Continuing Saga …

Between exercising and going to Costco (among other stores) I was still able to get about an hour in the shop and was able to finish shingling the turret roof. With the paint and the shingles it's harder to identify that this was an FDM 3D print job.

I stuck the turret assembly back onto the building to look at it. Of course everything is just plopped there. I will finish up this assembly tomorrow which will include the little roof that goes on top, the upper and lower windows, the spiral staircase and then the corbels (which I still have to paint). Then it's onto finishing up the Mansard. I'm sort of working from top to bottom.

Shingling the Mansard is like shingling the turret roof on steroids. It's much easier to shingle in long continuous strips, but the Mansard is nothing but interrupted surfaces. I want to shingle it with the windows in place because  the flashing and shingles must fully remove any of the gaps between the rough roof and the windows.

Until tomorrow...

It is certainly taking it's final shape!

Yes it sure is!

Didn't get much done today. Was out of pocket for the early afternoon. Got the turret top roof put together and then wanted to paint the corbels, but I couldn't find them!!! I think I put them in a "safe place" so they wouldn't get lost or damaged. Now they're lost. It's no big deal I can reprint them. But I had to change the FEP on the 3D printer and that took the rest of the time I had. Oh well.

The upper turret roof consists of four laser cut segments with some laser cut formers underneath. In SU you're able to take a plane on an angle, a hip roof part for example, and flatten the planes so you can export them as developed surfaces. This works pretty well. After gluing it all together I coated it with some sanding sealer and will finish sand and paint it all tomorrow. I cut some relief in the roof bottom to clear the grain-of-wheat bulb and wire that's protruding out of the top of the turret underframe. I needed to use some Bondic to seal the roof segment joints.

I'm going to paint this part BEFORE gluing it onto the turret. The printer is ready to print as soon as I get to it tomorrow. I'm sure that I will find those corbels once the printer begins making the new ones. Murphy's law...

The house is really taking shape, Myles.

Hope you and your family have a happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks Ken! Same to you and yours!

We had an outdoor TG next to a roaring fire at my daughter's home. They have a spectacular home and back yard. The food tasted even better sitting by the fire. We also killed two bottles of wine. We had some quality time with both grandsons, which in itself was special. Given lemons we made a lemonade stand. The fire looked chaotic, but me son in law had a plan. As the fire burned through the centers of the long pieces he broke them in half and formed a more "normal" looking blaze. No one was injured. They have lots of woods behind the house and there was a copious amounts of deadfall to feed the fire which we had going for over five hours. You don't need TVs or iPhones when you have a nice fire to look at.

Didn't work on TG, but did today. After looking more closely at my own design, I realized that the turret roof transitions to the turret walls with a curve and another layer of roof structure.

I added another piece of MDF sized for the turret wall top, drilled the same clearance hole in the middle and laminated it to the existing turret roof. I then started to produce the fillet. The first step was filling it with Bondic. Since Bondic cures in seconds with the UV light it's a great way to start the filling process. I laid it down in 3 layers since you don't want to get too thick before curing that layer.

I pre-shaped the Bondic to give the rough curved shaped with a round sanding head on my MicroMark Power Sander. To finish it off I completed the fill with Tamiya Fine Filler. I shaped it reasonably well and will let it fully cure over the weekend and sand it on Monday. If the filler isn't fully hard it doesn't sand right.

I tried the new roof onto the turret and it will look good when finished.

Next up was completing the turret double hung windows. Again, I used PSA which is great for glazing since it doesn't run, graze and sticks instantly. I installed these windows using Gel CA.

While this was going on I was attempting to reprint the corbels. For some reason, the file on the black thumb drive must have been corrupted. It attempted to print it twice and abbended both times after about five minutes. Each time that happened I had to scrape off the little bit that DID form, scrape off the pre-coat, clean it up and pre-coat it again.

Finally, I went back to the computer, redid the entire slicing file, and this time saved it to the blue thumb drive and the print was successful. Actually much more successful than when I did the first run months ago. I don't believe I was pre-coating then and had some failures where the corbel pairs separated. One run isn't enough for the building and the second batch just finished. I'll take care of them on Monday. If you see that very thin film attached to some of them, it's the pre-coat. It's only a couple of thousandths thick, maybe even thinner so it doesn't affect the parts sizing.

Since I couldn't completely finish the turret due to the top roof curing I got back to work on the main roof. My main roof supports are a bit skimpy and when I held the hip roof pieces in place I realized that gluing them to the supports and the roof one at a time wouldn't work. Here is the cross-lapped the support structure glued to the main roof.

