The first 4 photos show how I put together the awnings and  mount them to the wall.

The remaining photos are more completed shots that show the painted castings, different awnings installed, roof rafters, lights, flags, sidewalk painted with civil war re-enactment poster, etc.

There is a lot more I can do to finish this kit such as more weathering chalks, completing the metal castings, building a fence section or 2 but I must move on to completing the Bent Chair Factory kit.

Thanks,

Joe Rutter

[Show as slideshow]

Part 1:  Cedar Shakes

1.  I experimented with different washes on my cedar shakes (usually I paint them)  I like the results I achieved using the washes from www.hunterline.com  See the photo for reference colours.

2.  Once dry I use white glue to apply the strips starting from the bottom of the roof line. 

3.  I leave a block open (see the photo) where the celestory goes. 

4.  I also use apply flashing along the edges and base of the celestory before I set it and glue it into place.

Part 2:  Metal Roof

1.  Cut your roof panels so that they are a scale 3 to 4 feet wide.

2.  Glue them to your roof panel (leaving a small gap at the top for flashing) 

3.  I bend a roof panel into a 45 degree angle for flashing (I required 2 pieces)

4.  Paint them a flat grey (it would have been better to use a primer but I was moving way too quickly)

Part 3:  Build the Fire Escape

1.  Prime this (done before)

2.  Remove from sprues and glue together.

3.  Attach it to your building.

Part 4:  Loading Dock

Build the wooden loading dock using templates provided.  I love building this way because it creates a great effect and is the way it was done before the laser cutter age.

I also use weathering formula by Hunterline to weather the dock.

Part 5:  Painting the Metal Roofing

1.  Paint grey if not already done.

2.  Use a rust paint, dip your brush into the paint and remove most of it on a paper towel before applying. 

3.  Dap your paint brush along the edges of your metal roofing … leaving the centre more grey … just like the prototype in the real world!

Part 6:  Assemble the Plywood Tent Frame

1.  Cut out the pieces for your tent frame and refer to the template for this. 

I made mine into an extra long 2 sections … I’ll post more photos later.

Still to come:

Completing the tent, painting the side walk, flat roof, signs, awnings, castings, etc.

I am getting close to complete!

Thanks,

Joe

[Show as slideshow]

STEP 1:  Top trim on the Corbels

i)  Paint and glue the top trim pieces so they are flush with the inside of the top wall.

ii)  Touch up with paint once dry

STEP 2:  Assembly the billboard

i)  remove all parts from their frets (take your time and be careful)

ii)  glue the lattice framework to the solid board

iii)  glue the legs onto the back frame (be sure they are set up straight)

iv)  I’ll add a few pieces of trim to solidify the billboard later … after my palm heals!

You can also see I glued together the top stairwell and painted it blue.  I also added the doors and windows to the remaining parts of the building.

Next Steps:

i)  heal

ii)  Complete the billboard

iii)  assembly the fire escape

iv)  apply the roofing

You can see how quickly it can come together .. I have less than 2 hours into each post (about 8 hours so far)

Joe

[Show as slideshow]

I didn’t like the shade of dark grey so I started by painting a light coat of grey to tone it down a bit … I like the results.

STEP 1: Adding Window Glazing (1st 3 photographs)

i)  I start by cutting out the painted window panes.  (decide if you want the windows open or closed)

ii)  I cut out the matching window glazing.

iii)  I apply a thin coat of my favourite glue (formula 560) and place on a piece of matching glazing.

iv)  place the lower sash in the open position of your choice

v)  let dry before you glue into place.  (6th photo)

STEP 2: 4 panel door  (photographs 4 and 5)

i)  After your parts are painted, carefully remove them from their tabs

ii)  Glue the 4 panel trim to the solid door piece

iii)  Glue the door into place on the back wall.

STEP 3:  Inside Roof Trim

From the 7th photo you can see the 4 thin pieces of wood that will be placed on the inside of the roof (I realized after I removed them and test fit them I did not get my roof panel low enough so I had to trim them thinner first)  … this was an easy process using a sharp x-acto knife and scoring a line on the part that is higher than the roof line.

i)  Glue the 2 long roof trim pieces first followed by the 2 short pieces.  (photographs 7 - 10)

STEP 4:  Decorative Corbels (photographs 11- 14)

Paint your Corbels while they are still in their frets.

i)  CAREFULLY remove them with a sharp x-acto blade so that they don’t break!

ii)  You may have to trim the back ends if they don’t allow the corbel to lay flat on the brick wall

iii)  Glue the corbels into place (this is a pretty quick step

iv)  Allow to dry and later touch up the inside pieces with paint and apply the top pieces (I’ll do this tomorrow)

STEP 5:  Window Glazing

i)  I measure and cut window glazing for the front window section (paint them first)

ii)  I realized after I test fit these pieces that I should have put in the 2nd floor so that they rested on the top when you glued them in (the wooden section has the lines all laser etched)

STEP 6:  Other Jobs

i)  I glued the board and batten sections together and installed the windows and doors (last few photographs)  (I like to deal with the roofing in in the last few steps)

ii)  You can start painting a few castings if you have extra time.

