FOS Bandits Roost

[Mark Dalrymple]

Thanks, George.

I'll give that a try.

Cheers, Mark.

[Opa George]

I've mostly finished the walls for the enamel works. Trim was added to the freight door openings and walls where indicated in the instructions. The remaining laser cut doors and windows were added pretty much per the instructions--no problems encountered. I added a few details as well as window shades (off white for the main building and industrial green for the entrance shed in the back).


Time to put the walls up!  I sanded the corners of certain walls, per the detailed instructions, and then attached the first two walls. I had previously cut out the full-size wall plan template in order to lay out my diorama board, and found it came in very handy here for alignment. The walls are NOT glued to the plan.


Another wall, and I used the roof on top to make sure my alignment was consistent.


The final three walls are attached.  Again, the plan at the bottom and the roof at top are used to check proper alignment and angles. Neither the paper plan at the bottom, nor the roof at top are attached.  Note that I spray painted the roof dark gray, and will aponge paint the edge and overhanging underside with white to match the trim when it is time to attach it. But for now, I am letting everything dry completely.


Here is a view of the rear. The entrance shed is aligned with the right wall, even though it appears in the photo to be angled.


So far, so good!  I thought this main building would be a little more complicated, but it has been a surprisingly easy build to this point.  But I think the roof, with all of its dormers, may be where the challenge comes in. We will see.

--Opa George

[PRR Modeler]

Looks awesome.

[Opa George]

Thanks, Curt.

I sponge painted the edge and underside of the roof base with my trim white, and glued in place. That allowed me to add in the final three tower walls.  While that dried, I gathered the pieces for the roof and dormer spacers (white pieces).  In addition to the roof top, there are 16 side spacers and 4 rear spacers.  Fortunately, the rear spacers are larger and easily enough to distinguish.


Assembling the roof with the dormer spacers was easy.  I first sanded the spacer bottoms and sides, to remove the slight spur from the carrier sheets. Then, following directions, I glued the four rear spacers in place, then the 16 side spacers in place.  Here is where I varied from the directions: I did not wait for the spacers to dry before adding the top roof.  I glued it in place right away, making sure all tabs fit properly, then I used the rear dormer wall (representing the widest part of the dormer) to test fit the space that would house the dormers.  I am glad I did this, as I found two that would have been too tight, and was able to adjust the spacing before they dried.


Next up: building the ten dormers.

--Opa George

[Opa George]

I'm getting ready to build the ten dormers for the Enamel Works. Below are the clapboard sides and the front window wall. I gave all a wash with Hunterline Light Gray, then, after they dried, a sponge painting with the same color used on the main structure walls (mix of craft Acrylic "Arctic Blue" and "Light Gray.").  Also shown is a length of 1/16th strip wood for the trim, distressed and washed with Hunterline Light Gray and sponge painted with craft acrylic white.


I either misplaced or ran out of the needed size of strip wood supplied with the kit, but always try to have extra stock of the most-used sizes on hand: That is 1/8th inch square for bracing, 1/16th square for trim, and something close to either a 2x8 or 2x10 in scale lumber.

Below are all the parts needed for the dormers, laid out and ready to assemble. The white cardboard bits to the right are the back of the dormer boxes, which will not be visible once the roof is on. For some reason, there are two extra supplied (unless they go with another dormer later---I have learned to never throw anything away until  totally done with a kit).


--Opa George

[Mark Dalrymple]

You're flying along with this one, George!

Looking very nice.

Cheers, Mark.

[Opa George]

Thank you, Mark. I'm a little surprised myself at how easily this large structure is coming together.

Here are the ten dormers made up. Important construction note: the front wall has a top and a bottom. The bottom horizontal panel is taller than the top. This is a detail that might go unnoticed if you aren't paying attention.


Another note, the rear wall also has a top and bottom. Note how it fits flush at the bottom. If you install it upside down, it will hang beneath the side clapboard walls by about 1/32. beyond that, this is just a strengthening element and does not reach all the way to the top of the box.


In the photo below, all completed dormer assemblies, including the laser-cut window sashes, are installed on the roof between the spacers.  A few tips:
1.  Check multiple assemblies for fit as you go.  Despite my efforts to make sure all spacers were uniform, and all assembled dormers were uniform, a few just were too tight. I tried the same dormer with a different set of spacers and found a better fit, and at the same time found a "skinnier" dormer that would fit in between the "tight" spacers. 
2.   Only two dormers fit loose enough that I used glue. The remaining eight are installed without glue and I have no worries they will move or shift.
3.  For the tight fitting dormers, use a steady pressure to push them into place, making sure you are not applying pressure to the more delicate glued front wall/window sash.  They should sit flat and level to the roof at front and rear. The front of the dormer assembly should sit flush with the tip of the spacer.


To finish for the day, I applied the roof sections.  Gotta love a well-engineered laser-cut kit. Each of the three roof sections fit perfectly. I am letting everything dry thoroughly before beginning to shingle the roof.


--Opa George

[JimF]

Super impressive work, George, as always.

That hill climb would still scare me, walking LOL

Jim

[Opa George]

Super impressive work, George, as always.

That hill climb would still scare me, walking LOL

Jim

Thanks much for the compliment, Jim.  This kit is tons of fun.  I need to post a pic of my shingle adventure. On my third day and not done yet. It is fiddly and somewhat tedious work getting them lined up around the ten dormers.

Yes, the hill is not a gentle one. My inspiration is from some of my favorite hillside towns: Harpers Ferry, WVA, Steelton, PA, and Shamokin, PA. All have some very steep driving and even walking roads.

Opa George

[ReadingBob]

I love it when a plan comes together.  Or in this case a roof.  Great job illustrating the assembly and providing pictures.  I can easily see where applying the shingles would be very time consuming. 

I've been to Shamokin and Steelton.  There's also an interesting road that drops down into Mahanoy City.  Steep with a hairpin turn halfway down.  Lot's of fun in the winter.      

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking good, George.

It looks like the kit is designed in a way that makes a difficult assembly fairly easy, although your experience is making a big difference too.

Cheers, Mark.

[Opa George]

Looking good, George.

It looks like the kit is designed in a way that makes a difficult assembly fairly easy, although your experience is making a big difference too.

Cheers, Mark.

Mark, thanks for that vote of confidence, but I must say the design of this kit is really efficient.  Funny that you mention that, though, as I do remember a step in a Builders-in-Scale kit (Tidewater Wharf) in which the instruction book warns about the next step, noting "we'll probably get hate mail over this next step..."   Indeed it was a bear to get through, but I persevered, despite losing about six dollars worth of religion!
--George

[ACL1504]

George,

Great build and very informative tutorial on this one. That is going to be one fantastic looking roof. Love all the different angle.

Tom

[Opa George]

Thanks, Tom, for that note. Happy to provide the step-by-step.

So, hooray, they shingling is finally done.  Below is one side and a partial view of the entrance side of the building (which faces the rear of the diorama). I have some trimming and cleaning up to do, but the main work is done.


And here is the other side. I got faster as I went along. One thing I discovered was that the three spaces between the four center dormers on each long side is exactly 8 shingles long. Once I knew that, I could cut strips and have them ready to go. That did speed things up a bit.


The center flat roof will get rolled roofing, as will the ten small dormer roofs. I'll be using a grayish black color. Then it will be on to constructing the top of the tower. I've been reading ahead in the instructions and that looks like fun.
--Opa George

[PRR Modeler]

Terrific modeling George.