Railroad Kits

Transcription

1 Railroad Kits Seckler s Irish Rose Antiques Instructions by Tom Langford I really hesitate to show you a photo or two of the original model due to the fact this model is really nothing close to the photos except in shape and size. Jimmy (the owner of Railroad Kits) really did a great job on this little kit. At first glance, it looks like a weekend project but it isn't. However, there are so many things you can do to make it look really great! I'll cover some of the things I did extra. This model will be used by Jimmy as a display for the kit so I wanted build it so it will be an attractive kit to purchase at the train shows. So, let's get started. Here is the original kit. NOTE: These pictures are the only instructions I received for this build. 1

2 The original kit is board by board construction. This kit is the standard overlap siding and the left shed area is board and baton. The kit, as sent to me, also had many detail parts and I'll point them out later as I added a few of my own so I'll let you know what detail parts come in this kit. ir2.jpg I'm going to fast forward here a bit and just say that I checked the window and door opening with the window and door pieces and everything fit fine. You may want to get in the habit of doing this as I do so you don't have to cut and file a few openings later when the parts are already painted. As with most laser cut wood kits, the laser cuts on an angle so I like to lightly sand the sides square so the corner trim fits better. In the photo below, you can see were the corner trim just doesn't fit snug against the side of the wall. ir3.jpg 2

3 I used an Emory board to lightly sand the wall sides. ir6.jpg I always check the wall heights as well. Here you see the three walls of the small office that is on the right side of the main structure. Note the side wall is slightly lower than the ends of the two end walls. An easy fix here is to just add a scale 1X2 to the top of the long wall section. ir5.jpg The next two photos show you where I chose to glue the wall braces. Jimmy includes enough square bracing to brace the main structure and the small structure on the right. However, note in the first photo I've added extra bracing for Jimmy's display model. These are colored in purple pencil. If you add these braces to your kit, you will need to provide the extra bracing as I did. I added the extra bracing as I don't want any "OOPS" a few years from now. ir7.jpg ir8.jpg 3

4 After the bracing was glued and dry, I again lightly sanded the edges of the walls. I did this to make sure my bracing didn't slide out of postion while drying. ir4.jpg I wanted this building to look similar to the original. I didn't like the stark white trim look but the red needed to be a little more "painted" than the "faded washed" look. Red is one of the colors that quickly and easily fades in the sun. I chose Floquil s ATSF Red and Antique White. ir9.jpg I spray painted the window and doors with the Antique White. I dry brushed the walls with ATSF Red and then blended the red with clean thinner. I've covered the technique in the past but I'll go over it again here. It's very simple. Dip your brush in the color of your choice and dry brush it on the wall. Then dip the brush (with the red still on the bristles) into some clean thinner and blend the thinner with the red. This will give you a nice wash or faded look to the walls. NOTE: do one wall at a time so the paint doesn't really dry on you prior to adding the thinner. ir10.jpg 4

5 Fast forward and the walls are all painted and dry. Recheck the door and windows in the opening. Sometimes the openings will swell after painting or A&I is added. File or sand any opening needing attention. ir11.jpg I forgot to mention some things in the first post of the thread. I'll cover them here instead of going back and doing the edit thing. Irish Rose is, I guess, a friend of Jimmy D's. Unlike Jimmy, she is a neat freak and specializes in automotive and beverage memorabilia. She keeps everything neat and clean and recently had the building painted in her favorite colors! Washed Red and Antique White. She spent quite a bit of money and had the entire structure jacked up and had a new concrete foundation poured. The structure was then lowered onto the new foundation. She may have a few antiques other than the auto and beverage stuff. However, she is well known for the quality of her signs. I think she is a really neat lady! Tom Langford. I believe one of the negative aspects of doing a thread after the build is that I want to show ya'll the finished product now! But, I'll be patient and show you the road to the finished build. I have 65 or so photos left to post on the instructions! Anyway, I finished the washed paint on the walls. When dry I glued the corner trim to the two peaked ends of the main structure. ir12.jpg 5

6 Remember I said I squared the edges of the walls for a better fit with the corner trim? See how nice and close the trim is in the previous photo? Now look at the lower left wall section. That gap is caused by a slip of the laser cutting into the wall. This is how your trim may look should you choose to not square the edges. Nuff said bout dat! After adding all the corner trim to the main structure and the one on the right, I glued the walls together. Use whatever method works for you but make dang sure the walls are square when glued. ir13.jpg ir14.jpg The next photo is of the wall all glued together. The sign IRISH ROSE ANTIQUES comes with the kit. The windows and door are just placed in the opening and the roof card is only folded on the top. Nothing is glued except the trim and walls. ir15.jpg In the photo below, I have the right side subassembly upside down on the roof card. You can see the gap and light shining though the space. ir16.jpg 6

