Build Challenge 2016: Bar Mills Dock House at Cundy Harbor

[ReadingBob]

Wowser!  I can't add any more kudos than what have been laid at your feet already!  Thanks again for all of the pictures and build commentary!

Thanks Mark and you are quite welcome!  I'm glad we have a place like this where we can share our experiences.  It's really fun to see how others go about doing things and what materials they like or dislike.

[Mike Engler]

The cool thing about taking some time out from the forum is that when you come back you get to go through an entire thread like this in one sitting, and not have to wait days for the next step. All the better to enjoy a real masterpiece such as this. Well done Bob- thanks for taking the time to share all this information.

[madharry]

Thanks Bob, I have this kit to make so I will be studying all your techniques to make sure I make no mistakes.

Great build - now get on with the boat please.......

Mike 

[GPdemayo]

Outstanding build Bob.....

[ACL1504]

I agree, very well done. Beautiful structure and craftsmanship.

Tom

[jimmillho]

I agree, very well done. Beautiful structure and craftsmanship.

Tom

DITTO.

Jim

[ReadingBob]

The cool thing about taking some time out from the forum is that when you come back you get to go through an entire thread like this in one sitting, and not have to wait days for the next step. All the better to enjoy a real masterpiece such as this. Well done Bob- thanks for taking the time to share all this information.

Thanks Mike!  I really appreciate the comments.  Yeah, I'm a bit slow between postings.     The real life job interferes with my fun.  At least that's an excuse I can use until I can finally retire.  Then I'll have to come up with a new one for being slow with my posts.    

[ReadingBob]

Thanks Bob, I have this kit to make so I will be studying all your techniques to make sure I make no mistakes.

Great build - now get on with the boat please.......

Mike 

Thanks Mike!  I hope my experiences help you avoid a few of the pitfalls.  I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job with this one.  I can't wait to see you version of it.   

[ReadingBob]

Outstanding build Bob.....

Thanks Greg.  Hopefully we'll get to see it on John's layout.   

[ReadingBob]

I agree, very well done. Beautiful structure and craftsmanship.

Tom

Thanks Tom!  Appreciate it.  I'm happy with the way it turned out.   

[ReadingBob]

I agree, very well done. Beautiful structure and craftsmanship.

Tom

DITTO.

Jim

Thanks Jim!  Appreciate it!   

[ReadingBob]

The Bait Boat

There are two little 'barges' or 'boats' included in Cundy Harbor.  Both have the same basic casting for the hull.  I decided to build these next since they'd be relatively quick compared to the structures.  The "Bait Boat" has a little shack that sits on top of the barge.  I started by removing the framing for the shack from the laser cut sheet.


Next I test fitted and then glued together the four wall frames that make up the shack making sure to keep everything square.


After the walls were together the cross members for the roof were added.


The shack itself is a board by board assembly over the framework.  The boards were on a single laser cut sheet.  I started by roughing them up with a welders wire brush that I have for just such purposes.


After staining the sheet of boards and letting that dry I 'painted' them Country Red with a sponge.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Next I dabbed on some 'Dove Gray' with a sponge but lightly.  I wasn't trying to paint over the red, just to get the appearance of some gray showing through where the red paint had peeled away.  This gets toned downed considerably when an A&I was is applied over top of it.


I decided to distress the boards a little more using a tool I picked up a long time ago from somewhere (probably Micro Mark).  It's a wire bristle brush.


You can control how far out the wire brush extends, hence how stiff the brush is, by twisting the end.


Next comes the A&I treatment.  The gray all but disappeared.  I probably didn't let it dry long enough.   


After I applied the boards to one end, working around the door opening, I decided to test fit the door casting.  As you can see it didn't fit properly.  The bottom edge extended beyond the bottom of the shack.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

I used a little sanding stick I picked up at Hobby Lobby to sand the top of the door opening to get a good fit for the door casting.  When I do the other end I'll take into account that the opening needs to be taller when I add the boards to that end to save myself a little sanding.


I also used the sanding stick (handy little things) to sand the paint off of the edges of the windows (these are two part assemblies) so they'd fit inside the frames without forcing them.


Then I glued the windows into the frames using Micro Kristal Klear (which I also used later on to add glazing to the windows).


I used Pink Flamingo glue to glue the doors and windows in place.


Of course I had done a test fit prior to gluing them in place to ensure they would fit.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

The roofing material for the Bait Boat that was included in the kit was single ply toilet paper.  I primed it with Floquil Primer (using an air brush) and then painted part of it with Grimy Black for the main roof and part with Depot Buff for the canvas cover that will be at one end of the shack.  I used 3M Sticky Notes to mask it and hold it in place.  Painters tape would have been too sticky for the toilet paper and would have torn it.  I cut the black portion into scale 3' strips.


I used the same wire brush to distress/tease the ends of the strips, after cutting them to the appropriate width so they'd hang over both sides of the roof just a little bit.


Then I glued them in place across the roof and overlapping one another slightly.


Here's the end result with the awning in place and "Bait" sign added to the roof.














Up next...the "Boat House".

Thanks for following along!