Expand your horizons try a simple wooden structure build COMPLETED

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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OK folks. Lots of discussions about economics and spreading ones hobby $ to the max. Many people have suggested that building a kit is a way to save some money. Not only that, but a kit can expand your skills, provide you with hours more hobby time for the $, and also result in something for the layout that you are proud of. In that spirit I present a simple structure build for no other reason than to try and encourage those that have not, to have a go.

By way of introduction I am no expert at this. What I present here are some simple techniques and ideas, none of my invention, but accumulated from folks I consider to be real experts.

To get things started here is the kit that I have chosen to build.

http://www.minutemanscalemodels.com/CatalogDetails.aspx?id=18635

It is a small HO cottage that could be found in many locations and eras. I am going to use is as a mine workers company house for my mid-west early 20th century coal mine.

I was attracted to this model for a couple of reasons, namely it is exactly the type of structure I wanted and at just over $14 it is cheap!

Here is what is in the kit

Laser cut wooden clapboard siding, plastic windows and doors, laser cut wooden roof and floor/base and peel and stick shingles and tar-paper for the roof. Some strip-wood for bracing and detail. Plus some nice illustrated instructions.

This is fairly typical of what one can expect in a modern laser cut kit. More expensive kits will often have detail castings in metal or some other material with which to decorate the scene when complete.

This particular kit has some neat features that I will point out as I go through the build. The first being that the wooden parts are identified by laser cut labels right on the sheet.

So

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OK first step. Preparation.

When getting ready for a project like this it is useful to have the tools that you will need to hand. It also is a really good idea to document things with photos, especially if you are going to post it on the web.

I discovered yesterday that my digital camera will quite happily take photos without the memory card in place, so the first couple of steps have not been caught on camera! [banghead]

Working off and on, this build would take a weekend, so it is not overly challenging.

Tools:

Hobby knife with sharp blades

needle files and sanding blocks (I like to use ladies emory boards with rough and smooth sides)

North West Short Line Chopper 2 (Use a hobby knife if you don’t have one, but if you decide you like this type of structure building get one, they are great)

Paint brushes

Pin vice and needle

Metal rule

Other materials:

Alcohol and ink (1 bottle of isopropyl alcohol with 1-2 teaspoons of ink for a stain)

Cheap acrylic paints from Walmart or Hobby Lobby type store

Titebond wood glue (I prefer it to white glue)

CA Gel glue

Masking tape

My first step is to stain all the exterior wood with the A/I stain. This gives the wood a silvery grey look of aged wood. Since I did not get a shot of this, here are some parts from a different kit stained.

In this case I had stained the carrier sheet (not necessary unless you want to use the wood) and also dry brushed on some grey paint as well.

Not sure what dry brushing is?

Dip a brush into the paint. Then wipe the brush on a paper towel until most of the paint has come off. Now when you brush onto the model the lightest amount of paint is deposited on the model. This is a great technique to highlight things.

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I want this model to have a slightly run down look of a structure that is in need of some paint. To accomplish this I use a technique to simulate peeling paint. This is a fun thing to try and not hard to do. Make sure that you stained wood has dried completely.

Step 1

Take a bottle of rubber cement, that’s right typical rubber cement that you might have used in school. Using the brush that comes in the pot, at least the Elmers stuff I have, remove most of the glue from the brush. Then using a dry-brush technique brush rubber cement onto the clapboard siding. You are not trying to cover the thing, but you want to get rubber cement lightly over the entire panel. Let it dry.

Step 2

Paint over the entire panel with your exterior color. Here I used Ceramcoat ($1 a bottle stuff) white.

I also painted the windows grey and gave the strip-wood used for the corner trim the same ink-stain / rubber cement /top coat treatment. Let the paint dry completely.

NOTE: I also paint the interior of the walls at this time. Painting both sides of the panel reduces the effect of warping. If the panels are warped when dry I just put them under a pile of phone books to take care of it.

Step 3

Using masking tape stick the tape to the painted part.

I like to press it down to get it good and stuck

Step 4

Peel off the tape

The tape removes the rubber cement and the paint that was covering it, revealing the stained/aged wood beneath.

