Evergreen Hill Designs - Shenandoah Crossing

[Keep It Rusty]

Wow. I love the details. Did they all come with the kit? Wonderful job so far.

[Oldguy]

Bob, Tom, Curt, and Jeff thanks for the comments.  And yes, it is testing me. 

I needed to add the cap to the shingle section of the roof,  I used the wrapping from  some industrial Scott paper towels.  And yes, they are brown.  Probably 40 years ago, our office supply was discontinued and they pretty much let us take what we wanted.  Primarily to save the cost of shipping it all back north.  So yes, I have kept the package all this time.  I picked 14" for a width and 19" for the length.  Just did the typical cut the width, fold in half and then cut to length on the Chopper.
While I was on the roof, I located and drilled a hole for a piece of brass rod for the waste vent stack.  Eventually, it'll get a coating of black paint.
I added a wall clock, world map, a couple of calendars to the interior walls.  Too bad I can't get a decent photo.  But I did manage to add the toilet door.  It's just made up of kit scrap.


I didn't like the kit provided embossed paper block, so I dug into my Holgate and Reynolds stash and cut a precious piece.  I'll attack it tomorrow. 


I'll also need to sit down and reread the instructions again.  I must have gotten way out of sequence as it looks like they want the exterior wooden walkway installed next.  What I noticed is that there is a foundation for this section, but it doesn't include the walkway.  That means it'll be hanging in the air before it gets installed.   That can't be right.  I'll figure it out tomorrow.

[GPdemayo]

Great progress Bob.....

[NKP768]

Nice job on getting all those angles of the roof to line up...
Doug

[Jerry]

I missed this one Bob.  Very nice work.


Jerry

[Oldguy]

Thanks guys.

I decided to go ahead and use the wooden walkway.  My plan to convert it to concrete was going to be a lot more fiddly that I want right now.  One just cuts out the template and wood pieces.  I labeled each piece and also labeled the drawing to remove any doubt as to placement.  At this stage, one also cuts out where each of the scale 4x4 posts are to go.  If I had to do it over again. I'd make sure that they would have been inset by 1/8".    More on this later.


Then it is a simple (not) matter of gluing them place to the neighboring floor section.  Once that is done, 2x12 supports are added.  To keep the building level at this stage, one makes up a box out of 2x12s as well as shown in detail 5.  No direction as to size.  But it will have to fit inside the rear section of the foundation (that gets built later on).  I built mine early, so I had a clue on how big I could go.  Then there are some additional walkway bracing to be added.  Let 'er all set up.

[Oldguy]

With the walkway done, it was time to do the roof.  Typical cards with dashed lines showing where 2x4s get place on the other side.  I merely copied the placement on the brown side.  I did add extra 2x4s at where the sections meet and drew a line where the cards should overlap 4x4s mounted on the walls as roof supports. This gave me a stop area.  The supports were cut on an angle but all required further trimming,  Being cardboard, even the little bit of glue for the wood pieces cause it to warp.  So, as soon as practical, I added a weight until it was dry.

Then while the roof pieces was drying, I added some of the support posts.  Here, it would have made my life a lot easier if I had spaced them 1/8" from the front edge.  I could have ensured a more perpendicular orientation had I done so, by using a 1/8" piece if bracing.  It is a simple matter of pushing the walkway up to a vertical 1x2x3 block and checking the distance at the top of the post.  But, I didn't.  So it required constant checking  as the glue dried to ensure that the vertical posts were in line with any of the vertical scribing.  Good old geometry to the rescue.

[Oldguy]

I managed to get all the underside 2x4s in place and then gave id spritz of spray paint.  Mainly to seal the cardboard.

While that was drying, I attempted to build the chest coke machine.  A piece of balsa to be cut to size and glued together and then shaped.  Yeah, right.  I ran out of balsa trying to get it right.

So, back to the roof.  Got it glued on.  This roof was supposed to be more tar paper, but since the rear loading dock is corrugated, I decided to do this one as well,  First up cutting the Campbell strip to 2'3" wide and then to length.  Then on to paint.