7 I took a scale 2X4 and glued it to the top of the wall. The second picture below (ir18.jpg) shows the wall upside down. This solved the problem of the gap and the light shining through. ir17.jpg ir18.jpg The next photo shows you the main structure with the right subassembly attached, but not glued at this point. The windows, doors and roof are not glued either at this time. ir19.jpg ir20.jpg I took a break from the building process to do a few signs. Jimmy includes a lot of signs and I added a few of my own signs to Irish Rose. I needed the signs to be stiff and not just paper. I came up with the idea of adding packing tape to the back of the paper signs. This gave me the stiffness I needed for the signs to look like metal. I used the clear tape on the signs. I took a piece of tape and placed the signs face up on the sticky side. I then cut the signs out. To glue them on the building, I used a spot of ACC. If you use regular Elmers White or Yellow Carpenters glue it will probably hold if you don't handle the structure a lot. This model is a display model and it will be traveling with Jimmy to train shows and the like. So I used a little ACC to make sure they stay in place. ir27.jpg 7

8 After cutting the signs, I set them aside to work on the windows. I used clear acetate for the windows. This took some time but well worth the effort. This is a better look and more natural than using Canopy Glue for the glass. I cut each piece for the upper and lower window and used a toothpick to dab on some glue to hold each window. When all the windows were installed I painted on window shades with Floquil Dark Green. I then glued the windows and doors in place and added a few signs to the front. ir32.jpg I added more signs but for now you get the idea. I then glued the roof decking/cardboard onto the main building and added the end rafters. Jimmy included some paper shingles for the roof. These look like the shingles Bob VanGelder used on the Cambridge Crossing kit. Reading Bob confirmed this as well. I've never installed this type of shingle so I was looking forward to the challenge. I borrowed some 3M Transfer Tape from Reading Bob and applied it to the roof decking. This is the first time I've used the Transfer tape so this was new to me as well. ir33.jpg ir34.jpg 8

9 After the tape was applied to the roof, I used a very sharp #11 to trim the tape to the edge. NOTE: Leave the cover on the tape until you trim off the excess and then remove the tape as seen in the previous picture.. The paper shingles included in the kit are shown below. I only used two sheets of the shingles to cover the main roof. ir35.jpg ir36.jpg I cut the shingles apart as seen in the ir36.jpg photo. The purple line is where I cut the paper to separate the shingles. Take your time when applying the first row and be sure to get it straight. Use the edge of the roof card to keep it straight. After the first row is applied, the rest will go on very easily and line them up as seen in the next two photos. I used the side of a toothpick to press the shingle down. I only used the toothpick on the first row. On the rest of the rows, stagger the shingles as seen in the photos. ir37.jpg ir38.jpg Here is how it looks after all the shingles have been applied to one side. ir39.jpg 9

10 This is the first time I've used the Transfer Tape and I did like the result. However, someone mentioned to help keep the rows of shingles straight, to draw lines (Like on the Campbell roof cards) across the roof panels if there aren't any. This is a good tip if you aren't used to doing Campbell s or similar type shingles. I've applied so many on roofs that I can now do it straight without the lines and I often take for granted that others can do it as well. Drawing the lines is a great habit to have. It removes any possibility of not straight lines. I very much like and appreciate their idea of only pulling off the tape backing when you need to expose the tape. As they said, and I found out, once the transfer tape is down, it is in fact very unforgiving to stubby little fingers like mine. In the future, I'll follow their suggestion. Also, more about how I laid the shingles on the roof panels. I held one end, got it where I wanted and then continued down the roof line. As you can see, I staggered the shingle rows to overlap the tabs. I've included the photo here again for your convenience. ir39.jpg I then turned the structure over on it's roof and using a sharp/new #11 blade cut off the excess roof shingles. Again, this is the first time I've used these thin flat paper type shingles. I asked a Master Builder, Reading Bob, how he colors this type shingle. He said he used the Berol markers pens to do so. I didn't have any so my wife and I went out last Friday in search of Berol markers. What I found on the first stop at Sam Flax Art Supply is the Prismacolor stain pens. The Prisma pens were $4.95 each and on said for $3.49 so I bought a handfull. The four colors I used on the roof are: Pale Peach, Light Tan, Cool Grey 10% and Cool Grey 50%. ir40.jpg 10

