Fountain Brewery kitbash #2 - 2021 winter build challenge

[Mark Dalrymple]

Yes, strong bashing skills.  It's looking great Mark.

Thanks, John.

As I chip away at this one I'm trying to work out what it will be.  I've been doing a bit of an inventory of what industries I have on my layout along with a bit of research in to what was most common in NZ towns in the 1920's and 1930's.  No decisions yet.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking just great. Can't wait to see more.

Thanks, Karl.

I'm keen to get further on with this one, but the two part epoxy means you can only go so far at a time.  I did go out and buy some more clamps.  You can never have too many clamps!

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

This is really coming together. I love all the angles and kit bashing. Wonderful stuff.

Thanks, Tom.

I'm pleased you like the angles.  They sure do add a bit of complexity to the project.  I think I have things under control, though.

Cheers, Mark.

[S&S RR]

Yes, strong bashing skills.  It's looking great Mark.

Thanks, John.

As I chip away at this one I'm trying to work out what it will be.  I've been doing a bit of an inventory of what industries I have on my layout along with a bit of research in to what was most common in NZ towns in the 1920's and 1930's.  No decisions yet.

Cheers, Mark.

I enjoy doing the research to find industries that fit my time period.  I remember seeing a typewriter sales and service store in Franklin on the F&SM. I said something to George about it's something you don't see anymore and he pulled out his typewriter, which he used to write the instructions for his FSM kits. I hadn't seen one since college - 40 plus years ago now.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

So I took the remaining piece of the side wall that I had cut vertically, cut it to the desired height and spliced a small section on one end.

Photo 1 - shows the spliced wall.

This I then glued and clamped to enclose the top of the angled addition.

Photo 2 - shows the closed in addition.

Photo 3 shows a close up of the gable wall with my scratchbuilt staggered fascia.

It was about now that I noticed that things along this ridge line did not line up.  I put a ruler along the ridge line and it was very skew wiff.  I did lots of measuring to try to work out what the problem was.  In the end I discovered that the gable wall from which I made my casting was not symmetrical.  I'm sure it is supposed to be, but this was an error I would have needed to have discovered much earlier on in the piece to have been able to rectify.  I'm sure if I had have put these two gable walls together back to back the ridges would have been out by some distance, but of course, with them all glued in place, I can't do that.  After some careful consideration I decided that the ridge being out of kilter would stand out like dog b###s.  So my solution was to add a bit of strip wood to one side of the ridge.  I was planning on overhanging my roof slightly anyway, and I think I'll just add a vent from the wall to help disguise the fix.  I couldn't think of a better way to fix the problem than this.

Photo 4 - showing the stripwood added to the gable wall.

Photo 5 - lastly we have a photo showing the back closed in.  The gable wall discussed in the last two photos is glued in position as well as the short angled return below the wall discussed in photo's 1 and 2.  The inner floor has been glued and clamped into position.  This step really did straighten things out and sure things up.  The z shaped back wall and the rectangular wall are both removable, giving access to the inside of the structure.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[nycjeff]

Hello Mark. I really like what you are doing here. You are making a completely unique structure. I like your method of copying the walls and making cardboard mock-ups. I can see how it would give you a very accurate view of your ideas before actually cutting up the kit walls.    Jeff

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hello Mark. I really like what you are doing here. You are making a completely unique structure. I like your method of copying the walls and making cardboard mock-ups. I can see how it would give you a very accurate view of your ideas before actually cutting up the kit walls.

Thanks so much, Jeff!

I find the mock-ups work a treat.  Not just for making sure the structure will look OK and giving you a guide on where and how to cut the kit walls, but also to check how the structure works with the rest of the scene.  Sometimes it is too dominant or obscures a view you want to keep, sometimes the scale is wrong and it looks too big or too small against the surrounding structures.