The problem with this support scheme is no contact area in the important corners. It supports the middle of the roof panels, but the mating edges float all over the place. So this time I did it a bit differently. I gave the lower and mating edges of the roof panels a quick sanding to impart a better junction angle. I then taped the roof sections together with some Tamiya tape. When the panels are butted together and taped tightly, they automatically fall into the correct hip roof angle due to the panels laser cut directly from the SU drawings of the same.

This view was looking at the bottom. I then spritzed the joints with accelerator and then added med CA to the junctions where the tape wasn't. I then removed the tape and finished it up. I then used Gel CA to close the little larger gap at the hip peak. I sanded the corners to remove any irregularties.

With the roof shaped and strong I slathered Aleen's Tacky Glue to the edges and the supports and then glued the roof down with some clamps until it dried.

I started glazing the Mansard windows. The laser cut acetate fit perfectly so that all worked out, since we're talking about going from an SU drawing and creating a laser cut drawing file and a 3D print file and having them fit together. Whoopee! Even the little circular top light dropped into place. Again, using PSA to hold them in. I also did some more Mansard balsa repair in prep for shingling.

When I was handling the main roof, I was concerned I was putting too much stress on the pair of CL2 LED drivers that are attached on the bottom. After looking closed at the soldered pair I didn't like that the hot leads were touching that dead, cut-off center lead. It would provide a bypass to the LEDs and instantly burn them out. So I attempted to cut the center lead closer to the chip, and of course, cut off one of the power leads. I installed a new CL2, but this time kept them apart and joined the red leads about an inch down the run. Checked it out with power and everything worked.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

@Trainman2001 posted:

Thanks Ken! Same to you and yours!

We had an outdoor TG next to a roaring fire at my daughter's home. They have a spectacular home and back yard. The food tasted even better sitting by the fire. We also killed two bottles of wine. We had some quality time with both grandsons, which in itself was special. Given lemons we made a lemonade stand. The fire looked chaotic, but me son in law had a plan. As the fire burned through the centers of the long pieces he broke them in half and formed a more "normal" looking blaze. No one was injured. They have lots of woods behind the house and there was a copious amounts of deadfall to feed the fire which we had going for over five hours. You don't need TVs or iPhones when you have a nice fire to look at.

We have this same set up outback at our homestead. Same type of fire pit surrounded by a circle of flagstone amid lots of trees. . Great minds you know.

Great to see all the details coming together, Myles.

It sounds like a very nice Thanksgiving!  Your daughter's firepit is similar to my neighbor's.  He is happy to take my sticks and often has evening hot dog roasts for his grandchildren.  The last one was a warm evening a couple weeks ago.

Interesting description on making both roofs come out right.  That window in the last photograph looks great!

Have a good weekend!

Thanks all! Yes! It was a decent TG even with all the restrictions.

It.s Sunday so not in the shop, but that doesn't mean 'no progress'. Besides spending an hour attempting to play some "new" stuff on the guitar, I did some design work. By "new" I mean "In my Life" by the Beatles. My college band didn't do British rock, concentrating on Soul, R & B and Motown, We left that music to the other 39 bands on campus that played it, so learning some 1966 Beatles is still new to me.

Since the House is well on its way to completion and I have just one plastic kit to build in the interim, it's time to get serious about building the "Rick House Under Construction" project. When I built the Hacker's Cabin I had to buy a bag of 500 pre-cut railroad ties from Northeastern Stripwood. I used some for the tie piles at the Cabin, but have a ton left. I was thinking maybe, just maybe they could be put to good use building the Rick House. They measure 8" X 10" X 9' long in scale. My original Rick House design had 6" X 8" X 8' columns. It took about an hour of re-drawing time to modify the design to use these beautiful pre-cut pieces to make the bulk of the cut lumber for the next project. I will need about 200 of them for the Rick House and believe there's at least that many in the bag.

Here's the Rick House design incorporating the bigger columns. Actually, since I don't know exactly how big these columns are, they may actually be correct.

The model will measure about 15" X 16" so I cut a piece of Bristol Board that approximated that footprint and put it on the layout where this thing's going to go. I then sized the above image and superimposed it on the space to see if it really will fit. I think it will. It will need some drives to get the barrels in and out after they're properly aged. This is being selectively compressed. The latest Rick Houses at Heaven Hill Distilleries are 300'L X 100"W and 7 stories high and hold 62,000 barrels. They're building a bunch of them to add to the 42 warehouses they already have.

\

Here's one of  

the new monsters at Cox's Creek, KY.

I'm 3D printing the angle plates with bolts that will support the cross-pieces. Here's an image of one of them under construction upon which I based my design. I think the columns look like 8" X 8"s. I'm still trying to get actual prints of the construction from my contacts at Heaven Hill. Buzick Construction is the company that builds these structures for the entire KY Bourbon industry. Each loaded barrel weighs a little north of 500 pounds. Imagine the loading when you have 62,000 of them. I get 31 million pounds all held up by wood. My ceiling height looks too tall. I'm not looking forward to cutting all of them to a new length. Lazy! Looks like there are iron bar sway braces every so often. I can add these.