That is it for tonight … I should be able to do the following tomorrow:

i)  Complete the decorative corbels top trim

ii)  Glue the scribed wood section together

iii)  Glue the front windows and doors into place

iv)  Put the billboard together

v)  Put together the stair well that sits on top of the roof.

[Show as slideshow]

Step 1:  Adding the Sills

Locate the small plastic bag that contains the little beige Sills (first 3 photos in the slide show)

Use the laser etched lines on your walls as a guide and apply a thin layer of glue.  Apply 4 to the windows on your main building.

Step 2:  Adding the base.

From the photos (4 & 5)  Apply a thin layer of glue to your walls and place on your base.  I like to do this step now so that I can easily hold the base as I complete the next step.

Step 3:  Mixing up the putty.

i)  I place the putty on a plastic bag and mix with a little water so that it is like a paste.

ii)  Add some grey paint to the paste and mix around with a thin paint brush.  (you may have to add a bit more water if it gets too dry and gooey)

iii)  Using your paint brush lightly apply a coating to your 4 window sills and along your foundation (there is a laser etched lines to show the base from the bricks) and on your 4 corners of your building.

After the paste dries you may have to touch up with paint to get a darker grey colour if you wish.

The last 2 photos show the side building leaned up against the brick building to look at the colour I choose.  I decided to do the left side of the building a union army blue and the right side of the building with some red trim and light tan/grey to represent the southern army.  (It should all come together nicely … I hope)

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I hope you are all having a relaxing summer and enjoying the weather no matter where this email finds you.  I always call this time of the year the summer duldrums of modeling … not much is happening on-line, not too many big model announcements, people are outside.  For me there can never be too much downtime because I cam always making up kits or designing new kits.

I have been working on 2 new kits for the late summer and fall.  The first kit will be the North American Bent Chair Company.  I hope to have the chair factory ready for late summer and the start into my second kit.  The second kit will be very unique but something I think everyone will want and real estate will be cleared for its’ place on your layout … I’ll keep you posted.

One thing I don’t do very often is go back and build a kit after I have already done so 2 or 3 times.  Shady Awnings and Tents was my first limited edition kit and I still have a couple to sell.  Recently the phone  rang with the following proposition how could I resist?  Would I consider making the main building out of brick?  I had been working for the last couple of months on the North American Bent Chair Factory and laser etching bricks with success so I said yes.  The great part of the material I am using is that it is exactly 1/16 of an inch thick exactly the same as the clapboard siding.  Because there are a few differences in the building process rather than re-write the directions I asked if I could post them and the rest of the steps on my build on my website for others to follow along.  Over the next couple of weeks I will post my progress and explain my steps and complete the redux of Shady Awnings and transform it into the Randolph & Briggs gun manufacturering company with a civil war renactment sign up in the adjoining tent.  You will be able to see how quickly I can work if nothing gets in the way … I hope to be done by June 25th because of an impending vacation. 

Sit back and enjoy the build and changes to the original kit.

[Show as slideshow]

For some reason my software loaded the pictures in reverse order, therefore you will have to look at page 2 first for reference.

STEP 1:  ROOFLINES:

The first 4 pictures at the bottom of the page are the backs of the 4 wall sections.  You will need to draw a pencil line measuring a 1/4 of an inch from the top of the wall.  These pencil lines will define where your bracing will go.

STEP 2:  BRACING:

The next couple of pictures on the second page show the bracing I used.  You will notice that the skinny wall sections have the bracing flush with the wall sections and the top piece of trim is glued in place with the top edge of the bracing along the pencil line.  Bracing on the wide wall sections is place away from the edges so that it does not interfere with the skinny wall sections.

STEP 3:  Wall Assembly:

The last few photos on page 2 and the first couple of photos at the bottom of page 1 show the wall sections being glued into place.  You’ll notice the thick brown pieces of wood on the floor and the roof.  I don’t glue these into place yet … they make a great jig at this point to keep things square … DON’T get any glue on them!  I like to wrap a couple of elastic bands on them to keep them tight together.  Try and get the corners nice and flush. 

STEP 4:  Admire the box.  Check out the wooden box … I customized it to say Randolph & Briggs!

STEP 5:  Priming Castings, Plastic & Plywood:

You can use a file to clean up the metal castings of any flash that might be there.  I use a piece of old wood or styrofoam and reverse tape to hold down my parts for priming with a water soluable grey primer.  Prime all castings (resin & metal), windows & doors (keep them in their sprues), wooden billboard bracing and frame.  You can see this photo close to the top of the gallery on page 1.

