Builders in Scale "The Waterfront"

[Opa George]

Some quick photos of last evening's work adding posters to the walls. These posters are from my collection:






And starting the wall assembly:


Have a GREAT Wednesday!

[vinceg]

Looking good, George. Love the Shoeless Joe Jackson sign....

[postalkarl]

Looks great so far George

[Opa George]

Thanks, Vince and thanks, Karl. Yes, I forgot I had that sign until I was sorting through looking for something suitable.

[Opa George]

Getting the walls up on the saltbox rooming house. I'm a clothespin fan, although do use regular clamps for the bigger jobs.


Skipped photos on a few steps. The instructions caution to work quickly to position certain parts before the glue sets, so I forged ahead and did not document with photos, but except for assembling the six-piece storefront castings, all was fairy straightforward. I must note that the castings fit together beautifully with the die-cut walls and floor assemblies: testament to a well-designed kit.


And the other side.  The roof ridge pole is newly installed with rubber band support till dry. I still need to cut the corner posts flush with the roof angle, and add a row of shingles to the top of the back wall (don't know how or why I did not do that when originally shingling the wall.  I'm really enjoying this kit so far.

[NEMMRRC]

Welcome aboard Opa George. Glad to have you along.


This is one of the many fantastic kits that were released when I first joined the hobby. I recall dreaming and drooling over the ad photos in the magazines. It's fantastic you are building it and sharing it with us.


Keep the updates coming and keep having fun.


Jaime

[vinceg]

Coming along nicely, George. Love the rubber band idea. I'll need to try that next time.

[cuse]

Beautiful work. Great treatment, particularly on the shingled wall and signs!


John

[postalkarl]

Hi George:

That building is coming along nicely. Looks great so fra.

Karl

[Opa George]

Welcome aboard Opa George. Glad to have you along.


This is one of the many fantastic kits that were released when I first joined the hobby. I recall dreaming and drooling over the ad photos in the magazines. It's fantastic you are building it and sharing it with us.


Keep the updates coming and keep having fun.


Jaime

Thanks, Jaime.  This is the ad that did it for me (below). I cut this one out and taped it above my workbench for inspiration.

(image from the FSM Ad Gallery on this site--thanks for providing those!)

[Opa George]

Coming along nicely, George. Love the rubber band idea. I'll need to try that next time.

Thanks, Vince. Rubber bands are tricky--they have to have just the right tension. In this case it worked well since I did not have a clamp large enough. The gable ends had warped out very slightly, so a gentle tension to pull them back to fit the ridge pole was needed.

[Opa George]

Thanks John and Karl for the supportive comments.
John--I love large, quirky signs and posters and the large shingled wall provided a nice canvas to showcase a few I had. The issue, once the model is finished, is locating it so that the wall is not totally hidden from view!

[Opa George]

At this point the instructions tell me to decide if the dormer will face the front or rear of the structure. Nice that they built in that choice. I'm keeping it facing front. First, the dormer roof half gets the clothespin and rubber band clamp treatment. The underside of the roof panels are spray-painted flat black.  The dormer area (without shingles) has a thin matte brown coat to kill the stark white, in case I don't fully cover the windows.


While the roof adhesive set, I decided to fill in the small gaps in the storefront assembly. I'm experimenting with spackle, and quite frankly I don't know if this is going to turn out well or not. I teased small amounts into the gaps with my blade, removed excess with toothpicks, then used a soft brush, just damp with water, to smooth over the remaining spackle. The brush bristles left delicate marks that can simulate wood grain.  My plan is to let it completely dry and then lightly blend with white acrylic paint. If that goes well, I will carefully add a little A&I and/or dark chalk powder to finish. I'll post results of my experiment tomorrow.


Glueing the other main roof panel (toothpicks are handy to remove oozing glue):


I painted the chimney casting with Rust-oleum satin paprika. I think it gives a nice red-orange to simulate old brick. I will add a thin mortar wash after the paint fully cures.


More tomorrow. I have the Little League World Series on in the background and Hawaii has been leading South Korea, but SK is not one to be counted out yet--gotta go watch!

[postalkarl]

Hey Opa:

Nice progress. Keep the photos coming.

Karl

[Opa George]

Thanks, Karl!  Just one more to post today--coming right up!