Has anyone on this forum built any of the new wood garages from Atlas?
If so, how do you like them and how easy are they to assemble?
Thanks,
pp
I haven’t built mine yet. They are by The N Scale Architect which is a company that makes quality kits. I examined the kit and it looks darn good.
Recently I built 9 or 10 laser kits with peal and stick trim in a 3 week period. I find them easier to build than plastic kits. I feel that walls in Blair Line and Laserkit (American Model Builders) are a little thin. They take careful handling to keep from breaking during assembly but are ok after built with trim attached. The walls in Laser-Art Structures (Branchline Trains) are a little thick. The trim does not always completely hide the joints. They all make int very nice models though.
The Atlas kits wall thickness is in between, so probably about right.
My procedure for assembly:
Assemble the walls I use Loctite Super Glue (the red bottle). Just hold the parts together and run a bead aling the inside of the joint. Paint tthe walls the desired color. I somtimes bush paint them with Fouquil, sometimes spray with Testors or a paint from the hardware store. To ensure a flat finish (if desired) I then the spray the building with testors dullcoat.
Paint the trim without removing it from the carrier. I usually lightly spray paint the trim or brush paint it with a nearly dry brush. Too wet and the paint will seep under the paper and adversly affect the glue. If flat finish is desired a light spray with dullcoat may be needed.
When everything is dry, peal and stick the trim window and doors. Most of the kits have seperate pieces to represent the lower window sash. In N scale I usually leave them off except when I want the window to be open. For glass I usually just glue pieces of Acetate to the inside of the walls. The exception being open windows where I use the “glass” provided in the kit.
If it appears a trim piece is not going to stick a little super glue solves the problem. I have found that super glue does not mar the finish in very small amounts, but be
I wouldn’t recommend using superglue to bond wood together: ACC isn’t designed for wood or paper, and the bond will fail in a year or two (trust me on this; I’ve TRIED it). Instead, use a thin layer of wood glue to bond the parts, holding them together with rubber bands until the glue sets.
I’ve built dozens of the newer laser cut kits, from cabooses to mansions to sheds. Using wood glue isn’t an “old fashioned” technique, it just works. ACC doesn’t; I had an AMB caboose revert to its kit state within three years on me, because I used ACC on all the places that weren’t peel-n-stick.