I’ll keep using masking tape on each piece removing more paint until I am happy with the look.

Use this process on all the exterior walls of the model, the corner trim boards and if you want

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Now for a controversial bit!

I happen to like the look of nails in my siding. Some don’t, some say it is not real and never happens in real life. I like it so I do it. There are lots of ways to make them. I use a very fine beading needle, liberated from my wife, in a pin vise and a metal rule to guide me.

I aim for a couple of fine holes per clapboard. Not real obvious in this shot but they are there!

You can also see better here the peeling paint look.

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Floor / Base

One feature I really like about this kit is that there is an included floor/foundation. These are 2 laser cut rectangles. The foundation has a laser cup placement line so that the floor can be glued into the correct location.

Here the 2 parts have been glued together using the wood glue and clamped beneath some phone directories.

I also scored some floor board lines into the floor using the back of the tip of my hobby knife blade. A quick wash with the A and I stain and we have a passable interior floor.

Most kits do not have this type of base. It really aids in the construction, especially when assembling the walls. The walls simply sit on the lip created by the 2 sheets. They are kept square and in position by this neat but simple innovation. I also painted the outside of the foundation a grey color to look a bit like cement.

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So I am sort of following the kit assembly instructions. If you have never built a kit like this then I would advise following them closely. Some of the steps I have done are extra steps that are not included in the instructions.

Prior to wall assembly I need to add the exterior corner trim. This I have painted a contrasting grey using the peeling paint technique. My windows and doors have also been painted, dried and had the acetate glazing installed. I painted the windows and doors with a couple of coats of paint with a lighter colored undercoat. When dry they can be scuffed up a bit with some fine sand paper to give them a bit of a weathered look.

BIG TIP: The chopper 2 makes very short work of cutting this glazing. Once you have the dimensions worked out it is very quick to cut several panes of the exact same size.

Here the windows and doors are in place glued with CA gel. The corner posts are glued using wood glue. Note that I deliberately cut them long at the top. It is much easier to sand them to the correct length and angle once dry than to try and cut them exactly with a knife or Chopper. I won’t even try and trim these correctly until I am installing the roof.

Side note on glue:

I always use a tooth pick to place my glue. This way it can be places sparingly and exactly where needed. If I get some glue squeeze out of a joint, I’ll use the other end of the toothpick to wipe it away. The Titebond glue dries fairly quickly and is easy to remove excess in this way. It is one of the reasons I like using it.

OK, so once our windows and doors are in place and the end trim is dried I like to make the house looked lived in, even though it is not built! Using reduced images of curtains printed on plain paper, I cut out and stick window treatments to the inside walls.

[IMG]http://pic1

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Time to assemble the little structure.

Using the floor base as the guide the 4 walls are glued together using corner bracing as described in the instructions. Its fairly obvious really, 4 pieces of strip wood stock are cut to length and glued into the corners of the 4 walls. The base makes the perfect guide for this and ensures that everything is square.

I chose not to glue the walls to the base. I can lift it off for access if I choose to do any interior work or lighting installation in the future.

Notice the tabs at the top of the walls. The roof sections have slots in them so that they can be perfectly aligned to the walls.

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Problems, Problems!

Issue 1. Having painted the entire walls including the tabs at the top I found that the roof panel slots were too tight to fit! Solution, using needle files and sanding boards I removed the paint from the tabs and also opened up the slots for a nice easy fit.

Issue 2. In performing the sanding operation I managed to break one of the roof panels!. Solution, it is wood so Titebond glue to the rescue!

Once the roof panel slots and tabs had been taken care of I was able to position the roof panels. In this shot you can clearly see where the end post is sticking up too much. The roof panel can not sit nice and snug.

Careful sanding with the emory board will get this fit perfect.

This is where I am up to so far, more later as I continue on with this structure. I hope at least for the time being that this might prompt someone to try their hand at this type of model?

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We are watching you. Keep up the good work.

Interesting note about the memory card not being in the camera. That would have never occured to me either.

