Junction Farm (BESTTrains kits)

[deemery]

I've found it's a good idea to lock the edges of shingles after they're installed.  For this I'm using Testor's canopy cement, which is thinner than Canopy Glue so it spreads between the shingles and the subroof.  A pointed round toothpick makes a good applicator to get the glue into the crack.  

When the glue is set, I use a -new- X-Acto knife blade to trim the shingles.  To color them, I use a beige color and a bristle fan brush, dry-brushing from the top down.  The idea is to add a bit of lighter tone to the shingles, the bristles produce a bit of extra wood grain.  This is subtle, but it's effective.  Then I go back the other way, using an off-white color, and dry-brushing from the bottom up.  The idea there is to catch the edge of the shingles providing highlights.  I also highlight the edges of the roof on the left and right side, plus the edges of the bottom shingles that overhang the subroof.  


And of course, a test fit to compare the barn and farmhouse shingles.  The roof on the farmhouse is just set into place.  


Also, I constructed the dormer on the farmhouse annex (walls and shingle roofing), and did a bit of touch-up on the chimneys.  Tomorrow I'll glue the roofs into position, and then add eave trim.  That'll finish up the kit, so I'll start on the scenery.

dave

[PRR Modeler]

Great job with the shingles Dave.

[Rick]

Dave, foundation and shingles are both looking very good.

[Michael Hohn]

Classic New England, Dave.

[deemery]

Classic New England, Dave.

Ayuh!  

dave

[ACL1504]

Dave,

Well done and looks great.

Tom

[deemery]

I did the eave trim today and attached the chimneys.  This pretty much finishes the kit.  Pictures tomorrow.  Now to start on farm scenery.  I ordered some more farm critters from BESTTrains (the barn came with cows and milk cans.)  So we'll have chickens and hogs, as well as cattle.  Plus I plan a small orchard.  The row crops will all be "behind the hill" 

dave

[jbvb]

If you have room for it, chickens were usually housed in a coop of some sort. Without a home place with nest boxes, you won't find many eggs.  Or maybe a corner of the barn.

[deemery]

If you have room for it, chickens were usually housed in a coop of some sort. Without a home place with nest boxes, you won't find many eggs.  Or maybe a corner of the barn.

Also need a pig stye and fenced area for the porkers, too.  Right?

dave

[jbvb]

If you have room for it, chickens were usually housed in a coop of some sort. Without a home place with nest boxes, you won't find many eggs.  Or maybe a corner of the barn.

Also need a pig stye and fenced area for the porkers, too.  Right?

dave

Keeping pigs wasn't as universal. Year-round pigs need a significant investment in fencing and a good source of food waste or money to buy feed through the winter. In this part of NH it was common to buy or trade for a piglet or two in Spring and turn them out after a couple of months growth on farm garbage. They'd stay around for continued garbage breakfasts, and get rounded up in Fall after they fattened on mast (old term for tree nuts).

[friscomike]

Howdy Dave, nice finish to the barn and house.  The shingles look nicely done.  Have fun, mike

[Philip]

Looks great Dave!

[deemery]

I need to do the stone stairs, otherwise this is done:


The foundation looks a bit dark, I might redo it once I get the scenery if it doesn't pop as much as I want.  Easy fix, just go over the rocks with a thin coat of a lighter grey.

I'm not planning to add light, but if I change my mind, I could remove the main roof and the structure is not glued to the foundation.

dave

[PRR Modeler]

Outstanding Dave.

[deemery]

So some review comments on the 2 kits:  Overall, these are great kits.  They go together well, and the double wall approach on the house produces a nearly bombproof result.  A trend I've noticed on a lot of BESTTrains kits is that the window/door openings are slightly undersize, resulting in extra sanding.  The NE Brownstone foundations are a particular feature.  The house foundation required no adjustments, but the barn foundation needed some filing to get a good fit.  (Be sure to assemble that correctly, which I did once and then screwed up.)  

The instructions are relatively minimal.  They cover the kits, but a beginning modeler might have problems figuring out what was intended.  Some additional jigs (e.g cutting the eave trim) would help assembly, as would an exploded diagram.  A couple of times I had to study the photos to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do.  The best example of that is the glazing for the two fancy doors.  Should the glazing be placed behind the subwall, or between the door pieces and the subwall?  I did the latter.  The laser cut window glazing is a feature, but I'd prefer glazing that fits inside the Tichy casting, rather than the pieces that fit over the back of the casting.  (Tichy now includes glazing that, for double hung windows, has separate pieces for top and bottom of the windows.)

As usual, I added more bracing, particularly to pull out the warp on walls and roof panels.  

Including cows and milk can castings in the barn kit is a really nice added feature.  

dave