Syzdek Mfg by Downtown Deco

[nycjeff]

Time for another plaster, or more properly Hydrocal, build. I have already done one Downtown Deco kit- the Trackside Bar, and I really enjoyed building it. I thought that I would try a larger building this time and I like the look of the Syzdek Mfg structure, so here we go...

I placed my order with Downtown Deco and saw that if I added another smaller kit I could get free shipping, so I also ordered the First Timers Bar. When the order arrived I discovered a third box labeled "bonus"



The bonus box contained a bag of hydrocal castings- a very pleasant surprise.



Here are the contents of the First Timers bar kit. Typical for a Downtown Deco kit- four walls, some Tichy windows and doors and some signs.



Here are the contents of the Syzdek kit- a lot of big walls



The first step with all of these kits in sanding the flash from the edges and then making sure that the windows and doors fit their respective spaces. I had to do a lot of scraping, filing and sanding to get the windows to fit into the recesases in the molded walls.

[nycjeff]

Making sure that the walls are square helps when fitting them together and also reduces the size of the gaps that will need to be filled after the walls are glued.



When I built the Trackside bar I first primed and painted the walls before assembling them. After watching some videos, I decided to first assemble the walls and then do the painting. I learned that the bare hydrocal walls will glue together better if unpainted. Something about the bare plaster absorbing the glue, or the 5 minute epoxy which I used, easier than a painted surface. I thought that with the larger sized walls of this kit that I would try to build it this way. Here are the first two walls after gluing.



As the instructions say when gluing the second side wall, make sure that the rear wall fits into the space properly. Plaster doesn't bend. Here the second wall is curing and the rear wall is just being held in the space. I had to do a little sanding to fit the rear wall properly.



And here is the rear wall after gluing.



On my previous plaster kit I used drywall joint compound to fill the gaps in the assembled walls. After watching a Doug Foscale video I decided to try to fill the gaps with the hydrocal dust I accumulated when prepping the walls to fill the gaps. I mixed the dust with a little water and filled the gaps with that mixture. I'm not sure if this method is better than the joint compound. I'm sure that I will do a better job the next time I try this method



That's it for now, more later.

[ReadingBob]

I'm going to grab a seat in the front row before Terry and Greg get here.  I love Downtown Deco kits.  Looking forward to seeing what you can do with this one Jeff!

[deemery]

Two homemade tools work well on plaster kits.  The first is sandpaper glued to paint paddles, making a "sanding file."  The second is sandpaper glued to a stone (so it's honed flat) tile.  



The 'sanding files' work well to dress the edges.  I try to file a couple degrees more acute than 90, and then use wood bracing to square up the corners and add strength.  The 'sanding tile' works well to even out the backs, and when the structure is assembled, to even out the base so the structure sits flat.  

dave

[Vietnam Seabee]

I'm following along on this one. Have never done a Hydrocal/resin kit so I 'm anxious to follow slong.

I had to take a seat in the second row cuz Reading took cuts in the admission line...he better watch out at intermission tho.

Terry

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking good, Terry.

Like Dave, I file my corners a little past 90 degrees.  You should get slightly better seams this way. I also add bracing to the corners when gluing.  If you add painters tape to each side of the seam before filling you should be able to get a lot less plaster where you don't want it.  I also use this method on resin and plastic kits, using putty to fill. Looking forward to watching your progress.

Cheers, Mark.

[Zephyrus52246]

Looks like I'll be in the back of the room watching this one as I'm joining late.     Looking forward to your builds. 

Jeff

[nycjeff]

I'm going to grab a seat in the front row before Terry and Greg get here.  I love Downtown Deco kits.  Looking forward to seeing what you can do with this one Jeff!

Hello Bob, Downtown Deco kits are great. The assembly process has become well covered on the forum, I'm trying several different techniques on this build- using Hydrocal dust to fill gaps being one and assembling the walls before painting being another. We'll see how it all works out.

Hello Dave, thanks for including info and pictures about sanding for this type of kit. I hadn't heard about sanding past 90 degrees before, I can see how this would work as an advantage. Good advice from you, as always

I'm following along on this one. Have never done a Hydrocal/resin kit so I 'm anxious to follow slong.

I had to take a seat in the second row cuz Reading took cuts in the admission line...he better watch out at intermission tho.

Terry

Hello Terry, don't wait any longer, these hydrocal kits are a lot of fun and they let you exercise your modeling muscles a little in a different area.

Looking good, Terry.

Like Dave, I file my corners a little past 90 degrees.  You should get slightly better seams this way. I also add bracing to the corners when gluing.  If you add painters tape to each side of the seam before filling you should be able to get a lot less plaster where you don't want it.  I also use this method on resin and plastic kits, using putty to fill. Looking forward to watching your progress.

Cheers, Mark.

hello Mark, I used the painters tape when I applied joint compound in the seams of a previous kit. I watched a Doug Foscale video and saw him use the hydrocal dust, so I thought I would try it on this build.

Looks like I'll be in the back of the room watching this one as I'm joining late.     Looking forward to your builds.

Jeff

Hello Jeff, I followed along on your Downtown Deco build threads and learned a great deal from them. Thanks for looking in.

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...

Here the rear wall has been glued in place. The footprint is not perfectly square, but close enough for government work.



I sprayed the assembled walls with a rattle can flat grey primer, it took two coats for good coverage. I sprayed both coats lightly. The seams don't look too bad. After the hydrocal dust set up I dragged a wire bristle brush across the seam in the direction of the brick seams and also tried to clean up any clumps of plaster.



