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Here's my repair after the glue dried.  Not purty.   


But relatively effective. 


Now it's time to start weathering.  I usually use a cheap craft store acrylic applied by dabbing a sponge in it, removing most of the paint from the sponge and then dabbing the sponge on the walls and parts that represent painted wood (doors, window frames, etc.).  I did it even though I had decided to leave the doors and windows in Floquil Primer I had used.  I wasn't sure light gray on Floquil Primer would be effective or even worth the effort but it did make a difference.


I did the walls too.  The light gray on the reefer white is a little easier to see, but not much.  This is a fairly effective way to represent where the upper layers of paint have peeled or faded away to the point that the underlying primer is visible.


Just like the TV commercials, "But wait!  There's more!"     I repeated this dry sponging process with a cheap Khaki Tan to represent where the raw wood may have been exposed.  These guys really need to get out there and put a new coat of paint on their factory.


I did the walls too with the Khaki Tan.  Typically I only do one color with this treatment.  But two or more are effective as well.  Especially if you want to represent a building that was painted different colors over the year and in need of a fresh coat of paint.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

I also used the Khaki Tan as a wash for the detail castings that represent bundles of lumber.  After priming them I painted them with a cheap craft store acrylic "Light Buttercup".  Then I gave them a thin wash of the Khaki Tan.  After that a very thin wash of a Raw Sienna. 


I painted the straps with Gun Metal.  These aren't done yet, however, more layers to be applied later along with some dry bushing.


Next all the detail parts, which I had painted, got dipped or brushed with a light A&I mix.  Another layer.  Ideally this dries down in the cracks and crevices to represent shadows and make the textures stand out.  It also tones everything down a little bit. 


Dry brushing!  A technique that's really worth the effort in my humble opinion.  I use another cheap craft store acrylic, Ivory White, which it close to Floquils Antique White which I used to use.  Ah, I remember the days of dry brushing with Floquil.  Very smelly and very unforgiving.  The craft store acrylics are just as effective and, if you over do it, can be removed with a quick rub of the thumb or a by wiping the piece with a wet (water or plain rubbing alcohol) paper towel.  Plus they don't stink up the joint.  The idea behind dry brushing is to load the bristles with paint and then remove most of the paint by brushing on pieces of scrap material (I use post-it note pads for a this and a lot of other things).  Once you get the brush prepared you dry brush the part.  I prefer light to heavy.  I just want to high light the edges.  I've heard that this simulates where the effect of the light hitting the edges.  I just know it really makes the details pop.   


Time to add some more texture to the walls.  Using an X-Acto with a chisel blade I slide the blade under some clapboards and lifted them slightly to represent loose clapboards.  In a few instances I twisted the blade a little bit and broke off a sliver of the clapboard.  How much you do this depends on how weather beaten and in ill repair you want your finished structure to be.  I didn't go hog wild with the splintering clapboards on this one.


Next I added nail holes using a ponce wheel and a straight edge.  I first added rows to the ends and along side the windows.  Then I added rows roughly every two scale feet where there were big gaps between the windows.  Some people don't like this effect.  I do.  Go with what ya' like.   


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

After the walls were beaten up and the nail hole were applied I brushed them with my A&I mix.  I have no formula for the A&I mix.  I mix up a dark mix right in the bottle of 90% Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol and keep that in the garage.  As I need to refill these little bottles I cut it with some virgin 90% Alcohol to lighten it up.  In this case, I knew the walls were going to be Reefer White and I need to replenish my supply so I cut it a little bit more than normal to lighten it up.  It goes on dark but will lighten up as it dries.


Here's a wall after everything has dried.


Okay last picture for today and the end of my rambling on.  Here's one of the detail parts I had painted.


I first painted this with Model Masters Aluminum.  After that dried I gave it a wash with Model Masters Black Detail Wash.  When that dried I then gave it a wash of very, very thin Burnt Sienna (craft store acrylic).  Then the A&I and then the dry brushing.  I don't have heavy streaks of white on this from the dry brushing.   Just enough to make edges stand out.  But, as with most things we do, it's a personal preference thing.  Do what looks good to you and have fun doing it!

I hope to get back to work on this one this weekend.  Next up I'll be adding the signs to the walls then installing the doors and window frames.  After that I think I'll be able to start assembling the walls to see what it's really going to look like!   

Thanks for following along!