11 Each pen has a fine tip on one end and a broad tip on the other end. I randomly colored the shingles using the four colors. The photo knocks down some of the grey color. It appears in the photo to look more tan than grey. One note here also is to remember the colors go one dark but dry light giving you the opportunity to add more color if desired. I also finished the roof by adding the chimney and a little weathering dust. ir41.jpg ir42.jpg I then added the outside rafters to the right subassembly. Here is how I did mine. I took a piece of 2X6 I previously painted Antique White and glued it to the outside edge of the roof panel as seen in the photo below. ir43.jpg ir44.jpg As you can see, I let a little hang over on each end. I then glued another piece of 2X6 to the rear of the roof. I butted this piece flush with the inside of the one I glued to the front. I then cut off the excess on the corner as seen in the ir45.jpg photo. ir45.jpg 11

12 Before I added the rafter in the rear, I placed the building up next to the main structure. I then marked the angle of the front rafter where it meets the corner trim and then cut it to fit. Refer to the photo below for a reference. ir45b.jpg I set this assembly aside to thoroughly dry, meaning I wanted the rafters to dry. I didn't glue this subassembly to the main structure as yet! This next step is a fantastic little bonus Jimmy added to this kit. Jimmy actually laser cut three (your kit has all four walls) stud framed walls. Take a look see! NOTE-NOTE-NOTE-NOTE-NOTE These are very fragile and will break so handle with care. Also cut them from the carrying sheet very carefully as well. I didn't take a photo of them in the sheet. Instead, they are photographed on a sheet! Of paper of course! These stud walls are actually paper so use a very sharp or new #11 blade to cut and trim as necessary. They do not file easily and don't ask how I know. Just trust me here okay! The photo below is of the back of the stud wall. This is the side you glue to the interior wall section. Again, the white side is the side you glue to the interior wall section. ir21.jpg ir22.jpg In the photo on the top of the next page you can see how they fit on the wall sections. Also note how the middle wall is shorter than the two outside or end walls. You can fix this as I showed on the other side subassembly! I have them upside down as this way the shorter wall is better viewed like this. 12

13 ir23.jpg In this next photo you can see how I glued the stud wall to the back wall. It fit perfectly on the back wall so no trimming was necessary. It looks great next to the main building. ir24.jpg Here is how I glued the stud walls to the other walls. After looking at the back of the stud walls, I decided it was only necessary to apply a little glue to the outside portions of the studs. Look at the ir22.jpg photo on the previous page again for your reference. I only applied a little glue to the wide portion of the back side - meaning the outside wall and the top, the bottom and the door opening. After applying the glue I carefully positioned the stud wall on the other wall and gently pressed it down on the outsides. I then placed a small weight on the stud wall to hold it flat while the glue dried. A heavy weight will or could possibly crush the stud wall. Shown at the top of the next page is the medium sized weight from Micro Mart. It looks larger than it actually is. 13

14 ir31.jpg Remember I already painted the exterior walls red. I decided to use blue painters tape to tape off the red and spray paint the interior stud walls. ir25.jpg I decided to NOT spray the walls as I figured I couldn't control the paint spray to such a small area and didn't want to take the chance of ruining the red. I instead took a #2 brush and painted the interior stud wall with the brush. For the color, I used Floquil Foundation. The paper studs really absorbed the paint so it was necessary to apply a second coat to get the coverage I desired. NOTE: For now only do one stud wall at a time. These is a little inconvenient, but trust me, it will pay off in the end. There is a sequence to the studs to get them to fit correctly! Again, trust me here. After the paint on this wall dried, I applied a few signs to the studs. Now is the time to glue the corner trim to the wall you just painted and added the signs to. When the corner trim dried, I then placed the side wall (without the studs) next to it and checked the fit. 14

15 ir29.jpg I then tacked the side wall to the stud wall and carefully placed the side stud wall in place as shown below. ir30.jpg The end/edge of the side stud wall butts up to the inside of the end stud wall. Again refer to the photo above. I then placed the front stud and outside wall up next to the left of the side wall. The left edge of the side stud wall should fit snug to the opposite or front wall as it does to the back wall. I found it necessary to trim off just a little of the side wall in order for the side to fit the front wall as shown to the left in ir26.jpg. Remember to carefully remove the side stud wall you only "tacked" on to test the fit. ir26.jpg 15

