Bar Mills Cundy Village Hotel

[Jim Donovan]

Thanks for popping in Rusty Robot;

Thanks for the helpful suggestions on the sites' operating system too. I can once again use all things made by Apple to communicate on the web site.

I would consider my modeling ability as pretty average. To try and make up for it I go slow and often have to back up and try again. That's why this thread started in July and here we are in December. The main issue I have run into are the directions. There are 40 pages of illustrations and suggestions but direction is hit and miss. The kit came out in 2015 so there has been a lot of time to clean up them up but the ones in my kit are obviously original.

Putting that aside the kit is amazing and a real treat to build. What Bar Mills missed in direction they more than made up for in originality. The detail is tremendous and the opportunity to be creative is obvious even to me. If I can build this kit anyone with average skills can, and I really recommend it if you have a need for the classy hotel with a small footprint.

Jim D

[Keep It Rusty]

Thanks for popping in Rusty Robot;

Thanks for the helpful suggestions on the sites' operating system too. I can once again use all things made by Apple to communicate on the web site.

I would consider my modeling ability as pretty average. To try and make up for it I go slow and often have to back up and try again. That's why this thread started in July and here we are in December. The main issue I have run into are the directions. There are 40 pages of illustrations and suggestions but direction is hit and miss. The kit came out in 2015 so there has been a lot of time to clean up them up but the ones in my kit are obviously original.

Putting that aside the kit is amazing and a real treat to build. What Bar Mills missed in direction they more than made up for in originality. The detail is tremendous and the opportunity to be creative is obvious even to me. If I can build this kit anyone with average skills can, and I really recommend it if you have a need for the classy hotel with a small footprint.

Jim D

Glad to hear I was of help to you and your use of the forum. It sure is nice to be able to post here using just an iPhone/iPad and without database errors!

Appreciate your thoughts on the hotel. That definitely eases my mind to tackling the kit! I'll be watching from here. Thanks Jim.

[ACL1504]

Jim,

Very late to this party but here at last. Fantastic job on the hotel and the roof is extremely well done. Great job my friend.

Tom 

[postalkarl]

Hey Jim:

I'll say it again. Just a beautiful job.I just love what you did with the dormer windows on the roof.

Karl

Karl

[nycjeff]

Hello Jim, what a great job on the roof and the whole build as well.    Jeff

[Jerry]

A cooper roof wonderful idea and modeling!!


Jerry

[Jim Donovan]

Well we enjoyed another great Christmas and New Year. During that time I was able to get some work on the hotel done, now to finish up. We are seriously off the rails as far as following the order of assembly as suggested in the Bar Mills directions, however I think I have followed a better path given the amount of changes and additions made so far. The next step was to build the front porches and their roof. To continue with the 'upscale' look I am trying to accomplish I used gold leaf and using a 00 brush added it into the scrolling cut into the front upright posts and cross beams.



For the second floor walkways I decided to not use the two precut floors for the same reason as for the first level. However I took things a step further by making complete framed walkways using 12 x 6 stringers and board on board 1 x 4 cross planks. I thought this would make the porch look even more realistic as the boards would allow light to pass through the cracks. Frankly it was a waste of time, better to use the parts provided and cover with 1 x 4 boards as was done for the first floor. The effort does not result in any improvement to the kit but sure took a lot of time to get correct.



With the scratch built walkways done and in place the pre-painted posts, which consist of 'H' beams, were glued using Elmers along with the scrolled roof beams




The above picture shows off the 'H' beam well,, I have put a bead of white glue into the end channel of the H beam post and then placed a 1 x 1 into the channel to finish the end post. The other beams are left alone at this point as they will be used to hold the railings.


In the above photo you can see that I carried the top post across and tied it into the tower to add stability. It appeared in the diagrams that the posts are next to the tower. However the kit photo shows them away.

More in a minute.

[Jim Donovan]

While working on this part I read an article about metal roofs in modeling and how hard it is to get correct thickness. I can only say that I thought at the time that it would be great to attempt to make a 'dimensionally' correct copper roof for the walkways. This is another item I might well pass on doing if I were to make this kit again. However, at the time it seemed like a good idea.


To begin I had the Cameo 3 printer cut out exact dimensional copies of the provided roof sections. Prior to cutting the parts out I had the printer add the lines where the battens would go.


Here I am placing the cut copper foil on 3M465 tape to give it body and to attach it to the roof trusses.


