Carolina Craftsman Kits - Aunt Ruth's House

[ReadingBob]

Nice color choice Eileen.
 
I'm getting into a rut with my colors and I need to be a little more daring with some of my builds in the future. Hope i can do it.

Hi Greg,

I told Eileen everyone on the forum likes the color choices but I also told her that I didn't tell anyone that she picked them out.      I guess I'll have to let her pick out some more in the future.   

[ReadingBob]

Bob,

I've enjoyed your detailed and informative build for Aunt Ruth's house. Great job!
Some lucky person will enjoy the home! Thanks for the thread!

Tom

Hi Tom,

Thanks!  I really hope to finish this one up this weekend and get back to Fox Run Milling.  There's only a little bit left to do and it should be 'layout ready'.      

[ReadingBob]

Bob,

I've enjoyed your detailed and informative build for Aunt Ruth's house. Great job!
Some lucky person will enjoy the home! Thanks for the thread!
Tom

Guess I'd best get crackin' on a kit 'fore I go to a home. 

   Yeah, what's up with that?  Can't make up your mind?  Close your eyes and pull a random kit from the stash.  Start building something!   

[GPdemayo]

Nice color choice Eileen.
 
I'm getting into a rut with my colors and I need to be a little more daring with some of my builds in the future. Hope i can do it.

Hi Greg,

I told Eileen everyone on the forum likes the color choices but I also told her that I didn't tell anyone that she picked them out.      I guess I'll have to let her pick out some more in the future.   

Pegi always picked colors and treatments on our 1:1 builds and she's been great helping with the little stuff too! It always helps to have another set of eyes.

[ReadingBob]

Okay, it's time to get back to the build of this one and show you the finished product.

It's amazing what looking at your work in pictures can reveal.  I added the posts and the railings to the rear porch.  Later on, when I looked at these photo's I could see the one railing was parallel with the end of the porch.  It really didn't appear that obvious when looking at in person as it does in this photo.  I've since repositioned it.  By the way, on homes like these in the old coal mining towns, nutthin' was square and lined up.  I know, I lived in one for a spell.   



After putting the rear porch roof on I added rafter tails  that were longer than necessary and then trimmed them using my sprue cutter.  In all honesty an old pair of rail nippers is a little easier to use but the sprue cutters were just sitting there right next to my hand when I went to do this.   



For the roof's I applied 3M Transfer tape to the top and then trimmed it to fit using a sharp pair of scissors.



Peeling the carrier material off of the roof after the transfer tape is applied leaves behind the 'stick-um' stuff.  Now you have roof surface ready to receive rolled roofing and no glue is needed.  That helps prevent glue smudges from getting on the visible surface of the rolled roofing.  I then applied my rolled roofing material in strips working my way from the lower portion of the roof to the upper portion of the roof and overlapping each strip slightly.  I just eye ball it.     Afterwards I trim it to fit.  On exposed edges I leave a lit bit extra that can be bent down.  The main roof on this structure only has the lower edge exposed.



For the front porch I trimmed the posts to what I judged to be the correct height based on positioning the porch roof where I wanted it.  I trimmed them at the top, not the bottom.  The bottom portion must be left untouched otherwise where the heck would the railings go?   



Again, just eye-ballin' things I guesstimated how long the railings at the end of the porch needed to be so I'd now how big a piece to cut.



More in a moment...

[postalkarl]

Hi Bob:

Aunt Ruth's is looking good.

Karl

[ReadingBob]

I used my trusty single edged razor blade to cut a piece of railing to the length I guesstimated in the previous step.



Using a square I checked to ensure that the end of my railing would glue square to the post when I was ready.  I tweaked (not twerked, OMG), it with an emery board as necessary to get it just right.



I applied just a teeny drop of CAA on the end of the top and bottom railing and glued it to the post.  One end is already finished and now I'm gluing the other end together.  After that I glued them in place on the front porch and the made an assembly with a longer railing to glue on the front of the porch.  Then the roof was glued in place.



After the porches were completed it was time to start adding some pitch/tar here and there.  I mixed some plain old Elmer's White Glue with a drop of Vallejo 70.862 Black Grey (I used to love using Pollyscale Grimy Black for this).



I applied a little of the glue/paint pitch to the places I thought it would be appropriate, where the roofs meet walls and around the chimney on the main roof.  It'll thin out a bit as it dries.



By the way I figured out a way to make both roofs removable so lighting could be added later on.  The main roof slides into place.  I simply added a couple pieces of strip wood to the side walls, angled at one end, to hold it in position.



More in a moment...

 

[ReadingBob]

The little rear roof just drops into place after the main roof has been installed.



The final step was to go back and touch up spots, like the ends of the trim that were cut after being painted, the rafter tails, etc. with A&I or paint and A&I to blend them in.  Nothing looks more obvious, as I'm sure you've seen in earlier photo's than raw wood.  I also used a micro brush and plain A (no I) to tone down one or two spots where the A&I might have dried too dark.  Not a great photo but I had this happen on the front of the steps.  Just be careful, with the cheaper craft store acrylic paints rubbing A around too much will strip the paint right off.



Now for some photo's of the almost finished project (remember how I mentioned that photo's reveal things that bug you?).  I want to go back and tone down the pitch with a little flat finish.  It looks too bright to me in these pictures.  It doesn't look that bad in real life but a quick hit with some flat finish should help.









And there you have.  A great little kit of a neat little house from Carolina Craftsman Kits!

[ReadingBob]

Hi Bob:

Aunt Ruth's is looking good.

Karl

Hi Karl,

Thanks!  Much appreciated.  Now it's back to work painting the castings for Fox Run Milling.   

[Zephyrus52246]

Great job, Bob.  I like the Vallejo German Grey for a "grimy black" replacement. 


Jeff

[PennsyJ1]

Bob, another outstanding job!! We have been following the thread from the beginning and I have learned a lot. I hope to start my first real build shortly.
Thank you for sharing your talents.
Bill & Kris

[GPdemayo]

Atta boy Bob.....good looking build!

[deemery]

Some good techniques in this thread, thanks!


dave

[bparrish]

Bob...

The porch railing and lattice work are just terrific.

thanx
Bob

[ACL1504]

Bob,

Great job, the colors look like they belong on Aunt Ruth's house. As the other
Bob said, the lattice is terrific!

Tom