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Alan's O'Neill's Build

OK everyone here goes! I had a few reservations about starting my own thread, but momentum seems to be pretty good, and I figured documenting my own build might give me further motivation to keep things moving. Since everyone gets around the forum, I won't rehash all the circumstances. The short version is I had to put O'Neill's away because of a job change. It's now three years and change later, and I really wanted to build this kit. It also didn't hurt that when I asked for the Brass & Iron Foundry for Christmas last year I took a certain amount of good natured ribbing from my wife: "Another kit? You haven't built any of the last (insert your own number here) that you've bought. How many do you need?" She understands this isn't about need! (And I got the Brass & Iron Foundry - she's a keeper!)

I had gotten the main building walls done, and was starting on the doors & windows when I had to stop. I use one of those plastic desk drawer organizers to keep projects in, and that saved most of my bacon. The walls and the manual went back in the box. Everything else stayed in the tray and went on a shelf. Other things I wish I'd done:
1: Marked the paragraph in the manual where I stopped.
2: Bagged up parts for sub assemblies I was working on and labeled the bags.
3: Made a list of notes on where I was and what I had done, as well as the next step I was planning and put it in the manual.

You'd be surprised what you'll forget in three years! Or maybe you won't.

I pulled out the kit and the tray. First thing was a re-read of the manual. Next was taking inventory. It was all still there with one exception: Three of the headers that go over the doors had wandered off to that place where stray coupler springs or important brass locomotive screws escape to. Brett is pretty generous with the wood supply, so I grabbed another piece and made replacements. One other pothole: the window material had been sprayed with Dullcote, and had curled just enough to make it interesting to position window panes when assembling the doors and windows. Note to self: Next time try an acrylic flat coat. Or don't stop for three years. I'll post progress pics tomorrow afternoon, when the work PC gets shut down and the personal PC gets fired up for the weekend. That's where all the resized pics are. Things are going smoothly enough, and with Ken Karn's Forum Build and the tutorial Phil is doing to refer to, there is plenty of support, which is what I like about this forum. If I hit something those two can't answer, I'll just call the boss!
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Comments

  • Super glad you started your own thread, much anticipation here!
  • Looking forward to the build
  • Alan, I too am glad you started the thread. You are right, it should keep you motivated to keep on building. You are certainly ahead of me. I'm finishing the fourth wall and will then start the windows. I'm also motivated not to take years to build this great kit. Phil
  • Great news Alan. Nothing better to go along with a build than to post your progress. As mentioned, keeps the modeling mojo going. In addition, posting opens the door to an otherwise very individual hobby and elicits ideas and comments from the group. Posting pictures is a great way to self critique your work as the camera lens is very unforgiving particularly in close ups...look forward to seeing your work here Alan...post away!
  • We WILL follow you closely !! :smiley:
  • Love this kit, looking forward to your take on it Alan.
  • OK guys, here we go! I'm going to post lots of pics, warts and all, as well as what I did to correct mistakes, or when I deemed a mistake not worth correcting. One thing about shooting with a DSLR: It shows every sin you committed in graphic detail, especially when you go through the cropping and re-sizing process. Not all of these flaws will necessarily be visible on the finished model so you have to use your best judgement when considering correction. We are usually our own worst critics, so what you think looks terrible another modeler or a casual viewer might not even notice. If you have to, sleep on it!
    Constructive criticism and advice are very welcome. This is my first SWSM build, though not my first craftsman kit. I have three more of these to build and I want each one to be better than the last. As a former product reviewer for one of the hobby magazines, I always followed the manufacturer's instructions to the letter. This both kept me out of trouble, and let me point out any errors, or places I had trouble understanding what to do in the finished review. I have built kits with clinkers in the instructions! I'm doing that here as well, but for different reasons. Since this is a first build, I have elected to keep additional detailing to a minimum. Kind of a walk before running thing. I've also noticed both in the model building world and the professional world, the guys who get into trouble with a project or a process are almost always the ones who think they are smarter than the guy who wrote the manual! This may change as I progress through the build, but it is what I did during the earliest work three years ago. Onward!
  • The unboxing video was awesome, but I wanted my own pics. I post in other forums, and wanted to show this to the uninitiated. The uninitiated often pale a little when you tell them how much the kit cost, but I point out that if you tried to buy all of this stuff separately, you'd spend at least that. In this photo, the main building siding has been grained & stained, and put back in the bag.
    Unboxed

    Unboxing is also one of my favorite parts of the process. I'd seen it done by Brett, but it's different when its yours. The smell of those resin castings... Intoxicating!