Here's the array of cleats as shown on the slicer. I'll need a pile of these, but they'll only take 37 minutes to print, so in a couple of hours I'll have all I need. It looks like they're through-bolted so I may use NBWs on the back end after installation… or not. The bourbon barrels are supported on those 4 X 4 cross-pieces you see. They're set on a slight angle downward to the aisle way so the barrels will roll out when the stops are removed. It hard work moving them around. Where the barrels are placed in the warehouse determines how they age. To be "Bottled-in-Bond" I believe they must age for a minimum of four years, but bourbon like other casked whiskey gets better with age…much, much better.

here is the slicer layout with the angle brackets. 44 brackets per run.

Looks like another project using much repetition.  Reading the beginning paragraph, I had no idea what a Rick House is.  I see now it is the building where they store full barrels for the bourbon to age.  Do you know why the call them 'Rick House'?  Or as my dad would tell us when we asked why they call something what they call it, "They had to call it something." 

Mark, I had to look up "rickhouse", too.   It looks like they are actually called "Rackhouses" but the local dialect renders the term as "Rickhouse".  It reminds me of "creek" versus "crick" in the Pittsburgh vernacular .  Looks like another interesting project awaits us ...

TRRR

TRRR, so there is something to the name Pennsyltucky!!  😄  I am so well familiar with crick and Stillers too for that matter!  

Be that as it may, being that Bardstown, KY is the center of the world's Bourbon creating universe, and they call it a rick house with the individual slot called a rick, I'll go with their interpretation. If they think it's a "rick house" then it's a rick house.

I agree, rick house it is!!

The 3D print job for those brackets failed. But it failed "funny". I think my black thumb drive has some problems and the run prematurely quip. The bases and the little stems printed perfectly, but nothing else. So I thought I'd find little nubs of cured resin on the vat liner. After emptying it I found nothing. The lining was pristine. I'm going to load the file onto my other thumb drive and try it again tomorrow. If that doesn't work, I'll redo the slice and try again.

Before cleaning up and painting all those corbels I wanted to finish up glazing the Mansard windows. I had put the self-stick adhesive onto two of them on Friday and was attempting to stick the acetate to it. I ended up pressing too hard on the first one and blew the mullion frame right out of the structure. DOH! It took some creative use of CA, making a mullion out of 0.040" X 0.040" square strip styrene. I also used some Bondic. All's well that ends well, and I got them back together.

Here was the notching I made to accept the styrene and provide more gluing surface area. I started the notch with the micro razor saw and then with a jewelers file.

And here's the repaired frame. If you look closely you can see some of the seams where the frame broke out. It was completely detached. Have I mentioned that 3D printed parts can be brittle? This was printed before I've been adding the Tenacious flexible resin to my mix. That does hold up better against shock when added about 20%. At 100% the resin is elastic and bounces. This frame is the one that completely broke. The one above just lost one mullion

Here are all eight windows with their glazing ready to be installed into the Mansard roof. They're really pure white. The lighting here was funny.

I cleaned up both corbel runs and then stuck them to some rolled masking tape. If you look closely you can see which was the first and second run. The second run's pre-coat was thinner so the flat piece that's tying the corbels together was thinner and warped. Those corbels have the diverging angle. The backing is very thin and when glued to the building they will be parallel. Neither run produced a single failure.

I mixed the Vallejo blue with some AK Acrylic Thinner and then added a few drops of Acrylic extender to prevent drying in the airbrush nozzle. I then sprayed all the corbels. These will dry overnight.

I finished the sanding of the turret top roof fillet and then spraying the blue parts. If finished up by masking off the little top roof portion and brush-painted NATO Black to simulate roofing.

Black paint wasn't yet dry so there's some reflectivity in the front.

Last thing I did was detail paint those little decor items. I base-coated them with a Sharpie Silver and Gold felt-tip pens and then over-coated them with clear red, blue, or green. I used the Rust-oleum gold paint pen to do the bases of the lamps since it's a much more reflective paint. I couldn't photo them because I couldn't handle them. I'll take pics tomorrow.

The colors are a good match!  The finished windows look great!

The roof is shaping up nicely.

Thanks guys!

To continue with the decor items, here's one of the lamps glued to the sofa table that's going in the living room. I used the same "vanilla" craft paint that's going on the exterior walls to paint the lamp shade.

And here are the other vases on the mantles in both rooms. I felt that it didn't really matter to have different objects displayed. No one is ever going to see them.

