Raymo's Challenge 2018 KC's Workshop Jack Em Up Tire

[jerryrbeach]

When Dan first posted his thread for the Challenge, I signed up, though I mentioned my start would be delayed while I worked to finish up some rolling stock that I was building.  The boxcars are not done, but I decided to set them aside while I make a start on the Challenge. 

Normal start to a build thread, photos of the kit contents.  You can see that Ken encloses some general tips as well as a specific instruction sheet and an additional sheet showing the bracing pattern. 

[ACL1504]

Jerry,

I'll be following along. This is a neat kit. I'll be starting two of KC's  kits later next week.

Tom

[Raymo]

Thanks for joining the challenge. KC's Workshop is now represented...

[S&S RR]

Jerry


Welcome to the challenge - I will be following along.

[jerryrbeach]

Tom, Dan, and John,
I haven't done a build thread in way too long. Thanks for following along.

[jerryrbeach]

This kit has a sheet of general suggestions regarding tools, painting tips, weathering, etc.  There are several pages of kit specific instructions, along with several color photos.  All the strip wood is color coded with a key supplied, something I find a time saver.  There is also a diagram showing where the bracing is located. 

The instruction sheet indicates the bracing is 1/8" square.  My kit had 5/32 square bracing.  Thinking bigger is better, I jumped right in and started bracing the sides with the 5/32" square pieces according to the diagram. 

I should have checked further before I went crazy with the glue and clamps.  The window in wall A2 next to the front doors is only 7/32" from the edge of the wall.  So, even with 1/8" bracing, the two pieces where the corner comes together add up to 1/4" (8/32") so things don't fit.  What I should have done was planned ahead and used one piece of 1/8" bracing and a piece of 3/32" bracing.  You can see from the photo how I used some short pieces of bracing to "fix" my "bull in a china shop" approach.

When looking at the photo, remember that the bracing pattern is shown as if the wall is transparent, while the inside of the actual wall is shown. 

One other change I made to the initial bracing is I used a piece of 3/32" square bracing between the man door and the garage doors.  The instructions call for 1/16" square, but since I had already managed to clumsily break the small wall section clean off, I thought some heavier bracing was a good idea when gluing the broken piece in place.

[jerryrbeach]

Once I finished up the bracing, things got easier and more fun.

Next up was prepping the windows and walls prior to adding some color.  I removed the windows from the sprues using my trusty sprue cutter.  Once that was done, I touched up the edges with an emery board and stuck them to a piece of masking tape on an old flattened cereal box.  The windows were sprayed with a rattle can of Valspar Hunter green flat. 

[jerryrbeach]

With the windows done and set aside to dry, I moved on to the walls.  I used the wire brush shown in the last post to lightly scratch the walls.  I wanted to add a little texture to the walls without making them look like the building was on its last legs. 

I followed this with a coat of Dr. Ben's Driftwood stain.  Once this dried, I added a coat of my light (one teaspoon per bottle) A/I mix. 

Ken has a nice selection of Dr. Ben's stains as well as some of Rusty Rail Rick's castings available through his website.  Usual disclaimer required by the "other forum", I have no interest of any kind in KC's, just a satisfied customer.   

[Janbouli]

Coming along fine Jerry , thanks for sharing.

[PRR Modeler]

That's a very nice color Jerry.

[donatode]

Following along Jerry. Thinking of doing this structure myself, but in O scale.

[jerryrbeach]

Coming along fine Jerry , thanks for sharing.

Jan,
Thanks for following along,

[jerryrbeach]

That's a very nice color Jerry.

Curt,
I bought the Dr. Ben's to replace the old Floquil Driftwood.  I use it as a base coat, and in this case, as the final color.  It seems to be alcohol based, at least that is what I use to thin it for different effects, and it seems to work OK.

[jerryrbeach]

Following along Jerry. Thinking of doing this structure myself, but in O scale.

Donato,
Pretty basic stuff so far, some tips on changes I made to the basic kit coming up.  Great structure, lots of possibilities, build it, you'll like it!

[jerryrbeach]

One of the issues I have with doing a build thread is not documenting each step with a photo.  That happened with this thread, so I went back and recreated the missing photos. 

The kit includes some beautiful laser cut garage doors.  I have used similar doors in the past, but these doors really make me think of a later time frame than the 1920 period I model.  I decided to save the kit doors for another structure, and fabricate some simple doors for this building. 

Here's a shot of the kit doors.