Showcase Miniatures Fred's One Stop Gas

[nycjeff]

Jeff;

I just had a chance to catch up on your project. Very interesting and educational. You explain things well and I learned a lot. The project is really coming along and looks great. Thanks for sharing.

Jim

Hello Jim, thank you very much for looking in on my little build. I'm just trying to do a build thread as I learned how to on this forum before it went dark. Since the forum has come back I've noticed a lack of step by step build threads and more of just a social theme. I hope that this will improve as time goes by. I was disheartened by Tom ACL's announcement that he would no longer be doing that type of thread, I learned a great deal from Tom. I know that there are many very fine modelers out there and I hope that some of them come back and continue what this forum is all about. Sorry about my speech here, but I felt like I just had to say what I've been thinking out loud.

Looking good.  You're making great progress on this interesting kit.

Jeff

Hello Jeff, it is an interesting kit isn't it. I've never done this type of kit before and I have had a great time building it.

There was a period where EVERY lasercut kit maker did a building with an overhanging 2nd story.  They always rubbed me the wrong way, because structurally those aren't very common. 

But you're certainly getting good results as you work through the kit.

dave

Hello Dave, I was kind of waiting for you to voice your opinion about the structural integrity of this structure. You are right as always, but the building does have an interesting look. That's what drew me to buy the kit in the first place.

Looking real find Jeff.....

Hello Greg, thank you

[deemery]

Well, I remember seeing a couple of those overhanging 2nd story on prototype structures, and saying to myself, "Yup, there IS a prototype for everything!"

dave

[nycjeff]

Next it's time to start some of the small sub-assemblies that go onto the structure. First is the large GAS double sided sign that goes onto the front peak of the house.



Taped to the paper is the frame for the large GAS sign. The kit does not provide any backing for the actual sign, so I decided to build a stripwood back. First I taped the frame to some paper and then drew some lines to form the perimeter of the frame.



Next I cut some 2x6 stripwood to the proper length. I made sure to get them all the same length by using my chopper, shown in the picture. I got this tool from Micro Mark and I use it all the time.



I laid the 2x6 pieces inside the frame outline and taped them in place. I then cut three pieces to glue on the back to hold everything in place. The three pieces will line up with the three vertical pieces in the kit frame.



I then dipped the completed sign backer in my A&I solution to give it and aged, weathered look. Then I made the second side.



Here are the completed sign frame, the two side sign backers and the two signs.

[nycjeff]

Here is the sign in it's place on the roof. I haven't glued it yet.  I'm waiting to place the structure on it's base before gluing on the small fragile sub-assemblies.The blank wall of the house is where the  gas station building will butt up against the house.



Here's a look at the rear of the house. I still have to add some steps below the door and a small roof above the door. I'm waiting to add these small pieces until after I place the structure on it's base. Otherwise I'm sure that they would be knocked off several times.



Here's a look at the left side of the house. A small wall mount AC unit will be added to the left of the second story windows. Again, I'm waiting to add this small piece.



The front of the house is shown here. I still need to add some stairs and handrails on the front side of the porcch.



I like the look of the GAS sign on the roof.

[deemery]

Jeff, none of the images from your last post showed up for me, and I get 'file not found' when trying to open the link. 

(Some forum applications have problems when the image is too big, or when the image name contains spaces or similar non-alphanumeric characters.) 

dave

[nycjeff]

Next are some gas price signs that are meant to lay flat on the roof. The signs that came with the kit show gas prices in the .70 cent range. These prices do not reflect my time period which is the late 1940's.



On my computer, I made some new gas price numbers. I tried to match the font style and color and also the background color. The new prices come closer to the 1940's prices.



Here are the new gas prices glued onto the sign sheet. I then copied this sheet to arrive at the final signs that I will use.



As you can see I did not lay the gas price signs flat on the roof. I built some sign braces and glued them to the back of the signs and then glued them to the kit supplied sign frames that are laying flat on the roof. I like this look a little better, plus it gave me an opportunity to do something a little different than the kit called for.



Here's another look at the gas price signs with the braces that hold them up from the roof surface.



This is one busy roof surface. The laddder glued to the roof came with the kit. There is one for each side.

That's it for now, more later.

[nycjeff]

I'm not sure what went wrong with my last post. Everything looked alright when I was working on it. I double checked the size of the pictures, they are 750x500 pixels, which is the size of picture that I always use.

Here is a try with one of the pictures, we'll see if this works.

[nycjeff]

well that one worked, here are the other pictures.









Hope this works

[nycjeff]

Now the pictures from my original post have showed up. The mysteries of computers strikes again.

[ReadingBob]

That roof looks terrific, Jeff.  Great finish and weathering.  The signs and ladders add a lot of visual interest.  Nice job changing the prices to match the era you're modeling.  This is going to be a real eye catcher on your layout.

[cuse]

Really nice Jeff...I like the roof coloring and really like that unusual sign.

[nycjeff]

That roof looks terrific, Jeff.  Great finish and weathering.  The signs and ladders add a lot of visual interest.  Nice job changing the prices to match the era you're modeling.  This is going to be a real eye catcher on your layout.

Hello Bob, thanks for looking in on my build. You're right, there are a lot of nice details that came with the kit. I thought it would be more difficult to do the change price thing, but it worked out pretty well.

Really nice Jeff...I like the roof coloring and really like that unusual sign.

Hello cuse, thanks for the kind words.

[nycjeff]

I've gone about as far as I can with the house for now. All I have left are the stairs for the right side and rear and a couple of small wall mount details. I am going to wait until the house is glued to the base before I do these details.

But I have a whole other building to put together. This kit is like two kits in one.



As you can see here, the house is only part of the whole kit. I can now start on the gas staation part.



Here is the bag with all the parts for the gas station.



Here are the parts for the gas station laid out



Here I have the wall pieces ready for painting.



And here are the waall pieces painted with rattle can grey primer.

[nycjeff]

The window backer pieces have been applied to the back of the walls. This is a peel and stick step.



Here, again, you can see the window backer pieces around the perimeter of the window and door openings.



I decided to paint the trim for the store with a red craft paint. I sponged the paint on the sheet with the window and door trim pieces.



Here are the pieces for a door laid out. First the glazing is glued onto the opening. I used Aileen's tacky glue for this. Next the door is placed in the opening, then the first door trim and then the exterior door trim. All of these pieces are peel and stick.



I dry brushed the walls with a white wash craft paint.

That's it for now, more later.

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...




The front wall of the gas station has the door and windows installed along with some signs that came with the kit.



I'm starting to assemble the walls. I bought the metal tray and the stand up magnets from Micro mark. This is a very handy tool that is reasonably priced. It helps keep walls square when gluing them together.



The red strips at the top of the interior walls are being glued in here. the roof cards have to be installed from the botttom and they rest on the red strips.



The front roof card has been installed. It fit perfectly. The laser cut accuracy on this kit is impressive.



The kit comes with an interior floor and one interior wall. I painted the bottom of the wall red and also added a few signs. I built a service counter with a front sign to give some semblance of an active inside to the gas station. It turns out that you can't see inside the building when the front canopy is added to the building. If I had added some interior lighting, then it would have been visible, but I have not attempted to do that as of yet.