Building Trawler by Maritime Art Pt.1

This is a little unusual for me. It isn't a structure. It is a boat but for the purpose of adding notches on my craftsman kit stick I will count it.
The manufacturer of the kit is gone and search for Maritime Art produces a long list links which have nothing to do with HO scale models. A little hint to future kit makers. Don't pick a name for your company or product line that has very broad meaning. If you do you will get lost in a sea of Google search results. Anyway, I have managed to find few pictures of other kits by the same manufacturer and that was it. No reviews, no on-line builds. I figured I was on my own.
First thing I noticed after opening the box that kit had big number of small parts and the hull with very uneven surface. I started with filling all nooks and crannies with epoxy. I don't know if that was the best way to do it but it worked somewhat. In some places the epoxy layer peeled off. Perhaps because it was very thin. I thought of using automotive filler but whenever I use it to fill bubble holes in resin detail parts it comes off. I was afraid I was going to get same results here too since the hull is made of resin. After I got through this step I found that instructions were a little hard to read. They were full of ship terms which I was not familiar with. The diagrams with those terms and arrows pointing to appropriate parts of the boat made it easier though. After I figured out what I was supposed to do I needed to glue some pieces of styrene to the hull. I thought epoxy would do the job but styrene kept detaching. Then I tried CA. In general I don't like using it but I find it useful in certain situations. I guess it was certain situation.
The progress is slow as there is some learning curve. I do one step and then go to the next. Sometimes it means I can't do it right away. I will get through this eventually. The next one will be much easier.

Building Majestic Theater by Laser Art Pt.1

Yet another Laser Art kit. I knew it was coming some day. I agreed to do it awhile ago. The kit itself isn't very interesting but I am adding Miller Engineering signs so that may bump up interest level a little.
When I agreed to do it I didn't know how challenging it may be. The signs are on larger side a little, there are laser cut holes in the front wall for marquee and theater sign that come with the kit, the marquee from the kit can't be used because it has 90 degree angles and ME sign can't bend like that.
As the first step I plugged up two theater sign holes with stripwood before painting. I cut and sanded it flush with clapboards. Then I proceeded to making new marquee. My first attempt was a belly flop. I made it out of matboard. The problem with this material is that it likes to separate into layers when it is shaped to wrap around an arch. I soaked the edges with CA but I still wasn't confident that the sign wouldn't peel off with a layer of matboard later on. The other issue was that I made it wrong size and didn't account for ticket booth. Therefore, I scrapped it. I don't have much love for styrene but I couldn't think of any other material that would do the job. After built new marquee out of styrene I cut slots in the front wall for sign connectors. The rest is pretty standard i.e. priming, painting, weathering...

Building The Waterfront by Bulders in Scale Pt.6

The time is flying, pictures are accumulating and I am falling behind... I have one excuse and a good one.
This past weekend I attended Finescale Model Railroad EXPO 2015 in Scranton, PA. I had couple of very busy days. My goal was to see as many clinics as I could. It was a mistake. Primary goal should be to talk to as many fellow modelers and manufacturers as you possibly can. I went to a number of clinics, got very tired, and lost some interest somewhat. I ended up skipping one clinic on Friday and one on Saturday because of that. Also it is no secret that the EXPO is built around structure aspect of the hobby. How many new things get invented, discovered related to structure building every year? I would say not so many. Then how many don't get posted on the web? Even less. Therefore if you are not living in a cave most likely you know about many inventions and discoveries already. If you are newbie then the clinics are good place to learn. Make sure you take notes because handouts usually are very compressed or none at all. As far as I know only Brett from Sierra West Scale Models has his clinic available online. So if you don't take notes you won't remember even 5% right after you leave and even much less after a week. As for myself, I picked one or two things I can use from each clinic. Some of them will make my live easier or more interesting and I could perfectly continue with my life without knowing the others. Anyway next time I will focus more on social aspect of the gathering.
What does this all have to do with The Waterfront? Absolutely nothing. I shipped it to its owner right before I left for Scranton. It has been delivered and all I have left are the pictures.

Building Tucker & Cook by South River Modelworks Pt.4

About few weeks ago I started thinking of what vehicles to use on my Tucker & Cook diorama. I came to conclusion that the best fit would be 1920s era Jordans. I got to Walthers web site to check if there was any sale going on and noticed that quite a number of them weren't in stock with unknown delivery date. I am not sure what does it mean. Does it mean that Jordan vehicles are out of production forever or if they are being produced in runs? It was hard to get most of Preiser unpainted figure sets for about two years until they made another production run. I hope it is the case. Meanwhile I scooped up some of the last available at reasonable price from a online retailer. Don't look for them there because they are gone.
I am still waiting for the evening when I don't feel like building anything to move buildings around and come up with idea for diorama. I've been in go, go, go mode for the past few months and I have at least two good reasons for that. As for now take a look at individual buildings.

Where do the structures I build go Pt.4

FOS L. Baker's Produce kit sold for $290 on Ebay last night. That is absolutely crazy. Someone could have bought 4 kits from Doug directly and could have had $10 left in the pocket. Unless this is some kind money laundering scheme...
I hope to post few updates after this weekend. For now I have few progress pictures of the layout I have been posting about. I am kind of tired to refer to it as that layout though. I need ask for the name.

Building The Magic Shop by FOS Scale Models Pt. N + 1

I have a little collection of pictures of George Sellios' Franklin and South Manchester model railroad. Once in awhile I go over them to look for details I have missed, or figure out the location of particular building, or find out if I have photos of all four sides of particular building. Every time the building across the street from Stuffy's Brewery catches my eye, but all pictures I have show mostly the back side and very little of the front. All I can see that it has some kind of porch. Then couple of days ago someone one the forums mentioned Brambell kit. George incorporates most his pilot models into his layout so I thought why I didn't see Brambell there. It has such character that I would have never missed it. Here is the thing. It is not all there or at least not in one place. The building I was wanting to see the front off is main Brambell kit structure. One puzzle solved and many more lay ahead. One of them is how does the far side Franklin station look like.
As far as my projects go I have finished every bit of Tucker and Cook kit except for a fence. I don't want to make it since I don't know how my diorama will look like. This is the reason I have it on back burner for now. I don't want to make it just like pilot diorama or like what Jaime is doing. I want to do something at least a little different. So I have switched to the Magic Shop. I know what I want to do with it except for few detail pieces. I'll figure them as I go. What is new is that for the base I am using gatorfoam this time. This is where I am at at the moment.

Building The Waterfront by Bulders in Scale Pt.5

I am convinced the cannery should have been the dessert of this build. Clearly it is most interesting structure of all three. It turns out I ate my dessert before the main course. I still need to finish few little things to complete the kit but I can smell the end already. If everything turns out as planned then I will start preparing for shipping this weekend. The warehouse is still work in progress but here are the pictures of the first two finished buildings.