I did alternate sides...

Today I also completely finished the turret structure. I glued the top roof in place with gel CA. I then installed the 6 sets of corbels. I was rewarded with these little pieces being exactly what I wanted them to do. I wanted to do this step before the windows so I wouldn't have any extraneous glue problems.

I then had to install the spiral stair. I needed to do this at this time because I needed access through the open cupola window spaces so I could manipulate the stair and get glue into the few places that would be holding it. I first tried to use Bondic, but it wasn't ideal so I resorted to the Gel CA. There aren't many contact points between the spiral stair and the openings. I got glue in as many spots as I could. The critical thing was keeping the bottom pad flat on my work surface so it was installed plumb.

Once this was in place, I was able to glue the turret windows in place. I thought about putting some trim around the laser cut window frames, and after doing the rear window decided that it wasn't really worth the effort. I used Testor's Transparent Parts cement to glue the windows in place since it's very forgiving while drying fairly strong.

With the windows install, the turret assembly was essentially finished except for a downspout which will go in when the building is assembled.

With the turret down it was back to the Mansard roof. I installed a window into each opening and traced the footprint. I did this so I could find the demarcation line for the NATO Black "roofing tar" that will simulate the rain gutter area. I then brush-painted the black to my lines.

I again, using the transparent part cement, glued in all the Mansard windows. As I noted the other day, these windows need to be installed to do the flashing and roof shingle installed. Here're a couple of images with this step completed. All my fussing over these window fits seems to have paid off. The windows fit nicely.

I've altered my exercise schedule a bit so it doesn't cut so much into the real stuff that I do. I was doing it every other day, but that made alternating weeks where I was exercising on M-W-F. I'm now doing it on T-TH-Sat and then taking off two days. I'm not obsessed by model building, but I am compelled to do it. Days when I'm not in the shop feel unfulfilled. So it's a compulsion, not an obsession. Is that any better... hmmmm...

Tomorrow I'll continu working on the Mansard and it will take a couple of days to complete. I toyed with the idea to start installing the furniture, but that's going to wait until I'm actually ready to glue in all the walls. I want them to be protected and having them in the rooms, but not in the building does not meet that standard.

Been away for quite awhile, working on an N scale layout.  My two O scale layouts are completely maxed out.

One thing for sure....Trainman remains beyond belief.

regards,

Jerry

The lamp and vases make it look complete even if no one else sees them.  The turret really looks great!  It’s interesting even with as much diverse experience you have, you still find situations where the better glue for the job is your second choice.  Isn’t it amazing all the different glues we have available today?

Adding the decor items really finished off the room. They look great. Fantastic job on the turret.

Thank you. Yes! The amount of adhesives available to us today is mind boggling. I put together an index of the adhesives I'm currently using for our modeling club, but the list is already out of date since it doesn't have the adhesive transfer tape. But here it is for your review. Remember, I am using every one of these at one time or the other. It's a PDF attached below.

Work continues apace on the upper works of the House. I got the main roof completed with the additon of membrane roofing. My membrane consists of some pre-used printer paper cut into 1" (4 scale feet) strips on my paper cutter. I coated the bare roof with PSA and also applied a line of PSA on the top edges of the previously laid strips. I did the roof in sections corresponding to the roof contours. I masked the flat areas so no PSA got onto the paint there.

For the hip roof peaks I used some more of the laser-cut starting strips. I was first attempting to use smaller strips of the plain paper, but it wasn't working well enough so I switched.

It wasn't until I painted it all NATO black that it really started looking like a roof. After pulling the previous masking, I re-masked the very edges so they remained trim blue and then painted the rest of the flat areas with NATO black so it looked like it was weather-proofed. It looks pretty "roofy" to me...

Finally I got to work on the Mansard itself. The Testors' canopy glue worked perfectly and locked all the windows in place. The first step was preparing more chemically-aged copper tape for the flashing. In this case, I chose to use the "stairstep" method of putting counter flashing. It made it easier to keep it uniform. Around the top curve I resorted to using longer strips with the part that was on the flat surface with relief cuts so it would bend around a curve.

It takes about 15 minutes to put the flashing on each window, so it's a time consuming process. I think it's worth doing since it adds a terrific note of realism. Again I used the JAX darkening solution first and then the patina solution. The patina didn't make much different. My chemical treatment vat is the top of a plastic egg carton.

It took a little practice to get the flashing to be uniform and I'm sure by the time I get around to window #8 I'll be perfect. I did two windows and then started shingling to break the monotony and to see how cool it's going to look.

The flashing really helps close the gaps around the windows... kind of like it does in the 1:1 world.

With the shingles on the window looks like it was grown in that spot, not glued there.

