FOS Engine House at Caldwell Junction - Build

[ReadingBob]

Bob,
Great build thread!  You're doing a really nice job on this kit, and I'm picking up lots of excellent information.  Keep it coming.

Thanks Mark!  I really appreciate the feedback.  It helps keep me motivated.   

[cuse]

Great, educational thread as always Bob. Reads and looks like a great instructional book from Kalmbach.

I'm really excited about this structure!

John

[gnatshop]

It helps keep me motivated.    

Me and The SBG thought Smokey Bones was your motivation! 

[Dave K.]

Another great FOS kit, and a super thread!  I've got this kit as well and intend to build it for the club. Already did one of the little companion structures, the Yard Office, and it was a gem to build.

http://foslimited.com//index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=37&zenid=dd0095845f2638f2470d2e0963a29924

Always enjoy your threads...thanks!

[ReadingBob]

Thanks John, Gnat and Dave,

I spent a lot of time on this today (gotta get things moving so I can clear off the old work bench to get ready for the contest build ya' know).

Attachment 1:  John thought he'd like a green band around the bottom of the structure kind of like I'm doing with another build I'm finishing up for Tom so I started by masking off the walls where I want the band to end.  Really I just picked the bottom of the smaller window at the rear of the wall and used that as a guide.  I could do this free hand buy picking a clapboard to use as a guide and being really careful but the tape saves me the trouble of trying to remember which clapboard I picked.   

Attachment 2: With some Polly Scale Dark Green I painted the band on the bottom of the engine house walls.

Attachment 3:  Now it's time to beat the walls up and get that peeling paint effect going.  I'm doing this kind of in reverse.  I painted the walls there finish color first and now I'm going to dab on paint to simulate the paint beneath showing through.  I started with a craft paint that's close to an Earth color.  This really stands out on the walls.  I put some on a sponge and then got most of it off the sponge before I started dabbing the sponge on the walls.  Kind of 'dry sponging' if you will.  I just want speckles of the paint on the walls.

Attachment 4:  I followed up the earth color paint with a light grey color.  This covers up most of the earth color and blends in with the Reefer White I originally used to paint the walls so it's difficult to see in the pictures and in person but it really does tone things down and adds to that 'primer is showing through where the paint peeled off' effect.

Attachment 5: Now it's time to really beat up the walls.  Using a chisel blade in an X-Acto handle I carefully (well sorta) started cutting underneath the clapboards and 'lifting' them.  On a few I even twisted the blade a little to splinter the wood.  This adds another layer of texture to the walls.  I did more than usual on this particular kit.  I really want the walls to look old and beat up.

Attachment 6: I'm not sure how well this shot will show the difference between a wall that I really beat up (top) and one I've just started on (bottom) but here it is.

More in a moment...

     

[ReadingBob]

Okay, continuing on....

Attachment 1: I painted the inside of the walls black to help prevent them from 'glowing' if I light up the interior.  For the engine house portion of the structure I later went back and painted over the black with a light gray since the inside walls may be visible.  I also washed the outside of the walls with my A&i wash to tone everything down.

Attachment 2:  Using my ponce wheel and a square I added nail holes on roughly a 24" spacing and around door and window openings.  I don't worry too much about prototypical accuracy cuz, well...., I don't know any better and they look good to me.   

Attachment 3:  I added a little detail, just here and there, by using razor blade to cut through a single clapboard along one or the rows of nail holes.

Attachment 4: I then added nail holes next to both sides of the cut with a pointy tool I have in my arsenal of tools.    

Attachment 5:  The finished 'joint'.  I don't worry about adding too many of these.  Just enough so nobody really notices that there are some single clapboards over 80' long in some places.   

Attachment 6:  I then glued on the corner trim to the walls as per the instructions.  I glue it on longer than needed and trim it to length after the fact.

I have one more picture showing the trim being cut to length but I'll save that for the next time I do an update. 

Thanks for following along!

[MAP]

Looking good Bob.  I appreciate the time you're taking with the detailed how-to and all the pictures.  It certainly adds time to the build for you, but helps us out a bunch!

[Bntrainmaster]

Thanks Bob for the in depth detail of your build. The amount of time it takes to cover the things that are needed in order do a build thread like this is highly appreciated by myself and the other forum members. Thanks for the extra added detail and time you have put into this build thread. Looks GREAT.................

[ReadingBob]

MAP and Bart,

Thank you both very much for the kind comments!

I know I repeat a lot of stuff from one thread to the next but I figure there's always the chance there might be someone new reading one of my threads for the first time or I came across something like a new product or something I forgot to document previously.

[Dave K.]

  I don't worry too much about prototypical accuracy cuz, well...., I don't know any better and they look good to me.   

My sentiments exactly!  Just for fun, shall we resurrect the "Great Nailholes Debate"? 

[ReadingBob]

My sentiments exactly!  Just for fun, shall we resurrect the "Great Nailholes Debate"? 

Uh-oh!     Dave K. wants to start the "Great Nailholes Debate" again.  This reminds me of a line from one of my favorite movies "The Big Chill".  After getting the group all riled up with some pretty caustic observations Nick (William Hurt) says "I was just trying to keep the conversation lively." 

[EricQuebec]

Very nice job as usual Bob.
here's a pics about the nailholes debat and reflect my posiyion about them....
Sorry Bob for posting a pic on your thread.
Eric Québec city

[ReadingBob]

Very nice job as usual Bob.
here's a pics about the nailholes debat and reflect my posiyion about them....
Sorry Bob for posting a pic on your thread.
Eric Québec city

Thanks Eric.  You never have to apologize for posting a pic in one of my threads.  Your contributions are always welcome!   

[ReadingBob]

Okay, now that it's the weekend I'm back at it!

Attachment #1: After the glue has set enough to hold the corner trim in place I use a single edge razor blade to trim it to length.  This makes it easier to match the angle of the peaked wall too when there is one.

Attachment #2: The large windows in the engine house are made up of three pieces layered on top of each other.  These weren't too difficult to assemble but you do need to use care to line everything up.  This picture shows the middle layer being positioned over the bottom piece (which includes the mullions).

Attachment #3: Here the top layer is being glued in place over the middle and bottom layer.  Note that I had painted and weather the pieces individually prior to assembling them.  I guess you go assemble them first and then paint and weather them but I find it easier, when using the sponge method for peeling paint, to do them as individual pieces.

Attachment #4:  An assembled window.  There are six of these big guys to put together.

Attachment #5: Painting the glass.  Yes, you heard me.  Painting the glass.  I used a couple of drops of Floquil Grimy Black mixed a bottle of thinner to create a wash to use to give the windows a slightly dirty look.  Hey, this is a backwoods engine house on John's layout and he wants it looking really beat up.  Ya' think his crew is going to bother washing the windows?   

Attachment #6:  The glazing (some was laser cut for the large windows) was cut to size to fit the windows and doors and I glued it in place using Krystal Kleer which is what I normally use to create glazing.  It also works fine as a glue to hold acetate in place.   

More some other time.  It's time to go bowling.   

 

[PHQRR]

Outstanding work and tutorial on the build!  :thumbsup: