I had seen a post in a thread awhile back where someone asked how someone else had done such a good job in getting their windows lined up so nicely. At the time, there had not been an answer, and I can't find the thread now. I thought I'd post this as I am currently working on such a project. I have mentioned this in my thread "An engine facility for the JGL", in the HO forum. Here I will post some step by step photos of the process I use, which requires much less accuracy in measuring and removes the dangers of an unsteady hand! First step is to determine what windows you will use, and the spacing you want between them. I drew a rough plan on paper to see what looked best. Then I used the paper to work on, more to protect my cutting mat from the styrene cement than any other reason. I used a chopper to cut styrene strip to the lengths I needed per the paln. I used .020 styrene, as the brick overlay is also .020, giving me .040 once I laminate the brick to the subwall. The windows I chose are .495 wide, so 1/2" worked well. I also wanted 1/2" between the windows, so I used .020 x .250 strips. They are edge glued together as follows:

I had done a few rows before thinking to take some pics. Here is a wall in process.
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The next piece required was a full height strip. The parts tend to lift off the paper, once I bruch some solvent on the joint, I hold down the pcs with the knife blade as shown. The new part butts right up against both the previous parts and the window.
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Here I have added the second full height pc, to get my 1/2" spacing, and 1 of the short bottom pcs, its length determined by where I wanted the bottom of the window to be. Once teh first bottom pc is glued, I place the window against it.
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Now you add the second bottom pc., and with the window sitting in place, add the two uppur pcs, butting them against the top of the window. Now we are back to where we were in the first pic, just keep repeating!
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When the wall is done, laminate the brick sheet to the front of the wall. When dry, it is time to cut out the window openings in the brick sheet. Use a straightedge, as, for me at least, attempting to use the .020 styrene as an edge lets the blade wander sometimes. A few light passes will easily cut thru the .020 material. Use a sharp blade!
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Here is the pic with the window out. A nice smooth opening.
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Here is a pic brick sheet up. You see the window fits the opening nicely.
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Here is a wall painted and with all windows installed.
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And finally, a pic showing the wall sitting on its foundation, waiting for the other walls to be finished and put together. Due to an unusual footprint, I am assembling the wall sections in place on the layout. Anyone interested in seeing the steps that led to this, and to follow thru completion, please check out the thread mentioned above, in the HO forum. I hope this will help someone!
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Very nice work!

Nicely done...

One question - why two pieces above and below the windows instead of one?

Andrew

Thanks Mountainman. Andrew, I needed 1/2" to match the window width. I could only gey strip in 1/4". I did not wish to make my own spacers from styrene sheet, as I knew I would get square edges with strip, even a bit off cutting from sheet would have caused problems. Having so many pcs to cut, I felt it was highly likely a few would wind up not square. I'm just not that good! The walls have between 8 and 18 windows each, so that's a lot of part cutting.

Great how to. Thanks!

Loren

jglfan Wrote:Thanks Mountainman. Andrew, I needed 1/2" to match the window width. I could only gey strip in 1/4". I did not wish to make my own spacers from styrene sheet, as I knew I would get square edges with strip, even a bit off cutting from sheet would have caused problems. Having so many pcs to cut, I felt it was highly likely a few would wind up not square. I'm just not that good! The walls have between 8 and 18 windows each, so that's a lot of part cutting.

Thanks, I misunderstood the part where you said you used the two 1/4" wide strips - I did not realize it came that way.

Andrew

NICE!!!! Looks real good. Thanks for the idea!
Ralph