This document features my efforts at building the "S" Scale, Telluride Depot kit produced by Banta Modelworks. I was asked to do a "test build" of the model, then write and illustrate the instructions. The depot kit is typical of the other depots offered by Banta Modelworks in that it features an inner shell made of 1/16" thick aircraft plywood on which the modeler attaches the exterior components. The doors and windows are built up from "peel & stic" components and laser cut glazing. Metal chimney castings and laser cut shingles are used on the roof.
Upon opening the kit and seeing all the many pieces of laser cut components, some modelers may become intimidated, but after spending a few minutes reading over the instructions and studying the photos, it's not that difficult of a project.
As with other depot kits, this one started by gluing the interior box components to the floor with yellow Elmer's glue.
It took about an hour to complete the entire box.
Unlike prototype construction where building usually starts from the ground up, this one was built from the top of the walls down to the ground. It was easier to align and match the laser cut openings of the doors and windows in the clapboard exterior siding with those cut in the inner box.
This structure utilized a couple of non-traditional adhesives for building models. Instead of spreading yellow glue over the exterior clapboard pieces, I employed some of 3-M's 465 Adhesive Transfer material. It's like double-face tape, which was also used in some areas, only it comes in rolls up to 24" wide. It's applied to the backside of the exterior piece and the excess it trimmed off. The protective backing is removed and it's positioned over its respective spot on the interior box, aligned and firmly pressed into place.
With the clapboard siding now in place, attach the few pieces of the flat, bass wood panels to the second floor areas and over the end wall sections.
The clapboard siding was then painted a depot buff color using a mix of liquid acrylic craft paints. While it was drying, the stripwood and wainscoting was painted a brown color with similar paints. A metal straight edge and razor blade was used to even up the bottom edge of the clapboard siding. It should end up being even with the lower edge of each window opening.
The cap rail was glued in place next, butting it up against the underside of the clapboard siding. It was extended completely across the window openings and just a short way into each door opening where it was sanded even with the opening with a sanding stick. All the corners were cut at 45 degree angles.
The wainscoting was attached next. In some cases, the cap rail needed to be notched in
order for the wainscoting to form a clean edge with its mating edge. Let the material extend a
bit beyond the ends of the building and at the regular door openings. The three doors of the
baggage section required a special treatment.
The wainscot material was stopped even with the edges of the all three of the baggage section door openings.
A shorter piece was cut and fitted in to fill in the space below the opening. It must be lower than the bottom edge of the door opening because a short piece of strip wood material will eventually be glued to the upper edge of the shorter piece, creating a threshold.
Because I opted to attach the exterior wall pieces from the top down, a small amount of material extended below the floor of the interior box. A model knife could be used to remove it, but I carefully attacked it with a belt sander that I mounted upside down to my work bench. Had the wainscoting been added first, this excess material would have definitely caused an alignment problem at virtually every window and door opening.
The components for the three large doors for the baggage section were brush painted and built-up next. While these three doors are the same size, one of them is different. It's shown on the left in this photo and goes in the end wall of the baggage section. The other two doors shown are for the passenger end of the building. The one shown in the middle goes on the tower side of the building while the door on the right goes on the bay window side of the station.
All of the doors require short pieces of stripwood to hide the edge of the siding material. Measure the pieces and glue them in place against each door.
The "peel & stic" outer frame goes on next. To determine how much of the cap rail needs to be removed, hold the frame upside down and centered on each door and carefully make marks with a knife, then remove the material.
With the offending material out of the way, peel off the protective backing from the rear of the frame and press it into place. Tiny dots of Lightning Bond CA adhesive were used throughout this building project to reinforce all the "peel & stic" bonds.
The windows are extremely fragile and must be assembled carefully. The were made up in a batch and separated into plastic bags accordingly to their respective wall location. There's a tiny amount of material spanning the lower edge of each frame. Leave it on until the window is completed, then clip if off with a nipper, such as those sold by PBL.
Some of the window frames were integrated with building trim, so the insertion of them was left for a later time. Those that had their own frames were mounted in place with their "peel & stic" adhesive and reinforced with the CA adhesive.
The flat, laser-scribed pieces of bass wood above the clapboard in a few locations need to be covered with the paper shingle material. In the past, I've attached these with white glue, but it's been a time consuming process. The vertical shake siding on this building was attached with a product called "Scatter-Grip" which was painted on with a soft brush. It's a water based, milky white product that dries to an extremely sticky adhesive. The bass wood was first sealed with sanding sealer, allowed to dry then lightly sanded to a smooth surface. Two coats of the "Scatter-Grip" were applied and allowed to dry.
