INSTRUCTIONS
STOP! READ THIS FIRST! TIPS FOR BUILDING LASER CUT MODELS 1. Test fit all parts and make sure you know how everything goes together before gluing. If you are contemplating cutting a part to make it fit, please re-examine your assembly plan you ve probably misunderstood some aspect of the design. Parts have been tested and should fit together in a fairly straightforward manner without modification. DO NOT TRY TO FORCE PARTS TOGETHER! 2. BE PATIENT! Do not try to glue too many pieces together at one time! Try to do small sub-assemblies (for instance, the floor and two walls instead of 4) that can be set aside and allowed to dry before moving on to the next step. This way, you won't have to risk destroying the model with poorly-conceived clamping schemes or overly-tight rubber banding. 3. The little tabs in the corner of floor pieces are for alignment, not for strength. Do not saturate them with glue or they might distort! Glue should be used along the wall edges where there is a lot more surface area to glue to. 4. Most roofs are made to be removed. A few buildings have no floor (assumed dirt floor), so if you have a base to glue it to, go ahead and make the roof removable. If you want it to be free-standing and sturdy, glue the roof truss to the middle of the top of the side walls and at least glue at least one roof panel in place. 5. Metal doors and windows are provided. They have interior woodwork; the interior and exterior pieces sandwich the wall between them. All metal parts require priming to paint. 6. Use white glue for most assembly;
if you use superglue or a similar adhesive, be very careful not to let sticky fingers damage the model! In certain places, you might find superglue very useful, for instance where you are trying to get a warped piece to grab and stay straight. 7. Prime all parts with a good black hobby primer to protect the MDF and keep it from absorbing water-based paints, which can cause swelling and warping of the material. DO NOT GET THE MDF WET, EVEN WITH ACRYLIC PAINT, BEFORE IT HAS BEEN PRIMED. 8. You may wish to paint parts individually before assembly; this works well for small parts that are hard to paint neatly when glued in place. Be mindful, however, of parts that fit tightly--they should not be pre-painted or they might not fit correctly. 9. To simulate weathered wood, dry brush layers over the black primer. Start with medium brown, then a mustard-brown, and a final dry-brushing of tan. For other colors, the first coat over the black primer should be one shade darker than the desired final color. Dry brush a lighter shade in the middle of the area of color to give it the look you see in the wargame magazines! 10. Experiment with your own assembly methods. Most of the models are fairly simple to figure out, but if you need help, contact Knuckleduster through our website, www.knuckleduster.com. 11. Instructions for all models have or will soon be posted on www.knuckleduster.com in the downloads section (under "information"). WARNING! CHOKING HAZARD. This kit contains small parts; it is not a toy and must be kept out of reach of children under the age of 3 or adults and children at-risk of choking. KNUCKLEDUSTER MINIATURES PO BOX 1024 NORMAL, IL 61761 (309)838-9871 WWW.KNUCKLEDUSTER.COM
1. Start the building by making two boxes from the parts pictured on the left side. Each box has four sides and a top, but no bottom. 2. Glue the two boxes together as pictured. The tallest of the two is pictured on the right with the shorter at a 90-degree angle to the left, the pair forming a V (or L). Part K is a plate that is glued on top of part J, but with the letter DOWN so it s not visible (unless you want a giant K monogram on your stair landing! 3. The stairs are built in levels of consecutively smaller stacked plates. They aren t in letter-order, but in size order as shown below:
4. Begin assembling interior walls around the stairs. Be sure to use white glue to give yourself time to make adjustments to get things to fit properly! 5. The tall plate with railing at the top goes up against the back box of the stair unit, then the stack of stair treats is snugged up against it as shown. 6. Another wall is glued in place perpendicular to the tall wall, and also snugs up against the stairs. 7. Put together the top flight of stairs, numbered as shown. 8. Build the back side of the stair block by bluing the rear wall against the stairs., the glue the top flight of stair treads in place. NOTE: If you plan on doing extensive painting or wallpapering on the inside, it is best to wait to install the windows and doors until after the walls are decorated. In that case, you would prime and paint the doors and windows/frames before installing them in the building.
9. Assemble the three wall pieces of the other side of the downstairs so that you have two subassemblies. 10. Put together the outside walls and floor of the first floor. 11. Put the two interior subassemblies together, then glue the entire unit in place inside the downstairs. Don t try to assemble the downstairs walls INSIDE the downstairs.
12. Build the upstairs walls and floor. 13. BE CAREFUL: THE HOLE FOR THE STAIRWELL IS CLOSER TO THE BACK THAN THE FRONT. THE WALL WITH THE MOST WINDOWS GOES IN THE FRONT!!!!!!!!!!! 14. Build the two-piece assembles for each end of the upstairs. The long wall goes to the left and the short wall to the right. 15. Once the interior walls are glued in place, build the stair railing as shown.
16. Build the porch frame. As with all of the porches in this building series, the longer two supports go in the middle and form both the pegs that connect to the house and the supports for the front step. 17. The front of the building has two peg holes below the front door. This is where the porch frame is pegged in place. Add the floor plank unit to the porch and glue the back edge of it to the building to make the entire porch structure secure. 18. Glue the porch roof supports in place. 19. Glue the porch roof in place.
20. Windows and doors are cast in metal and glued in place. They consist of two parts, the main window or door piece and the interior woodwork frame. They glue in place on either side of the intervening wall. 21. The exterior windows are glued in place with the frames on the inside and the main unit on the outside. Remember that top window sashes overhand the bottom sashes (that s how we keep water out of our homes!). 22. The exterior doors have windows in them. Build them with the main door unit on the outside and the frame on the inside. 23. The interior doors are solid. Watch the position of the doorknobs and think about which way the door would theoretically swing if it were able to move. 24. Put the roof together. Glue the trusses on one side and let them cure before attempting to do the final assembly.
25. When finished, the building should look like this: When finished, be sure to seal the building thoroughly with automotive primer (black works best, because it shades the cracks and crevices) to keep the MDF from soaking up paint and potentially warping. Paint the primed building with craft acrylics. Very nice effects can be achieved with dry-brushing over the engraved details so they remain dark. As mentioned in an earlier sidebar, wallpapering and, for some, painting is best done prior to the insertion of the metal detail parts, especially if the windows and doors will be a different color than the wall.