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Good stuff, Simon! [^][tup] I love these sorts of tutorials! I’m hoping that this will inspire others to “stretch their wings” and try detailing, kitbashing, and scratch-building, if they haven’t already. I’ve found that when I do one of these kinds of projects, both the model and the layout become more rewarding to me.

Keep up the good work, Simon. I look forward to seeing the finished project. [:)]

Tom

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Simon,

On the issue of the memory card, I had this happen to me one time, too. Thankfully, my Nikon Coolpix came with a USB cord so that I could download from the camera’s memory right onto my computer’s desktop. Does you camera not give you that option?

Tom

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Tom, thanks for the suggestion. Yes the camera does, but no I didn’t! I had turned it off before I realized what was going on.

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Simon,

If your camera is like mine, the pictures should still be in the camera’s memory. The only way to tell is by removing the memory card and starting up your camera without it.

Tom

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Thank-you for this, Simon. I think I will soon start a water tower kit, and then tackle the now two-year-old Danby sawmill kit. Your coaching helps to still the waters.

-Crandell

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Having gone to work with my sanding stick the roof is now ready for another test fit.

I can’t stress enough the importance of careful sanding and test fitting, it can make the world of difference in the overall appearance of a model.

This first image illustrates how the sanding method results in a near perfect fit of the corner post. This would have been virtually impossible trying to pre-cut. Also note how the rear lower roof piece has been sanded at an angle so it sits better on the main roof.

This image also shows a small problem with the kit. Notice at the peak of the roof where the panels join that there is a small square gap. Many similar kits will provide a piece of strip-wood to fill this gap.

This general view of the test fit roof shows another of the neat features of this kit. Notice that there are laser scribed lines to indicate the placement of the peel-and-stick shingles. Many kits do not have this feature and it becomes the responsibility of the modeller to develop their own marks to allow for accurate alignment of shingles.

While test fitting make a note of what parts of the roof need to be painted. Remove the roof panels and paint them.

Here the roof sections are painted and installed. Using some scrap-wood from the roof panel carrier sheets I filled the ridge gap. This works well because the scrap-wood is already the correct thickness.

I failed to weather the roof panel sides, so they look a bit too new and well painted. So will initially scuff them up a bit with some fine sand paper.

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I want to stress one small point that I recently picked up as a tip from another modeller.

The window treatments are not glued directly to the back of the windows, but are glued to the inside of the structure. This results in them being slightly recessed back from the window. The window frames cast a nice shadow, which really enhances the notion of depth. It is subtle, but I think makes a really nice difference.

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Nice work Simon. Thanks for the play by play.
Two things I would recommend that have bit me in the butt. CA doesn’t work worth a darn on wood or painted surfaces. (hope your windows don’t fall out) Walther Goo or Liquid Nails clear acrylic glue are better options.
Your window treatments look great! But I found if you don’t secure them to the inside of the window, they tend to curl up and disappear from heat/humidity if you printed them on normal copy paper.

Looks GREAT!

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Thanks Loathar, I appreciate the comments and also the feedback.

I have actually had good luck with the CA Gel over dozens of models. I find that the gel applied sparingly works well. Personally I don’t like the Walthers goo very much.

As for the window treatments, you are correct that it can be an issue. The way I applied these they are glued all the way around so I don’t anticipate an issue.

As with all these things there are many ways to get a successful result and we each find our own methods that work for us. For those trying a kit for the first time, this is an important point as you do not have to be fixed in how you approach something.

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This image also shows a small problem with the kit. Notice at the peak of the roof where the panels join that there is a small square gap. Many similar kits will provide a piece of strip-wood to fill this gap.

Simon

Thanks for pointing out that i did not include a peice of wood to fill the gap in the roof. this has been corrected and on any kit made from today foward will have the extra piece of wood to fill the ridge gap. also all the kits that i still have in stock have been corrected.

thanks

Shawn Cavaretta

MinuteMan Scale Models

[Web link removed]

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wow ! a reply from the kit manufacturer , ya gotta love the internet for making this kind of interaction possible . can you imagine if all manufacturers had this much commitment ?

great tutorial !

question… when dry brushing the clapboard do you brush along the boards to make a streaky effect , or up and down to highlight the edges ? i couldn’t tell from the photo

ernie