Here's a view with the roof plopped on.

It will take probably until Friday to finish this aspect. The upper works of this model really are the focal point and they're coming out as I envisioned them. I know you guys get a kick out of watching this process, but I've got tell you, I get a kick out of it too. I sometimes have to step back and admire that every aspect of this building… everything was created in SketchUp first. There are no aftermarket parts. No Grandt Line or Tichy windows. It's also notable that I didn't build my first scratch-build project until about 2005 when I was 60. I was strictly a kit-builder and follower of other people's instructions and creation. I really didn't think that I had the design skills to go "native." I still like to build plastic kits and follow other's instructions, but I know that I don't have to.

I've been refining the Rick House plans. In closer inspection I saw that the individual ricks had two frames facing each other and then another set separated by about 8" to a foot. I only had one frame. This doubles the number of vertical columns I would need, but I think I'll still have enough. Since this is to be a building under construction, I'll simply use what I have and end it when I run out. I also looked up the specs on a bourbon barrel and found that it's 36" tall. This enabled me to accurately space the rick frames so the barrel would fit. Since this is an unfinished building, I doubt there would be any barrels in it. Notice too there is some diagonal bracing on the rick frames. Each section would hold nine barrels equalling about 4500 pounds so bracing would be useful.

All that meticulous early work is paying off now. The roof looks great! You definitely have the skills to go native.

Myles, Very neat process on the roof.  The window on the Mansard does look like it was built in tike the 1:1 version would.  Your diligence did really pay off.

You are right the rick house really does need to be built as under construction to show all the detail of the ricks and all the supporting structure.

I tried a couple scratchbuilt projects when in my early 30s using styrene and various methods I read of in Model Railroader.  This was when I was modeling in N scale.  The first ones didn't turn out well, but then I decided to build my boyhood home, a circa 1888 structure with a couple additions.  I did it from photographs, and liked how it turned out.  So I then built the shop/pumphouse building beside the house, then the brick garage, and finally the brick outhouse.  I put them on a diorama and called it the Boyce Homestead.  It has meaning for me after my sister and I sold the place last December.  Our two daughters came along in my mid 30s, and I really have only picked up modeling now that both finished college and married.  No more N scale, but I would like to get back to scratch building again after I get my layout running and a few more kit building done to regain lost skills.  You have certainly been an inspiration especially knowing you only picked up scratch building when you were 60.

Thank you very much for the adhesives document.  I printed it and saved it.  It will really help as I move forward in retirement!!!

@Trainman2001 posted:

Since this is an unfinished building, I doubt there would be any barrels in it.

Nah. I think there would be one barrel, just as your model shows. The owners would use it to check the carpenters' work.

That's a great thought, Pete!!  I agree!  Or to show it off to an investor, or someone else with an interest in it.  The barrel would add to show an uninitiated visitor or someone seeing your photograph what the use of the building will be.

Okay! One barrel it is. I do have some barrels. I should also decorate the area around the distillery with some.

Actually I did do some scratch building on railroad #1 from 1956 thru 1961. I got bored with Plasticville and started building some stuff myself including an aluminum foil-covered oatmeal can as an oil tank, a large wooden trestle that didn't go anywhere because age 16 came first, and a "scale" interior for my Lionel Santa Fe. Interiors in the Santa Fe were a challenge since the motors and such interfered with the space, so it wasn't that real. I attempted to put grain of wheat bulbs in my Plasticville signal tower, but the plastic housings melted due to their filament heat. Too bad LEDs weren't invented in 1958.

I'm glad I'm an inspiration to all you middle-age (and older) folks out there. If I can do it, anyone can.

Completed the right side Mansard including the first chimney install. I used gel CA to hold the chimney in place. I flashed the lower portion where the chimney entered the sheathing, and also flashed the window to its right. And I just noticed in this image that the round window is not longer in contact on it's right side. I'll have to fix that.

Up to the point where the chimney and the roof are not in contact, I shingled both sides. Then I fed a single piece behind the chimney for a few courses until it again made contact with the upper reverse curve. This was a "Two-Tweezers" job to slide it through and manipulate it to keep it all squared.

When I got to the top course I again used a piece of starter strip to finish it off. In this care I had to cut eyebrows out so it would snug against the window. I was tired of estimating this curve by eye and made a template out of some thin ply.

I tucked the strip up to the chimney's edge and then noted the center of the curve. After cutting the piece just dropped in nicely. I ended the session by shingling the right side of the right-hand window and putting flashing on the left rear window. I greatly underestimated the amount of copper I would need. When I estimated the strip length, I neglected to add the amount of overlap between each piece of flashing. I'll need to treat another batch almost the same size as the first. I may make the pieces longer since they don't have to correspond to the flashing length.

