Laserkit Dabler Mill & Supply

[Mark Dalrymple]

Coming on a treat, Bob!

It sure is one impressive looking kit.

Cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking build.

[Oldguy]

Before I can do the roofing, I need to add all the trim pieces.  I probably could have done just the roof trim, but decided tha I better do it all at once.  There are close to 50 trim pieces, most on this card.  And all self-adhesive.

So, on this back wall there are two pieces of trim for the left portion of the wall.  I would think that bother should have gone all the way up to the top, but both stopped at the roof.  I now know what sections of wall that I need to touch-up.  And if you look real close you can make out a wall section that I missed painting altogether.


Now that that is done, I can start roofing!  There are a bunch of holes in the roof.  One can use as many as one wants.  Just cover up any unused holes.  I'll use 'em all.  The roof section on the right had special cut pieces just for it.

So, it came time to stop and I took a bit of inventory of roof deck and roofing material.  I think I'm going to need a paper stretcher.  It looks like I was missing half of what was needed.  I have distributed the roofing around to get an idea of how short of material I am.  At least I have some black construction paper available.  But first, I'll look around to see if I mislaid (highly unlikely) any provided material.

[Oldguy]

Well, I was right.  I had roofing material missing.  Basically about the equivalent to a sheet and a half of construction paper.  My black construction paper was more on the purple side, so I had to spray paint t with black sandable primer.

With the shortage, I found some replacements, such as 60 grit sandpaper for the small flat roof piece.

I started with a full sheet of painted construction paper, cut into 3'x33' lengths and fell a half sheet short.  I had thought about using transfer tape, but that is real unforgiving and there were several fiddly sections, so I just used good old Elmers.

Once the roof is all done, then I can go back and add overhead canopies, and detail parts such as a ton of smoke stacks.

And oh, I found that my initial concern was confirmed.  Add the roof trim pieces, then the roofing, and then add the corner trim pieces.  It'll make life a bit easier.

[ReadingBob]

Boy that's quite a project.  It's going to be really neat when you're done though Bob.   

[Oldguy]

Finally got the roofing done and added the smoke stacks.  They provide tar paper flashing for each one.  Its going to take a while to "tar" all the joints.


There is a ladder for the elevator that is assembled in an interesting way.  The rungs are on a sticky back material and one adds the side pieces.  Add a drop of glue at each side rail/rung junction.  When dry, cut the excess of the outside side rail, leaving one with a decent looking wood ladder.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking good, Bob.

Enjoying watching you bring this behemoth of a kit to life.

Cheers, Mark.

[Oldguy]

Mark, it is huge.

This little ladder in the back was a royal pain.  There is the landing that gets glued in, a lower bracket to hold the stair stringers, and slots in the roof that the stringers plug into.  Because the roof slopes, each stringer goes in a specific slot.  Problem is, I couldn't get the stinger into the slots in the landing and the roof at the same time.  In hind sight, the platform suld have been added after the stringers have been installed as it's slots would just drop down over the top of the stringers.  With the stair treads having a sticky back, I glued in the stringers and then the lower treads and let that set up before adding the other treads.  Once I got the other treads on, glued them all down so the hand rail could be installed.  And to get that in, I had to remove the upper vertical piece.  But it all worked out.

The ladder was attached to the elevator.  Note: the ladder has to be dead on in width the fit in the platform slots and lower bracket.  I t would have been a lot easier if I had made a couple of spacers to keep the side rails at the proper spacing.  This is a great looking assembly once attached to the roof.

Of the numerous castings are two weigh scales.  I found an on line image of an old Toledo scale and printed the face.

Now it was on to the storage tower.  I need to color the parts with weathering powders before I get too far and I try to find where the various parts go, how they are oriented, etc., to determine if I need to color both sides or not.  So I came across these two parts, T25, and I be darned if I can find them anywhere.  Oh well, I guess I'll run int them eventually.

[Janbouli]

What a great looking structure Bob, I am really jealous , the H0 version has so many details the N-scale lacks.

[Oldguy]

What a great looking structure Bob, I am really jealous , the H0 version has so many details the N-scale lacks.

Thanks, and yes, sometimes being in a larger scale has it's advantages.

I got going on the grain tower.  First up was figuring out which parts are two sided so I can color both sides.  I'm going to use weathered brown.  The first item is adding louvers.  And since these will be flush with the front side, it is important to remove any little nibs.  Quite noticeable initially, then the location almost disappears after sanding.  Then add the slats and let sit.


The tower is a bit different as one assembles the body with adhesive side out.  Then add the long sides first as they have slots which aids in placement.

Interesting part.

[Oldguy]

The remaining parts go together much like a Japanese puzzle box.  I just wish I knew that ahead of time. The secret is to do one side at a time.  The bottom bin braces need just a spot of glue in the middle to hold them in place.  I glued the entire length and let dry.  Then prepare the horizontal pieces and legs.  Add the legs first, mind the order, getting the braces up tight to them.  Then add the horizontal parts, adjusting the legs and braces as you go.  I was off just a hair and made my life miserable.

[Oldguy]

The tower roof is to be tin. They supply a self-adhesive paper to make this.  I thought about using corrugated or standing seam metal, but decided to use what was provided for a change.  I opted to color this a neutral grey using pan Pastels, after it was all assembled.

The bottom slope sheets have a lot going on.  the lower horizontal piece has notches for the thin braces and legs, with no room for error.  I would up batting .500.  But some filing, I got everything to fit.
At this point they want the ladder installed, but I advise against it.  The tower gets mounted with ti legs going through square holes in the roof.  This takes a bunch of futzing and the ladder would be in the way of my fat fingers.  There will be a auger mounted under the tower that fits into the larger rectangular hole in the roof.
But before mounting. I need to color the legs that didn't get it earlier.

[PRR Modeler]

Looks great so far.

[postalkarl]

Hey Bob:

that is coming along quite nicely. Can't wait for more pics.

Karl

[Oldguy]

Hey Bob:

that is coming along quite nicely. Can't wait for more pics.

Karl

I'll see what I can do.

I'm fooling around with using internet images for the grain bags.  These have been primed and my first go around with just gluing them one.  My next attempt will be using larger images that will wrap around the sides more.

The grain tower has 8 of these "pots" that slip on the legs and will self adhere to the roof.  I guess to cover the roof openings.  The legs are square, but these pots are rectangular, so ensure that the log side goes with the roof and be angled.

So here is the tower, a pipe, and a pipe support structure all having to be fiddled with all the while trying to get the tower legs into the roof holes.  Not to mention that the pots keep slipping down.  These are one of the few items that fit loosely, everything else was tight.  You may notice that I decided against using the pots.  Just way too much of a hassle.  But the tower is glued down.  Tomorrow, I can do the final fit on the pipe to the tower.

I also need to cut some gaterfoam to size so I can add the other sections of the building.  I'll just be using double sided tape to hold it in place for handling purposes.  AT least that is the plan.
Looks like I'll be able to get this posted before we lose power again.  The third time a charm.