Build Challenge 2016: Bar Mills Dock House at Cundy Harbor

[Zephyrus52246]

Great job on the boats, Bob!


Jeff

[Janbouli]

They look amazing, great job.

[Powersteamguy1790]

Outstanding job Bob.

Stay cool and run steam..........

[cuse]

Looks great Bob! I especially like the distressed edges on the roofing.


John

[donatode]

Bob, You Da Man!!!

[ReadingBob]

HI Jeff, Jan, Bob, John and Donato,

Thank you very much for the kind comments.     The boats were fun little builds.

[ReadingBob]

Next up the....

Boat House

I had a little bit of head start on this one.  John had already removed some of the laser cut components from their carriers in anticipation of building it before he passed it off to me.  I started by staining the roof trusses and framework with Hunterline Light Gray Weathering Mix.


Next I glued one of the side wall frame pieces to one of the end pieces making sure to keep them square.  Then I did the same with the other side wall and other end wall.


Afterwards I glued the two wall sections together.


Then the roof trusses were attached.  If you look really close you might be able to see that the first truss is actually a double truss.  The piece oriented towards the end of the building has a peak to it while the piece oriented towards the interior has a flat top that the cupola will sit on. 


Next up it was time to prepare the boards/planks that will cover the walls.  I stained the sheets while they were still connected and then painted one side with a cheap acrylic Medium Gray color.  This was not a heavy coat of paint.  The brush was fairly dry when I painted them.


After they were painted I split the sheet up so I had individual boards.  I distressed the painted side of each board by dragging a fine tooth razor saw blade the length of the board.  I held the blade an angle to the gouges would be even closer together than had I held it straight across the board.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Next up I stained the parts that make up the cupola.


After painting and weathering the pieces that make up the cupola (I used reefer white as the base and then dabbed them with a sponge using Khaki and Light Gray to beat 'em up followed by an A&I wash).  Just like I had done previously I made up two sets of end walls glued to side walls.


Then the two sets were glued together to form the cupola.


There are 1/16 square pieces of strip wood that get glued into the trusses and run the length of the building.  The trusses have notches in them that this wood is supposed to fit in. The fit was pretty tight so I sanded each strip down until I could fit it in the notch without forcing it.


So far this was the most challenging thing I found with this structure.  Test fit, sand, test fit, sand....


At this point I made up a little board that would drop down into the cupola, rest on the top of the trusses and held two lights.  I offset the lights slightly because there will an I beam glued smack down the middle underneath the trusses later on.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

This gives you some idea of what the light board looks like.  I used very little glue to hold the cupola in place.  Just in case the lights ever need to be maintained.


Next I added a frame around the opening for the door.  This needs to be done prior to adding the siding.


Oops!  That's all the pictures I uploaded at this point.  Next time I'll show the structure sided, board by board.  That's about where I'm at with this build at the moment.  There's still lots to do though.  The pier it rests on hasn't been started yet and there are workbenches with tons of tools on them that need to be assembled and painted.   

Thanks for following along! 

[S&S RR]

Bob


Another great build thread.  Very nice work! 

[ACL1504]

Bob,

I agree, great tutorial along the was as well.

Tom

[Mkrailway]

Bob, you the best build threads ever! Its like you have done this before. 

[cuse]

Lookin' good Bob!


For your consideration...I've spent the last few hours re-working my waterfront plan to maximize the placement and impact of these beautiful kits. I think the boathouse (above) will have a prominent spot but it will likely be positioned parallel to the coastline (and layout edge) in a busy little area. My point is this: save your super detailing and favorited castings for the right side (if you're facing the opening). The angle of your last photo is the way it will be largely seen. Front and back will be visible also, but the opposing side (left) will be hard to really appreciate. Just something for you to consider in your work.


Thanks...John

[cuse]

Here's what I've done today...I rebuilt a waterfront dock that doesn't take up as much room in either direction. I purposely made the bracing seemingly random (inspired by my visit to Ketchikan, Alaska last year). This allowed the Dock House to settle right in between a rock and a hard place. The paper model is a full-size cutout of the Boat House shown under construction in this thread (I imagine the real one will be elevated slightly more). What you can't see is my Seaport Model Works Capt. Hook's Lobster(unbuilt), which I plan to place right along the front edge of the layout with the stenciled sign facing the viewer. This will create a tight little dead end inlet full of waterfront coolness courtesy of Bob's builds. Hope that explanation was clear.

[ACL1504]

John,

What a great show place for the kits. The boat house is really going to make the scene come to life more so than it already is.

The Baptist have a song, "Oh what a friend we have in Bob". Oops, I meant " What a friend we have in Jesus".


Just saying.

Tom