FOS The Terminal

[Opa George]

Looks like I am the first to post a thread on this one. Very excited to start it. I received the kit as a Christmas gift, but since then have been finishing up the first Bar Mills FSM Tribute kit. I've been somewhat absent from posting to the kit building forum lately because I've been working on the landforms and scenery to locate the Tribute kit on my layout.  Although not 100% done yet, I'm close enough that I can turn my attention to the next BIG KIT!  To those that followed my FSM Tribute build (thank you all for the encouragement throughout), don't worry, I will be posting "final" (is there such a thing?) pics of the buildings on the layout with scenery.

On to "The Terminal."

There is a tremendous amound of material in this box.  I imagine everyone has seen the pics of the kit on the FOS site, so I'll skip the image of the box cover. I spread out the entire contents on my workbench and it took three shots to capture it all, and that is with multiple carrier sheets of walls and etc stacked on top of each other. Below is pic one.



And some more:


And still more:


Apologies, that last image is a little dark. I purchased the optional Canal Street Market add-on, so that is in there somewhere. As I noted above, I'm very excited to start this kit, but I don't want to get ahead of myself, so time to put up my feet and read through the instruction book from cover to cover.

Cheers!
--Opa George

[GPdemayo]

Big kit George.....I'll be looking in. 

[EricQuebec]

Ditto
Eric

[PRR Modeler]

I'll be following George.

[vinceg]

Yep. Watching.

[Rail and Tie]

Count me in!

Popcorn's ready!

[Dave K.]

Woo-hoo! Been waiting for someone to start this!

[Janbouli]

I'll be following, what an enormous bundle of joy. Oh and George , we also like seeing photo's of progress on layouts, hint, hint.

[Opa George]

Thanks very much for following, Gregory, Eric, Curt, Vince, Darryl, Dave and Jan.    I certainly enjoy the company!

We begin with the big corner building that really anchors the kit: Caswell Shoe Company. I confess this is my very first FOS kit, and while the construction methods are pretty standard across the different kit makers, the organization and procedures do vary. While some companies segregate all the wall parts for individual buildings into labled bags, FOS does not. With the overall complexity of a kit such as this, I imagine that would add considerably to the final cost, so you're on your own to puzzle out which wall is which as not all of the carrier sheets are diagrammed and identified.

So I took my time, referred to the pictures, plans, and illustrations and finally determined that these are the walls I need for Caswell Shoe:


There are two walls that kept me guessing and hunting for quite a while: #21(lower right corner, square wall) and the bottom part of #20 (the two-part peaked wall).  I could not locate these on any of the larger carrier sheets with the rest of the show factory walls, and finally found them in one of the two small sealed pouches of random walls.  I am still not entirely sure that the wall I have identified as #21 is correct, simply because (if I read my plans correctly) it is a hidden dividing wall between the factory and the garage. My understanding is that those common walls are usually cardstock, instead of the more expensive scribed siding. However the size appears to be correct and I could not find a similar wall on the plans for any of the other buildings. We will see! 

Doug recommends bracing the walls prior to any other work, but I prefer to do my distressing while the walls can be held totally flat. Below I am using a half-inch plumber's welding brush from Home Depot, a tool which has been making an appearance on the forum lately.  It does a nice job of adding grain to the boards when brushed along the boards.


I enjoy the distressing part--take my time and examine results frequently.  Below I am using a card file for a different look. Some of the wall sections are quite intricate in design, or rather fragile, so as much fun as it is to beat them up, it must be done carefully and often with a light touch. A heavy hand can easily snap them in half or take out a thin strip around a window or door. Really vigorous scrubbing can also introduce a warp.


By the way, after all that work identifying walls, I took the extra step of marking them in pencil by number on the reverse. I also "checked" them off the plan as I located them. This will reduce the amount of time going back and forth from instruction book to plans when working with specific walls. It also helps me to keep them correctly vertically oriented. Nothing more irritating than attaching a wall upside down, or installing windows upside down. 


Here is the first "problem" I have encountered, although easily fixed. First is that the production model and all the photos, as well as the plans, show a freight door in that overhanging wall to the right of this main wall section. The plans detail how to trim it out, but as you can see, no door cut out of the wall.  But I can do that once I know the size of the door that goes there.


The last photo shows all of the plastic window and door castings (for all the structures) primed with Rustoleum spray flat gray primer. Nothing exciting here. I kept them on the sprues and will remove them before painting the final color. Nicely done castings with no flash.


On to lifting boards, and a few more distressing chores before an alcohol and ink wash.
--George

[ACL1504]

George,

Count me in on the followers as well. I have this one so I'm very interested in how it all fits.

I have fun just laying all the parts out when starting a kit.

Tom

[PRR Modeler]

Great start George. On complicated kits I mark the pieces after scratching my head while looking at the templates!

[Dockman]

This is a fun kit to build.  You'll really enjoy it.

[Opa George]

Thanks for following along, Tom. Glad to have you checking in.  Curt, indeed I have already done a fair amount of head scratching, but so far so good!    Thanks also, Dockman, for the encouragement. It is starting off as a challenging kit, but those are the ones that give the most satisfaction when done, right?

I followed the work above by preparing the 1/16th trim. Below, I am giving it a light distressing by carefully drawing an Exacto saw blade along the length of each strip.


Once the trim wood was ready, I gave all the walls and the trim a wash with a strong A & I solution. I used the 91% alcohol as it dries faster and minimizes warping. I define it as "stong" because I start with 3 tablespoons of India ink to a pint of alcohol, but I store it in a plastic tub that is not quite airtight, so some evaporation occurs. Regardless, below are the walls and trim drying. 


I decided to try the sponge painting technique. I kept some synthetic foam packing blocks that came with some electronics, which appear to be the same type of material as the kitchen sponges recommended by Doug Foscale. I cut off a workable chunk, dabbed it in white craft acrylic paint, blotted off the excess, then began working on the walls.  I like the result, and it was a lot faster than dry-brushing the paint on for a faded look. There are few spots that I want to dress up with some sanding, but overall not bad. This is a good place to stop and let everything dry overnight.


One more note: I spray-painted the backs of all walls with Rustoleum Camoflage Super Flat Black. Below, I flipped over two of the walls to show the effect. Note that I didn't go too heavy--just enough to keep the interior dark once the walls are together.


That's about it for today.  Tomorrow evening I'll trim out the walls and freight door openings with the 1/16th stripwood. This seems to be moving along pretty well. I'll be installing windows and putting on signs before long!
--George

[Opa George]

I probably didn't get as much done as planned, but on the other hand I do like taking my time with a good kit. And a long weekend is coming up!

Below, a pic of all the walls of the shoe factory trimmed out. I also began assembly of wall 18, which is the "front" wall of the structure. Now that the paint has cured, Doug's suggestion to try sponge painting the first coat is a good one. This is a departure from first applying a solid coat of base color to the A&I weathered walls, then sponging on earth to represent peeled paint. In sponging on the primary coat, I believe the peeling/chipping effect is more pronounced.


Below, a closeup of the front wall. I installed the laser-cut freight doors and one of the plastic windows. As you may notice, I cut out the "missing" freight door on the lower right and trimmed it out and then installed a door. All good so far and everything fits together well. The only trimming I will need to do is sand the bottom of the main freight doors even with the wall bottom.


Per the instructions, I should install signs--at least the big ones--next.  Hopefully tomorrow for that.
All for now. -- George

[PRR Modeler]

Nice job on the walls George.