Fine Scale Miniatures Jewel Series #10 Avram's Bakery for the S&S RR

[ReadingBob]

Nice work Bob.  Thanks for the how to!

Jerry

Thanks Jerry!  I'm sharing the stuff I've learned from George's instructions (best I've ever worked with) as well as things I've picked up here.

[ReadingBob]

Great Build Bob.

Jim

Thanks Jim!  Much appreciated! 

[ReadingBob]

Fantastic work Bob! I sure wish I would have had your build threads when I was starting out in this hobby. You should have been a teacher. I learn something new with every thread that I have followed. By the way I bought some of the metal glue caps from a few pages back and they work great.  The plastic ones I was using worked for a few weeks and then the hole got to big from me getting the dried up glue off them.  The metal tips are going to last awhile.

Thanks John!  Glad you like it.     I like the metal glue tips.  They do clog up over time and I have to spend a few minutes cleaning them out every now and then but they give a great amount of control when applying glue.

[ReadingBob]

Wow!  I've been very delinquent in updating this thread.  I have been slowly making progress on the build though.  I'm not as far along as I had hoped to be but life sometimes has a way of doing that to me.

I glued the battens (or what ever you want to call them) onto the roof.  In another build thread on Avram's (somewhere) I recall a discussion about these being painted rather than raw wood.  Makes sense.  But I like the look/contrast of the raw wood so I opted to keep them the way the pilot model was built.  I applied glue sparingly to one side of the strip.


Then I smooth the glue out with a swipe of the finger.  I always have a paper towel handy to wipe the glue off of my finger before I grab anything with it to avoid smearing glue somewhere it shouldn't be.


After pressing the strip in place if any excess glue oozes out I remove it with the tip of an X-Acto knife or a scrap piece of strip wood.


Rafter tails!  Cut the appropriate number per the template on the card using a single edge razor blade.


I fear I'm missing a few photo's here.  My camera has been acting up as of late.  It says the memory stick is missing when I turn it on even thought the stick is in the camera.  I don't see the message though as the camera is facing me.     I cleaned of the contacts on the memory stick and tried a different memory stick but that didn't solve the problem.  I noticed the stick itself is slight larger than an emery board to I inserted an emery board in the slot in the camera and rubbed it back and forth a few times.  That seems to have corrected the issue.   

At this point I used the template to cut the corrugated roof panels for the lower roof.  I deviate from the instructions here.  They say to prime the panels before cutting them.  I prefer to paint them cutting them.  The first cut is lengthwise to make shorter panels.


Next up is running the ponce wheel over one edge of the panel to add nail holes to the bottom of the panels.


More in a few....

[ReadingBob]

Now it's time to cut the individual panels.  Make sure to use a new X-Acto blade in the handle.  This will dull it in a hurry. 


Again, some missing photo's.  Either the camera failed (this was pre my fix) or I forgot to take pictures of painting the panels.  I primed them with a light gray rattle can primer.  Then I painted them using oil paints.  I was shooting for partially rusted panels.  Afterwards I applied some rust colored chalks.  I was shooting for more rust at the bottom of the panels, which would stay wet longer than the top after some rain.  Not quite the effect I wanted but close.   


Gluing the little windows in a partially open position.  I use a small piece of strip wood to prop them up until the glue sets and a little bit of the Microscale Krystal Klear for glue.


I jumped ahead in the instructions and started working on the support for the trackside overhang.  There's a reason I did this that I'll explain later on.


The support has Nut/Bolt/Washer (NBW) castings that need to be applied.  I prefer to drill holes for this vs. cutting them off flush and gluing them in place.


I cut the NBW castings from the sprue using sprue cutter and leave just a little bit (roughly 1/16 of a inch) of the "bolt" to stick in the hole I drilled.


More in a few....

[ReadingBob]

I applied the tiniest drop of glue possible directly over hole.


Then inserted the NBW casting in the hole an pressed it in place.  An Optivisor is a great aid in doing this!  I only lost one NBW casting but there are four extras in the kit so...whew!


I glued the completed wood assembly to the concrete (also wood) base.


I needed this assembly done so I could estimate where it would sit on the base.  I positioned it close to where it will go.


Then I marked where the inside of the concrete base would be in relation to the structure itself.  I did that so I could determine the centerline of the track (between the wall of the building and the concrete base).


I'm hand laying the track so I need to get that done before I glue the building to the base.  It would be too difficult to spike the rails down with the building in the way.  Using Campbell low profile ties I created a strip (actually I needed a strip and a half) of ties using the template that comes with the ties and some painters tape.


More in a few....

[ReadingBob]

Just position the ties on the tape (pinned upside down of course) using the template.  They don't have to be perfect but not too sloppy either.  Notice I haven't stained the ties yet.  Another deviation from the standard way of doing this.  The instructions that come with the ties call for staining them prior to doing this.


I applied some wood glue over the track center line I had drawn on the homasote base.


Then smeared it around both side of the line until I had a thin coat that was roughly the width of the ties.


I positioned the strip of ties over the glue and pressed them in place.


Then I weighed them down until the glue set.


After the ties were glued in place I sanded the top smooth to make sure they were level (which, if they had been stained first would require some touch up of the stain) then roughed them up a bit with my favorite distressing tool.


More in a few...

[ReadingBob]

Now I stained them.  I used Hunterline Weathering mixes and tried to get a few different shades of ties.


Again, this is my own weird way of doing things.  I ballasted the track before spiking the rails in place.  For a siding like this I used Arizona Rock and Mineral Southern Pacific Black Cinder.  I used painters tape to prevent the cinders from getting out into the unfinished base.


That's it.  That's where I'm at picture wise.  Next up is lighting the interior of the main structure and figuring out how to make that accessible once the structure has been glued in place.  I have a plan.  I hope it works.   

Thanks for following along!

[Blazeman]

I really enjoy your build narratives and the photos go oh so well with your commentary.

Preaching to the choir, there are some outstanding "builders" on this site who are similarly adept at sharing the how-to information in understandable formats.

[postalkarl]

Hey Bob:

It's looking real fine so far. Can't wait to see more.

Karl

[jimmillho]

Awesome Bob.

Jim

[Opa George]

Bob, wonderful thread--as good as sitting in a live workshop with a master builder. Love your work.
--George

[PRR Modeler]

Really nice Bob.

[S&S RR]

Bob


I just got caught up with this build thread - it is looking fantastic. 

[Jerry]

Bob

Wonderful job looking forward to more progress!!

Jerry