    Next up is the first try at damp brushing. Yuck!

    Painted lumber

    A little supplemental wire brushing then a second try that worked much better:

    Second try at lumber

    The Video Brett put up will help those who haven't done this. My first try was before he did it, but I figured it out.

    Next we have the door and window frames. Note the little paint holder in the upper right corner. A friend who works at the Children's Hospital here gave me a bag of those. I remember wondering what on earth I'd do with them at the time, but it turns out they are great at holding small batches of custom mixed paint. Even three years later that green hadn't dried out, though i mixed a fresh batch anyway. Mixed paint can do weird things over time!

    First Wall


  • Next up I did the siding on the main building walls. This was a fun process, and I kind of got in to the zone and only took one picture of the left wall, then ran through the other three. I had one issue here, which was my fault. There are two different widths of wood, 1/16" and 5/64". You'll want to count up how many of each you have before you apply them. I got carried away and used up all the 5/64th faster than I should have. This wasn't an issue with the finished product, and you do get plenty of wood. You just have to do a little planning. This is a good place to mention the little caliper I bought from Amazon. It measures in decimal inches, fractions, and millimeters. I posted a pic of it over on Phil's thread. You'll find it here:

    https://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-1433-Fraction-Fractional/dp/B002RHP7SE/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=general+american+1433+caliper&qid=1604150650&sr=8-3

    It has been a great help to me, as I have proven not the best at sorting scale lumber sizes by eye! It's easier than you think to grab the wrong piece of wood! Guess how I know?

    first wall R1

    Before I knew it the rest of the walls were done. I did my best to use the wood glue sparingly, but I still ended up with some warping on the walls, so I elected to add some .125" bracing to keep thing straight. If you do this, you'll want to look ahead at where the corner braces will go, and leave clearance for them. I had had a very bad experience with wall warpage on a previous kit I had assembled and I was a bit gun shy, so I went belt and suspenders here. Brett and Ken Karns have both said that the corner braces will pull everything square, and I have no doubt they will. I just wasn't in the mood to take chances! That "once burned" thing!

    Walls

    Next it was time to do the doors and windows. I really like the way they are done and the fine appearance they give when finished. I've also found that the resin impregnated paperboard is actually reasonably forgiving unless you're totally ham handed with it. The "man" door and window for the left wall went great. Then I started on the cargo doors and things got interesting. I was test fitting after priming and kept getting this no matter what I did:

    Cargo doors

    I played "Rubik's Cube" with these things for a while, and finally gave up and called the boss. I told Brett that "Either I'm a complete idiot, or there's a problem here. I'll accept the label of Idiot if you'll tell me what I'm doing wrong." He laughed and told me that I was fine, but some of the early kits had doors made wrong due to a CAD error. Within a few days I had new doors. The usual excellent customer service! It was at this point my professional life got interesting and the hiatus began.
  • Alan, great summary of your build so far. I didn’t have the warping of the walls, but I attribute this to putting the wall under a weight after I finish it. Also, my walls are taped down during the siding installation. This all leads to flatter walls. Phil
  • Very nice Alan
  • Fast forward to earlier this month. I had been doing many brass locomotive re-motoring and painting projects, and painted and lettered an entire 1941 City of San Francisco over the intervening months since early March. I was feeling burned out on that kind of work and needed a change of pace. I was long overdue to get back to work on this kit, so I pulled it out and got busy. The first thing was the replacement cargo doors. They assembled perfectly. I used automotive masking tape instead of double sided tape. Automotive masking tape is low tack and it's easy to get the painted parts off the tape and repositioned. It will grip the pieces securely enough, and let go of them easily. Just a personal preference. One other note: I haven't tried it yet but I may try a natural sponge instead of a piece of terry cloth for dabbing on paint. (not a synthetic sponge) Just a thought.

    New Doors

    New Cargo Doors

    I finished the rest of the doors and windows and installed them. Next up was the addition. This was my first experience with the board by board over siding technique, and I like the look.