16 I glued the side wall to the end stud wall making sure the two walls were square to each other. ir28.jpg ir45a.jpg I then glued the stud wall to the side wall and brush painted it as I did the back stud wall. Now you can glue the three walls together and make sure they are square as shown above in ir45.jpg. The next photo shows you the outside of the side wall with a view of the interior studs. This is great stuff Jimmy came up with. Remember how I said the scale 2X4 stud walls were very fragile? Well, I broke a little bit when I was handling them. Look just above the Shell sign - lesson learned and passed on to you! ir48.jpg I mentioned before that Jimmy is going to use Irish Rose Antiques as a display model. Again, with this in mind I don't want any OOPS in the future. I added more structural bracing to lessen the movements of the structure in transit from show to show. The photo on the top of the next page is an example of my heavy duty bracing! 16

17 ir49.jpg I test fit this to the main structure. Note that this is also the correct position of this subassembly when it's glued to the main building. The edge of the rear board and baton wall fits just inside the corner trim of the main building. ir50.jpg ir51.jpg The two doors on this sub assembly will be open and you will be able to see inside. I asked Jimmy about painting the large wall on the main building to match the inside of the small left section. He said he didn't mind if it was left the exterior color. I know he said this to help me in the process but he should know by now I don't cut corners. I took a pencil and marked a line inside the walls of the small building. Look closely at ir51.jpg above Note in ir51.jpg you can also see a better view of the colored shingles. More of the greys show in this photo. 17

18 I used a brush to paint the Foundation color on the outside of the main building to match the other three walls. Painting inside the lines is what you want here. You certainly don't want any Foundation color on the outside! ir52.jpg Note from Jimmy: Since this kit was built for these instructions, I ve added a framed wall as shown below: NewWall.jpg 18

19 Jimmy included in his kit some black roofing papers. These are precut to 3' widths. I finger painted a thin covering of white glue on the roof panel and laid the black papers on the roof and gently pressed the paper down on the roof. I over lapped the papers as I move up the roof. ir46.jpg When the roofing papers were thoroughly dry, I turned the little side build on its roof. I then took a metal ruler and with a sharp knife, cut the papers close to the rafter edge but not flush to it. I think you can see this in the next photo. I did this so I could gently fold down the edges of the paper over the rafters. ir47.jpg 19

20 One of the things Jimmy and I discussed concerning this kit is the fact he wanted to have the left open door & the subassembly lit! I wanted to do this for him but also wanted to install a light that would last during all the display trips the structure would take. With this in mind, I decided to use a LED. If you haven't visited the Microlumina website you should do so. They offer a great package that includes some of everything they offer. Anyway, I chose to use Microlumina ML- 3RFWW 3mm Warn White Flood LEDs. I soldered the ML-CL to the LED as per the instructions. I drilled a small hole in the side of the main structure just below the roof and brace line of the small structure. I fed the wires through the hole in the wall and then cut a grove in the top brace and glued the LED to the brace. ir53.jpg After the LED was glued in place and dry, I used a little black lacquer paint to limit the light shining through the top. You can see in the next photo how I painted the lacquer over the LED and the glue. you can also see the LED lit and how it does "flood" the area with light. ir54.jpg The black lacquer I used came from Auto Zone and it's touch up paint. This happens to be for a Toyota. It has a tip brush on the end of a tube that is attached to the lid. I think it sells for around $7.00 and will last a long time if you keep the lid tight. This bottle is about 4 years old. Here is a shot of the LED lit looking in from the street level. ir55.jpg ir56.jpg 20

21 Included in the kit is a template for the two wood doors for the left subassembly. I used the old tried and true method of using the template under some wax paper to build the doors. The good thing about the wax paper is you can "tack" the pieces to the wax paper over the template and use a #11 balde to cut the paper later. NOTE: By "tack" I mean I use the tip of a toothpick and apply a mini dot of glue to each end to hold it in place. ir57.jpg The key to getting a good view of the template is to make sure the wax paper is flat over the template. I used blue painters tape to do this. I place a piece of tape on the top and pull the paper down and then place blue tape on the bottom. I repeat this with the left and right sides. The doors are made from scale 2X6's included in the kit. I used the Prismacolor pens to stain the wood for the doors. The good thing about using the pens to stain the wood is that you can use the wood immediately after staining them. I did anyway! I used the template to cut to length the cross braces for the door. I then spot glued or "tacked" these in place as shown below. ir58.jpg Trim any braces to fit the template as/or/if needed. I had to trim a little off the top or each door. I think you can see a couple of the braces are over or outside the template. I used the scale 2X6's and glued these over the braces and above the template for the vertical boards. I think the 2X6's are actually 2X7's but no matter. You can see in the photo below the template shows 8 2X6's but I could only get 7 on. I went ahead and glued the 8th board on and trimmed it to fit the door after the glue dried. No big deal! 21 ir60.jpg