Then on to the shingles.  A while back David Emery mentioned the use of Deluxe Materials Super 'Phatic glue.  I had used it on wood to wood, but thought it might work on metal and porous materials.  And sure enough it works like a charm and sets up quicker than Canopy glue.  I just needed to use a micro brush to spread it where I wanted it to go. 


Now it's a bit of working on all the detail parts and futzing with the foundation.

[PRR Modeler]

Everything looks great Bob.

[postalkarl]

Hey Bob:

Looks just great. Keep the pics flowing.

Karl

[Oldguy]

Curt and Karl.  Thanks
Been busy working on detail parts.  I found a couple of old scout arrow shafts, cut then down, and then drilled in some appropriate sized holes to hold them.  I use some fast grab Aleenes to hold the part on the end.  Really helps in painting the teeny bits.

And of course, more chairs to assemble. I did spot the one leg that tried to splay out.  I hate ACC.  The glue, that is.

For a break, I decided now was as good as time as ever to build the Emporium section.  As mentioned before, this kit has the option of building both as a unit or as separate buildings.   First up was cutting the parts out and then the various openings.

The Emporium is the section on the left.  Once cut out, you need to check to ensure that opposing sides are the same length and that the middle wall will fit between the side walls.  It didn't at first.  I found that the left and right walls were a bit long when measured against the drawing.  I decide not to cut them down,  I'll see if that was a mistake or not later.

When starting this kit, it came apparent that I was missing some instructions.  I e-mailed Evergreen Hill and Ken Bettis sent me a draft set of instructions for the Emporium.  We figured out that I was missing the first page or about 12 steps.  He is looking into reissuing the kit, but in a laser cut version.  Very nice customer service, especially since this kit is probably 30 years old.  If not more.

[GPdemayo]

That's the kind of service that keeps customers loyal to a manufacturer.....anyone in the business should keep that in mind. 

[Keep It Rusty]

Lovely progress. I love all the details in this kit. I will have to keep my eye out for it...

[Oldguy]

Slow going here.  Do a little casting painting and do a bunch of 2x4 framing, painting, framing. et al.
Then there was an issue of decifering what all the furniture placement dashed lines referred to.  Especially since there is an opening and door leading to a rear store room.  What goes there?  Why an opening into an exposed framed room from one that has finished walls?  Again  Ken responded and he wasn't sure, but all my queries will be incorporated into the next kit iteration.  He also dropped a bombshell as to the roof.   It isn't designed to be removable as he other one was.  So, place interior detail parts where they can be seen from a window.  Hmmm, may have to change that bit.

Needed a break and started on the false front.  I was to add the upper back framing, but this wall has an inset entrance and any backside framing would interfere with adding the windows.  I missed where I was to add the color card, so I got that done/  Then dug into building the entrance.  And Houston, we have a problem.  The detail drawing was off.  The interior window ledges that were cut a while ago are too short.  The door opening shows it to be 4'6" but measures 2'9".  The front door frame shows it to be 3'6".  Since the cast door will fit the frame, I'll go with 3'6".  Just making the frame will be interesting since it involves building an inward opening transom window.
This is taking a bit longer that I had anticipated.  But then , my new Bar Mills challenge kit hasn't arrived, so I'll keep on pluging away.

[Oldguy]

It turns out that I had to essentially redraw the font plan detail to account for the actual door frame width.  To aid in maintaining the width, I used two parallel pieces of painters tape.  Thee is just enough lip to hold the 4x4 posts in place.  Well, with the help of a machinist block.  I am basically building a transom door frame.  Over the upper 4x4's are a 1x4 covering.  Once that all dried I did a test fir of the cast metal door.  Hmmm, it don't fit.  The frame legs are short and the lower 1x4 is in the way.  And to top it off, the assembly is too tall.  But only by 4".

Then I looked at an elevation drawing and noticed that the transom was more rectangular than square.  So do it again.  But this time not only move the top piece down, but ensure that the lower piece allows for the door to sit flat.
Next up, make the actual transom window.  I'll need to wait a bit before it gets added as I'll set it in the open (inward) position.