FOS The Terminal

[PRR Modeler]

The walls look great and the coloring on the door looks real.

[Opa George]

The walls look great and the coloring on the door looks real.

Thanks for the comments, Dave, Bob and John--much appreciated.  Curt--the paint is Rustoleum metallic aluminum, in a spray can. I like it for wall and rooftop vents and such, too. --George

[Opa George]

So we lost our internet, phones and tv for four days when the big wall box failed. But a tech arrived today to put a new box on the wall and all is well, now. Except that I have some catching up to do.

Continuing with the bus terminal, time to carefully brace the task board walls into a frame. No bracing diagram was suggested but a little common sense and test fitting the tab and slot corners allowed me to figure it out. I used quarter-inch and eighth-inch square bracing strips as appropriate. Below several shots from different angles.






And the ceiling. I added more bracing here than anywhere. Knowing I would later be fitting multiple support columns into this sheet, I wanted plenty of strength to avoid accidentally cracking the fragile material once that step came up.


And here is the completed inner frame.


Next up was the art deco bus terminal entrance. Below the basic form:


Now a step and technique new to me, the use of the water putty to simulate stucco. I have an entire can of the stuff, so I did not need to conserve the small amount supplied in the kit. I tried two different consistencies on a piece of the scrap wooden carrier sheet the held the art deco entrance forms.  One I allowed to dry with no manipulation, and onto the other wet putty I sprinkled on a light coating of dry mix, like powdered sugar, and let it set.  The  next day, after thoroughly drying, the sprinkle-on surface showed the best results, so below is the entrance form using that technique.


However, after the entrance form thoroughly dried, I noticed some thick areas, as well as areas that had slopped over onto areas that would need to be clear. In filing and cleaning it up, I knocked several pieces loose. That made me realize my application was too thin, so I redid it with a thicker consistency--thick enough to stipple with a stiff brush.


As that is currently drying, I'll let you know tomorrow how it turned out.  This is clearly a technique that takes practice.
--George

[PRR Modeler]

Making good progress George.

[vinceg]

Four days of down time. Wow. Nice customer service. I would be goin nuts.

Glad you're back with the living 

[Opa George]

Thanks Curt and Vince! Yes, glad to be back.
The third try with the Durhams Water Putty stucco was the charm. I painted the resulting Art Deco Terminal Entrance white, built the doors, window and the details, and assembled per the instructions. One of my own touches was to add an art deco floral motif to the glass behind the decorative window. That was a simple reverse drawing on the acetate with fine line markers.

Below are some quick pics. This was all just careful, take-your-time and refer a thousand times to the drawings and photographs process. In the last photo, I am just holding the various facades against the task-board frame. Nothing is yet glued in place. I wanted to get a feel for how it was shaping up.









--George

[PRR Modeler]

Great stucco and "stained window".

[PaulS]

Outstanding George, and the stained window is a unique touch which you executed fantastically.
Well done
--Paul

[cuse]

Wow...great job on the stucco and the unique window. Really nice!


John

[Dave K.]

Sign came out great.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 I find the water putty method way too messy for my taste. One of my go-tos is Rust-Oleum Multicolor Textured rattle-can. It, too, has its quirks and practice is useful.

[richbeau]

Wonderful Art Deco touch with that mural.
--Rich

[Dockman]

Love your mural. Looks awesome.

[postalkarl]

Hey George:

Great job on the stucco and the window is pretty cool to.

Karl

[Opa George]

Thank you to everyone for all of the supportive comments. Dave, I have been thinking about trying one or two of those textured spray paints and will look for that one. I may haunt the craft supply store with a 50% coupon, as they appear to be about $9 per can.

I was in a hurry to post some pictures, so thought I should add a few notes, since this is intended to also help others who build this kit.

1.If you think of the wood former for the art deco entrance as the letter "H," don't stucco over the middle crossbar of the H.  That is where the decorative leaf motif plaque goes.  I must have looked at pilot model pictures a hundred times, and for some reason that really obvious point escaped me.

2. The instructions note to keep the stucco clear of points where the windows and doors will be installed. I found it was not necessary to worry a lot about that, as long as you don't create globs that block the openings. The windows and doors install from the back, and it is relatively easy to scrape away any interfering water putty.

3. Alternatively, it is worth your while to really study the pictures and the diagrams to determine what parts of the "BUS" sign need stucco, and what parts need to stay clear.  I did slop a bit into the area where the sign tiles go, but made sure to clear it out 100% down to bare wood before trying to glue on the sign panels.

4. I spray painted the sign tiles (there are 9 panels in all) to get a nice smooth finish. Color:  Rustoleum satin French Blue.

5. The panels glue directly to the wood sign former in the pre-shaped area to form three, three-sided boxes. Despite the pre-shaped form, it pays off to spend the extra time to get each panel into exactly the right position so that it lines up with the other two panels, and is also spaced equally with the other boxes. I used wood glue and played around with all the tiles, pushing and prodding them into position with a toothpick for several minutes until I was satisfied. Even after that, I can see some inconsistencies in the really close-up picture, but at typical viewing distance they look good.

6. Same procedure for the laser-cut letters (BUS). I spray painted flat white, then carefully spaced them on each box. Center them horizontally, vertically and aligned with their companions.

Time to work on the clapboard façade and the decorative pilasters.
George

[ACL1504]

George,

I haven't check in for some time but WOW, what a great build.

A very big think you for finding all the bugs in this one for us. I can't wait to build mine but it is at least a year off. This thread will be my history book for the build.

Fantastic job sir.

Tom