Here is the final roof prior to installing. I had to get my gut out of the way for the photo. Not shown in the photos are the bracing I added against the wall between the trusses to allow the copper foil to lay correct.


I have placed the roof, added the battens, added some additional trim not shown in the directions and slid the railings into the H beam slots. Starting to look like a walkway. Oh, the foil with 3M 465 tape is a little less than .1mm. If I did my math right that works out to a little over 1/3 of an inch thick. Do you notice? I guess, if you look at the lip but no way else.

WIth the top railings stained and installed (in the red/brown Hunterline stain combination I have been using) I used the airbrush to weather the porch roof to match the top. Everything not being painted was covered and I used the same combination of paints as used for the top. I found it difficult to get the look I really wanted since I had to airbrush upward rather than down as I had done the top (Building was in the way). This resulted in a couple of splatters but after cleaning and trying twice more I got what I thought was OK and called it a day.



More in a little while.

[PRR Modeler]

This looks incredible.

[deemery]

When I was cleaning up the layout room, I found my Cundy Hotel kit all boxed up.  After watching yours, I'm not sure I want to tackle mine, because anything I do won't match yours!!!


dave

[Jim Donovan]

At this stage of the kit assembly the directions kind of say 'finish it' giving some tips and a bunch of drawings. By this point I noticed I was using a significant amount of my own strip wood for the various trim needed. At first I thought it was me but the video I had watched showed many places were trim had been left off. Apparently trim, especially for the back, is to be provided by the builder. I used a lot of 1 x 4, 1 x 6 and 1 x 12 strip wood as I went, something to keep in mind if you build this hotel.

At this stage it was time to finish and attached the chimneys.


First I randomly painted individual bricks to give a more realistic appearance using the paints shown above and a 0 size round paint brush. The resin castings provided are excellent with very deep morder lines. Accidental overpainting should therefore disappear once the grout is added giving the bricks a nice clean look.


Prior to adding grout the chimneys need to be coated with a matt varnish so the acrylic paint does not run while grouting. I have switched from Dullcoat to Krylon's Clear Matt finish. It seems to cover smoother and I have heard good reviews from others who use it.


Once dry I masked the flat central portions of the chimneys so they did not get clogged with grout.


Using a small disposable tray I spread the sand grout into the lines of the resin castings. I made sure all lines were filled and packed down as best I could.


The chimney was sprayed with a fine mist of wet water (water with a few drops of dove liquid soap). Then a Mod Podge/ water mix consisting of 1 part Mod Podge to 3 parts water was fine sprayed onto the chimney. The excess grout is carefully wiped off 'against' the grain so that the grout stays in the grooves. Once clean it is allowed to dry overnight. Next day I sprayed a second application of Mod Podge/ water and again carefully cleaned off the excess.


When dry the tape was removed and here is the result. The final thing that must be done is again spray the chimneys with the Krylon Clear Matt finish. This makes sure the grout stays bonded in the moder lines.

[Jim Donovan]

Once the chimney's were dry I attached them to their respective sides. I was concerned they stay firmly attached so used 5 minute epoxy to glue them to the building. I placed light pencil lines marking where to put each chimney and ensure they were set perpendicular. Epoxy is great but I knew I would only get one chance.



I was pleased with myself so I should have known Murphy was about to show up:



The one wall was slightly warped, unbelievable. I checked the video on this kit build and found his walls were both warped slightly. With epoxy you get one chance so lesson learned. I put 2 x 2 trim next to the brick and that covered the mistake. I checked and found several images of chimneys with trim around them but not what I wanted. I had lightened up a little on the wall bracing to allow for the interiors and it had come back to bite me.



Oh well, live and learn. More tomorrow.

[Jim Donovan]

This looks incredible.

Hi Curt and thanks! I saw you and Dave slipped in while I was catching up on this kit. Thanks for encouragement.

Jim

[Jim Donovan]

When I was cleaning up the layout room, I found my Cundy Hotel kit all boxed up.  After watching yours, I'm not sure I want to tackle mine, because anything I do won't match yours!!!


dave

Dave thank you, that is high praise indeed but I suspect yours will be amazing. I will be listing things I would do different at the end of the build. Hopefully that will be a help when you dust that box off.

Jim

[Janbouli]

Wow , Jim , great modeling , and thank you for that incredible how to on the chimney , looks absolutely amazing.