FOS The Terminal

[vinceg]

Really looks good, George. I haven't built a FOS kit, yet but I do have a couple of the big ones and the instructions do look a bit lean. It's helpful to have you journalling your adventure!

[Opa George]

Welcome along, Karl--great to have you following.
Vince, as this is my first FOS kit, I considered starting with something smaller to get the feel for how Doug orchestrates things in his instructions.  I have Rankin's steak house, which will probably be my next build after this and will be located next to the Terminal complex. But as everyone can see, I decided to wade in all at once with the big kit. No regrets. But I do agree with others: anyone new to craftsman kits would be better off honing skills on smaller kits first.


With that, below are some progress pictures of the various roofs going on. I painted two sheets of rolled roofing paper (printed 8 1/2 x 11 sheets) with Rustoleum spray can primer--one gray and one red. Let it thoroughly dry overnight, then cut the strips out.  The big tip here, which seems obvious in hindsight but maybe not so much up front, is to paint the unprinted "back" of the roofing sheet. Then, once dry, turn the sheet over to the unpainted printed side and cut the strips apart on the printed lines.  I like how the primer gives the roofing paper, which is really just gray 20 pound bond paper, a nice crisp edge with a subtle gritty surface.


Steps taken, but not shown: The narrow bit of roof in the middle of the cupola received red rolled roofing. I pre-painted the exposed underside of each main roof, as well as the edge, white to match the building main color. The large main roof was installed prior to adding the roofing paper. I varied from the instructions by roofing the entire expanse of roof before attaching the cupola. To adhere the roof strips Doug recommends transfer tape.  I still don't have any (but plan to get some in the future).  So at risk of eliciting possible gasps of horror, I went with two-sided plastic tape. It seems to have worked well.


In the shot above, I added a ceiling to the alcove from scrap wood. It is not mentioned in the instructions but I felt it was needed, and perhaps expected that you will do this. I also installed a ceiling lamp reflector from my spare castings. Below is the last, mostly unfinished side. The front half of this will connect to the bus terminal, and the rear half will be covered in billboard sized ads. Although the light does not show it well, I primed it in a gray-brown to represent a concrete wall. The window and door castings will be installed after the signs are glued on.


On to the rest of the roofs today.  I was worried that my minor modification of the long squad wall would cause problems with the two lower roofs.  I test fitted those two roofs and was gratified to see that they will fit as intended with very minor modifications. I'll cover that later along with roof weathering.

--George

[PRR Modeler]

Really neat looking build George.

[Opa George]

Thanks much, Curt.
I have the shoe factory pretty much "under roof" now. Below shows some added bracing for the two large lower roofs. I needed a little extra width on the triangular roof, so the bracing adds that and also serves to strengthen it.  The larger roof will have two sub-structures sitting on top, so I wanted some extra bracing for support.


Below is where I am at with the entire structure under roof. I have also begun weathering the roofs with white dry-brushing for highlights, chalks and alcohol to blend it all in. There are several sub-structures to build and attach, a loading dock, and some small loft roofs to build, before getting into the finer detailing. This is my first attempt at using the non-metal corrugated roofing. It takes color very nicely with no worries of the shiny metal showing through. It also cuts pretty cleanly with an X-acto blade. I do need more practice simulating dark rust and corrosion via Doug's burnt  umber oil paint and mineral spirits technique. But I am satisfied with it, and it looks better under layout lighting as opposed to below at the workbench.

--George

[PRR Modeler]

Great modeling. I really like the cupola.

[Opa George]

Great modeling. I really like the cupola.

Curt, me too. It will have a wire rod and a bead added to the top to extend the height, but because of all the handling I still need to do, those will go on about dead last with the lamp reflectors.

[Opa George]

Snow day today, so I had a lot of workbench time. But this will about wrap it up for today's work.

I hit a minor bump with the rooftop shed. It wraps around the elevator tower in an "L" and one side wall is to be cut short where it buts up against the tower. The pilot model shows small windows on adjacent walls. However the actual wall piece, which is all three walls in one, has windows cut into opposite walls. This means the needed cut will fall in the center of the window. I can't simply "swap" walls because the wall piece is precut to allow for the slope of the roof. The picture below shows the misfit.


My solution was to cut the windowed wall as intended, making the cut vertically through the window opening, glue solid cardstock directly over the miscut wall, then repaint with ultra flat black. Below is the refit shed and roof just sitting in place to check fit. I will install the battens on the walls before glueing in place. Also, I noticed the tolerances for the pre-cut roof card leave no room for error, so I will probably install the roof card on the shed first, then install the completed shed against the elevator tower. If any gaps occur, I can cover them with the rolled roofing material last.


That's it for today. I am also considering cutting a doorway into the shed's "blind" wall, to give easier roof access to the maintenance man.
--Opa George

[NKP768]

Really looks good George

Doug

[Oldguy]

Nice recovery.  I must say I like your modification in the lower photo over the original orientation in the top photo.  It makes more sense for an addition.

[madharry]

Opa George great job on the walls and signage. Bandit's Roost is a great present too.

Mike

[ReadingBob]

Wonderful job all the way around!  I'm really enjoying your build.   

[Opa George]

Thanks for the support, Doug, Bob D. Bob B. and Mike. I surely appreciate it.
The tarpaper rooftop shed turned out well. I installed a door, added the battens and glued it in place, then installed the roof and roofing material.


Although the instructions mentioned red rolled roofing overall, I noticed on the pilot model that the rooftop shed had a very light, almost dirty white, color. With the shed's black walls, I decided to try to reproduce that for the nice contrast. I had a Rustoleum rattle can of "Ivory Silk" that seemed about right, so I repainted two of the roofing strips previously painted dark gray. I kept the can further away and got a somewhat uneven coat, which was what I wanted. Applied to the roof, it presents a subtle variance in color. I finished with the standard A & I wash and gray and brown pastel chalk dust.


Back to the front of the building and next up is the small peaked roof over the upper loft door. This turned out to be much more detailed and "fussy" work than I thought it would be, but it all went together well by taking my time. Below is the first part of the actual roof, less the pulley mechanism and bracing.


The pulley was assembled from six laser-cut parts. I spray-painted it flat black, then dry-brushed with white for the highlights. Finally I dusted with rust colored chalk after gluing it to the support beam. I glued the roof and support beam onto the main wall and adjusted it by eyeballing it to sit level. Once I was happy with it, I added the angled brace supports. Below is the front wall with that roof as well as the beam and pulley mechanism (no roof) at the lower right.


At this point, per the instructions, the building is essentially finished with the addition of the metal details. Well, yes and no. There are a multitude of fine details pictured on the pilot model that I can add. And of course there is the final weathering. With the help of the extra photos from the FOS website, I plan to make sure they are all included (and then some). Heck, that's the most fun part of the build.
Stay tuned...Opa George

[vinceg]

Wow, George -- that looks fantastic!

[PRR Modeler]

Very nicely done on the modification. The entire build looks outstanding.

[Dave K.]

Really enjoying your build. Love that little roof over the pulley. I also download the pix off of Doug's site and have them open on my iPad for reference. Lookin' good! Will you be able to hit Peabody in June? Cheers!