freemans manufacturing co. by Railway Design Associates

[rustyfawcett]

Just started this last night. Cut all the sprues and sanded smooth. Next I washed with warm soapy water to remove any oils and finger prints used  latex gloves. I did pat dry with paper towels and then primed with a light gray auto primer.  Then I realized that i should waited to prime bc I want to fill the gaps with putty. O well just re prime the edge again. Thats all for the moment.  Going to get some more done tonight

[gnatshop]

Rusty, you'll have fun!
I love RDA kits - here's a picture of my Freeman Manufacturing build:
OOPS - my mistake, this kit was Camden Mercantile!!!

[rustyfawcett]

Thanks gnat. Everyone complains on the are a bear to build. A craftsman is just that it take some work to make em look good. This is my first one. Wanted to see for my self how difficult or not so bad they are.

[deemery]

A bit of work, and these can come out looking very respectable.


dave

[rustyfawcett]

got everything taped off to paint the inside a dark color.

[rustyfawcett]

[rustyfawcett]

front and back are primed and ready to epoxy the wall up.

[rustyfawcett]

walls up and started on the floor. Time to call it a night.

[rustyfawcett]

[Janbouli]

Following along , these look different, and RDA kits aren't that expensive , they should do some in N-scale.

[MAP]

I'll also be following along.  I have one of their kits which I'm hoping to work on over the winter.  Seems to be good value for the money.  Keep the progress photos coming.

[jrmueller]

I'm also following this threat  I have bought several of these kits but have never built any RDA. You answered my first question about what kind of glue to use.  Jim

[ReadingBob]

Color me intrigued as well.  It looks like an interesting structure with some nice stonework.  I'll be following along. Thanks for sharing!   

[deemery]

The plastic used in those kits seems to be somewhat impervious to solvent cements.  I'd suggest gluing some styrene (1/4" if you have it) bracing inside the four corners to make sure it doesn't fall apart at some point :-(

The challenge is to fill and realign the stone corners.  Someone posted a how-to for plaster kits, where you use tape to mask the walls leaving only the corner joint you're trying to fill.  I've found "Bondo" (I have a small tube of the stuff) works well for this.  Then recarve the stones to get a better corner fill.

To prepare for painting, I prime with artist gesso in white or gray (depending on what color you want for the mortar, you can always tint the gesso), and then use make-up sponges to paint the tops of the (deeply incised) stones.  Alternately, you could use something like Pan Pastels.

I'm not fond of the thick/heavy metal roofing, so I built a new roof from styrene and covered it with slate shingles.  In this model, I glued the two long walls together to produce a flat that goes against the backdrop, and installed a blank styrene wall behind it to "complete the box".  The end overhangs a bit to hide the corner of the layout room.

dave

[ACL1504]

Rusty,

I'm checking in as well. I have one RDA kit so following this will be interesting. Great start also.

Tom