FOS Mack's Deli Build - A neat little kit

[ReadingBob]

Here's a relatively quick little build I just finished.  It's Mack's Deli from FOS Scale Models. One of two kits I received as presents this past X-Mas. Pretty much my typical build thread but a few things are different with this one.

• I used the laser cut acetate for the window glazing rather than MicroScale Industries Krystal Klear.
• Most of the bracing included in the kit was laser cut rather than 1/8" square stripwood.
• I decided to skip the lighting on this one.  Not every structure needs to be lit up at night. My thinking is the Deli is closed in the evenings.

It's a small package.



Here are the contents. I really like the 3D printed details that came with this one.



Since I just finished two background flats my razor blade and X-Acto blades needed to be replaced. I usually do this at the start of a new build unless I had to replace them near the end of the previous build.



Using a single edged razor blade, I removed the walls from the carrier sheets but slicing through the small connections.



Then I touched up the edges of the walls by running them over an emery board at a 90-degree angle.  This helps square up the edge and removes any nubs left where they connected to the carrier sheet.



There was only one plastic part in the kit, a door. I removed the sprues from it using a sprue cutter.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

There was a tiny bit of flash on the windows of the door so that was removed by gently scaping the edge of an X-Acto blade over it. 



An emery board was used to get rid of any nubs left by the sprue cutter.




Once I had removed everything from the carrier sheets and cleaned up the other stuff (the 3D printed details didn't require any clean up) I stuck the stuff that I felt needed to be primed on an old baking sheet using painters' tape that was taped upside down on the sheet, so the sticky side was up. I took this out to the paint shop (my drive way) and hit with a rattle can tan color primer. After the paint dried to the touch I flipped everything over and hit the other side as well.



The bracing for this kit was new to me.  Its laser cut and wider at one end than the other.  Per the instructions the wider end is oriented towards the top of the wall. I braced the walls per the templates.



Once the walls were braced, I applied Light Gray Hunterline Weathering Mix to the walls and the strip wood included in the kit.



Then I painted the trim, doors, windows, store front components, columns, etc. with a craft acrylic (Americana Thicket) using a makeup sponge.  Gee...make up sponges and emery boards.  Who knew we'd be buying our tools in the makeup section at Target?



More in a minute (or two)...

[ReadingBob]

I usually forget to do this when I'm applying the trim color but this time I didn't.  I also painted the edge and underside of the roof cards. The areas that might be visible.



The walls were also painted using a makeup sponge. This time I used "Oyster White".



After painting all the details parts (the rocket ship ride is a neat little detail) I applied spackle to the chimney using a toothpick.



I rubbed the excess off with a fingertip.  I just want to get it in between the bricks to represent mortar. It's a bit too white but a wash with A&I will darken it enough to make it acceptable.



The concrete foundation pieces and sidewalk were painted with a "Cool Concrete" craft paint and then a wash of Polly Scale Aged Concrete was applied over top of that followed by some weathering powders.  I don't have a set formula for this.  I just play around until it looks acceptable to my eye.  In the past, when I would around the old town I live in up in PA, I noticed the sidewalks were a variety of colors. Not one uniform color throughout the town.  Older sections, newer sections, etc.



Back to the walls, doors, trim pieces, etc. I weathered them a bit by dabbing them with a sponge (in this case a piece of a tile grout sponge from Home Depot) that was dabbed in a Light Gray acrylic craft paint first and then most of the paint was removed by dabbing the sponge on a scrape piece of paper. I don't want to 'paint' the walls.  I just want to leave traces of the gray paint to represent where the primary color (the white or the green) has peeled away exposing the underlying primer.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

I repeated the 'dry sponging' technique using a Khaki color craft paint.  This is supposed to represent the bare wood where the paint has completely peeled away.



The next step, for the walls, was to add nail holes using a ponce wheel. I like them.  Sometimes it can be a challenge figuring out where a row should be and this little kit had one or two challenges.  Places like where a second story window wasn't in line with the door on the first story.  Normally I run a row of nail holes to line up with the edges of the doors and windows but when they don't line up you just have to wing it (and not overthink it). 



I then lifted some clapboards using a chisel blade in an X-Acto handle.  Just to give them some separation and a sense of individuality.  You can also twist the blade and snap off a sliver of the clapboard to represent some real wear and tear but I didn't really do that here.



