Raymo Build Challenge 2018 - FOS Rothman's Pawn Shop & Thornhill Liquors

[ReadingBob]

I pull the strip wood out of it's bath with a tweezers and prop it up in an old cardboard box to dry.


Everything that's going to get airbrushed is laid out on an old jelly roll pan (it has raised sides which help keep things that come loose from blowing off).  I tape strips of blue painters tape sticky side up and position all the stuff I want to paint on the sticky surface of the tape.  The bottom row, by the way, are parts from another small FOS kit I'm building on the side (Murdock Fasteners).


I'm out of Floquil Primer but I still have some unopened bottles of Floquil Earth so I'm using that color as my primer.  The bottles fresh so I start by mixing up with my handy dandy little paint mixer.


Then I put it in a stainless steel measuring cup using an eyedropper like thingie.  I put three of these to one of thinner in the cup and mix it up to thin the paint a little.  If the paint was not fresh I'd run it thru a piece of a stocking to strain out any debris.  Since the bottle was fresh and it mixed up well I rolled the dice and skipped this step.  Debris can, or I should say will, clog up the tip of the airbrush. 


Now it's time to load up the airbrush and get painting.  The garage door is open and I have a big fan behind me blowing what little hair I have around to ventilate the place.   


I start by airbrushing across the tray, from left to right.


More in a moment... 

[ReadingBob]

I after everything has been sprayed once I rotate the tray one quarter turn and spray it again.  Then rotate another quarter turn and spray again.  Guess what's next?  You got it!  Another quarter turn and spray.  I want to hit from all sides.  After the paint sets enough I flip over the stuff and paint the back side.


Now for the part of airbrushing that everybody seems to hate.  I run a small amount of clean thinner thru the brush to start the cleaning process.  This little jar catches the thinner.


Then I disassemble the brush and drop the pieces into some clean thinner.


I unscrew the back of the brush to get at the needle.  With this particular airbrush I don't need to take it 100% apart.  I just want to get at the areas the paint affects. 


I wipe the needle with a paper towel with a little bit of thinner on it to clean it.


Then I clean the body with a pipe cleaner dipped in thinner and by flushing some thinner thru it.


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

After everything has been cleaned it's time to reassemble the airbrush for next time.  There's a little rubber O ring I removed that goes on first.  (I hate when I drop this O ring - it's hard to find).


Next I screw the tip back on and tighten it with the wrench that came with the airbrush.


Then the rest of the tip (the needle protector) gets screwed in place.


The trigger gets put in place and then the needle assembly has to be CAREFULLY slide in place.  On this airbrush there's a little lever that has to go in a certain way.  It'll end up in the slot behind the trigger and it's what pulls the needle back when you pull the trigger back.  It's not hard to figure out how to get it back in there the way it needs to be.


While the primer cures I'll start bracing the walls using the templates as a guide.  I use Pink Flamingo glue and run a thin bead along the bracing. 


Then I use my finger tip to smear the glue to spread across the surface of the bracing.  I keep a paper towel handy to wipe off my finger tip so I don't spread glue onto something I shouldn't - like the chair I'm sitting on or the surface of the wall I'm bracing. 


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

I make sure the bracing that goes along the edge of the wall goes only to the edge and not beyond by using an angle to ensure it's aligned the way I want it.


Then I weigh it down for a few minutes to let the glue grab hold.


I forgot to mention that I run the edge of the walls over an emery board to square them up before I brace them.


This small wall only need bracing glued to one side but to weigh it down for the glue to set I put another piece of bracing, unglued, under the other side.


The bracing is cut to fit after the glue dries using a single edged razor blade.


The walls get stained with the same Hunterline Light Gray weathering mix. 


That's all for now.  More to come.    Thanks for following along!

[Zephyrus52246]

Nice start, Bob.  Thanks for the step by step including the airbrush cleaning.  I've started straining the paint every time as I had some Vallejo Model Air plug it up once.   


Jeff

[ReadingBob]

Nice start, Bob.  Thanks for the step by step including the airbrush cleaning.  I've started straining the paint every time as I had some Vallejo Model Air plug it up once.   


Jeff

Thanks Jeff! 

I haven't tried airbrushing with anything but Floquil.  At least not yet.  I guess I'm going to have to get outside of my comfort zone pretty soon.     It is annoying when the tip gets clogged while you're spraying something isn't it?   

[postalkarl]

Hey Bob:

Looking good so far.

Karl

[PRR Modeler]

Looking good. Following.

[Dave K.]

"...laser-cut micro fiber board...".  Is THAT what it's called? Always wondered. I think "laserboard" is the dark brown stuff.

Glad to see this back on the bench. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[cuse]

Good tutorial Bob! Off to a fast start.


John

[S&S RR]

Great start Bob! I want to make sure that everyone takes another look at the A&I tube that Bob uses for his strip wood. I built one to Bob's specifications a few years back and use it all the time. It works great I just open a valve on the end and pour the unused A&I back in the bottle for the next project.

[ReadingBob]

Hey Bob:

Looking good so far.

Karl

Thanks Karl!  These little FOS kits are a lot of fun to build.

[ReadingBob]

Looking good. Following.

Thanks Curt!  Glad to have you following along.   

[ReadingBob]

"...laser-cut micro fiber board...".  Is THAT what it's called? Always wondered. I think "laserboard" is the dark brown stuff.

Glad to see this back on the bench. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

I think that's what it's called.     Not 100% sure.  Maybe one of our kit manufacturers will correct me if I'm wrong.     Thanks for following along Dave!

[ReadingBob]

Good tutorial Bob! Off to a fast start.


John

Hi John!  I've been anxious to get started on this one.  I hope I can get it done by the April 15th deadline.  Then I'll move on to back to back FSM builds.  Those'll be fun too!