STEP 6:  Random Bricks Painting: 

I chose this colour board to laser etch because of the shade of red but it needs a bit of random colour.  I like to randomly paint the following colours:  terra cotta, burnt sienna, ochre and only a few grimy black.  Actually me dad painted these for me today while I cut the lawn.  You can see these photos just above the wooden box photos.

STEP 7:  Covering the corners (Quoins)

The brown paper photo has laser cut and etched Quoins that will cover up the 4 corners of your brick walls … I will change the colour of these in a later step but right now the colour looks really good against the red walls … it will look even better at a later date!  This step is super easy.  Use a sharp knife to remove a corner piece from the 2 tabs holding it to your sheet.  You’ll see a laser etched line right up the middle of your Quoins.  Gently press your finger together to that it creates a 45 degree angle.  When I first designed this I had no idea it would work so well. 

Place it on the corner you want to cover up and see where you have to trim it.  Make sure you cut it flush with the notched parts of the top of the walls … you’ll place decorative corbels there later.

Next get a helper (this is my soon to be 6 year old Georgia demonstrating how I use a paint brush to place a thin layer of glue on the inside of the Quoins … she actually did most of it.  When she was done she told me that when she grows up she wants to be a modeler just like her dad … that made my day!  Place the Quoins onto your corners and make sure they stay flat and dry on the wall sections … pressing down with your fingers over the course of a few minutes as you complete all 4 corners will suffice. 

 I also like this material because it takes glue and paint so well and dries quickly but can be pulled apart if necessary with minimal effort or damage.

FINALLY:

These are the first few steps that will get you off to the races.  Next steps will include:

Painting the windows and doors.

Installing windows and doors.

Bracing and assemblying other wall sections.

I have been busy building a couple of 1:1 decks and gardening this spring but now that the big projects are done I am concentrating on a couple of big things at Full Steam Ahead.

1.  Only 3 Bowling Alleys and 8 Shady Awnings limited edition HO kits are left.

2.  I have been working on bringing a scaled down version of the Bent Chair Factory as my next limited run kit.  I still am working on either making it out of resin or out of etched brick walls … stay tuned.

3.  Summer Sale on the following kits:

-  Barrel Factory               -  Freight House              - Bootleg Mabel’s Brewery

- Ellsworth Farms            -  Wooden Hotel              - Phinny’s Garage

-  Farmers’ Market

I am looking at reducing my line of kits and therefore I have created a huge Summer Sale.  The above kits have marked down to sell at only $50 each with free shipping.  To take advantage of this sale I ask that you send a cheque or money order … contact me to let me know what you would like to order to that I can get your kits ready for shipment … a few kits are getting down to being close to retired.

Thanks for your continued loyalty and support, the sale is my way of saying thanks,

Joe

Recently, I was invited by the Owen Sound Film Ensemble to participate in their silent film festival on April 30th, 2010. The main film will be “The General” starring Buster Keaton and because of this the theme of the night are trains.

I did not want to simply have a display of all of my buildings. I wanted to create something that was historically accurate and once stood on our waterfront. I have always wanted to build several of our old factories and decided to start with the North American Bent Chair Factory. The first factory was built in 1892 and suffered a devastating fire in 1899. The factory was rebuilt, expanded and into varnish production. The company was eventually sold and closed shortly after the Second World War.

I am building the factory in HO Scale (1:87). Even at this relatively small scale it will be huge! When I am done the factory will be approximately 4 feet long.

Where I am at:

1. Working from a few (limited) old photos I designed several wall sections that repeat themselves.

2. I also designed windows and laser cut them (you’ll see they are painted from the photos)

3. Laser wall sections are laser cut from a cardboard type material with brick patterns laser etched into them.

4. I am almost ready to start assembling wall sections and windows.

I’ll post more information as I move along.

Thanks,

Joe

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I just wanted to give you a heads up that there are only 9 Troels Kirk Cannery’s left of the 100 limited edition kits released in the fall.

Thanks,

Joe
Full Steam Ahead

We discussed the tragedy in Haiti and I mentioned that I would like to auction off one of my most prized dioramas and donate the proceeds to the Humanitarian Coalition because the donation would be matched dollar for dollar by the Canadian Government.  Georgia without any hesitation said she wanted to auction off her Georgia’s Garage.  It is now on ebay and with 3 days to go her garage is valued at $160 Canadian Dollars ($320 with the Canadian Government contribution).

Georgia and I hope you will all be inspired to creatively give anything that you can for Haiti Relief or any charity that is important to you and your family.

Thank you from Georgia and I for all of your encouragement, donations and support!