FOS The Terminal

[Janbouli]

Wow , to think of the star as pieces of lighting , just genius.

[Opa George]

I appreciate all of the supportive comments, everyone.
Time today to start the tavern. The Trolley Tavern and the garage anchor one leg of the U-shaped kit. Or perhaps you could think of it as a triangle with one of the points open. The tavern and the garage will attached to the rear end of the shoe mill when complete.

If I had followed the instructions, this pair of buildings would have been assembled right after the mill. Unfortunately I found that two of the tavern walls were missing. It's been more than a month and two emails and I have yet to hear back from Doug, so I decided to make the missing walls from scrap and forge ahead.

After the typical distressing and a wash with A & I, I painted them in a yellow and green combination. This echoes the bus terminal colors, but in a soft yellow and a deep green, whereas the bus terminal was an ochre and light green. The two buildings are located on opposite sides of the final configuration, so I don't think it will look tedious.  The acrylic colors I used were "Melted Butter" and "Hunter Green."  Most of the paint application was via a sponge. I also used acrylic "Sand" to give the appearance of peeling paint, with a bit of white on the alley wall (although I believe that wall will be mostly covered with billboards ads).


Below are the walls with bracing and most trim. The large yellow "alley" wall is one of those that was missing. I was able to deduce its dimensions from the die-cut roof and adjoining walls, as well as from careful study of the pilot model photos.  In the photo below, I have not yet cut out the openings for a door and a single small window.  I varied from the instructions by distressing and painting all of the walls and the frieze boards, and then assembling them, before bracing--reversing my usual process.  This was in order to get an accurate length for all of the bracing and trim, which extends beyond the walls onto the frieze.  Plastic windows are also in place.


Because this building required odd angles at several corner joints, I began assembling the shell at the largest 90-degree angle. Note that I have installed the door and window in the rear wall at this point. The white wall replaces the second missing wall. As it will become the interior wall of the garage, I painted it white to match its facing interior wall (on the mill).


Here is another spot I varied slightly from the instructions. I was worried that I did not have the correct angle at the tower end, in particular since my substitute wall involved a bit of guess work. So instead of first installing the first floor tavern window wall, and then installing the clapboard/tower assembly above it, I decided to attach the window wall to the clapboard wall first and let it dry.  Below, the tower/clapboard assembly is drying upside down.  You can also see where I shaved away a good portion of the vertical brace on the right end of the alley wall, to accommodate the angle.  Test fitting before gluing is essential on this structure.


The resulting fit was good.  Below, the front of the building shell.


And the back (alley side). I will be adding a green frieze board to the top of the white wall.


And the interior, showing the angles of corners. Also note, although not specified in the written instructions, careful placement of the horizontal bracing at the rear of the peaked clapboard. This will support the roof at the front.


The tavern and garage, as well as the shoe mill, all sit on sidewalk slabs included in the kit. While these were drying, I spray painted the taskboard sidewalk segments. I'll show them in a future post.
--George

[PRR Modeler]

Looks good George.

[Opa George]

Thanks very much, Curt!
Here is the Trolley Barn Tavern with the cardstock roof in place, rolled roofing applied but not yet trimmed, and the tower roof in progress. At this point, the structure went together quickly and without any unusual notes.  I also applied the large retro bus poster to the alley wall. 


After the roof was down and shingles applied to the tower, it was all detailing from that point.  The restaurant is pretty much finished. Next up will be the garage, which is really only front and back walls and a roof. It has no sides to build as it shares walls with the mill and the restaurant.  Below, the front of the restaurant. I think the lighting is really emphasizing the weathering here.  It doesn't look that beaten up in person. It is also slightly out of focus. I'll post more pics later.


Here is the alley side. I added rain gutter and downspout--those are not included in the kit.


And a shot of the roof detail.  The structure is not yet affixed to the sidewalk. You can also easily see the spot on the sidewalk piece that is reserved for the garage.  I'm waiting for all structures on this leg of the diorama to be finished before attaching everything to sidewalks. I'll have separate notes on adding the sidewalks included with the kit. I have a few modifications to make on that point, but I'll save that for later.


--George

[postalkarl]

Hey George:

The tavern looks just great.

Karl

[PRR Modeler]

Beautiful modeling George. I really like the part that sticks out in front.

[Opa George]

Thank you, Karl, and thank you Curt. The tower on the restaurant is a nice touch with this structure, and I the angle makes it look really cool.

Here are all of the main structural parts for the garage, with the exception that I have already attached the pilasters to the sides of the façade. It will use the adjoining walls from the restaurant and the mill for side walls. Like the bus terminal entrance, this is also art deco, but more low style. A genius design move on Doug's part to reinforce the style theme.

