Riverbend Chapel by FOS

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Another great build and build thread from you Tom!

Dan,

Thank you. I'm getting ready for the 2021 Build Challenge.

Tom

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The Lord's work on the church continues. 

I assembled the four walls of the upper steeple walls together. I used small weights, actually the inside of them, to hold it square until the glue dried.





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These walls are small and delicate so I decided to add more bracing. I glued four short pieces of 6X6 scale lumber to the inside of each corner.



It's always a good thing to have it all on the level. I certainly don't want the top spire to look or be crocked.



I have a lot more to add so now is a good time to get "moi" a Diet Pepsi.

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I glued the exterior arch in place and also added the cross. The cross was painted with Floquil Brass.



To ensure the cross was correctly positioned, I used a metal square to align the cross vertically.



More in a few.

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I then glued the church spire together and set it aside to dry. I placed it on the mat and used the mat lines to ensure it was square while drying. I needed to reshape it only once as the glue dried.



Doug includes, in the kit, a small piece of wire. He suggests the builder use this wire, cut to fit, to fill in the cut/edge lines once the spire is together. I didn't use the wire but it will give the spire a more defined appearance if used.

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I cut out the large piece of the large platform section. This piece fits on top of the four steeple walls.



Since I changed the steeple walls, I knew this wouldn't fit properly as shown below.

I measured the width of the heavy cardstock and found it to be 1/16 thick.



More in a few.

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I searched through my extra lumber stash and found some plain 1/16 wood.



I used a metal ruler to ensure the white piece was flush with the bottom and left side of the plain lumber. I then marked the top and right side as shown.



More in a few.

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I used a square to mark the top and right side lines.





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Now that I have a piece with the corners squared, the piece is way to big for the steeple walls.



I started cutting off 1/16" on each side. Fortunately the portion (1/16) on each side gave me a better fit and one that looks appropriate.



More in a few.

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I wasn't sure how the paint or stain would take to the sides. I used scale 1x6s and glued them to the sides of the large and smaller steeple platforms.






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Notice the small ridge on the two platforms in the photo below.  These will face down when in place.



I fit the scratch built wall in place and stained it. I'm now waiting on the extra windows from FOS to finish this wall on the church. None of the walls on this side of the structure are glued.



More in a few.

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For the church spire I wanted something that looked liked weathered copper. Incidentally, Doug didn't mention, in the instructions, how the steeple should be painted. If you have this kit and haven't yet built it, here is how for several years I've been representing weathered copper.

I used some scrap paper used in the kit and painted a small section with Floquil Antique Bronze. Any brown color will work for this. I just happened to still be using the Antique Bronze.



While the paint was still "tacky" and not totally dry, I used some of DR. Ben's Light Patina, item #1131.



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I used a soft bristle brush and "dusted" on some of the powered patina. I then used my finger to blend the patina with the tacky paint.



I pulled the patina down from top to bottom. This was a sample for me to see how much patina I wanted to use.

The Babe needs me for a minute, I'll be back as my good friend Arnold says.

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I painted the church spire with the antique bronze and set it aside to get tacky.



I also painted the two platforms with the bronze color.

Using the method I described above, I added patina to the spire and smaller platform and then carefully glued them together making sure the spire was centered.



More in a few.

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The larger platform was also weathered and glued to the smaller walled section. Again, I made sure they were centered. The small cross was glued to the top. The two subassemblies were glued to each other and set aside.

This will be added to the church as a last step after the roof and rolled roofing paper is added.





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