Photo 1.

The basic structure is that of a box with a bit of intricate fabrication around the front door area. The back and long side required the application of scale 1x2 battens over laser scribed lines. The dark colored trim pieces are large peel and stic laser cut elements. Their bond was reinforced with tiny drops of ACC.

Photo 2.

Here is the material I've been using for window glazing. It's about .30" thick and is cut easily with an x-acto knife. It comes with a protective layer of cellophane on each surface. Once cut and sized to the window opening, I secure it in place with tiny dots of ACC cement being extremely careful not to allow any of the cement to reach the visible portions of the glazing.

Photo 3.

The area to mount the glazing in the kit and the clear plastic material I substituted, wasn't large enough. I created a "recessed" area for the glazing by carefully removing a small portion of the bass wood interior supporting wall. A piece of the plastic glazing is can be seen in this picture.

Photo 4.

When viewed from the front, there's a clean edge between the window frame and the glazing.

Photo 5.

Instead of using the thin plywood ceiling panel, I cut one from a piece of 1/8" Masonite and glued it in place before installing the front door elements.

Photo 6.

Another piece of the Masonite was cut and fitted into the bottom of the back room of the building. It will eventually be secured to the supplied floor, but not to the building. The building will merely be "keyed-in-place" over this piece of Masonite.

Photo 7.

The front door unit is actually constructed as one piece, with the clear glazing tying things together. The plastic spans the joint between the doors and is held in place with the "peel and stic" adhesive and dots of ACC.

Photo 8.

Once again, when viewed from the front, the edge of the glazing is hidden, presenting a realistic view.

Photo 9.

The same technique of inserting the glazing was used on the side lights to the door unit. A portion of the interior layer of plywood was carefully removed to provide the "recessed area".

Photo 10.

The plastic glazing helped strengthen these fragile elements.

Photo 11.

The two side light window/wall units were glued in place with their joints reinforced with a prepainted piece of 4x4 strip wood. There was a tiny space between the top of the units and the ceiling of the entry way which was filled with scrap pieces of the "peel and stic" trim material.

Photo 12.

Once the side window/wall units were firmly secured in place, the door assembly was glued to them. ACC was carefully applied to all the joints and a "fillet" of yellow glue was added to any remaining gap on the interior side to reinforce the joint.

Photo 13.

An interior door was added to the inner wall. The wall is laser cut for a door, but none is supplied in the kit. I don't know if the prototype had a door or just an opening, but I wanted a door to add some detail to that wall.

Photo 14.

Here is a view of the front door assembly after all the components have been glued in place. It's quite rigid and solid because of the extra reinforcement I added above the door and side lights.

Photo 15.

The two supplied floor panels have been laminated together and the interior Masonite floor has been glued in place. The long roof panel has also been attached. Both sloped roof pieces will be permanently attached to the building. The small level roof has also been secured in place.

Photo 16.

The two roof formers were not used as intended to construct the roof.

Photo 17.

One of them was used to create a support for the cast metal chimney.

Photo 18.

The location and depth of the notch was determined and the support was glued in place on the underside. Prior to it being glued in position, a thin piece of 4x4 strip wood was glued along the roof seam to reinforce that joint.

Photo 19.

The chimney is just set in place for this picture. The end trim boards were cut and glued in place also. The tiny battens that were glued over the laser scribed lines are seen better in this photo also.

Photo 20.

While test fitting the bass wood cap pieces, I had a problem with the piece for the short wall. It was not the same width as the long piece.

Photo 21.

I cut a new cap from some bass wood scraps.

Photo 22.

I also noticed a problem with the corbel supports on the side wall. There wasn't enough supporting material on the trim pieces applied earlier. I don't know if they were this way on the prototype.

Photo 23.

Small pieces of the plywood were cut, painted and glued under the corbels to simulate the supporting boards.

Photo 24.

The roof was tackled next. Prior to gluing the roof panels in place, I used an X-acto knife to scribe alignment lines on them. The line closest to the bottom edge on each panel was marked at the 3' dimension. All the other lines were made 2'8" from the 3' one to allow for a 4" overlap of the material.

Photo 25.

The long roof panel was done first. This picture actually shows the second application of roofing material. Here, tissue paper is being bonded in place with Polly Scale "Tarnished Black" paint. When the paint has dried thoroughly, the excess tissue material will be trimmed off with a knife or razor blade. The building was masked with scrap paper and cellopane tape to prevent the Tarnished Black paint from spotting the cream colored walls.

Photo 26.

This wadded up mess is the remains of the first roofing attempt. I used the adhesive backed material supplied in the kit and did not like its appearance. It was carefully removed and the tissue paper material used instead.

Photo 27.

The parting line on the chimney was carefully removed with the edge of a knife blade. It was then scrubbed with an abrasive cleaner and thoroughly rinsed. I used Polly Scale "Santa Fe Red" as a primer and followed it up with Folk Art "Red Oxide" and a final wash with very diluted white. When dry, the casting was fastened to the inner support with 5-minute Epoxy. Additional Epoxy was carefully applied around the base of the chimney at the roof line and when it had hardened, it was painted black to represent roofing tar.

Photo 28.

I like to set my buildings on a flat base rather than trying to nestle them down into the ground cover. A piece of tempered Masonite was cut slightly smaller than the outline of the side and back walls. I left extra material across the front and part of the side to support a wooden boardwalk.

Photo 29.

The strip wood was first colored with the alcohol and black shoe dye mixture then trimmed to a 6' length. The tiny strips were then glued to the Masonite with Elmer's glue.

Photo 30.

Powered artist's chalks were used to add weathering to the chimney, roll roofing, side walls and board walk. Sign boards still need to be created and attached, but the building is ready for the layout.

Photo 31.

I set the building in place directly across from the recently completed Tall Timbers Dry Goods shop. It will eventually be situated in another part of town, but I wanted to use this location for the photo.

Photo 32.

The interior detailing is still missing, but it will be a good place to use the various shelving and counter units produced by Banta Modelworks.

About the only thing that I won't be able to accurately duplicate is the aroma of fresh bread baking in the ovens of my new Ponderosa Bakery.