FSM Bailey's Produce for Cuse - Here we go again!

[ReadingBob]

It's déjà vu all over again.   

This begins the 3rd build thread on the forum of the FSM George Bailey's Produce Company (Jewel Series No. 2) kit.  I'm building this one for John M. (Cuse).  He's been very patiently waiting on it for a while now.  We did a little horse trading a while back on this one.  John did me a favor and I owed him.  Big time.  He wanted me to build one of his kits for him but I felt I owed him a lot more than that so I'm building a kit out of my stash for him.

Now, as we work our way thru this build things may change a little bit.  John likes the structures and layout but he didn't feel that he wanted a Produce Company.  So maybe it'll end up being something else by the time I'm done.  There's a lot of castings that wouldn't be used if it turns into some other type of business and I'd have to figure out how to change the name on the awning but we'll cross that bridge if/when we come to it.      

Here's the original advertisement for the kit.   



I just love breaking open one of these gems and digging through all the goodies in the box.



The first thing we come across inside the box are the instructions.  IMHO George's instruction set the standard for kit instructions.  I always feel like George is right there with me guiding me thru the build.      



The instructions and some packing material are covering all the fun stuff that I'm (hopefully) going to turn into something that resembles what's in the ad.



There's walls, windows, shingles, assorted strip wood, a little bag of Durham's Rock Hard Water putty...



...templates galore, corrugated aluminum, signs...



...more templates, roofs, boxes...



... and I saved the best for last, those wonderful little castings that give the finished product so much character!



Wow!  Sorry about the size of the pictures.  I thought I chose a smaller size.  Still messing around with software that I'm a bit unfamiliar with.  Oh well, I guess I'll stick with this size for now.

More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

I started out by cleaning up all the castings.  They metal casting are really well made and don't require a lot of clean up.  A couple passes here and there with a file and things look pretty good.



I remove the plastic castings from their sprue's using a sprue cutter.  A handy little tool to keep on the workbench.  My son borrows it quite frequently to build those little metal models that you cut the pieces out, fold and assemble. 



I touch up the plastic pieces with an emery board.



Note: Some folks prefer to paint the windows, doors, etc. while they're still attached to the sprue and remove them afterwards.  That's fine too.  I just prefer to do it this way.

I laid everything out on a baking tray, held in place with strips of blue painters tape that are taped down sticky side up.  I'll skip over the part where I took these out to the garage and sprayed them, using an airbrush, with Floquil Earth. 



Using the template included in the kit I cut the corrugated aluminum panels into sheets that will be use on the roof.  I broke away from the instructions a bit here.  The instructions say to prime them first and then cut them.  Again, that's fine, I just like to cut them first.  I primed these with a rattle can gray primer.



Don't try to cut thru these in one pass.  Make a few lite passes and then cut fine.  Use a new blade.  It won't be new by the time you're finished.   

More in a moment....

[ReadingBob]

This time around I did something I only do on occasion.  I painted all the detail castings before I started working on anything else.  No reason.  I just felt like doing it this way this time around.  It took me a couple of weekends of work until I had them done.  Afterwards I weathered them with A&I or gray and black washes.





Finally I dry brushed them with some cheap craft store acrylic. 





I'm ready to start playing with glue and building something but, alas, that won't happen until I return from vacation in a couple of weeks.


Thanks for following along!

[vinceg]

Kudos on the accents!

[ACL1504]

Bob,

I'll be patiently watching this one as you go. This is one I want to build myself so don't worry about having to do a second one.

Great start my friend.

Tom

[Janbouli]

Don't be sorry for the large photo's , it's great.

[PRR Modeler]

Really nice job on the castings Bob. I will be following.

[jimmillho]

I will be watching this when you get back.

Jim

[cuse]

Here we go! Off to a great start...I got the backdrop in this past weekend and started fooling around with potential placements of this beauty-to-be. Hopefully, I'll get some surrounding terrain done soon so when Bob's done, it won't be too long before I can show it off in a beautiful placement. Obviously, I'll be watching!


John

[Dave K.]

Riding along and looking forward to it!

[GPdemayo]

Safe travels Bob.....I'll be watching your build when you return. 

[Zephyrus52246]

Having flashbacks to when I did my kit seeing you paint the details.     The larger pictures are great.


Jeff

[S&S RR]

Bob


Your off to a great start! I like the big pictures, too. So much easier to see the details. I will be following along.

[postalkarl]

Hi Bob:

As you know this was the last kit I built for my friend. I will be watching your build with interest to see what you do with this one. Have fun.

Karl

[ReadingBob]

Kudos on the accents!

Thanks Vince!  It's fun trying to get the casting looking like I want them to.  It's an ever evolving process too.