Thanks for following along, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

So next up was adding the mullions to the windows.  I decided on one through the center to represent 1/1 sash windows.  Firstly I cut up small pieces of styrene a little less than the width of the windows and then cut this to half the window height.  There were several different window sizes so I had to cut up one for each different sort.  I numbered these so as to not get them muddled and also to make sure I got the orientation right - a couple of them are almost square.  I took 0.56mm square strip styrene and cut a few lengths slightly longer than the width of the window.  These windows are very inconsistent, and so every mullion needs to be cut to fit.  I then trimmed with a razor blade, picked them up with reversible tweezers, and test fitted them in the window.  I needed a nice tight fit, but not so tight as to bow the mullion.  Once happy with the fit I held a piece of styrene behind the window, placed my spacer at the bottom of the window, and then placed the mullion in position.  I could then prod and poke the mullion down hard against the scrap styrene held behind the window and down against the spacer.  When this was done the scrap styrene was removed and the spacer carefully pushed out, leaving the mullion in place.  I then used a skewer to apply CA to the back - a blob on each side of the window next to the mullion which I then carefully pulled across onto the mullion.  Excess was removed with a cotton bud.  I found that I would work for 15 minutes on one mullion, with several attempts and lots of cursing, and then get 5 done in the next 15 minutes.

Photo 1 - shows the mullion held in the tweezers.

Photo 2 - shows the spacer in place and the scrap styrene behind.

Photo 3 - shows the mullion glued in place.

Photo 4 - shows the front finished.  You can see I also added some bricked out windows which will be half obscured by the exterior stairway.  The mullions missing from this wall will be behind the exterior stairway.

Lastly, I made up the Z-shaped removable back wall{s}.  Again, I used left over City Classics side and back walls.  The windows should be underground.

Photo 5 - shows the removable back wall.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[NEMMRRC]

Impressive.


I probably would have painted the mullions on the glazing. I'm lazy that way. Plus my "Oh crap!" allotment keeps diminishing with each build as my wife gives me the dirtiest looks each time I complain when I screw up lol.


Jaime

[postalkarl]

Hey Mark:

Coming along very nicely. Can't wait to see what you do with this.

Karl

[ReadingBob]

Very nice Mark.  Adding the mullions looks like a very tedious task but a necessary one.  They look good.   

[Mark Dalrymple]

Impressive.


I probably would have painted the mullions on the glazing. I'm lazy that way. Plus my "Oh crap!" allotment keeps diminishing with each build as my wife gives me the dirtiest looks each time I complain when I screw up lol.

Thanks, Jaime.

The instructions suggest painting the mullions the same colour as your windows and gluing them to your glazing once done.  I can see the sense in this method, but would think it would be very easy to get glue all over the window panes.  I model in the garage while my wife is usually in her office upstairs so I can typically cuss to my hearts content.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Coming along very nicely. Can't wait to see what you do with this.

Thanks, Karl.

I'm still looking in to what kind of industry this will be.  I will do a day researching while the primer dries.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Very nice Mark.  Adding the mullions looks like a very tedious task but a necessary one.  They look good.   

Thanks, Bob.

Yes - I think they make a big difference.  Its certainly not one of my favourite jobs, though.  I had thought about modifying Tichy or Grandt Line windows to fit and give the structure a different look, but when I discovered there were four different sized and shaped windows I decided to keep things simple.  Also my window supply needs replenishing.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Next I ran painters tape up each side of any of the joins that needed attention.  I added putty, and trimmed and sanded when dry.

Photo 1 - shows putty being added to one of the joins.

I then turned my attention to the roofs.  I decided the best solution was to add a styrene roof flush with the top of the gable ends and then I could add thin cardboard roofs and roofing material on top of this.  I marked styrene pieces by holding them against the back of the gables and marking up and down the rake with a pencil.  I then cut these pieces out, but transferred the lines down by 1.5mm (the thickness of the styrene I would use for the roof.  The inner floor piece to which these triangles would be attached was pretty flat, but I checked by holding a straight edge across the top of the gables and measuring down to the inner floor.  I tweaked a few.  These triangles were then glued into position - against the back of the gable walls and fairly evenly spaced between them.  Again, they were checked with a straight edge as I went.  The width of the structure from the recessed center wall to the back wall was slightly wider than across the right end gable walls, so the two corresponding triangles were slightly different sizes and the ridge lines will be at slightly different heights.  This will create a slight quirk in the plane of the right hand side roof piece.  Pretty common in the roofing world.

Photos 2 - 4 - show some different views of the sub-roof.  There was a bit of headwork involved in sorting all this out.

I then cut, beveled and added the roof planes to the sub-roof.  This is now very solid.  I had the back walls in place when doing this roofing to make sure things were sitting exactly how they should be.  Gravity managed to coerce the CA downwards and glue the top of the back wall to the inner floor, but I was able to cut and lever them apart without damage.

Photos 5 & 6 - show the roof planes glued into position.  The small roof to the left just has the two sections sitting in position, as I will still need to access the window from the inside.

More soon, cheers, Mark.