Bar Mills Cundy Village Hotel

[Jim Donovan]

Once the parts are glued into the proper spots I decided to clean up the curved tops of the frames.


There are 4 layers on this section of the frame and it can be seen when looking down on the model. I used plastic putty to filled the gaps between the layers and then used the Charcoal Black and hand painted the tops so they looked like one piece and not laminated sections.

[Jim Donovan]

As I mentioned previously I am using glass in place of the acetate provided. The acetate comes pre-cut so if you would rather use it, it is ready to go. Since the main building windows are large and simple rectangles as far as the glass is concerned I went with Microscope slide glass. It is much thicker thea the Clover Glass I usually use but it is cheap and will work just fine for these windows since they are not double hung, allowing the glass to be flat against the inner side of the mullions.



Cutting microscope glass slides is done different than Clover Glass, if anything easier and less likely to accidentally break after hung. Everything you need is in this photo. I am showing a cut piece of glass being cleaned. To accomplish this I taped a pane of the acetate glass frame (glass part removed) to the cutting mat. I used this as a template for cutting the glass to correct size. By happy coincidence the slide glass width is the height needed for the window. This means only one cut is made to create the needed glass. I put a thin steel rule on the line over the glass where it needed to be scored. Since the glass is thick I scribed it using my #88 General Tool rather than attempting to cut it apart. Use a medium forse to scribe the glass, about the same as writing with a pen. Make only one pass as surprisingly less is best. Then place the scribed line on a dowel so they are lined up in same direction. putting a finger on either side of the slide near the line push down with even force and if done correctly you have a clean cut and a window ready to be hung in its frame.

[Jim Donovan]

Once cut the glass is attached to the back of the window mullions. While there is tape to attach to glass, it is rather heavy so I used UV CA glue to make sure the glass stays put. Being careful to just put a very, very, thin line of glue along the outer frame I lined up the glass so it was EXACTLY covering the frame at its edges. The glass needs to go into the window openings in the walls and the cutouts are the dimensions of the inner window frame so there is no wiggle room. (note I am finding that out as I now put the windows in place )



UV glue is good only for certain things because it is activated by UV light rather then moisture like other super glues. I find it handy for gluing in tight spots where I need both hands (and perhaps more). Because you can shine the UV glue straight through the glass this is a great application. If, when you place the glass you miss and get glue in the viewing area you can remove the slide, clean it and try again.

[ACL1504]

Jim,

Your build is coming along nicely. I've never tried the UV glue but then I've never used the slide glass in the windows.

Great job on this one.

Tom

[Jim Donovan]

While working on the windows I am also moving along on the structure. The directions call for gluing the walkways to the foundation at this point after making sure the tower fits correctly (a brace board in now attached to the back of the tower for alignment and support). The walkways are laser cut with very precise cut outs so it fits correctly and posts going to the second floor can be inserted (much further into the build). The wood was cut against its grain and after staining looked like crap. Moreover, it warped into a curve due to the grain even though I was using Hunterline Alcohol Stain to try and keep that from happening.



Not Impressed, enough said.

[Jim Donovan]

I decided that was not going to work. First I spread water on both sides of each of the walkways to make them wet, placed a steel plate across the length of each, put a 5 pound weight on top and let them sit overnight to flatten the wood back into shape.

Next day I first put 3M 465 two sided tape along the top of the walkway, flipped it over and using a straight blade cut the overhanging tape off the walkway. (Leave the paper on the one side of the two-sided tape until your ready for the next step, trust me  )

[Jim Donovan]

While waiting for the walkways to flatten I took a bunch of 1 x 8 basswood strip wood and soaked them in the Hunterline red barn stain. Each stick was in the bath about 10 seconds. I did not put the medium brown stain on afterwards as I did for the entrance because I wanted to see what I had to work with once the boards were on the walkway. The wood is stained prior to placing on the tape as staining afterwards causes the tape to lose adhesion.

Once flat, dry and with the tape in place, I cut the strip wood to the approximate length needed and placed them over the score lines of the walkway (1 x 8 appears to be the size of board the laser scoring simulate).

[Jim Donovan]

When all boards are in place (52 per walkway!) I flipped the walkway over and using the straight blade trimmed off the excess.



I made sure the board trimming was as close to original outline of the walkway and I cut off those areas I knew are going to be slotted into the walls.

With that out of the way I glued the walkways to the foundation per the directions, making sure the tower fit correctly. It fit the first time with no trimming needed, I guess I paid attention to the directions saying MAKE SURE YOU LINE THINGS UP CORRECTLY. At least on this assembly!





The tower is just in place for the above picture, it is not glued in place yet.

[Jim Donovan]

With the foundation ready, time for the walls, I put the bracing and corner trim boards per directions (I left a 1/4 inch overhang on the corner boards (trimming them flush once glued and painted), makes it easier to put in place and make it flush (learned that from Bob, Tom, John, Carl and so on, thanks). The walls were sanded to remove the laser burn on the edges and lightly sanded on the clapboard side to remove some fuzz.