If you're eagle-eyed you'll notice some areas that need some touchup NATO Black paint. That will all be taken care of when all the shingling is complete. If I don't finish this tomorrow, I will make a big dent. The rear roof is simpler than the others without the chimneys.

This was the little bit of work I got done on Friday. Had to make a Hobby Shop run (Soically distanced with Masks) since my med CA was kicking and getting too gooey.

I had to make that second batch of flashing. This batch even came out more grungy than the first. I like it. This should be enough to finish the job.

I then almost got the long roof shingled. I'm well more than 1/2 way through the shingles and should be done tomorrow or Tuesday. After the shingles are done, I'll be adding the drip edge around the perimeter and trim painting the blue on the edging and underneath. I needed to wait until the windows were in and shingling done because that edging would have interfered with inserting the windows.

It's amazing how the shingles make the whole thing come together.

Tomorrow's Monday so back to the shop.

Happy Monday!

Finished the back Mansard wall, the left wall with the other chimney and made a good start on the final little bit.

The top trim strip needed some gluing help in the upper right corner so I used med CA and of course it soaked through and made a bit of a mess. I will match the gray and paint it. I'll also add some minor weathering which will help blend the paint in. The shingles really trim up that ragged bottom edge. Hides a lot of ugly.

On the second chimney wall I tried changing the flashing method on the chimeny. I marked the wall's curve on the chimney's brick side and then applied the flashing with the chimney off the model. Again, I had to cut little fingers on the side of the flashing that needed to stretch around the curve. I had to apply the gel CA and install the chimney with the flashing attached in one go. I did this and then saw that I had cut the fingers on the right side flashing facing in the wrong direction. That wouldn't work! But it was too late to pull the chimney off and redo, so I just ripped off the bad flashing and did the right side the way I did on the other chimney, i.e., piece by piece.

I also realized I didn't have to put an entire strip of shingles behind the opened-back portion of the chimney since it was out of sight. Instead, I just put pieces on both sides just long enough to nestle behind the gap.

I got flashing on the last window and then started to put on its shingles when I ran out of time. I will finish up the Mansard roof tomorrow. I had to install the attic stair surround railing before I forget. I also have to attach one of the LED leads whose foil tore in all the handling.

See y'all tomorrow.

This is last night's post! I forgot to press "POST" and it just sat there. And then all the images time out and I just had to reload all of them. After this I'm posting today's work.

Mansard roof is about 99% complete. I just have to do some internal relieving to clear some of the newly re-routed wiring. Got the shingling done, put on the drip edge, painted the blue trim and re-painted the NATO black and installed the upper roof and Turret.

After finishing up the shingles on that one window, I went around and reinforced the upper trim edges with some UV-cured Bondic and then trimmed any excess. I put the ridge shingles on all the corners after carefully applied some PSA to reinforce this particular shingling job. They're under some tension and the self-stick adhesive has been letting go.

I then appied the 1/16" square stripwood drip edge around the perimeter of the Mansard roof. I first checked to see if I could get the turret into position with the edging in place. I was, so I glued in the edging in that front space.

When the glue dried enough so the strips didn't fall off, I brush painted the edging and underneath the eaves. I could be sloppy since I was going to go back with the NATO black and back-paint to the edging.

When I put on the black it quickly started dissolving the blue which wasn't totally cured at all. To keep my progress going I overcoated the blue in the gutter area with Dullcoat. This image was while the Dullcoat was drying. This sealed the blue and enabled me to do the black in the same work session. As I've said many times before, "I am NOT patient, I am persistent!" When I screw up it because rushing either paint or glue before it's dried.

In addition to painting the gutters, I went into the window areas and did some final touchup there too.

After painting the black touchup, the roof was pretty much done.

I needed to get the attic stair rail installed before putting on the top roof. This was not difficult and after a little trimming, I got it glued in place.

Then things got a little bit sideways. I went to install the cupola and found that the rear-most corbels impinged on the Mansard roof and it was preventing the turret from seating properly. The back corbels would have been imbedded in the roof and wouldn't have been seen, so I broke them off.

The second thing that happened was I was no longer able to get the top roof on. It was blocked in two ways. First the chimneys prevented sliding the upper roof forward so it slipped under the turret roof. I had to remove the turret which I had just glued in place. Luckily, I used Aleen's PVA instead of CA. It wasn't yet cured so the turret came off easily.

And then problem number two reared its head. I couldn't drop the roof over the chimneys. I could get one notch in on one side, but then it looked like this.

First I thought all I needed to do was make the relief slots deeper and I did this.

But then I found that at least on side had to be wider to drop over the chimney's width. So more surgery and I did this.

