World War II Project - Return to Normandy - Putting it together

I have a much of sub-assemblies and its time to bring them all together into a single massive edifice now. As you can tell I have pretty much thrown out the instruction book from Sally 4th at this point. After you have built one of these terrace house kits they are pretty much the same and you should build them in a way that best suits you. I think that overall this second one went together faster and easier. Not sure if its because I opted to build up all the sub assemblies first or not but it certainly made some things a lot easier. I'm definitely all for not assembling the basic building shell till the very last step at this point.

First thing to remember is to remove your exterior paper anyplace where another section butts up against a wall. On the back wall there are four spots where this happens. If you don't get back down to the original MDF none of the pieces in the backyards will fit very well or the fit will be so tight that you may actually break something. Its much easier to do this now than after you have started gluing things together (lesson learned when building the Left End Terrace House).

Nice fit and you can't even tell the paper was cut away from the main building.

Moving down the line, test fitting first and then adjusting things with a knife and file for a good fit.

Here are the center three sections cut. At this point I hadn't done the end walls, both of which just butt up against the back wall.

Everything looking pretty good at this stage.

Front and back walls all glued up with windows, doors and shutters.

Second floor built up and ready to go

Backyard "sheds" built up and ready. Note that I still need to add a little bit of stone wall to and edge here. I didn't bother gluing that bit on till after everything was assembled.

Here are the pieces for the main building. 

I glued up the back wall first as there is a lot going on here and it will really affect how the rest goes together.

Then adding an side wall.

 

Then the main floor fireplaces and the other end wall.

And then the front. Note that I have removed all the rubber bands that I used to hold this together while the glue dried.

Looking down at the main floor after the staircases were added.

And the second floor in place

The front and the roof. But wait the roof isn't finished! I didn't realize that I had completely run out of roofing material. So the roof will have to wait while I wait for more roofing material to arrive.

And from the back

Now sitting up against the left end terrace house.

I think its going to look really good once I get the sidewalks in place and some of those extra details like gutters and downspouts.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - Mid-Terrace House - Sub-Assemblies

My approach to this second building from Sally 4th is going to be a quite a bit different. My intent is to build and paint all the sub-assemblies before I assemble the whole building. I want to build as many things "flat" as I can, especially the walls. I think that will make things a bit easier to put together than with the first building.

Here is everything that had the "bumpy" paper applied. Note that I apply this as a single sheet and cut out the window and door openings after the glue has set.

The stairs are just a pain. They come in pairs, be sure to build one for the right side and one for the left.

Applying weights to the stairs while the glue sets

And here we go, one left, one right.

And then I spackled them to hide all the joints

All the sub-assemblies ready for paint (well most of them anyway).

First coat of ebony applied to the interior side

And finished with white, in between is a layer of "neutral"

Ready to assembly into bigger sub-assemblies!

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - Mid-Terrace House - Construction Begins

With the Left End Terrace House complete, more or less, I'm moving on to Sally 4th's Mid-Terrace House. Pictures may be very similar but I'm trying to improve my construction methods so it can go together a little faster and try and give a better idea of how I'm bringing things together. One thing I did discover right off is that the instructions for the left end terrace house and the mid-terrace house are identical right down to the pictures. This would certainly explain some of my moments of confusion during the build of the left hand house.

This time I was able to fully identify all the components that need to have the "bumpy" paper glued to them so I started there. While that glue sets up I'll pull off all the pieces that need the wood siding and work on those. After this stage is complete I'll go ahead and airbrush all the interiors like I did on the end house. I might go ahead and take the interiors all the way up to an ivory color. Will see how much time I can squirrel away to paint.

All the parts that need, at least some, "stonework". The fireplaces and the chimney I pre-assemble to avoid as many exposed edges as possible.

I started by gluing the "bumpy" paper to the front of the fireplaces. I had already measured and scored the corners so I can fold the edges and glue them to the sides when the glue has fully set.

Same process for the building ends.

Here you can see the buildings ends finished (they don't have any windows so they really are finished) and the "bumpy" paper being glued to the front and back walls. You can just see the fully wrapped fireplaces in the upper right of the photo.