@ Tyson- I know but I have been thinking about it for over 10 years now! It’s nice to see it start to come to life now.
@ Doc - I’m glad you liked it. I’m going to give his method a test run, it should be fun at least.
Progress……
I spent some more time on the iconic mill building mock up. Besides getting rid of the stand in from the LED light boxes until the real model can be built this allows me to refine techniques for the final build. A quick shot with some base color
![[Image: YkCouM0.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/YkCouM0.jpghttp://)
With the color finalized I moved on to the lettering. The original thought would be to create painting masks and paint the lettering on. With it being HO 5” clapboard siding it was going to be very difficult not to get bleeding around the edges, even with over spraying the mask. Since I had the DIY decals I thought I would give that a try. I did these with an inkjet printer and sealed them like the Pres-to-log one. The decal film on these is THICK. I think it will take a whole set of bottles of Micro-set/sol just for these because of how thick they are and the over all size of these decals. Prior to applying them I sprayed the building with a couple of light coats of Pledge to act as the gloss coat.
Laying out the decals
![[Image: a4y5KK5.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/a4y5KK5.jpghttp://)
![[Image: SELlcwj.pnghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/SELlcwj.pnghttp://)
A couple of shots of it back on the layout. Note I roughed in the large door but still need to clean it up some. I also need add the roof structure and figure out the windows it. If anyone has a recommendation to consider for an 6 over 2 setup let me know. I won’t add the roof vents or blowers to the roof on the mock up but they will be on the final model.
To finish it off I painted over the layout lines, gave it a couple of light coats of Pledge again to help hide the decal lines and gave it 2 final coats of Dullcoat to get rid of the shine.
![[Image: Rley86V.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/Rley86V.jpghttp://)
![[Image: wKAsM2X.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/wKAsM2X.jpghttp://)
![[Image: hOIKQt8.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/hOIKQt8.jpghttp://)
![[Image: jjXu4JP.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/jjXu4JP.jpghttp://)
![[Image: 07F6y8Q.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/07F6y8Q.jpghttp://)
When painting it, and even using the Micro Sol/Set, caused the build to warp a little. I used a damp towel and some weights to get it back to being it close to straight. After about 20 minutes I removed the paper towel and let it sit under the weights over night.
![[Image: HblTQrZ.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/HblTQrZ.jpghttp://)
Over all I’m liking the the way this is turning out… close enough for me
![[Image: LBvljpy.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/LBvljpy.jpghttp://)
In the mean time I also started working on the CVMW 1902 bridge that will cross the Oro River. I have been using the CVMW videos and Rob Bennett series on his build. I found both of them a helpful references in my build.
The lower deck is built and the track has been painted. I did have trouble with “spiking” the track in and used a little Pilobond to ensure good contact. I also tried using ME bridge track instead. Going with the provided ties but need to dress them up some.
![[Image: 5eSnhCV.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/5eSnhCV.jpghttp://)
![[Image: qlxW2eG.pnghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/qlxW2eG.pnghttp://)
![[Image: qyz9roP.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/qyz9roP.jpghttp://)
@ Doc - I’m glad you liked it. I’m going to give his method a test run, it should be fun at least.
Progress……
I spent some more time on the iconic mill building mock up. Besides getting rid of the stand in from the LED light boxes until the real model can be built this allows me to refine techniques for the final build. A quick shot with some base color
With the color finalized I moved on to the lettering. The original thought would be to create painting masks and paint the lettering on. With it being HO 5” clapboard siding it was going to be very difficult not to get bleeding around the edges, even with over spraying the mask. Since I had the DIY decals I thought I would give that a try. I did these with an inkjet printer and sealed them like the Pres-to-log one. The decal film on these is THICK. I think it will take a whole set of bottles of Micro-set/sol just for these because of how thick they are and the over all size of these decals. Prior to applying them I sprayed the building with a couple of light coats of Pledge to act as the gloss coat.
Laying out the decals
A couple of shots of it back on the layout. Note I roughed in the large door but still need to clean it up some. I also need add the roof structure and figure out the windows it. If anyone has a recommendation to consider for an 6 over 2 setup let me know. I won’t add the roof vents or blowers to the roof on the mock up but they will be on the final model.
To finish it off I painted over the layout lines, gave it a couple of light coats of Pledge again to help hide the decal lines and gave it 2 final coats of Dullcoat to get rid of the shine.
When painting it, and even using the Micro Sol/Set, caused the build to warp a little. I used a damp towel and some weights to get it back to being it close to straight. After about 20 minutes I removed the paper towel and let it sit under the weights over night.
Over all I’m liking the the way this is turning out… close enough for me
In the mean time I also started working on the CVMW 1902 bridge that will cross the Oro River. I have been using the CVMW videos and Rob Bennett series on his build. I found both of them a helpful references in my build.
The lower deck is built and the track has been painted. I did have trouble with “spiking” the track in and used a little Pilobond to ensure good contact. I also tried using ME bridge track instead. Going with the provided ties but need to dress them up some.