Rugg Manufacturing - SRMW Kit 170

[PRR Modeler]

Great modeling.

[ACL1504]

Vince,

I've experienced the same issue with Canopy glue and Krystal Klear as well. I solved the issue as you did by just adding more over the gaps. It all works out fine.

NOTE: The thinner I apply the Canopy Glue, the better chance I have for the gaps to appear as it dries. Over time you'll get the "feel" of what is the right amount to apply to the windows. I haven't had any gaps for about a year now.

Great job on the build.

Tom

[craftsmankits]

Really enjoying this build.  Especially the nuances of the kit.  Thanks for the photos and updates. 

[vinceg]

Thanks again for the comments, everyone. Heading out of town for the weekend. I am planning for the next set of pics to be all of the walls put up. But, I'm still a couple of walls short. (Sounds like a thing -- "He's a couple walls short of a building....) Next installment will likely be early next week.

[vinceg]

I have been making progress although more slowly than I hoped. In addition to getting busy, I got to the point where I had to populate the south extension shed south wall with the access door and overhead door. Here it is:



This was slow for me because the overhead door and transom windows required framing with individual pieces of strip wood. My first, small taste of scratch building, I reckon. You can see the results. I like the recessed look of the overhead door. It actually looks much better in person (doesn't everything?). But, looking at the cruel, objective picture, you can see the gaps in the framing of the transom windows. There also seems to be a lot of "texture" to the walls when greatly magnified. Next time around (guess that means next kit), I think I will try to use some fine steel wool after painting to see if I can smooth that out a bit. Some rough texture is probably good, but this looks out of scale to me.

I also tried inkahol wash this time on the doors instead of chalk. I don't like the result. I can see some grain relief in the garage door that I would like to have taken a darker appearance with the stain but it doesn't seem to have happened as nicely as it did with chalk on other doors.

I will try to go back and try to apply some chalk. But, of course, I now have the wall glued into the diorama so it will be much more difficult.

I can also see a lot of air bubbles in the canopy glue windows. Again, in person, not an issue but the pictures certainly accentuate it. Think I'm becoming a canopy-glue-window anti-fan.

I used a gray paint for this south shed. In general, I used the reverse approach from the instructions. The manual calls for most of the Rugg structure to be done in gray with the south shed done in white. As you have seen, I did the main structures in white.

The kit also allows for the removal of the garage/overhead door to expose some internal detail. I am choosing not to do that.

I took several pictures of the rest of the progress as well but have to get ready to catch a train to go downtown. I will post them tonight.

Cheers.

[rpdylan]

Gallery Glass! I love the stuff, never shrinks or tears. bubble issues are rare. I use both the clear and frosted types.
   Your build is fantastic!

[Dave K.]

I think she's looking great, Vince.👍🏻 I dropped canopy glue for MKKa couple of years ago, although I'll also use acetate sometimes. Just my preference...everyone has theirs. Build on!

Oops! I meant to say I've been using Gallery Glass, not MKK. D'oh! 🤪

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking good, Vince.

Re the glue issues - I would have thought a good art supply store would sell nozzles for glue bottles (I know I have bought them before).  You might be able to find what you need without having to wait until you finish your canopy glue.

Cheers, Mark. 

[vinceg]

I would like to try the gallery glass. Where do you guys usually buy it? I have found lots of things online but usually in colored sets or other individual bottles that don't look like the simple clear or frosted version. Maybe you just buy directly from plainonline.com?

[vinceg]

OK, as threatened, here are some more pix. I'm not quite done with the walls and there are a few corner posts missing, too, but it's getting close. First, the north side. The empty slab you see is for the north shed. I expect to be getting to that this weekend.



Now a view from the south. Here you can that wall I mentioned above. The grooves that you see under the overhead door are slots for a narrow-gauge rail tram setup that is offered as part of the kit. My current thinking is that I will not be using that. So, for now, I left the grooves empty and brushed in some rust-colored chalk to suggest that rails were previously there. If I change my mind later I can slip in a couple of small pieces under the door. I may also just fill in the grooves. We'll see how it looks once I build up the approach to the door.



Here's a view from the east. I like this view a lot. Really shows off some of the nice lines of the structure. Also, this alcove (and entire area, really) is eventually supposed to be filled in with a deck (else how would you get to those doors that are sitting atop the brick foundation?). I am thinking about whether I want to do the deck now rather than later when the instructions call for it. Seems like it would be easier to do before I have roof overhangs getting in the way. I'll spend some more time overthinking that later. Seems a shame to hide all of Bob's nice brick work with the deck, but alas.... By the way, I used a medium gray chalk to weather these double doors. Much better effect than the inkahol as I mentioned above. Also, regarding the inkahol (used on the south shed doors), I found that it seemed to dissolve the white craft paint as I was working with it a bit. Not sure if I just didn't let the craft paint cure long enough or if the alcohol is a natural solvent for that paint. Either way, care was needed. Chalk was much easier.



A shot from the southeast. The clerestory walls are missing - they will be next to go in.



And finally from the northeast. The other stone retaining wall goes here where the styrofoam ends. I reckon I can put that in now. I don't think anything else is in way. I'll check that out.



That's it for now. Back to work and I'll talk to you soon.

Cheers

[deemery]

Looking good!

Here's one of those "seen but not modeled" ideas, a crack in the brick foundation.  Run some black ink carefully along the mortar lines from top to bottom.




dave

[PRR Modeler]

Beautiful modeling.

[postalkarl]

Wow Vince:

Now that is coming along quite beautifully.

Karl

[tom.boyd.125]

Vince,
It's really starting to take shape. Will keep on watching your build . You are doing a really nice job !
This will help a lot when it's time to raise the walls up North.
Tommy

[vinceg]

Some minor updates from yesterday. First, clerestory side walls are in:



And here is the north shed:



I actually had quite a bit of work to do to get this right. First, the front wall was too long for the foundation. It would have resulted in the side wall being completely off the foundation on west side. To make it work, I shortened the wall by using a wood rasp and my True Sander to take some length off the left and right sides. Here's an overhead picture:



You can see that the 1/8" square bracing on the front wall isn't square any more. I took off a total of about 1/16" combined from both ends, I think. This was actually quite a bit more difficult than I expected. The bracing makes it difficult to file. Would have been nice if I had test fit this first so that I only had to file the clapboard. Not sure why this sizing didn't match. Given where everything is, I don't see how I could have created this problem with incorrect assembly -- you basically just throw the foundation slab down and plop the wall on top. But, no matter. It fits now.

I also had an issue with the side wall. See the following picture:



Notice how the top of the wall angles up to meet the top of the cinder block wall (W8 in the photo). When I first test fit the wall, the right-hand side (where it meets the cinder block wall) was above the cinder block wall by at least one full clapboard section. I shaved and sanded it down to make it flush as you see it. Maybe that was not the right thing to do -- that is, perhaps the gap needed to be there, but in glancing forward in the instructions I didn't see anything that suggested that the extra height for that wall was part of the design. I'll find out soon when the roof goes on. I have to say that it seems a little odd to have multiple problems with such a small, simple shed after everything else seemed to work so well. Makes me think I did something wrong. We'll see.

That's it. I think it's time to start the roof. I mentioned earlier that I was contemplating doing the deck first. I decided against that -- will just following the instructions as given.

CU later.