There were only a couple places where the instructions called for using 1/8" strip wood for bracing.  Unfortunately, the kit didn't include any 1/8" strip wood but luckily, I had enough left over from previous builds to do the job. I applied longer than needed.



And then trimmed it to fit using a single edged razor blade.



The final weathering step was to apply a coat of A&I over the everything.  I used A&I, rather that the Hunterline Weathering Mix, here because I can lighten it up a bit and not have it tone down the white too much.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Okay, so the A&I wash wasn't the final weathering step.  I misspoke.  The final step was to drybrush everything with an off white.  Just enough to highlight the edges and raised surfaces.



One wall has a large advertisement on it.  I first applied 3M Transfer tape to the section of the wall that contains the sign.



Then flipped the wall over an trimmed the transfer tape to fit.



When the backing of the transfer tape is peeled away, you're left with a sticky surface on the wall.



Then I carefully placed the advertisement onto the wall.  The sticky surface will grab it so you can't move it around if it's not quite right.  Note: I made a copy of all the signs just in case I messed one up.  Which I did later on.



The top edge of the advertisement was the only one trimmed to fit beforehand.  The sides and bottom I trimmed to fit after applying it to the wall.

 
More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

The windows in this kit were not plastic (Tichy).  They were laser cut from microfiber board and made up of several pieces.  The frame was glue to the wall first.



Then the bottom ledge was glued in place.



Like I noted earlier, I used the laser cut acetate for the glazing. I applied some Canopy glue to the back of the window.



Then removed any excess glue with the tip of my finger.  The trick is to leave enough glue to hold the glazing but not have so much it oozes out.  After those pieces dried, I trimmed the glazing (it over hung the framework a little bit) a single edge razor blade and/or emery board and then glued them in place in the opening.  All in all, a nice effect but a tedious process as compared to using Tichey windows and Krystal Klear. 



The store front windows have a bunch of signed in them.  I left some of these a bit larger than printed so I'd have an edge to apply glue to that would go in an unseen area (behind the posts).  




As, I said, behind the posts.  Kind of hard to see here but you probably get the idea.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Here are the two of the three store front walls.



The windows needed some blinds (note the interior of the walls have been painted black, I forgot to mention when I did that, but it was after the bracing was applied).  I have sheets of paper I painted green or tan in a file folder.  I opted for green in this case.  I cut a strip slighly wider than the window opening and then cut of chunks to use as bliinds.



I ran some glue around the window opening and the added the blind. Partially open but covering most of the opening since there's nothing to see inside anyway.



My favorite part of a build is when it's time to start gluing the walls together. I used a square to make sure the side and front wall (in this case) were at a 90-degree angle.  I did the same with the other side wall and rear wall giving me two sections of the building.



The two sections were then glued together.



The other sections of the building were glued together and then glued to the base. The instructions/templates weren't really clear on the store front walls (e.g. does the front wall go between the two side walls or in front of the two side walls).  I opted to glue the front wall over the end of the two side walls.  I have a feeling it's not a big deal either way.



More in a moment..

[tom.boyd.125]

Bob, your builds are a great photo lesson in model building. Thanks for picking out this FOS Deli kit because it is lunchtime now...Tommy

[ReadingBob]

Bob, your builds are a great photo lesson in model building. Thanks for picking out this FOS Deli kit because it is lunchtime now...Tommy

Thanks, Tommy! I think my last post didn't make it. I'll add it tomorrow and wrap thi one up.

[PRR Modeler]

Excellent modeling Bob. The bracing is kind of strange for a FOS kit. I'm lucky to have wormed my way into a group of excellent modelers locally.

[friscomike]

Howdy Bob,

Looks like a busy day.  You accomplished a lot, and it looks great.  Thanks for sharing the build.

Have fun,
mike

[Rick]

Bob, that's what I call speed modeling and posting.
Once again some good tips in your SBS.

[jbvb]

I'm impressed at both the speed and the ?dedicated? modelbuilding camera.

[ReadingBob]

Excellent modeling Bob. The bracing is kind of strange for a FOS kit. I'm lucky to have wormed my way into a group of excellent modelers locally.

Thanks, Curt! I've seen you're modeling skills, you fit right in with the crew. No need to worm your way in. 

[ReadingBob]

Howdy Bob,

Looks like a busy day.  You accomplished a lot, and it looks great.  Thanks for sharing the build.

Have fun,
mike

Thanks, Mike!  Too be honest, it was more like a week or two. It did come together fast but I could never knock one out in a day.