Windows in Grimm's Funeral Home


J

jackn2mpu

Member
I have a long-term project to be finished - the Downtown Deco Grimm's Funeral Home. I'm not doing it exactly like the box shows, but making some mods to it as I go, like any good kit-basher would. The reason it's taking me a long time is the tick-off factor of some of the assembly. Some days it's all I can do to not hurl it against the wall and be done with it, but I persevere on. My absolute biggest headache right now (besides the junky quality of the castings) is the windows, specifically, how do I do glazing for them? Standard square-cornered windows would not have been a problem, but the ones in this kit have that half-round at the top, and some of the small windows are totally round. I tried doing something on the backs of the windows but that didn't really work out due to the window openings in the castings being tapered from front to back and with glazing on the back the windows sat out too far from the surface of the casting. And I can't seem to cut things down cleanly to sit inside the plastic window castings.

Any other type of construction (wood, plastic, card stock) I could put the window casting in the wall and adhere the glazing on the back of the wall and not have to cut it down to exact size of the window.

Any options? I saw in the Micro Mark catalog a liquid that purports to be able to make window glazing that would theoretically cover the window size I have (HO scale and a max overall length of 2 inches but no open space in the plastic window casting bigger than .25 x .25 inch). Anybody use this stuff? You would think after all these years in the hobby (Eisenhower was in the White House when I started) I'd have a solution.
 
Jack, I'm not quite sure that I understand the dimensions of your windows ("...but no open space in the plastic window casting bigger than 0.25 x 0.25 inches."). The kit illustration I looked up seems to show much larger openings, with only two large panes each. IF no open space is indeed larger than you state, then I'd suggest trying Pacer's Formula 560 Canopy Glue. It's applied, with care, almost like you were applying a glue stick to the back of the window frame. It goes on milky but dries clear. The only minus is that, on close inspection, the glass looks a bit wavy (the building shown below has its windows done with Canopy Glue, so judge for yourself). I assume the Micro Mark item is similar but have no practical experience with it.

AndrewsP.jpg


NYW&B
 
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Let me clarify. When I said no individual part of the window casting was .25 inch on a side what I meant was no 'light' (the windows you show are 4 lights over 4 lights) was over that size, and the material in the Micro Mark catalog said it would work over a 1 inch on a side opening. But as we all know, specs can often have no touch with what really happens with a product and how it works. Was (and am) looking for real world usage or solution to my problem.

If I understand you correctly, the canopy glue is what actually makes the window glazing (glass)? It makes a film of some sort, yes? The wavyness isn't a problem but would work well for Grimm's. I'm not doing it as a funeral home but more like a railroad baron's mansion.
 
jackn2mpu said:
If I understand you correctly, the canopy glue is what actually makes the window glazing (glass)? It makes a film of some sort, yes? The wavyness isn't a problem but would work well for Grimm's. I'm not doing it as a funeral home but more like a railroad baron's mansion.
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Correct. It's applied to the inside surface of the window frame and initially has an appearance similar to a layer of Elmer's white glue, but dries clear.

Incidentally, Pacer's Canopy Glue is excellent for building wooden structures as well and I use it almost exclusively for builting craftsman kits nowadays. It sets up much faster then yellow or ordinary white glue (within just a couple of minutes) and seems to be much stronger than either when fully dry.

NYW&B
 
I've used Microscale Kristal Klear for windows that were well over half an inch wide. I really doubt any of these products will work on a one inch opening. It's a little fiddly to get it to work well on anything other than relatively small openings like the ones in NYW&B's picture but it will work if you have no other option. I haven't used the Micromark product but I suspect it is the same thing repackaged for Micromark.

As I have been warning people here for a while, Downtown Deco's building kits are really overpriced crap. None of the casting are flat and true, parts don't fit together right, and some of the parts are so brittle they break with almost no pressure. They look good in pictures but, as you've found out, putting one together is an exercise in frustration. I built two of their kits and will never buy another one.
 
UP2CSX said:
I've used Microscale Kristal Klear for windows that were well over half an inch wide. I really doubt any of these products will work on a one inch opening. It's a little fiddly to get it to work well on anything other than relatively small openings like the ones in NYW&B's picture but it will work if you have no other option. I haven't used the Micromark product but I suspect it is the same thing repackaged for Micromark.

As I have been warning people here for a while, Downtown Deco's building kits are really overpriced crap. None of the casting are flat and true, parts don't fit together right, and some of the parts are so brittle they break with almost no pressure. They look good in pictures but, as you've found out, putting one together is an exercise in frustration. I built two of their kits and will never buy another one.
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I think I have a bottle of KK in the train room - have to give it a shot. Always up for trying an alternate method if it works.

Sorry to see you're having problems with the DD kits as I have - at least I know I'm not the only one. I first posted about this problem over in another forum I used to visit (Model Railroader's) but got really discouraged with the whole attitude: "suck it up and do it without whining". Wasn't whining but trying to get help for a problem that was real for me (and I suspect others). Even Randy from DD came on refused to see there was any hint of a problem with his kits. Besides the window problem, I had a couple of wall castings that cracked when I gently tried to sand flat the backs or square up the edges so I could glue them together. Then there's the quality (or lack thereof) of the fronts of the castings where you can tell they didn't come out of the molds cleanly and bits were missing. Like the raven said: nevermore!
 
I'm told the formula for the Micro-Mark Kristal Klear is essentially Elmer's white glue and Elmer's will give you the same result.

I haven't tried it yet.
 
Never tried white glue before but it might work if the opening is small. The Kristal Klear seems to have something that adds surface tension so you can stretch it out over a space without it breaking.

Jack, one of the reasons why I'm here is so many unhelpful and downright insulting responses at the other forum. I've read Randy's defense of his kits and he's in total denial. Numerous modelers have had major problems with his products. He either needs to get a better casting process or DD is eventually going to join Chrysler in the dustbin of history. You can't sell high priced junk forever.
 
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