    Addition

    Addition Walls

    I assembled the addition and had an issue. The sides had warped very slightly. Just enough to keep the upper cardboard brace from fitting perfectly. This isn't visible from the outside, and I was a bit surprised since these walls are just 7/8" square. Hindsight says I should have left them under the weights longer. Say until the next morning. Note to self: Even though it may not feel like you're going too fast, you may be. Be more patient going forward. Maybe heavier weights too.

    That aside I'm happy with the addition. Here's where your camera rats you out! I didn't get as close as I should have when removing parts and left pieces of tab. A little filing took care of this. I'd recommend always dressing these with a file, as just the hobby knife may not give a smooth enough edge. I read ahead in the Brass & Iron Foundry manual and bought that little set of files by Dick that Brett recommends. They are awesome. I also lost the topmost piece of clapboard when trimming the excess. The rafters may have covered this but it was too easy to replace. Going back and forth to Ken's pictures on the Forum build was a big help here. These little defects are easily missed by the naked eye. I didn't notice them until I looked at the photos.

    Addition complete

    Next I built the floor frame. That went well, except I would recommending looking down from above at the template now & then to make sure you hit the lines exactly. I cut the pieces a little long and shaved them with the chopper until they fit properly. The True Sander would also work well here.

    Addition sub floor

    I then mounted the addition on the wall.

    Addition mounted

    Now I have to build the overhangs and mount the hose and the loading dock bumper. The main building walls will soon be going together. That's going to be exciting!

    All Walls
  • Great information and nice work! Lots of good information here. Thanks for taking the time to go in depth on your build.
  • Alan, great progress. I'm not sure I'll catch up to you at your present pace. Thanks for the notes. They will be helpful to me as I hit these same areas. Phil
  • You have a great build going here Alan with well covered tutorial. I think your damp brushing technique is solid.
  • i agree. coloring looks spot on. ever since building this building i've really liked that bluegrass green. it's a great color that takes "dirt"really well.
  • Before going any further, I'm going to speak briefly about work spaces. Yes I have a dedicated work bench. No I'm not going to show it to you because to be frank, its a disaster at the moment with two brass locomotive projects and a couple of freight car repair projects on it, as well as enough crap to give any self respecting hoarder lockjaw. It also gets cold down there as we move into the Wisconsin fall and winter season, so I do most of my structure work in the kitchen/dining area. My wife and I share the area, as she does her arts & crafts work there too. This arrangement works well with only the occasional filching of each other's supplies to muddy the water a little. It also forces me to be neat. You can't, or at least I can't do this sort of work in a messy work area.
    To keep things neat and where I can find them I've put together what I call my Structure box. Tools suited to Craftsman kits that I seldom use elsewhere. I've tried to use a modular approach with it which keeps me from emptying it looking for something. Here's thinks work:

    The basic work area before starting today's work session:

    Work Area 1
    Note the desktop organizer for components I'm working with. The blue Gatorade lid (Great idea Phil!) The small chalk box. I have two larger ones, but this one is dedicated to staining lumber with a compartment for what I call "Brett's Box" where a mixed group of chalks is kept for random use. The small cardboard box was fitted with dividers made out of shirt cardboard and I use it to segregate scale lumber being used at any current step, right now he contents of Bag 2 are in there.

    The tools are organized as simply as I could come up with. The box top has three removable boxes, two with clamps of various sizes and types, and one chalk box.
    Structure box

    The top tray has frequently used items as well as a few recent acquisitions I haven't figured out where I'll keep permanently. flues, large clamps, that little caliper, a shot glass (inverted they are great for a small puddle of ACC. If you have a bad session they can be turned right side up and filled with your spirit of preference) larger wire brushes, steel wool and other items.

    Structure box 2

    Lift out the tray and there are sanding tools, more clamps, and the large chalk box.
    Structure box 3
    Below that is my stash of Reaper and some of the Vallejo paints accumulated before Brett issued his set, tooth picks, popsicle sticks and other things on Brett's list of things you'll need, along with watercolor pencils. On it's side is a small Art Bin I'll show next. There is also a selection of quality oil paints I use on other projects.

    Structure box 4

    Art bins are a little pricey bit very useful. This one has the necessary paint brushes out of the manual, spare hobby blades, tooth picks, tweezers, a scribe for knotholes and a few other odds & ends.

