Showcase Miniatures Fred's One Stop Gas

[nycjeff]

Hello Curt, thanks for checking out my kit build. I'm having fun with this one- it's a different style of kit than I've done in the past

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...



Here is a piece of exterior wall after I drybrushed some Desert Sand acrylic paint. I painted all of the window parts, while still on the fiberboard sheet, with a Light Avocado acrylic paint which I applied with a sponge.



This shows the difference between the sprayed on primer wall and the drybrushed one.



Here is a picture of the window installation procedure. You can see the purpose of the window backers here. The acetate, which comes precut with the kit, is glued into the opening. I used some Aileen's tacky glue for this. The window backer visible from the front prevents the acetate from falling thru the opening. That's why it is so critical to place the window backer material correctly.



Here are the parts for one window laid out in order before installation.First the glazing, then an interior sash, then a frame, then the exterior upper sash and finally a trim frame. It's a lot of work for each window, but being the wierd kind of guy that likes this type of thing, I had a lot of fun with it. All of the parts excfept for the glazing are peel and stick. There is one more part to each window that I haven't mentioned here. A window sill is provided for each window, but I wanted to wait until later in the build to install these. I figured that they would just get knocked off during the wall assembly process.



Here is a look at one of the wall pieces with the windows installed. Like I said, a lot of work because there are a lot of windows in this kit, but I think it was worth it. I really like the way they look.

So far the window processs is the biggest difference in this kit from most other craftsman kits that I have built. Cutting an opening in a wall and gluing in a finished product Tichy window is a lot different than this. To me much more satisfying. Not that the Tichy windows aren't great, but this process shows what would have to be done if we didn't have them.

That's it for now more later.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looks superb, Jeff.

The dry brushing really makes a difference.  I think the fact that the windows aren't quite perfect (like a Tichy window would be) gives them a real one of a kind look.  More like white metal windows.

Cheers, Mark.

[jerryrbeach]

Jeff,

I really like the sand color you used for dry brushing the walls over the primer.  The light avocado is a great complimentary color, too.  I agree laser cut windows take a lot longer, but they offer a lot of choices if you want to model any of the windows in various stages of being open.  Looks to me like a well designed kit, at least so far.

[GPdemayo]

I like how the windows came out Jeff.....

[Vietnam Seabee]

A great looking wall/windows, Jeff

Terry

[nycjeff]

Hello Mark, Jerry, Greg and Terry. I'm glad that all of you guys liked the windows. They were a lot of work, but I'm very satisfied with the end product. This is the first kit that I have built using this type of material and I'm enjoying every bit of it so far.

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...



Here is a view of the rear wall after drybrushing, painting the exposed foundation, installing windows and a door and placing shades on the inside of the windows. The bottom middle window is modeled to be open with interior shades blowing in the wind.



Here are the rear and left side walls. You can see how the tab and slots fit together. From looking at the instructions, the corner joint will be covered by trim boards on both sides of the corner.



I've glued the left side and rear walls to the base which has some interior walls and a second floor ceiling. You can see the gluing surface for the walls around the base perimeter. I also put some glue on the tab and slot corners of the wall.
The next step got me into a little bit of trouble. I "assumed" that the second floor ceiling was the same size as the first floor floor. We all know what happens when we assume. So I merrily placed some glue along the edge of the second floor ceiling because I figured it would further stabilize the walls and make everything tighter.



Here's a view of the left side wall after gluing it to the base.



And here's a view of the rear wall. The corner joint fit perfectly. The laser engineering on the parts of this kit are impressive. The glue dried, everything was nice and tight and solid and I was a happy camper.

 

[nycjeff]

I just lost a whole post with pictures because my log in time ran out. I usually log in for an hour, but this time it was not enough. Live and learn, I'll repost soon.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Enjoying watching the engineering of this kit, Jeff.

Looks nice and solid with all those interior pieces.

Cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking modeling Jeff. It's turning out much better than I thought it would when you said it was a heavy paper. The windows remind me of the ones in a BTS kit.

[nycjeff]

Enjoying watching the engineering of this kit, Jeff.

Looks nice and solid with all those interior pieces.

Cheers, Mark.

Hello Mark, this kit is turning into an adventure. I thought the same thing while building, but stay tuned and you'll see that the interior walls do not help in making the structure solid.

Great looking modeling Jeff. It's turning out much better than I thought it woukd when you said it was a heavy paper. The windows remind me of tge ones in a BTS kit.

Hello Curt, I didn't know what to expect when I started, but I'm pleasantly surprised so far. I guess we all get into a comfort zone with our familiar wood walls and bracing. The fiberboard or heavy paper as you call it is a different medium, but it's working out very well. I haven't done a BTS kit so far, do they have similiar windows to what I have in this kit ?

[nycjeff]

I continued on gluing the walls in place. When test fitting the right side wall I noticed a gap between the wall and the interior second floor ceiling. I also noticed that the left side wall was bowed in the middle. I then realized that the second floor ceiling was not the same size as the base floor. So, gluing the walls to the second floor ceiling, which I "assumed" was the right thing to do, was not helping matters at all.



I took my #11 blade and broke the glue joint between the left side wall and the second floor ceiling. This straightened out the left side wall and gave me the gap between the wall and ceiling. I inserted a vertical piece of 4x6 stripwood between the wall and ceiling as shown and all was well and things were nice and solid again.



Next I glued in the right side and front walls, with again using vertical 4x6 stripwood in the gap and evrything was good. I'm not sure why the ceiling piece was not the same size as the base floor below. I guess I should have laid it onto the base floor to make sure it was the same size before proceeding. As you can see in the picture I glued a piece of 1/8 square stripwood between the gable end peaks for more gluing siurface for the roof cards. This was not in the instructions, just a habit of mine when building kits.

I should mention here that this kit is not for someone without previous experience building craftsman kits. The instructions do not provide step by step points for building the kit and the parts are not all labeled. Having built more than a few craftsman kits and also scratchbuilding several structures, the instructions were clear enough for me.



Moving on, the next step called for installing rafters on the front bump out. Asa you can see in the picture I pre-painted the sheet with my trim color. I used a sponge to do this. The rafter pieces came out of the sheet fairly easily. You do need a new blade in your cutting tool to do this.



The rafters have been installed. They fit perfectly in the slots in the gable end wall and the front bump out wall. The engineering of the laser cut pieces is impressive.

 

[nycjeff]

The next step called for gluing what they called the sub roof cards onto the structure. When test fitting these pieces I found that the tabs did not fit into the slots all that easily. I think it's because of the paint I added to the walls. It was an easy matter to use one of my small files to open the slots in the roof cards a little. They then fit onto the tops of the walls easily. here are a few pictures showing the sub roof cards installed.







There were some small gaps between the sub roof pieces so I used some blue painters tape as flashing to close those gaps.





That's it for now, more later.

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking progress Jeff.