Building Calamity 22 - The "Hardware" Store - Windows and Trim

I was able to spend a lot of time at the workshop today. Sometimes I get started and I just don't realize how much time has gone by. Today was one of those days. I'm pushing hard to get to the assembly and painting stage on the Hardware Store. It feels like I'm just not pushing forward as fast as I want to. I must say though that this model is eating up the plastic strips. That's another reason to using commercial windows and doors whenever its possible.

Today I finished all the windows on the bottom floor, that includes the side and front windows. Along with that I tried to finish up all the interior trim as well. After it was all done though I see that I forgot to add the trim to the door on the second story. Something to finish up before I get to the next phase.

The next phase is at least going to include priming the interior walls. I'm going to try out my home made wallpaper and I think its going to stick better to primered walls. Or I may just rough all the interior walls with sandpaper and hope that gives a better surface to glue to.

Some pictures from today:

Building one of the big front window frames

Exterior, 2nd Floor Windows

Interior, 2nd Floor Windows

Finished, 2nd Floor Windows

Interior 2nd Floor

Interior, 2nd Floor End

Interior 2nd Floor, Front

Interior Wall, 2nd Floor

Interior Wall, 1st Floor

Exterior 1st Floor

  

Interior, 1st Floor Front

Exterior, 1st Floor Front

Finished Interior 1st floor walls

First floor, I like the configuration at this point.

Building Calamity 21 - The "Hardware" Store - Building Some Windows

I put the jig to work tonight and built up the windows for the upper floors. I decided not to replace the window in the front so I just had to build up three windows requiring six frames. I think things went pretty well. I did need to shim the windows a bit to ensure a tight fit but that turned out to not be to difficult. I finished them off with framing on the interior and exterior walls. I'll build up the rest of the side windows, which will use the middle portion of the jig, and the front windows, which use the bottom portion of the jig, when I have some extended time to sit down at the workbench again.

Putting the jig to work

The results

Side windows going in with the help of some shims for a tight fit.

The back window isn't quite as fancy as the front and side

A Care Package from Multi-Man Publishing

I haven't bought a new board wargame since I acquired a copy of Ogre from Steve Jackson Games. Part of my Christmas Present to myself was to complete my collection of Great Campaigns of the American Civil War. This first six volumes (games) in this series were published by Avalon Hill, the last three have been published by Multi-Man Publishing under license. When the first game in the series, Stonewall Jackson's Way, was released back in '92 it really set a new standard for maps. I would buy these games just for the maps. The original six were all set to the same scale so you could overlap them and put together almost the entire eastern theater. I will have to pull out my copy of Grant Takes Command and see if the maps still link up, I'm sure they do.

Boardgames have become incredibly expensive! These games ran $83 each, I think the originals only cost between $20 and $30, the only consolation is that I don't have to paint any miniatures to play them. Volume VIII is Battle Above the Clouds and covers both the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns. I haven't opened the boxes yet or I'll become very distracted, maybe on the weekend.

Volume IX is a little different. It is both a revision of the original Stonewall Jackson's Way as well as covering the entire 1st Bull Run campaign. Its been a long time since I have sat down to play a wargame and I'm looking forward to pulling the whole collection out and playing them again.

Just what I was hoping for a box of air bags. They are a lot better than foam peanuts though!

An invoice, I had managed to forget how much these cost me

Building Calamity 20 - The "Hardware" Store - Windows and Jigs

I have been messing around with these windows off and on for a couple of weeks now. I finally managed to pull everything together and managed to construct a jig that should allow me to make windows pretty quick. This is a single jig and I can make three different window sizes with it. These will become my more or less standard sized windows. If I mix these in with some commercial parts I should be able to have a nice variety of windows to work with.  I ended up using brass and super glue to construct the jig. I used the brass so that I wouldn't accidentally glue the plastic strips into the jig.

I think the pictures tell a better story than I do:

The Hardware store is still just a pile of parts at this point

A little piece of sheet brass to serve as the bass.

I'm worked with both wood and brass to build it. In the end I just went with the brass strip.

Hard to see, but all the parts are glued on to the brass sheet and I succeeded in making a nice square joint

Building the upper window pane

All finished

Strips cut for the lower window. I used .040x.040 for the window sills and sash. 

Building up the second window

Comparing against the original windows I cut from a single piece of foamed PVC

This set will go on the back wall

Add more brass strip for the second window size

And the third and final window jig for the hardware store. If I did it right I can build all the windows for the hardware store using this jig.

First Care Package of 2016 - Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette

I know you are all waiting for the next installment of the Hardware store, but time has been limited. Instead I received something that I have been very excited about since it was first announced, the complete collection of the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette on DVD, including Slim Gauge News and Finelines. I first started buying NGSG in 1984 or so and have mostly kept up with it, which means I have a lot of issues laying around (some the worse for the wear). So now I have a complete searchable index along with every issue stored directly on my laptop. The discs are safely stashed away in case something happens to the laptop. The biggest advantage I see is finally being able to print off plans on single sheets of paper without dealing with weirdness in the copy because of the magazine binding.

I printed off a copy of the Victor Gold Mining CO gondola from the March 1972 Issue of Slim Gauge News! Definitely worth the money! A nice Christmas present for myself.

Here are some really bad pictures:

Now that's a package worth getting excited about!

The cover, 1964-2014, not quite as old as me but close.

That's a lot of stuff!