FOS The Wacther Apartments

[ReadingBob]

Now it's time to apply one of the signs to the rear wall.  I figured out where I wanted to position it and marked one edge with a light pencil mark using a square.


I cut out the sign using a steel ruler and sharp #11 X-Acto blade then flipped it over and lightly sanded the back to reduce the thickness as much as I could without actually sanding all the way through the paper.


While you can use 3M Transfer Tape to adhere the sign to the wall I still prefer to use thinned out Elmer's White Glue.  I put a few drops of Elmer's on mixing board (Post It notes are my mixing board of choice) and then add a couple drops of water to it.


Mix up the Glue/Water good....


Then smear the back of the paper sign with the thinned glue using my finger tip.


Then I position the sign where I want it.  Now is not the time to be deciding where it should go.  You need to preplan this one.   


More in a moment...   

[ReadingBob]

Then, while the glue is still setting, I run my finger nail along each clapboard to press the sign in place to make it appear painted on.  The sheet of plastic over the sign helps prevent any rough edge in a finger nail from snagging and tearing the sign.  I guess I should mention that I scanned the signs into my PC prior to doing this just in case I had any mishaps and needed a new one.   


I lightly dabbed the sign with a sponge dipped in white paint after which most of the paint was removed from the sponge followed by an earth colored paint to make the sign appear a bit faded.  Then I went over the sign with my ponce wheel where the nail holes got covered up by the sign to complete the illusion that the sign was painted onto the wall.


Next up is building the two storefronts.  These are layers of laser cut parts.  The instructions call for building them first and then painting them but I prefer to paint and weather everything individually and then build them.  The back of the piece could have been sprayed with spray adhesive for a thin, even coat but I used the old glued/finger smear method.   


I just need to make sure the layers are lined up properly when I glue them together.


Then I added the pilasters (columns) making sure I knew which was the top and which was the bottom and orienting them all the correct way.


I built the two recessed entrance ways while I was at it.


More in a moment....
 

[chris.mincemoyer]

Just picked up a few new techniques, as always

[ReadingBob]

Then the recessed entrance ways were glued to the back of the storefronts.


I cut out pieces of acetate to glue to the back of the store fronts.  Butt them up against the entrance way but don't go all the way to the other end!  Go just far enough to cover all the windows.  The end of the storefront will butt up against the walls and you don't want the acetate interfering with the joint.  I used the same Mico Scale glazing material to glue the acetate in place.  After the acetate was set in place I cut out and glued the interiors/signs to the back of the acetate.


Now the walls are ready to go together.  I had some warping in the walls, in spite of the bracing, that I as hoping would get resolved when the walls were joined together.  For the most part it did. 


When added the storefronts there was a rather noticeable gap between them that wasn't mentioned in the instructions.


I took a scrape piece of 1/8" bracing material that I stained, painted and weathered to match the storefront and cut it length to fit in the back of the storefront as a corner post.


Problem solved!  No more gap.  Mr. Wachter makes the bet us of his square footage with two different businesses occupying the same corner space depending on which side of the building you enter.      


More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Almost done with my updates for today.  The next issue I ran into was the side and rear doors were a bit smaller than the openings.  I lined the openings, top and sides, with some thin strip wood and sanded everything until the doors fit snug in place.  the strip wood lining wasn't visible when the door frames were glued into place.


I started to assemble the second of the two roof top access sheds next.  This is a small one made up of four sides.  I glued the front to one side and the rear to the other side separately.


Then joint the two halves to make a whole.


The other roof top access shed has an interesting roof design.  I cut out the roof.


Then I glued a provided trapezoid piece to the center of the roof (top) as the instructions called for.


This piece helps ensure the correct pitch for the pieces when folding them over and gluing them in place.


That's all I have for today!  Thanks for following along! 

[ReadingBob]

Looks like good progress.

I'm finding that working from home I can slip in a little workbench time at lunch as well as when I would normally be commuting so I'm getting more done in a week than I used to.     I even managed to break out the airbrush, paint some stuff, clean everything up and get back to work with few minutes to spare over my lunch hour one day.   

[ReadingBob]

Just picked up a few new techniques, as always

Glad to hear it Chris!  Thanks for letting me know.  We're all here to share our experiences, learn and get better at what we do. Most importantly we're having fun doing it!   

[deemery]

On that door, you could add some trim on each side of the added filler strips.  That door looks kinda funny to me sunk in like that with no outside trim.  (It's more like a brick building door than a wood frame building door.)

Nice description of the sign weathering, what grit sandpaper are you using?

dave

[PaulS]

Very nice Bob !!  Always learn a couple of new things in following along with your build threads.
And a very nice save on the corner gap between the storefronts.   Usually these builds require some patience, creative thinking, and offer exercises in problem solving; well done...
Like you, without the commute time and being able to work from home for the past eight weeks and for the foreseeable future, I am finding a bit more modeling and layout time than I had previously.
Looking forward to your progress.
All the best,
--Paul

[Janbouli]

Great build thread/tutorial Bob , not only is your modeling top notch , but your will and way to show us your skills is deeply appreciated.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking great, Bob.

Cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Everything looks top notch Bob. I really like the sign. Is this for Tom also?

[jerryrbeach]

Bob,


As usual, beautiful modeling.  The way you fixed the corner gap was pretty clever.  I would never have thought to do it that way.  I hope I can remember how you did it if I am faced with a similar situation. 


There sure were a lot of different shirts in the photos.  How many times a day do you need to change your shirt? 

[S&S RR]

Bob


Another great build and build thread! Thank you for sharing it with us.

[ReadingBob]

On that door, you could add some trim on each side of the added filler strips.  That door looks kinda funny to me sunk in like that with no outside trim.  (It's more like a brick building door than a wood frame building door.)

Nice description of the sign weathering, what grit sandpaper are you using?

dave

Dave,

There is a door frame that goes with the door.  In the picture I was just holding the door in the opening to demonstrate that the opening was bigger than the door itself which made it difficult to glue it in place.  I could have glued it in place along the bottom edge and filled the gaps along the sides and top but I prefer a tighter fit than that.  I'll post a picture of the filler strips I added to get a good fit and the door frame in place afterwards next time I upload a batch of pictures.

The sandpaper I use is 100 grit.  Probably a little too aggressive.  a finer grit would be better but it gets the job done as long as I'm  careful.  If I do sand a tiny hole through the paper in a spot it the sign can still be used.  The weathering will typically cover it up pretty well or, if it's on the black area, a black Sharpie can fill in the spot.     

Instead of scanning the sheets into my computer in case I mess up and make a replacement I could have run to Staples and made a backup few copies for a buck or two.

Thanks for following along and commenting!