After letting the spray paint dry overnight, I then used a 50/ 50 mix of burnt sienna and water for the base color coat. I like that you can see some of the grey color through the base coat.



Next I dry brushed some raw sienna, dark cocoa and a litttle brick red to give the wall some color variation.



I then applied a couple of signs from my stash. I sanded the back of the paper signs slightly and then used white glue to apply them to the wall. I then used my thumb to press the sign into the brick surface and also used the rounded end of my tweezers to burnish the sign into the wall surface. I also sponged on a little dark brown color to the signs to help them look old.

[nycjeff]

Next I sprayed the windows and doors with a rattle can camo green color.



Next up was the annex building. This part of the kit has three walls that are meant to be glued to the side of the main structure. In the pictures provided with the kit the annex looks like it is supposed to fit squarely on the main building, but as you can see in the picture the two annex side walls are different lengths. One wall was 3/8 inch longer thabn the other.



After sanding and squaring the walls I started gluing them together with the epoxy.



As you can see below I didn't try to make the side walls the same length. The 3/8 inch difference was too much to sand and I didn't want to cut the wall, so I decided to let the rear wall overlap the rear wall of the main structure. As you can also see, I made a fourth wall from 1/16th inch plywood and glued it in place for added stability. You can also see the 1/8 inch square stripwood that I used for corner bracing and for roof supports.



Next I sprayed the assembled walls with a rattle can tan color. I wanted the two buildings to look a little different and thought the different color would help.



That's it for now, more later.

[GPdemayo]

Bit late to the build Jeff.....neat kit, looking forward to seeing it built.   

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

I'm late right behind Greg. I'm looking in on this one as I have many of Randy's kits.

Great start to this one.

Tom 

[deemery]

Russ Greene (NE Brownstone) told me once, "If you're cleaning up hydrocal, lightly mist/wet the casting where you're working and you're less likely to get unwanted chipping."  That works well when cleaning little blobs off the casting and cleaning out the window openings.

dave

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi Jeff.

First - sorry for my confusion and calling you Terry, earlier. 

Your project is coming on very well and is interesting to follow along.  Most of my work with Randy's kits is with some of his 'boneyard castings'.  These, at least, required a lot of work to achieve good results.

I used the painters tape when I applied joint compound in the seams of a previous kit. I watched a Doug Foscale video and saw him use the hydrocal dust, so I thought I would try it on this build.

I understand that you tried a different filler.  I'm just a little confused why you couldn't still tape the seams and keep the majority of the mess off the walls. 

I think using hydrocal dust may mean that the filled section will be exactly the same as the rest of the wall once properly dried.  In that way it would sand, file and take paint exactly the same.  Of course you can always take a leaf out of George Sellios book and hide the seams with downpipes, electrical wiring, signage, ivy, exterior pipework etc.  I was studying one of George's use of a Trains of Texas wall recently and it is incredible how well he has disguised, or diverted attention away from all the splice lines.  Its worth considering this method.  Those seams can be quite time consuming to disguise well, but if careful filling and fitting can keep the seam to a minimum, then one well placed downpipe or electrical wire after the structure is painted can completely hide the seam and save a lot of extra work.

Enjoying your thread.  Cheers, Mark.

[nycjeff]

Bit late to the build Jeff.....neat kit, looking forward to seeing it built.   

Hello Greg, thanks for looking in. This is a neat looking kit, I wanted to do a larger Downtown Deco build and this one looked to me that it would be right at home on my layout.

Jeff,

I'm late right behind Greg. I'm looking in on this one as I have many of Randy's kits.

Great start to this one.

Tom

Hello Tom, I'm not surprised that you have many of Randy's kits. I look forward to a build thread by you on one of them.

Russ Greene (NE Brownstone) told me once, "If you're cleaning up hydrocal, lightly mist/wet the casting where you're working and you're less likely to get unwanted chipping."  That works well when cleaning little blobs off the casting and cleaning out the window openings.

dave

Hello Dave, thanks for another good tip on building a hydrocal kit.

Hi Jeff.

First - sorry for my confusion and calling you Terry, earlier. 

Your project is coming on very well and is interesting to follow along.  Most of my work with Randy's kits is with some of his 'boneyard castings'.  These, at least, required a lot of work to achieve good results.

I used the painters tape when I applied joint compound in the seams of a previous kit. I watched a Doug Foscale video and saw him use the hydrocal dust, so I thought I would try it on this build.

I understand that you tried a different filler.  I'm just a little confused why you couldn't still tape the seams and keep the majority of the mess off the walls. 

I think using hydrocal dust may mean that the filled section will be exactly the same as the rest of the wall once properly dried.  In that way it would sand, file and take paint exactly the same.  Of course you can always take a leaf out of George Sellios book and hide the seams with downpipes, electrical wiring, signage, ivy, exterior pipework etc.  I was studying one of George's use of a Trains of Texas wall recently and it is incredible how well he has disguised, or diverted attention away from all the splice lines.  Its worth considering this method.  Those seams can be quite time consuming to disguise well, but if careful filling and fitting can keep the seam to a minimum, then one well placed downpipe or electrical wire after the structure is painted can completely hide the seam and save a lot of extra work.

Enjoying your thread.  Cheers, Mark.

Hello Mark, I'm not sure why I didn't use tape when filling the seams, I guess I got caught up in the moment trying to use the hydrocal mix before it set up. I am planning on using some of the seam hiding tricks that you spoke of- stay tuned and thanks for looking in and for the informative input.