I had to re-attach the LED leads whose copper foil had failed, and realized that these leads needed to join the leads from the 2nd floor ceiling that were going down through the back-center (un-windowed) room. I was going to bring them down through the turret joining the non-polarized leads from the grain of wheat bulb in the cupola. That really wasn't the best route. I re-routed the attic leads backwards across the attic ceilig and camoflaged the leads with white duct tape, and then drilled a hole in the rear of the attic floor to pass the leads through. I had to made more clearance in that front beam where the wires go over it. And I will also have to cut some relief in one of the attic partitions since the wires back there are holding the roof from setting down correctly. But other than that, the entire upper works are finished! This was the most complex part of the project and I'm happy that it's now in the rearview mirror.

The touchup painting really tightened up the total deal. After gluing down the upper roof I'll have to flash around the chimney notches and maybe build a TV antenna... although I haven't printed a TV for the interior. I can... I printed two versions of 1950s TVs for the Appliance Shop.

I tested the lighting and took a picture through one of the windows. It looks pretty.... atticky... if there's such a word.

I'll finish up all these odds and ends tomorrow and then get cracking on finishing up the main building. If I need to produce a TV I better do it soon since the furniture's going in and then it's going to be closed up. I have to paint the exterior walls and do all that detail painting for the stone foundation. I'm going to join all the various parallel circuits in the stone base so only one set of leads goes below the table level.

Now for today's work.

First of all Hanukkah Harry came early. I had a nice shipment from MicroMark today taking advantage of their holiday free shipping offer. You had to order over $100.00 so I did. One of things I bought was a small powered cutoff saw made for model-sized stock. It didn't have a depth stop so I spent part of today's session building a base and a positionable depth stop. Here's what I got.

I bought their lower-priced model-maker's chop saw. It was on sale for $50, which was significantly lower than any of these I saw on Amazon. Apparently, it's a Chinese commodity machine that lots of re-sellers are putting their logos on. I also bought a clear shield for the Dremel. Unfortunately, it only fits the main motor and not the Flexi-shaft handpiece. I bought additional cut-off wheels for ferrous and non-ferrous materials. And I finally am replacing my traditional #11 blade holders with the (made in USA) Excel ergonomic handles. Lastly I bought some #11 sized saw blades, which as you'll see already paid for themselves.

The saw, as you'll notice, does not have a depth stop for repetitive cuts. Same problem as I had with the Chopper. This time I went a little more low tech. Instead of attempting to drill the housing and build-in the depth stop assembly, I mounted the depth stop below the saw so it has a dual purpose: provide a sold base for the saw AND be a positionable depth stop.

The base consists of some pre-finished lumber left over from the layout build and a chunk of ply.

I screwed the saw the side pieces and made a stop block out of a chunk of 2 X 4 drilled and tapped for a 3/8-16 piece of threaded rod.

I shaped the block with my big chop saw and a hand saw to rip it to width. I drilled it with a 5/16" tap drill and then, still keeping the work piece in the drill vise, used the drill press itself to hold the tap and drive it into the 1" thick pine block. I've done this before since it keeps the tap dead square with the drilled hole.  The tap wasn't quite long enough to tap the entire depth, but almost. So I took the same threaded rod and ground a notch with the bench grinder so it would tap the remaining little bit. It worked.

I screwed the block to the sliding part, and tried out the saw. My first assembly had the stop misaligned on the Y axis so I unscrewed the saw and moved it about 1/4" rearward. The saw cuts perfectly square, which neither the Chopper with its razor blade or a plastic miter box since the slots wear and get slightly out of square. Notice, to captivate the slide I use a quickly clamp on the back. Fine adjustment is done with the threaded rod.

After closer inspection, my stop was also off a little bit on the Z-axis. So I cut a spacer and installed the stop with that.

The saw is light duty. There is a much more sophisticated one by Proxxon, but it was 4X more expensive and my work load will be light. This one will do fine. It has positive stops for 90 and 45 degrees and anything between them without stops.

Now onto the House...

I was able to raise the roof, and hold it with a wood block, and got inside and make some relief cuts to clear those re-positioned wires. If I would have originally run them down the back to join the 2nd floor ceiling wires, the partitions wouldn't have some into play. But I didn't and had to do some crazy rework. I tend to not think in 3D and didn't think about just what those repositioned wires would now be interfering with. The wiring had a lot of my attention and I kept waking up in the morning thinking about how all those various leads were getting to the basement. The attic ceiling's were particularly vexing and now I know why. I had them routed poorly.

Here's where I enlisted those #11 saw blades to cut away the attic partition through the 3/4" opening I was able to make in the roof. I took this picture through that gap. That's a very tough aircraft ply and would have been awful to try and cut with the blade. The saw cuts on "pull".

