FOS #210 The Red Light District (HO Scale)

[Zephyrus52246]

I think the password to get in is "firebug".    Nice job on the bookstore.


Jeff

[ReadingBob]

Outstanding Bob. All of your builds are great...this one is my favorite so far. The wear and tear is up to par with a Foscale pilot model!


John

Thanks John!  I'll make no secret of the fact that I'm trying to get the same results Doug does on his pilot models.  Even if I only get half way there I figure it'll look pretty darn good.   

[ReadingBob]

I think the password to get in is "firebug".    Nice job on the bookstore.


Jeff

Thanks Jeff!     I know you have this one in the queue waiting to be built.  It's a challenging build in some respects but it's a lot of fun to put together.  Looking forward to the day you build yours.

[chipfaulter]

Bob - I just purchased this kit from Doug and am very much looking forward to build it.  My geography will require a little re-arranging as i wrap around around a corner but you will only be able to see the fronts or backs of the buildings which will hopefully make things a little easier.  I hope to incorporate Hokum's into the line-up as well ... this is a very seedy part of town !  I really enjoy your progress posts and hope hope finish the entire group.  i find these very helpful, and as always, the photos are worth a thousand words.  Thanks for taking the time to share.  Chip Faulter, Phippsburg, ME

[ReadingBob]

Bob - I just purchased this kit from Doug and am very much looking forward to build it.  My geography will require a little re-arranging as i wrap around around a corner but you will only be able to see the fronts or backs of the buildings which will hopefully make things a little easier.  I hope to incorporate Hokum's into the line-up as well ... this is a very seedy part of town !  I really enjoy your progress posts and hope hope finish the entire group.  i find these very helpful, and as always, the photos are worth a thousand words.  Thanks for taking the time to share.  Chip Faulter, Phippsburg, ME

First off welcome to the forum Chip! 

Thanks for the kind comments on the thread.  I'm happy to hear that it will help out.  It's been dormant for a but I'm hoping/planning on posting an update sometime this weekend.  I'm putting the final touches on building #4 in the series, the big one in the middle that contains three theaters.  That'll be 4 down and 3 to go.

Hokum's is a neat kit too.  I've built it once already for someone else and have another in the closet waiting to be built for myself.      

[ReadingBob]

Well, a trip to the EXPO followed by an unexpected trip to Pennsylvania which was then followed by our annual users conference at work after which I caught some sort of crude caused me to stall out on this one a bit. But I'm back at it now.     Time to show you building #4.

The Triple Theater Building

This is a larger structure that houses three individual theaters.  The Red Cat Cinema, The Paradise Theater and The Roxy.

I started by bracing the clapboard walls, per the instructions and then stained them with Hunterline Weathering Mix "Light Gray".  You may notice in the picture that the bracing extends above the top of the front and rear walls.  This is important.  Don't trim it flush.



Okay, skip ahead a bit.  I painted the walls with PollyScale B & M Blue, used the dry sponge technique to apply some Dove Gray craft paint to represent places where the blue paint had peeled off to expose the primer beneath and now I'm adding nail holes with a ponce wheel.  We can skip the whole discussion on the accuracy of nail holes, using a ponce wheel, etc.     It's been covered on the forums too many times in too much depth.  Suffice it to say I like 'em.   


Next I distressed the walls a bit using an X-Acto knife with a chisel blade in it.  I slipped the blade under the clapboards, here and there, and lifted some up a bit.  In a few cases I twisted the blade a little bit to break off a small chunk of the clapboard.


After distressing the walls I gave them a coat of A&I to darken things up a little bit, fill in the nail holes which cause them to swell shut a little bit and cover up any 'unfinished' wood that may have been exposed when I broke off pieces while distressing the wood.


I had previously painted the windows Reefer White with an airbrush.  I used the dry sponge technique to apply some Dove Gray to those when I did the wall and then applied the A&I wash to darken them up a bit.  After they dried I drybrushed them with Ivory White craft store paint to highlight the edges.  Basically the gray is for the peeling paint effect, the A&I is to create shadow effects and the drybrushed white highlights the edges to offset the shadow effects.


Here's why the bracing extends above the top of the front and rear wall.  There's a strip of wood (painted Reefer White and weathered like everything else was) that represents the decorative frieze board.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

The front wall has a laser cut piece that gets glued on the front of the frieze board.  I glued that in place as shown.


After gluing all the windows into the openings in the walls I cut out glazing for each.  I applied a little Micro Krystal Klear to the inside edge to use as glue to hold the glazing in place.  Sometimes I simply use the Micro Krystal Clear as the glazing but for this kit I'm using he plastic sheet that was included.


Then I put the plastic glazing in place.  Afterwards I added window shades behind the glazing.  The shades are just plain white paper that I painted either Depot Buff or Light Green, cut to various lengths and glued in place.


I glued the corner trim onto the walls next.


With the walls face down I trimmed the excess corner trim off using a single edge razor blade.


When the walls were prepped I glued them together.  Notice that I added some strip wood behind joint where the frieze board and the top of the wall meet.  I did that to prevent any potential light leaks if/when I add lights to this structure. 


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Gluing the for walls together for this structure is a bit of challenge because only the rear wall extends all the way down to the ground.  The front wall is short to allow for the storefront(s) to be added and the side walls are short because the bottom won't be seen when attached to the adjoining buildings.