[GPdemayo]

Okay, no more messing around Bob.....the wall are looking good, can't wait to see it all done. 

[cuse]

Looks great. Excellent detail - I learn something every time. Thanks.


John

[ACL1504]

Looks great. Excellent detail - I learn something every time. Thanks.


John

Bob,

Beautiful work on Sokol's. It's going to look really fantastic when all is finished.

Tom

[Janbouli]

Great stuff Bob , love following this.

[ReadingBob]

Thanks Greg, John, Tom and Jan!  It's a fun build.  I'm still pondering my approach to a few sections.  Particularly the loading docks.  I need to take a closer look at the materials provided.  I may avoid stains if they look like they might warp and use chalks or Pan Pastels to color them.  We'll see.  I'm taking my time but I am anxious to make progress on this.  The Red Light District is up next and I can't wait to get started on that one.   

[ACL1504]

Thanks Greg, John, Tom and Jan!  It's a fun build.  I'm still pondering my approach to a few sections.  Particularly the loading docks.  I need to take a closer look at the materials provided.  I may avoid stains if they look like they might warp and use chalks or Pan Pastels to color them.  We'll see.  I'm taking my time but I am anxious to make progress on this.  The Red Light District is up next and I can't wait to get started on that one.   

Bob,

I'm waiting on your Red Light District as well. It will be a fantastic build and is a fantastic kit. It will be a couple of years before I get to mine.

Tom

[postalkarl]

Hio Bob:

The wall looks great. Perfect light weathering.

karl

[ReadingBob]

Hio Bob:

The wall looks great. Perfect light weathering.

karl

Thanks Karl.  I'm be lying if I said you're work hasn't had a big influence on me.  Especially when it comes to the degree of weathering I apply to walls.   

[ReadingBob]

It's been a while since I've posted an update but I have gotten a little more done on this build so let's try to get caught up.  The signs that come with this kit are on a sheet that's included in the instructions.  There are lot's of choices provided, which is a nice little feature if you want to change the colors up.  Kudo's to Bar Mills for that.  I used a steel straight edge and an X-Acto with a new blade in it to cut our the signs.



The instructions say you don't need to do this but I like to sand the back of the signs, working from the center outward, using some very fine sandpaper.  I'm trying to get the paper a little bit thinner before I apply the sign to the wall.



For these signs I applied a very thin layer of thinned white glue and water to the back of the sign by smearing it on with finger tip.  I keep a paper towel handy so I can wipe my finger off before touching the sign to apply it to the building.  An alternative, that I know Karl favors, is 3M Transfer Tape.



As I smear the thinned glue on I'm careful to not get any on the front of the sign.  The benefit of the Transfer Tape is you don't have to worry about that. 

 

With the glue in place I position the sign on the wall and press it down.  If any glue oozes out I wipe it off.



Fortunately I was in need of a trim so I used my fingernail to carefully burnish the sign in place along the seams of the clapboards.  I didn't do it this time but a clear sheet of plastic placed on top of the sign will help protect the sign from tearing.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

While waiting for glue to dry on the signs I decided I'd better stain the remaining strip wood.  I used Hunterline Light Gray weathering mix (purchased at the EXPO) and a little bathtub I made out of PVC pipe to make quick work of this.  After sorting the strip wood by size (it's rather important to do so) I gave each size and individual bath by dropping it in, letting it soak for a few minutes....



...and then fishing it out with some tweezers.  I then spread it out to dry and labeled it by size.  The color codes on the end of the strip wood can be hard to decipher after it's been stained.



Okay, now we have some weathered wall but the signs are nice, fresh and a little too neat looking.  They don't match the walls so it's time to do something about that.  I started by brushing them with light A&I mix.



Then I dry sponged them with the same light gray and khaki craft paints that I used to weather the walls.  This really helps to blend them in and make them look like they were painted onto the walls.



Now it's time to assemble the walls.  Normally I'd install the windows, doors, vents, etc. before I do this but this structure is an odd one with five walls so it will require a little more handling and fitting than normal and I don't want to worry about knocking that stuff off.  The walls that meet one another at 90 degree angles are glued together first (with the entire structure upside down).



The remaining walls need to have their edge mitered to attach at an angle.  The instructions recommend using a mini plane, which I picked up at Home Depot, for the initial work followed by some sanding.  That helped but you have to be a little bit careful with it.  Especially near the ends.



More in a moment...