With the relief cuts the roof just about fit. I used servo tape strips to attach the roof to the Mansard walls. The fit wasn't so hot, but it's holding. Servo tape holds like crazy.

So with that, the roof is actually done.

I started installing furnishing and the interior doors in preparation for attaching the main walls. I'm using drops of Gel CA to hold everything down. It works pretty well for this app. I started with the doors (held with Canopy Glue) and then the dining room and finished with the living room. And of course I forgot to lay the living room carpeting before installing the furnishings. And that Gel CA doesn't let go, so there was no removing the furniture to lay the carpet. I compromised and used the carpet at the doorway.

And the living room.. The doors really help with the illusion.

I put the grandfather clock in the foyer and also got some bedroom furniture (and carpeting) in place which I didn't photograph. Tomorrow I'll start working on the exterior painting and prepping all the windows for installation. I still have to paint the repaired porch columns, finish the balcony, paint and install the porch lattice screens and build the chain suspension of the porch swing. But, we're getting near the end.

Oh... and the site needs to be created! So we're not that close to the end...

IT all looks great!  The rooms with furniture in place make it look lived in.  That's a thought.  Are you going to place some people inside the house?

The mansard roof looks great, Myles. You might want to take pictures of all the rooms before you button them up. You might not be able to see all the detail once it's closed. It would be nice to have a record of what they look like. The detailed interior makes this house really special.

Thank guys! Happy Hanukkah!

Mark, thanks for reminding. YES, I am going to include some folks and needed to get them ready NOW. I still had some posable figures in the set that Gerry Golembelski sent me for Nighthawks. They're true 1:48 and fit on the furniture nicely.

I had enough left over that I could get folks into the living, dining and foyer.

These figures are true 1:48. Many O'scale figures are bigger, more on the order of 1:43 which is UK O'scale. I have some of those and they wouldn't have fit on those dining chairs or got their legs under the table.

I have a conversation group for the living room.

For the foyer I have this guy and a person that looks like his mom that I didn't stand up.

I started painting them all and decided to make it a diverse group. You can see the foyer guy's mum on the left. I made her a gray-haired older women (My age???).

I'll finish painting them all tomorrow. They'll be placed and then the interiors will be ready to install into the House. When I do this kind of painting, I stick a bit of Press-n'seal onto my work surface and use it as a disposable pallete. With figure painting you're constantly mixing in between colors. I have trouble painting eyes on figures this small. They're not very well resolved so it's hard to get the paint where it's supposed to go. Tomorrow all the base coats will be nice and dry which will help. I force dry acrylics with a TopFlite Heat Gun. I have to be careful because it puts out enough heat to melt styrene.

@Trainman2001 posted:

I have trouble painting eyes on figures this small. They're not very well resolved so it's hard to get the paint where it's supposed to go. Tomorrow all the base coats will be nice and dry which will help. I force dry acrylics with a TopFlite Heat Gun. I have to be careful because it puts out enough heat to melt styrene.

That's because eyes wouldn't even show up at that scale. If you look at portraits, the whites are close to the value of the skin and the pupils are never black. I would say less is more with these figures. Clothes, hair and if you glimpse them through a window, they will look real.

Yes, those people will make the house come alive!  Even if our eyes aren’t good enough to see them inside!  We know someone is looking after the place.

That's good advice at painting the eyes. Whenever I read about painting figures, they usually spend a lot of time on much larger scales where highlights and shadows which in 1:48 is an exercise in futility (for me). Mark, I'll have two people standing in the open doorway so we'll see those. Although they would then block the view of the foyer and that staircase.

The fine pen is a good idea. I'll get one of those.

And okay... no TV. These people are strictly old school, they sit in the living room and have conversations.

It took approx. 3 hours to fully paint the folks in two sessions. It's a highly diverse group that reflects the street where we live.

The standing younger guy and his "mom" will be greeting people at the front door.

In the dining room we have the older dude and his grandson?. Put a hat on her and she looks like Queen Elizabeth...

And there's a small gang in the living room.

I painted the front door mahogany and attempted to give it some grain using two coats.

All the folks are glued in place so the interior is ready to place when the exterior is done. To that end I put two coats of craft paint "vanilla" on the walls and then masked all the trim. I then gave the trim and tape edge a coat of Dullcoat to seal the edges and pre-fill the grain for the trim blue that I'll paint on Monday.

While that was drying I decided to add more trim to the roof/Mansard junction. The roof was not fitting tightly and I didn't like it. I'm installing fascia boards that will be painted trim blue. I got about 1/3 applied before running out of time.

I just wasn't happy with that top edge and the new trim helps.

Everyone have a safe, socially distant weekend!