Now it's time to build the store fronts.  Like the previous structures in the build these are made up of layers of laser cut material.


I won't drag you thru each of the store fronts but it's basically color the components the way you want them and glue the layers together.


After the storefronts are together the glazing and signs behind the glazing can be added.


The Red Cat Cinema has a marquee that is build in the same fashion as the marquee for the Art Deco Theater.


Basically you build a box out of laser cut fiber board components and add the signs and trim.


The Roxy's marquee is built like the wrap around of the South Side Burlesk.  It's layers of components that are glued together.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

I painted the edges of the Roxy's marquee silver along with the trim piece that goes on top.


Next I covered the top of the marquee with 3M Transfer Tape, turned the marquee over and trimmed the excess off.


I removed the backing from the transfer tape and used aluminum foil to cover the roof (the shiny side of the foil gets attached to the 3M transfer tape so the dull side is what you end up seeing for the roof).


I pressed the roof in place on the aluminum foil and then trimmed it leaving a little bit on the front and side to fold down over the top edge of the marquee.


Next the Roxy sign gets glued on to the front edge of the marquee.  Here I ran into a slight problem.  It wasn't long enough to wrap around the sides of the marquee.  Before I started building this kit I scanned the sheet of signs into my computer in case I screwed one up during the build.  I simply copied the Roxy sign into MS Paint and then copied a section of the sign and pasted on each edge to extend it out far enough to wrap around the marquee.


Next I braced the main roof card, painted the edges the trim color and lined the top with 3M Transfer Tape.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

When possible I like to apply the transfer tape to the roof before attaching the roof to the structure.  It makes it a lot easier to trim it to fit.


Back to the dormers.  I glued the dormer side walls to the front walls aligning the upper edge of the side walls with the front wall.


Part of the main roof, over the Red Cat Cinema, is shingled.  I cut out the shingles and started coloring individual shingles, randomly, with various shades of gray (and one green) markers.


This is a tedious process.  I colored all the strips of shingles while watching "Apollo 13".  It took me the entire movie to get 'em all done.   


Back to the dormers for a moment.  After the side walls are attached there's  step that needs to be done that wasn't mentioned in the instructions.  You can see the bottom edge of the side walls and the bottom edge of the front wall don't line up.


No problem.  Take a sheet of medium grit sandpaper on top of a flat surface and sand the bottom edge of the front wall of the dormer until it lines up with the side walls.


More in a moment...

[deemery]

If it's not too late, you might want to do some weathering to tone down the red in the storefront.  I learned the hard way that red and blue really need to be toned down/faded/lightened, otherwise they look to bright and toy-like.


dave

[ReadingBob]

Now the dormers will sit on the roof correctly.


There really wasn't much guidance given as to the position of the dormers.  Basically the instructions say to glue them in place so they are centered and equally spaced.  So, I figured out the center of each section of the store front positioned them on the roof so they'd be exactly the width of one strip of rolled roofed up from the bottom edge.  I cut the backing from the 3M Transfer Tape, removed it and then rubbed the sticky material off of the roof with my finger prior to gluing the dormer in place.


I also cut the backing material so I could remove it from only the Red Cat Cinema, which will be shingled, and leave it in place over the rest of the structure which will be covered with rolled roofing afterwards.


That allowed me to start shingling the roof by adding strips of shingles from the bottom edge working up and using the transfer tape backing as a guide.


I added some gray colored material to the gutters between the dormer and the main roof prior to adding the shingles.  Trimming them to fit and line up correctly is simply trial and error.


After the rolled roofing was applied I decided to add a 'cap' of individual shingles over the joint between the shingled roof and the rolled roofing roof.  I had a row home in Pennsylvania and when we had a new roof put on that's how the transition between our roof and the roof of the next house was covered.  Both were shingled but still, I think this looks a little better than a plain joint.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

If it's not too late, you might want to do some weathering to tone down the red in the storefront.  I learned the hard way that red and blue really need to be toned down/faded/lightened, otherwise they look to bright and toy-like.


dave

Thanks Dave.  Yeah, that was my first attempt.  I went at it several times to get something I was happy with and I'm still not quite satisfied with it.  I went back and forth between too bright and too dark.   

[ReadingBob]

Only one of the three pictures I took of the 'finished' structure turned out to be not blurry so I'll leave you with just this one for now.  There will be more when I put the whole block together.  By the way, you might notice that I added some black mat board to fill in the bottom of the side walls.  That was to prevent light leaks and to make the structure sturdier while building it.  The storefront is very thin and needs the extra support because it's a flimsy joint between it and the upper wall.


I was really happy with the results I got on the first three structures which is rare. Usually I'm not pleased with my work after I finish something.  I have to set it aside for a while and revisit it later on before I think "Hey, that's not half bad."  Well, with this one I'm back to my looking at it and thinking "M'eh, I could have done better."  That, by the way, is not a knock on the kit.  That's just me being critical of me.  I think it'll look okay blended in with the other structures and with some additional details (sidewalks, figures) added to it.

Next up is the small Peep 'O Rama but that's it for today! 

[cuse]

Great work and great documentation. I really like the shingles and transition to the rolled roofing. The tip about sanding the dormers to fit is timely. I'll probably be doing it this week (as opposed to staring angrily at my build wondering why it's not lining up right  ).


Nice Job...John