United Corn Growers

[2-8-2]

I started building the structure earlier this week, here is the progress thus far:

Step 1: Assemble the outer shell.
For that aged wood look, I first spray painted the pieces while still in the parts tree with some 99 cent Wal-Mart gray primer. The backside was painted flat black. With the paint still tacky, I sandwiched the parts between 2 sheets of wax paper, then pressed them flat under pressure of some heavy books overnight. By morning, the pieces were flat and dry.

Here, I have used tape to help hold the assembly together while applying the glue. I've used rubber bands to hold the whole thing together and to keep the corners square.



Step 2: Trim details
I applied the topcoat of white to the trim pieces using some tough Krylon spray paint. Everything lined up nicely because the shell dried nice and square. Gaps in the trim at the corners were filled with spackle and sanded smooth.



Step 3: Final paint and weathering
After the spackle dried, the entire shell got a light dusting of the Krylon spray paint. After it dried, I began sanding to remove some of the top layer of paint to let the gray undercoat show through in places. The end result gives the appearance of weathered wood.



Step 4: The details
Here I have glued the roof pieces on and applied the windows. Some of the trim had to be custom cut to allow the loading shed to be mounted flush against the back of the building. In the background, you can see the office building has been set aside to dry.



Step 5: Foundation
With the foundation stuck firmly in place (the kit uses 3M sticky backing), I masked the area off with tape and painted it a brick color, which was a mixture of Oxide Red, black, and gray. Once the paint dried, I spackled over everything and then removed just enough spackle, leaving some between the bricks. This was the first time I've used this method, and it turned out rather well I think.