Holland Odessa R.R.

[ACL1504]

Jim,

Thanks for the overall photo of the layout. It gives us a new perspective of the layout theme and structures.

Looking good.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Oh, by the way, Greg was a great help when he designed the Ovalix on his CAD program.

To bad it won't allow him to go "full throttle" up and down. To bad for him anyway!

Tom

[Mark Dalrymple]

Nice job, Jim!

The veranda looks much better.

Its nice to see a kit changed up like this.  I'm looking forward to your future efforts.

Generally, when I build something like this, I would build the veranda separate from the building complete with rafters, purlins, and corrugated iron roofing.  I use a thin piece of black card, which gives a fairly good impression of black building paper when glimpsed from underneath when installed on the building.  I cut this to the shape of the roof, then work upside down, gluing on the purlins to the card, then the rafters to the purlins (cut to the correct angle and length - slightly longer than the card at the front).  I then turn the roof over when dry, draw some lines on the card to help keep things square, and add the double sided tape.  I then start at the bottom adding the sheets of iron.  These, too, I overhang slightly.  In this way I find the roofing much easier to put on straight and square.  I have a process before this where I add small indentations to the iron which, when flipped over, look like lead headed nails.    After installing the roof I then make up a flashing out of aluminum foil which I smooth out and then attach a piece of double sided tape.  I then cut this into strips for the size of the flashing, carefully bend it in half longways using a metal rule and my thumb nail, and then peel off the tape backing.  This can then be worked in at the junction of the cladding and the roof.  You can use a tool to work the flashing into the roof undulations.  In this way any gaps between the roofing and the cladding are hidden.  Its pretty painful and tricky, but the results are worth it.  I particularly like the lead headed nails on the roof as in the 1:1 world these are always visible on structures, whereas the nail holes on timber cladding are usually not.

Thanks for your thorough commentary on your work - I enjoyed reading through it.

Cheers, Mark.

[Jim Donovan]

Mark thanks for the feedback. You packed a lot of how to information in a easy way to understand, thanks. I have printed it out and it's in my growing book of 'how to' so I remember next time.

[Jim Donovan]

My first attempt at kitbashing is complete. Previous photos of the Campbell Supply Store which Mark commented on previous to this posting have been removed. I just did not like the way it was turning out so did a complete re-work of what I had done. I incorporated the ideas he and Greg provided, as well as just cleaned up what was becoming an overdone structure. Attached are the finished results. Thanks guys for the advice.

The one picture has a test tree next to the building. I did a little 'how to' for the local NMRA group About making a realistic Elm trees using a local flower called Autumn Joy. The building and figure were to show the scale and I think the tree looks good there, suspect it will be there when the scene is complete.

The rest of the photo's are in low light as this is my first attempt to light the interior as well with LED's. The main warehouse and shed were lite so you can see the work going on inside. Also a gooseneck light was put under the porch and over the shed door so you can see the detail there.

I spent a lot of time on this building, learned a lot. Next up Keen's market which will be across the street or Decker's Tar Soap which will be on the siding with the supply store.

[GPdemayo]

Good job Jim.....

[Jim Donovan]

Somewhere along the line I forgot the reason why I started this layout thread. It's suppose to be about a beginners effort at modeling, not how I did something. I'll stick to the beginner feedback hopefully from now on.

It has been just over a year since I started modeling and about seven months since I found this forum when buying a kit called J. Keen Supplies from railroadkits.com. It came with a DVD as well as a tee shirt (can't have too many of those). It is suppose to be a beginner kit with the DVD explaining each step on how to build it. On the box it says visit ModelersForum which I did and here I am.

So beginner feedback, I am glad I did not build J. Keen Supply when first bought. Instead I started putting the kit together a month ago making it the fifth small wood kit I have built. When started I found three of the walls broken but more importantly, part of one was missing. In addition the only casting was the chimney. Not sure what happened but if I had tried to make this kit when bought not sure if I would have finished it. The DVD is well done but the way I learn is dependent on reading and pictures. I have to watch a YouTube video or DVD perhaps twenty times to absorb the information provided. Reading directions, one or two times. Experts claim there are four ways to learn, visual being one, reading another.

The first wood kit I built was a Campbell Oil Derrick Kit bought on E-bay when I decided to try the hobby.  I lucked out, directions for the kit were well documented, explaining both the how and why. There are a ton of low cost older Campbell kits on E-bay. After a year of learning if another beginner asked what wood kit to start with I would still say a Campbell kit. Cost is good, documentation great and finished kit looks fine.

So, J. Keen Supply. I liked the video and watched it at least twice, will watch it again as Doug Foscale is the teacher and provides a lot of information. The structure itself is simple, neat and would look great as is, however it also is a great starting point. Since it was my fifth kit I figured out the issues of broken walls and missing parts and simply fixed what was needed. Besides enjoying building it I wanted to apply what I've learned this past year by tinkering with it. What came out is a unique structure, Neuber's Drug Store.

A beginner light bulb moment was when I realized making the structure is just phase one. Making it part of the layout and bringing it to life is as important and perhaps takes just as long.

So here are pictures of the completed first phase of Neuber's Drugs. There is a picture of the original J. Keen Supply for reference. I'll post the completed project when phase two is done. Hope you like the kit, I did.

[PRR Modeler]

Really nice building Jim.

[Janbouli]

Well done Jim, looks great.

[ACL1504]

Jim,

Nicely done and a great variation to the original kit.

Tom

[GPdemayo]

Great kitbash Jim.....

[jerryrbeach]

Jim,


I wouldn't have recognized that you started with the J. Keen kit the look of the structure has changed so much.  I especially like the full width steps to the storefront.  I find that typical of the era, and I may have to borrow the idea for one of the buildings on the D&N. 

[jimmillho]

Super job Jim.

Another Jim

[jrmueller]

Looks great Jim another Jim checking in

[Jim Donovan]

Thanks folks for the nice compliments. The vast majority of what I have learned this year has come from this forum. For example, the enclosed staircase for Neuber's is a Bar Mill quick kit. I had just read on the forum the problem with Laser cut wood is the grain often is not consistent with the part. Sure enough the support beams were laser cut from a sheet and not at all real looking with grain going in all directions and only 2 x 10 in scale.  I instead used it as a template and made scale 10 x 10 beams.

I get knowledge everytime I log on. With that said I will share pictures of the first structure I built. It was finished in October 2017. At that time I thought the layout would be half Ohio half Florida. My wife and kids thought it looked great. It has been removed from the layout and put on a shelf. The internet enabled forums like this and that in turn allows guys like me to leapfrog the learning curve. Thanks, it sure has increased my enjoyment of the hobby.