FOS - Frank Lava Gunsmith

[Rick]

Bob, your pictures are more than good enough.
Keep using what you have.

[ACL1504]

Bob,

Getting caught up on this one. Your photos are fine and the modeling is coming along nicely.

I also use the Sony Cybershot camera but don't have the desk top tripod.

Tom

[Philip]

Always good seeing a face behind the name Bob. 

[ReadingBob]

Nice setup Bob.  And it sure seems to work for you.  I wouldn't change a thing.

Jerry

Thanks, Jerry. I will stick with what I have until it no longer works. 

[ReadingBob]

Thanks for posting the photo 'studio'

You're welcome, Karl. It's nothing fancy but it gets the job done. More or less. 

[ReadingBob]

Bob, your pictures are more than good enough.
Keep using what you have.

Will do, Rick! Thanks for commenting.

[ReadingBob]

Bob,

Getting caught up on this one. Your photos are fine and the modeling is coming along nicely.

I also use the Sony Cybershot camera but don't have the desk top tripod.

Tom

Thanks, Tom! I better get back to work on this one before you break yours out and finish it before I finish this one. 

[ReadingBob]

Always good seeing a face behind the name Bob. 

That's an old photo, Philip, so the face is a little more wrinkled and there's more gray in the beard and hair. 

[ReadingBob]

Okay. I've been criminally negligent of this build and thread. A couple trips over the summer (a Viking River cruise on the Rhine plus our standard drive up north to visit the family) kept me away from the workbench and killed any momentum I had going. So, let's get caught up with where I'm at. I hope I can remember what I was doing when I took these pictures.

When I assembled the store front, I noticed a small gap between some the trim pieces and board that goes across the top. It probably wouldn't be noticeable, but it bugged me. 



From the rear you can see the top board sits slightly above the wall piece.  



It ended up bugging me enough that I pried off the top board and did a little judicious trimming of the board behind the trim pieces so it would match the height of the trim pieces.  Then I glued the top board back in place and life was good. 



The windows that go in the 3D printed brick wall are made up of laser cut components.  I glued the glazing in place using Micro Krystal Klear from Microscale Industries and then glued the parts together. The instructions weren't clear on the way these were supposed to go together but, fortunately, the previous kit I had built had similar windows, so I knew what to do.  When adding the assembled windows to the wall they practically fell through the opening. Getting them into the right position and gluing them in place took a little guess work and patience.  I added some black 'pitch' inside to seal off anywhere that light might leak through the edge of the windows and the walls.



I painted a sheet of printer paper with a mint green acrylic craft paper and then cut it into strips slightly wider that the window opening. I then cut off short pieces, random lengths, to use as blinds inside the windows.



A little glue around the top and side of the window opening, inside of course, to affix the blinds in place.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Just position the paper in place. I try to make sure I don't have all the blinds pulled down to the exact same height. Being random heights seems more natural to me.



Occasionally I do something dumb, like I did here, and glued the blind to the wall with the wall-oriented upside down.  Oops.  I noticed this one when I was assembling the walls. It's a simple fix. Rip the old blind out and then glue a new one in. 



One of my favorite parts of any build.  Gluing the walls together. I deviated from the instructions here. The instructions say to glue the side walls to the 3D printed wall first. Well, that looked like it was going to be a challenge holding the upper wall in place, keeping the side walls square, while the glue set.  So, I opted to glue the side walls to the rear wall first and then add the 3D printed wall the front afterwards.  That worked just fine.



Theres the 3D printed wall being glued in place.



With the main structure assembled, but no roof in place yet, I was able to spot an obvious light leak at the base of the store front.  To fix that I cut a length of strip wood and glued it to the inside of the front wall, at the base.



Then I added the sections of the structure that sit off both sides of the main structure.



Something else the instructions failed to show/mention is the base of the side structure on the left hand side is made up of two pieces that get glued together to form the long, skinny base.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

When I painted the doors, windows, trim, etc. the trim color I should have also painted the edge of the cardboard roof pieces with the same trim color. I forgot so I did that next.



I added 3M Transfer Tape to the top of the roof cards.  This'll be used to affix the roofing paper.



Well, I realized I had another pieced missing from the kit. When I checked at the beginning of the build, I had doors and windows for all the openings in the walls. Or so I thought. I forget about the roof top access. So, I dug out the handy Tichy Train Group 200-piece Window and Door assortment and found a door that do the job. Now I have another part to paint, weather, dry-brush, etc. 



Back to the roofs. Peeling away the backing of the 3M Transfer Tape leaves a sticky film on the surface of the roof card. I forgot to take pictures but it's simply placing the roofing paper (I had leftovers from prior builds already painted so I opted to use those) in position on the roof, working from the bottom edge to the top and overlapping slightly.



And that brings us up to date on this slow moving build.

Thanks for following along!

[Jerry]

Great update Bob.  And real fine modeling.  Where did you get the glue bottle with the metal tip??

Jerry

[PRR Modeler]

Great update Bob. Very nice modeling. I look forward to seeing it at a SBG meeting.

[ReadingBob]

Great update Bob.  And real fine modeling.  Where did you get the glue bottle with the metal tip??

Jerry

Thanks, Jerry! The glue bottles I got at JoAnne's Fabric, which is now defunct. I bet you can find them in Hobby Lobby, Michael's of some other craft shops. They were cheap and came in a four pack. 

[ReadingBob]

Great update Bob. Very nice modeling. I look forward to seeing it at a SBG meeting.

Thank you, Curt! This one is taking longer than it should have but I'm getting there.