The front is plywood, the rear wall is Taskboard and the roof is fiberboard.


Below, I colored the embossed bricks with fine line markers. The rest of the wall surface will be coated with water putty for stucco. The two different materials take color differently (as least with markers). The rather bright brick colors will be toned down by later applications of light chalk, for spalling and weathering.


Below, the stucco coat. It is still drying in this shot. I mixed it up into a heavier consistency--something close to sour cream. It was much easier to get that "stucco" look, but it is a bit course. I will sand it down a bit when totally dry. Also, I remembered to keep the "H" crossbar free of stucco this time, as that is where the business sign will go.


I'll be feathering the stucco coat around the bricks, adding tiny bits of spackle with a toothpick to blend it better, before painting.
--George

[Opa George]

I'm really enjoying building the garage--it is a very simple structure but has a lot of character.

Instead of sanding down the courser parts of the dried water putty on the façade, I applied spackle, which smoothed out the highs and lows while still retaining a stucco feel. I also used the spackle around the exposed brick areas to represent the spalling base material.  The window is painted with a Sharpie silver oil paint marker--quite different from regular markers which are watercolor or alcohol based colors. Using the Sharpie paint marker made coloring it a breeze, and coverage was nice with one coat. 

I remember many such multi-colored windows in local garages from my urban neighborhood in the 1960s, and I wanted that "look." But memory has a way of tricking you, so I looked online for photos of old industrial/garage windows for verification. I found various shades of blue and yellow were common for some reason.  Below are the parts before painting the stucco.


Below are the "finished" walls and roof, with some roof components (still need some dry-brushing and other detailing). I modeled the roll-up door partially open, as this is a great opportunity to add some interior depth to the overall diorama. Instead of using acrylics to color the stucco, I tried a different technique and applied a rattle-can texture paint. I am really happy with the overall effect.

To get the deteriorating roof effect, I used strips of extra-heavy black paper applied with wood glue, and after it was set but still slightly damp, went over it heavily with one of those large foam emery boards. I think 220 grit sandpaper is comparable. I was really rough with it, and removed quite a bit of surface layers of the heavy paper. After it dried totally, I scrubbed in various quantities of pure white pastel chalk, then black, then brown.


Below is the texture paint I used on the stucco:  Rustoleum Multicolor Textured, Desert Bisque.

--George

[postalkarl]

Hey George:

Well looks like you are off to good start on the next building. I'm following along with interest.

Karl

[Dave K.]

Continuing your stellar work. I think I'll break mine open and check for all the walls.

[PRR Modeler]

Looks great George.

[Opa George]

Thanks, everyone.
To begin putting the first block together I began with a trial fit and all seemed good, with only minor trimming or sanding needed here and there.  I began in reverse, though, starting by gluing the mill to its sidewalk base and working toward the restaurant instead of the other way around. Once the mill was secure, I attached the flat restaurant/garage sidewalk base to the end of the mill sidewalk base. At this point, I had not yet attempted to glue the restaurant down.

Next I glued the garage rear alley wall to the mill and to it's base. This not only provided a solid start to constructing the garage, but it reinforced the combined mill/garage/restaurant sidewalk base into one long piece. More test fitting with the garage roof and the adjoining restaurant, and when I was happy all would fit, I glued the garage front wall and roof in place.

Below is the assembly with a workshop casting for the garage interior.


I added a cement garage floor with cardstock, painted the casting, applied a few interior signs and weathered the garage interior. The limited view of the interior through the partially open roll-up door will provide only a glimpse, so the viewer can allow imagination fill in the other (missing) details.

Below is the block with the garage finally attached in place. More detailing to be done, and the entire alley side of the mill awaits completion. I'll soon be attaching the actual bus terminal to the mill, and can finish that wall.


I have suddenly realized just how large this kit will be, once all buildings are done and in place. This is essentially just one leg of the triangular diorama. I set the bus terminal where it will install beside the mill and found that it no longer fits on my workbench. I will probably need to move it to my layout for further work.
--George

[Opa George]

Another note: in the photo above, you will see the freight dock on the mill is floating in air. I had not realized there was no base underneath it when I attached it to the mill. I'll be adding in a base. I'm thinking of adding a brick portion that fills in under the platform and also connects the sidewalks.
--George

[PRR Modeler]

George that is impressive looking.

[tom.boyd.125]

George,
What can all of us say but " WOW " . This kit is just amazing and your build is looking great. Have been watching each part come together and even learned about a new craft paint brand this week too.
Tommy