Carolina Craftsman kit Rural Post Office.

[ACL1504]

Tom. Thanks for the build thread.  I have this kit in my stash(as my wife calls all her quilt fabric) and I am afraid it will be awhile before I get to it.  Great build. Jim

Jim,

You are very welcome. This is a great structure and as you can see easy modified with a few extra little details.

Thank you for the compliment as well.

Tom

[Janbouli]

So I am away for a week and you finish this awesome build, thanks Tom

[ACL1504]

The kit is 99.9 % finished now. I have approximately 30 pictures left to show. Normally, I'd do this over a three day posting but I'm going to finish it this afternoon.

One of the things I noticed is that I could see through the building and see light under neath.

I used 10 X 10's  and glued four around the inside of the braces as shown below. I glued them just below the black braces.



I cut a piece of card board and marked the edges. I then glued some 10 X 10's to the card board for strength.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

So I am away for a week and you finish this awesome build, thanks Tom

Jan,

I hope you had a great vacation and golf get away. I've been busy but need to move on to the next project.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I made sure the floor fit with the bracing prior to gluing it in place.



It did fit so the floor was glued in place and allowed to dry. I cut a hole in the floor so I could run the wires for the outside light covered later in the build.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

When I got ready to build the store front deck I looked again at the original photo. I noticed the deck was angled at the post office end.



I was going to model it that way but decided to do the full deck.

Here is what I think the picture shows.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I built a simple box frame for the deck. I used 8x8's for the posts and 2x6's for the stringers.



Fast forward and the box frame was finished and the vertical boards were added. I used 2x8's for the vertical boards.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

To make the boards look worn and weathered I drew them under the fine tooth blade of an Xacto blade.



I stained them with Hunterline Light Brown and let dry. The stain (A&I) brings out the wood grain. I then cut them to length and glued them to the frame.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I forgot to mention in measuring the frame, take into account the thickness of the top deck boards. In this case I used 2 X 8's for the top boards as well. You want the top boards to just fit under the front wall.



This deck is 8 HO scale feet in width and the same length as the front wall. I originally made the deck 5 scale feet in width but didn't like the look so I added the three extra feet.

I made the front steps like the ones I remember as a boy. There was a lot of activity at these old stores and post office so the stairs give the customers plenty of room to come and go.



More in a few, Diet Pepsi time.

[ACL1504]

I wanted both chimneys to be at the same height. The post office chimney was set so I used an level to adjust the other one to that same height. I then glued both in place.



I'm sure when this building was built, out houses were in use. The town of Tahope added a sewer system so the folks here added indoor plumbing.

I used a punch to "punch" "   a hole in the roof.  I cut a small piece of brass tube for the vent stack.



I painted the brass tubing with Floquil Gunmetal and while the paint was still wet, added some powdered rust colored chalk from Bragdon to the vent stack.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I used Gallery Glass Liquid Leading for the tar pitch around the vents and both chimneys.





Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I used one of Slim's LEDs and made a goose neck light. Hopefully, this time he sold me some that won't catch on fire.

For the goose neck I used .025" OD (outside diameter) stainless tubing.

I painted the top of the shade with green and the underside with white. The goose neck was painted with weathered black and the rust colored Bragdon chalk powder was added while the paint was still wet.



The coke machine came with the kit and was painted red.

The goose neck light was glued in place over the Coke sign.



Back in a few.

[postalkarl]

Nice job.

[ACL1504]

The LED was a little bright for the era I'm modeling. I used Tamiya clear Yellow and using a toothpick, applied a little clear yellow to the business end of the LED.





The light isn't as bright as seen in the photo. Trust me, I'm a professional electrician.

[ACL1504]

Nice job.

Karl,

Thank you. BTW, the issue with the CD was in my software. Should have it fixed soon.

Tom