22 ir61.jpg ir62.jpg After removing the doors, I applied a few sings to the braced side of the doors. ir63.jpg ir64.jpg I then glued the doors to the structure in the position as seen in the photos that follow. I glued a short section of 2X6 to the top of the door as seen also. If you go back to the original photo of the original structure you'll see it sits on the ground with a wood deck for a walkway in front. The open door area is on the ground with a dirt floor. I didn't like this look so I made a base out of basswood. Here is a shot for your convenience. irb.jpg 22

23 ir65.jpg I used a piece of 3/32" thick by 4" wide basswood. I think it comes in a 2ft. length. I placed the structure over the wood. I placed the back of the center building flush to the back side and allowed some space in the front. The piece you need to cut is 3 7/16" X 7 ". I then painted this base with full strength Floquil Aged Concrete and set it aside to dry. When dry I cut a 2" X 2" square hole in the center to allow for the LED wires. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of this. I then glued the entire structure to the base. Before I show the final photos, I have one more little thing I did to the building to give it a little personal touch. This is very easy and everyone can do this to their structures. Just use a little imagination for some of this things. I was sitting at the table talking to my wife. I saw this roll of ribbon and thought "HO window screen"! She gave me the whole roll. She got it at a store called Hobby Lobby. ir79.jpg ir78.jpg I cut the bottom window mullions out of the lower right window and glued a small piece of screen to the inside of the window. NOTE: I did this when the windows were installed and not after the building was glued to the base. The picture above, ir78.jpg, is how the screen looks in the window. Starting with this photo on the left, the next several photos are of the finished kit, Seckler s Irish Rose Antiques. I'll make a few comments on some of the photos. This is the front of the structure. The green sign to the right of the door is a small sign from the Railroad Kits G. Marshall's Shipping kit. ir66.jpg 23

24 The next photo is of the left side of the open door barn area. Not sure it's a barn but it is the left building. The Redman and 7up sign are mine. Of course, I had to throw in the Baker's Country Store sign from another one of Railroad Kit s structures. The small sign behind the wood door is from this kit. The old windows are from my scrap bin and are from an old building I got for a $1 at a train show. The old wheel was included in the kit. The lights over the doors, the lamp post, the trash can, the barrel, two wheels, the old wood stove and the scales were included in the kit. ir67.jpg I just realized I didn't have the roof on straight in this photo and a few others. The roof does fit flat though. The next photo is of the right side. Most of the signs come on a sign sheet Jimmy included in the kit. ir68.jpg 24

25 The next photo is of the left side again looking in from the street level. The light/led is on. You can see some signs inside and a good view of the stud walls. The Pepsi machine comes with the kit. I painted it blue and added the Pepsi sign to the machine front. The Penzoil sign came on Jimmy's sign sheet but was faded so I highlighted it with a yellow marker. ir69.jpg The dark green shutters are from me scrap bin. The old piano, heat radiator and two milk cans came with the kit. The Gulf sign was made by me. I glued two signs back to back and cut a slit in a scale 4X4 and then glued the Gulf sing in the slit! ir70.jpg 25

26 ir71.jpg ir72.jpg ir73.jpg Here is a picture of the rear of the entire structure. No signs here as hopefully as a display model, no one will see the back side. However, Rose Seckler did tell me that several of her signs were stolen from the rear so she moved them to the front and sides! You can also see where the center portion of the structure is flush with the back of the base ir74.jpg 26

27 ir75.jpg ir76.jpg ir77.jpg I didn't apply any A&I to this kit. Every structure doesn't need to be weathered with A&I. I like the look of Irish Rose Antiques without the A&I. This has been a fun build. The structure has lots of character and can be used as three separate building if desired. I like how the three fit together though. Tom Langford. Note from Jimmy (Railroad Kits) I have edited these instructions and some wording content that will not affect the outcome of the build. I can t thank Tom enough for doing these instructions for me! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You 27