Winter Challenge 2024- Truck Service kit- Jeff Firestone

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...

The kit hasn't arrived yet so I decided to start with one of the outbuildings that I plan for the scene.

Since the outbuilding will be a scratchbuild, I start as always with a scale drawing.



I started with a wood foundation made from 3/32 stripwood. The structure will consist of three stalls- each end stall will have a wood floor and the middle will have a dirt floor.



The wood floors are made of the same 3/32 stripwood.



Here I've started on the rear wall. I placed the studs on 2 foot centers. I know that in the real world they should be on 16 inch centers, but for modeling sake the 2 foot centers look just fine to me.



I'm using 2x10 stripwood for the wall cladding.

[nycjeff]

Here is the rear wall with all of the cladding installed. I left an area with a broken piece of cladding near the bottom. I want this outbuilding to look functional, but well used.



Here is the front wall. I used the 3/32 stripwood for the posts and beams and some of the 2x10 for the vertical areas. I left a scale 8 foot tall opening for the end stalls.



Here I'm gluing the front and rear walls onto the base. I'm using a magnetic gluing tray from Micro Mark and some 1x2x3 blocks. I use the magnetic tray when assembling walls all the time now. It makes the process so much easier. The tray is not that expensive and it is worth every penny. The 1x2x3 blocks are a little pricey, but they are also worth the money. I use mine all the time since I got them.



I got so involved in the build that I didn't take pictures of the side wall assembly process. Here's a picture of the shed with the end walls installed, the whole shed stained with my A&I solution and finall drybrushed with som red craft paint.

[nycjeff]

The shed roof for my little outbuilding structure is cardboard with 3/8 inch red construction paper cut into 3/8 inch strips. In keeping with the well used theme, the roof has some damage. I glued some 2x8 stripwood on the underside of the cardboard for the exposed roof rafters. You can also see the damaged rear wall cladding.



Here's a picture of the shed as complete as it will be at this stage. There will be more weathering and detailing later.



I stopped working on the outbuilding because- the kit arrived !!!



That's it for now, more later when we get started on the kit.

[jerryrbeach]

Jeff,

You're off to a great start.  That shed has a lot of character.  You've captured the look of an outbuilding that is still useful, but nearing the end of its life without some serious repairs.

[GPdemayo]

Nice dilapidated shed Jeff.....looking forward to the rest of your build.....

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

The shed looks terrible, as it should. Great job making it look rundown.

Tom 

[ReadingBob]

Great job on the shed, Jeff!  It looks terrific. 

[nycjeff]

Jeff,

You're off to a great start.  That shed has a lot of character.  You've captured the look of an outbuilding that is still useful, but nearing the end of its life without some serious repairs.

Hello Jerry, thanks for the kind words

Nice dilapidated shed Jeff.....looking forward to the rest of your build.....

Hello Greg, appreciate you looking in. I'm anxious to get started on the kit as well

Jeff,

The shed looks terrible, as it should. Great job making it look rundown.

Tom

Hello Tom, I tried to make the shed look well used. I've learned some of the techniques here on the forum from you and other fine modelers

Great job on the shed, Jeff!  It looks terrific. 

Hello Bob, sometimes the small little builds are the most fun

[nycjeff]

Here are the contents of the kit. I always check to make sure that everything is included. In this case I found that one small sheet of wood parts was missing. I contacted Jason and told him about the missing piece and he responded quickly and told me that the missing piece was on the way. It's nice when you can get good customer service.

There are two main structures in this kit that kind of fold into one another. One is a fiberboard or taskboard wall build with tab and slot style construction. The other is laser cut wood.



Per the instructions I started out with the fiberboard wall structure. The parts fit together well. The short walls are the foundation for the wood wall structure.



It seemed strange to me that the walls went together without any bracing. I figured that I could add it after the fact if necessary, but there was no warping at all. I sprayed the assembled structure with rattle can flat grey primer.



This part of the build is supposed to have a stucco finish. I sponged on some of this chalk paint rather heavily to get the stucco look.



Here is the structure after the chalk paint dried. I'm going to sand the walls lightly and then add some more "stucco" where needed. As the pictures show I have some small gaps at the tab and slot areas that need filling.



I should note that this is not a kit for beginners. I think having some experience with craftsman kits is a plus here. The instructions, though well done, are not as detailed as they could be. Without having done previous kits the modeler might be left guessing what the next step should be. This is not meant as a criticism, just a warning. Personally, I'm am enjoying building this kit so far.

 I should also note that Jason has done an exceptional video on assembling this kit on his You-Tube channel if you are interseted.

That's it for now, more later.

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

Great start and I agree not all manufacturer instructions are adequate for the average modeler. 

I've purchased kits in the past and, if I was a beginner it would stay on the shelf - FOREVER!  

I'll catch the video when time permits.

For everyone's convenience here is the link to Janson's video. It is 46 minutes long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDK_IZTYEmk

Tom

[nycjeff]

Hello Tom, thanks for looking in and also for posting the link to Jason's video build of this kit. I'd have done it myself, but my limited technical skills prevented me.

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...

Per the diagram in the instructions I braced the walls. Jason advises placing the bracing horizontally because of the vertical cuts in the siding pieces. I also added some additional bracing, because I always do.



Next I stained the walls with my A&I solution. You can also see that I stained the stripwood for the building's trim.



I drybrushed a coat of Cocoa Bean, a light brown, on the walls and followed that with an even lighter coat of Antique Gold. I like the natural wood look that this combination gives me.



This picture shows the top wall piece with the brown and gold colors applied and the bottom pieces with just the brown.

[nycjeff]

I sprayed the sheet with the doors and windows with a dark grey primer and then sponged on a Heritage Brick red color. I followed the red with a light coat of a light grey craft paint for the peeled paint look.

I then glued in the doors and windows. This is an area of the instructions that is a little bit lacking. The instructions just say to glue the doors and windows in- that's it. If these were plastic Tichy type doors and windows that would be enough, but these are three or four part units with the door and window frames fitting inside the opening in the wall piece.



Because I've done several of this type of kit before, I knew to cut an oversize piece of acetate and glue that on the inside surface of the wall. The acetate provided with the kit was a thin, flexible material so I decided to go another way. I used part of the clear plastic container that the kit came in since it is thicker and stronger. This gives me a firmer base to glue the window frame into. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to glue the window frame into the opening by applying glue to the sides of the frame and hoping that it would adhere to the sides of the wall opening. By gluing the acetate to the inside wall surface you can then apply glue to the back of the frame and then place it into the opening onto the surface of the acetate.



I used some colored paper that I had on hand for the window shades.



That's it for now, more later.

[deemery]

Post-it notes makes a nice yellow window shade color, and I've found it will fade prototypically over time :-) 

dave

[Zephyrus52246]

Looks like a good start on the structure.  I like the color scheme. 

Jeff