Bar Mills Cundy Village Hotel

[Jim Donovan]

WOW from July to now I was following this one......glad you got it done! I never have finished mine, did a prototype build up up, but never finished my painted version. Beautiful job, send some pics to Arte. I was a little scared with all the interior you were doing , thinking, there's no way this is ever going to go together (ha!) But holy cow , there it is in all of of it's amazing glory ! Great job on those porches, they are the trickiest parts I think.
Thanks for building it!

Hi Jim, thank you for following along and the compliment, you are right, it sure took a long time to get done. I think you are right, the porches are tricky, the H beams are neat but no room for error. Still I liked the H beam idea and plan to use it in future builds. Making sure the tower went together straight and true was next in line. Lots of fun and lots of thinking needed thats for sure.

Jim D

[Jim Donovan]

That sure turned out nicely.  Great work!


Jeff

Thanks Jeff, I think I learned more on this one kit then all the prior kits combined. Of course I would not have attempted this kit before now too.

Jim D

[S&S RR]

Jim


Very nice work.

[Jim Donovan]

Observations of Cundy Village Hotel

Released by Bar Mills in 2015 as part of a 'village' and is offered on its own. Laser cutting is what makes this kit possible and is used extensively. I loved the Victorian look of the hotel right off the bat and decided to make it a central building of the little village on my. layout. I think it is going to look right at home once planted and overall I am happy with how it turned out. I did have a bunch of issues as I went along so I will list things I found, walked into or would do different if built again:

Windows and Doors: The windows are all laser cut and built up using 3M tape which is on the back of each part. The plus of these windows are they are complex and can be painted as elaborately as you want. Airbrushing I think was a big help to keep the paint finish smooth, the material making up the windows is thin wood and a form of card-stock so very light coats are a must or the parts will warp. The down side is there are lots parts to each window and placement from one part onto the next is very important as the window is 'built up'. While the tape allows for some 'wiggle' to get placement correct I suggest strong magnifying glasses and patience. It is all too easy to have a small part, such as a sill, just off, for it to show on the final product. Indeed it is difficult to get all windows 100% perpendicular. If a jig was provided so the windows could be assembled from outside to backside I think it would result in much more uniform results. With the Silhouette Cameo 3 I have (and the new Cricut Maker Santa brought me) I could make a jig myself. In fact you could make one gluing the cut out frets to each other in the correct order thus creating the jig. If I was to make this kit again I would spend the time to make one.

Finally the window edges need more than 3M tape to hold them to the dormers or wall, it simply is not enough or strong enough to stop it from separate the window from the connection. Careful gluing is required, I used canopy or Elmer's white glue along with clamps, weights, tape, whatever worked to keep the joints together until the glue was dry. For the dormers I had to use plastic putty sometimes to make sure the window/ side walls were smooth and looked as normal as I could make them. The close up Dormer picture shows what I mean.



Trim - Simply put there is no where near enough with the kit to do an adequate job on a structure of this level. The tower, walls and walkways need additional floorboards and ceiling trim. Just have 1 x 2, 1 x 4, 1 x 6 and 1 x 12 available to fill the shortage. Art Faye was able to get the tower top to sit flush on its fiberboard bottom to the underlaying grooved clapboard walls so no trim was needed, I was not, and trust me I tried.


Slots can be seen exposed


Problem Solved

Roof - The shingles really proved to be a challenge for me. The felt material they are made of fuzzes real easy and a sharp blade is a must, and they don't stay sharp long with this material. In the 'boy am I stupid' category', I placed the shingles on the tower first. Only after I did the first panel did I realize the nicely scored lines provided on the roof panels are for the top of each strip to line up on. Things went much better after that. The shingles I made for the back were vinyl with self sticking tape on the back. It cut much easier and painted about the same.

I would not make the thin copper roofs for the porches again. Just does not provide enough extra to be worth the effort. As a matter of fact it might take away, I am not sure. I would use the thin copper foil, I would just glue it to the top of the porch roofs provided.

Interior - I had a lot of fun with this but again I would do different. The windows in the front porch areas are hard to see into with the walkway and roof over them. Simply placing a divider down the middle of each wing would be enough if printed to look like a wall with doors. No second floor needed. Any lighting can be placed were needed and a much simpler circuit board made on the foundation. If simplified I would have been able to get into the structure to find out why the one chimney was slightly off part of the wall. I would do the tower the same way again.

Roof Sections - I am talking about the parts that make up ledges of the tower and wing ledges (floor) for the Mansard Roof. They are made out of a soft, fibrous laserboard. The big issue with this material is it absorbs water (paint or stains) very quickly. Also it is weak and prone to separating on its edges. I would spray these parts on both sides with Krylon gray primer if done again. This would help seal the board and keep it from separating. Why I forgot to do this the first time I have no idea. 





That is just about all I can think of that might help if you build this kit. It lives up to its reputation as challenging but left enough area for added development. As I've said many times, it was fun to build.

Jim D

Note the paperboard is separating at the chimney area

[Jim Donovan]

Jim


Very nice work.

Thanks John. It was a project but will look nice on the layout.

Jim D

[Oldguy]

Great work.  I'm glad I stick to simpler one to two story structures.

[ACL1504]

Jim,

You did a great job with all the challenges you experienced. Your kit evaluation seems fair and honest. It should definitely help those who choose to follow and build theirs.

I sold mine.

Tom 

[PRR Modeler]

Beautiful looking building Jim.

[GPdemayo]

Wonderful looking structure Jim.....great work. Your review was excellent and I'm sure will beneficial to those that build the kit and good feedback for the manufacturer. 

[Keep It Rusty]

Appreciate the effort put into that download report, Jim. Will come in handy when the time comes for my kit.

For your chimney/wall warp issue, one idea would be to put some lichen or moss growing up the side instead of the trim. That said, I do still like the way the trim came out.

[deemery]

Speaking of window jigs:  The new HRM kit for a GN bunkhouse has a jig for positioning/gluing the windows into place.  That strikes me as a good/clever idea.  These kinds of jigs are relatively cheap to produce (they're usually cut on pieces of wood that would otherwise be scrap, and help separate kit designers who are experience builders from the 'riff raff" :-) :-)


dave

[Jim Donovan]

Great work.  I'm glad I stick to simpler one to two story structures.

Thanks Bob. There won't be many three story or up buildings on my layout either but it was fun.

Jim D

[Jim Donovan]

Jim,

You did a great job with all the challenges you experienced. Your kit evaluation seems fair and honest. It should definitely help those who choose to follow and build theirs.

I sold mine.

Tom 

Thanks Tom. I decided to write my thoughts before the details got foggy, which happens real fast. I am not sure if it is correct protocol to make suggestions and observations but hopefully they are taken in a positive way. I know I could make this kit better if I did it again. Hopefully the suggestions help the next guy do the same.

As for you selling your kit I understand. The folks of Tahope most likely would not recommend staying there, not when they already have the Imperial. What hotel could complete with the goings on at that famous (infamous?) place?

[Jim Donovan]

Beautiful looking building Jim.

Thanks Curt, appreciate you following along. It was a fun journey.

Jim D

[Jim Donovan]

Wonderful looking structure Jim.....great work. Your review was excellent and I'm sure will beneficial to those that build the kit and good feedback for the manufacturer. 

Thanks Greg, I hope to show how it fits into the layout when I get there. I know I love reading other members thoughts and suggestions in their build threads so thought I would give it a try.

Jim D