So here is where we go off the rails again. The backside of the hotel is blank. I mean blank. No windows, doors, walkways, nada. I guess they expected the hotel to be stuck up against a wall or something. Mine is going to be City Central so blank is not going to work. I e-mailed Bar Mills about buying some windows like in the kit but did not hear back. Instead I ordered laser cut windows and doors from Rail-Scale.com. In addition I have an old #1 kit from Bar Mills which has an assortment of both. Between the two I will finish out the back.

I am not exactly sure what I want to do to bring the backside to life but I know we need windows. Using the front side as a template I outlined four windows in the correct positions on the two back walls. I used a pin drill to make small holes in each corner of the window outline. I think it was John Siekirk that first showed me this trick. The small corner holes help stop the wood from splitting when being cut. Using the straight blade and a thin steel rule I cut along each line and made the window openings.  I forgot to take a picture of this work but you get the idea and will see the results further down the road.

[Jim Donovan]

I first airbrushed all the walls with the medium gray primer. Then for the outside panels I airbrushed the same Ivory color as used on the tower. By priming both sides I am able to then build up the outside walls with thin coats of ivory to allow the gray to lightly show in areas. It produces the affect of a building with pretty new paint but some fading and light chipping starting to occur.

I again forgot to get a clean picture of the result but the following picture shows the outer walls painted with the inner walls still medium primer gray.

[Jim Donovan]

So since we are already off the rails lets keep going. The windows in the front of the structure are floor to ceiling and easy to see through. Therefore I decided to put interiors in, much like the tower. We will be lighting rooms as well. To start I found Victorian style wallpaper patterns on-line. Copying them (only free versions) I re-sized them to look appropriate for HO scale but still be visible as elaborate patterns. Using School grade Elmer's glue (couldn't find my contact cement which is what I would recommend for paper on wood gluing but the School Version of Elmer's worked fine) I cut and pasted the patterns to the end walls. I will be doing the same where needed on the other walls but will wait till after I have glued the walls together and know where it is needed. So here is how it went and the result:





I tried to find patterns that matched the color scheme I am using for the outside so all fits together and does not clash.

[Jim Donovan]

The bracing the directions call for are really light. Usually I put more bracing in place to stop warping, however this is a complicated design, lots of odd angles and such so I will just go with what the directions call for and add later if needed.

Art Faye, who wrote the directions and built the prototype, stresses the assembly of the walls must be exact (he says that a lot in this kit and I think he is right). He highly recommends using a magnetic assembly tray, right angle clamps or both. I used both.

[Jim Donovan]

I made a mistake on the two upper braces cutting them to the wrong length slightly. I had to break them off and put new ones in when I attempted to put the two wings onto the foundation. What I noticed is the wings are easier to fit properly with the upper brace removed and then put the brace in place. If you are reading this thread for your own modeling of this structure I would do that or at least just lightly tack the brace so you can remove when fitting into foundation, then put it back permanently. You can see the brace I am talking about in the previous picture.

[Jim Donovan]

While the walls were drying I worked on putting the tower onto the foundation. At this point I am still trying to follow the directions but since I am painting and detailing as I go I am having to adjust the flow a little bit. So far it has worked better then I expected and I think better then the directions if I had followed them exact (a lot of detail would have been lost).

In watching the video I posted I paid a lot of attention on this part of the construction. He built the various parts in a different order and seemed to have trouble getting the tower positioned correctly and straight. While I am not following the directions exactly, I am going pretty much in the order Art suggests. I think that made a big difference on this part of the assembly.

As I said previously, I test fitted the tower onto the foundation after the walkways were glued in place. I had to trim a couple of the boards I had installed but the tower fit snug, tight and straight when put in place. Boy I love it when a plan comes together.


The 1 x 8 boards I had added actual made the connection to the entrance better. The floors are exactly at the same height.

[Jim Donovan]

If you noticed in the foundation pictures the frame does not want to stay flat to the floor. It was when I first made it but it does not take much moisture to get one side or the other to lift. However, weights and time gets it back flat. I expect once glued to the walls this issue will be solved. However it presented an issue when putting the tower in place.

To make sure the tower was firmly glued to the foundation and perpendicular in all directions (not leaning in any direction) I used yellow Elmer's glue to hold the foundation to the bottom of the tower. Then I put weight on the top of the first section of the tower with the top second removed. The top section still comes off as needed, I might leave it that way since the corbels keep it in alignment with the first section nicely. I then put weighted metal angle bracing blocks around the tower. Using a level I made sure the tower was correctly in position. I noticed in the video the tower looked a little off and I do not want that to happen with my version. (Tom did I get it level enough? )