    Art Bin

    This allows me to grab a selection of items I need for various steps and not have tools spread out everywhere. it also allows for a rapid cleanup and storage before dinner.

    This morning I did the leading dock bumper and the tire stack. Now I have to run to the hobby shop or home depot and grab some five minute epoxy, as it seems mine has gone over the hill! The focus isn't great , but it's for color anyway!

    Castings
  • Alan, I understand the workbench space can be limited and you need to be in a space that is "warm" and bright. Great ideas for what I call a mobile workbench. You could set up anywhere on a moments notice!! BTW, if you are using your Iphone for pictures, if you get to close, it won't focus. Instead, come back to where it would focus, then zoom in on the screen with your two fingers. It works great. I figured this out on my build a week or two into the build. Phil
  • This evening’s work was attaching the two castings and graining & staining Bag #4. No,pics tonight :)
  • Tonight I wanted to get the loading dock overhang done, but I've hit a snag, so any of you vets out there, can you let me know what I did wrong here? I cut the 10 pieces of .020 long by 3/32" wood, glued them together on the template, and noticed the assembled boards overhung the boundaries. The rafters are too short. I thought maybe i used the wrong wood, but there's nothing else in Bag 4 that I could have grabbed by mistake. Thoughts?

    Overhang 2

    Rafter length

    I sliced through the glue joint and removed one board, but it's still too long. I can eyeball a fix, but I'd like to know what happened.
  • OK I fiddled with the overhang a bit, dressed the edges with the Tru-Sander and got close enough. I'll proceed from here. I was concerned I'd grabbed the wrong wood, but there's nothing else in Bag 4 even close to this size, which was a relief as that would have been a large amount of lumber to use the wrong way! Note to self: Don't panic, stop, take a deep breath, think! End result: Nine boards instead of ten, test fit to template before gluing.

    Overhang 3

    Also, don't cheap out on the double sided tape. In addition to holding things where they belong, it keeps the finished work from sticking to the template itself when you glue the boards together. I managed a hair thin bead on the board edges, and there was still enough oozing to cause me some heartburn!
  • The overhang is built. I'm going to let it dry until tomorrow before starting the roofing. Double and triple check the rafters and support braces as you go. Watch out for getting one backwards as you mount them. It's not hard to do! Cutting by hand on the template, you can still get some minor deviations in length. This is even more important for the three braces. I'm still interested in other's experiences here and if anyone had the same issue I did. I want to know how I managed this, as I've been extremely careful to follow the manual.
    Overhang 4
  • i'm not sure, but as i reread your initial comment, i don't think there is a wood size of ,020 long x 3.32". that's a bit of a red flag to me......
  • kebmo said:

    i'm not sure, but as i reread your initial comment, i don't think there is a wood size of ,020 long x 3.32". that's a bit of a red flag to me......

    If you've got the manual handy, see page 30, under "Loading Dock Overhang", Step 2. Of course .020" is also 1/32", so 1/32" x 3/32" x 7" long. There was noting else in Bag 4 even close. I'm stumped!
  • Alan, I've investigated your concerns and looked at p.30. First, regardless of how many pieces may be called for, always follow the template. In this case, it may take less than 10. I cut a rafter and placed in on the template and it looked perfect. BTW, you used the right wood. Phil
  • Kind of what I was thinking Phil. No way to use the wrong wood really, as long has you have a ruler handy and make sure you're pulling from the right bag. I ended up with 9 pieces and a little sanding to get it perfect, or damn near. Everything fits now! I'll be checking quantities against the template going forward in these situations. Thanks!

    By the way, I bought that little scratchy brush off of Amazon, the pencil type from Eurotool. Love it. It helped get some stray paper off the wood that refused to let go when I lifted the overhang off the template. If you don't have one of these, get one! I have the fiberglass one but it doesn't doo much on wood and sheds little pieces of fiberglass bristle all over the place. OK for cleaning before soldering and some other applications, but not for wood. Whoever recommended that thing, Thank You!
  • Alan, that was me. I bought mine from Micromark. It's a very handy tool. Phil
  • Looking great so far Alan. Now I’ve got to order one for myself I suppose!
    I also ordered one of those euro tools. Haven’t used it yet but it seems like it’s going to another great option.
    Thanks so much to both Alan and Phil for doing these in-depth threads.
    So helpful!
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