FOS - Shakey's Pool Hall

[ACL1504]

Bob,

Another fantastic build and SBS as well. Very well done, again!

Tom

[Jerry]

Wonderful build.  An like always a great tutorial for future reference.

Jerry

[Pennman]

I agree with all of the others, this is a fine way to show all of your skills.
I wish I could remember to use my camera on a tripod instead of what I have been doing.
Perhaps I will give it a try. Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing.
Your building looks pretty good too!

Rich

[ReadingBob]

Bob,

Another fantastic build and SBS as well. Very well done, again!

Tom

Thanks, Tom! It's an interesting kit from FOS.

[ReadingBob]

Wonderful build.  An like always a great tutorial for future reference.

Jerry

Thanks, Jerry! Glad to have you following along. 

[ReadingBob]

I agree with all of the others, this is a fine way to show all of your skills.
I wish I could remember to use my camera on a tripod instead of what I have been doing.
Perhaps I will give it a try. Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing.
Your building looks pretty good too!

Rich

Thank you, Rich! The old camera works well only because it has a few buttons on the back and I know which one to push, by feel, to set the delay for the shutter. The newer camera I have is completely touch screen on the back, so I'd have to look at it set the delay. Hopefully this old camera keeps on chugging along for quite some time. 

[PRR Modeler]

You are a real craftsman Bob. The build looks fantastic.

[friscomike]

Howdy Bob,

That's really nice work on the kit and especially the walls.  The color and shading make them look realistic.  It fun to watch your informative builds.

Have fun,
mike

[ReadingBob]

You are a real craftsman Bob. The build looks fantastic.

Thanks, Curt! It's funny. Individually, to me anyway, the painted components don't look that good. After being assembled however, I find things blend together in a rather eye pleasing way. 

[ReadingBob]

Howdy Bob,

That's really nice work on the kit and especially the walls.  The color and shading make them look realistic.  It fun to watch your informative builds.

Have fun,
mike

Thank you, Mike! I appreciate the comments and having you following along as well. 

[ReadingBob]

Okay. Time to get back at this one and finish it off. Took a bit of break over the holidays due to the flu.

I took the flat roof, which was papered with sandpaper, and applied some chalks to it. Of course, when I spayed it with DullCoat, afterwards, the chalks all but disappeared. 



The paper for the rolled roofing was painted, on one side, with a rattle can black (Chalkboard Black). After it dried, I cut the strips using the printed lines on the backside as a guide. I guess I should mention you paint the side of the paper that's plain. Not the side with the lines. 



Probably the most challenging part of building this kit is positioning the four dormers so the peak of each roof will meet at the proper height at the center of the building. I drew lines, on each face of the roof, to help center the dormers from left to right properly. I eyeballed where to place the dormer and measured how far up the roof the front of the dormer should be to look good. To do this, I had to attach the roof to one of the dormers.



Unlike most roofs I do, I didn't apply 3M Transfer tape to the roof cards. I cut pieces of rolled roofing to fit.



I then applied glue to the back of the roofing paper using an Elmer's Glue stick. A little messier than using 3M transfer tape but, given all the pieces that had to be cut to fit it was probably a little easier to do it this way. 



I did use 3M Transfer Tape for the flat roof and the dormer roofs. Stick it on, cut to fit and then peel off the backing to have a roof surface that's sticky. The roofing material will adhere to it.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Starting with the bottom edge of the flat roof I applied rolled roofing material to the surface. Upside down I can judge how much overhang there is. I like a little overhang at the bottom edge and the ends. 



Trim it to fit using an X-Acto and steel ruler or a pair of scissors.



I used the 3M Transfer tape for the billboard and large sign that goes on the front of the building as well.



I stuck the signs on a piece of scrap cardboard and then cut the sign and the cardboard.



I carefully painted the back of the billboard with a gray paint using a sponge. I wanted it just painted. Not soaking wet.



When I assembled the billboard supports and glued them to the billboard, something looked off to me. I followed the template. Then I measured and found the center support wasn't centered. So, I removed and centered it.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

I trimmed the edge of the sign that goes over the entry way with 2x4 strip wood painted the trim color. Glue it to the edge, allowing some overhang at both ends.



Then trim to fit with a single edge razor blade.



I wanted to add some scrape pieces of wood to the flat roof. I have a small batch of this I keep on hand. It's not just bits and pieces of strip wood that have been dipped in A&I. I lay them out on a paper towel and hit them with chalks, stains, washes of various colors, splatter them with moss, etc. Something to make them look old and well used.



I just glued a few on. Some flat on the roof, one leaning against a wall.



I had removed some of the superfluous parts of the base leaving me an opening to add lighting. I just needed to measure the opening and figure out how to build a 'plug' that could pass through it.



I cut the pieces for my 'plug' and laid out the circuit on them using copper tape. No plan, just did it in my head. The large circuits are for the upper and lower levels of the main building. The small circuit is for the extension the right. 



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

Normally I use a pin vise and drill the holes for the LED's, Current Limiters and leads. This time I got lazy and pulled out the Dremel which made this process go a lot faster.



Every component, including the copper tape, that's going to be soldered I added liquid flux to and then applied a little solder.



Applying solder to the legs of the LED's.



After pushing the legs of LED (or Current Limiter) through the holes I drilled I bend them over, at a 90 degree angle.



Then I nip off the excess using an old pair of rail cutters.



I pull the LED (or Current Limiter down) so the bent legs contact the copper tape and then solder them in place.



More in a moment...

[ReadingBob]

The most important step is to remove the copper tape between the legs of the LED and Current Limiter. If you forget to do this for the LED's they won't light up. If you forget to do this for the Current Limiter but remember to do if the LED's the LED's will light up very briefly and all the magic smoke will escape. 



Can't really see it too well in this picture but I tested each circuit, individually, before assembling the 'plug' to make sure they worked. Good thing I did because I had a couple of places where I got a bit sloppy with the soldering and the connections weren't good.



Here's the 'plug' after it's been assembled. It's upside down but it works.



I stuck it inside the building and attached it, in a couple of places, using doubled sided foam tape. Sorry about the blurry picture but it gets the point across.



Final pictures in the next post.