roundhouse
Brakeman
Registered: September 2006
Posts: 68
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Review Date: Fri October 20, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $31.95
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Easy to build - great looking results
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Cons:
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None
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Have you heard of Thomas Yorke? 30 years ago, he was producing great HO scale hydrocal-based kits, but now he's pretty much into O scale. Anyway, I found a new independent kit-maker by the name of Cigarbox Studios, and he has 3 hydrocal-based kits on the market that represent stone buildings from the turn of the century, with upstairs residences.
The walls and loading docks are hydrocal castings, and other parts include CBS screen doors, lined roof cards, roof cap, one-piece rafter end castings, and chimney, styrene sub-roof, Grandt Line windows and doors (install open or closed), Paper Creek Shake Shingles and tarpaper (no painting or weathering required), and Evergreen Hill Design white metal super-detailing parts. These structures have scale 3' foundations, which means that they can be built on sloping terrain, or on flat terrain with the included loading docks. I recently built La Tienda General Store, and was so impressed that I believe Dave Darcey (the owner of Cigarbox) may be the next Tom Yorke! The openings for windows and doors were so precise, only one had to be sanded slightly. Otherwise, the castings simply dropped into place.
I assembled the walls with Zap CA, but 5 minute epoxy was recommended, and I suppose if this had been a more complicated structure, I may have found that advantageous to extend the time available for aligning the walls. Instead of sealing the hydrocal with spray paint, I applied heavily diluted Tints-All colors directly to the unsealed stones. I did not attempt to color each stone individually. Instead, I worked small areas with one color, all the way around the building, and then followed with 5 more colors gradually filling in the untinted areas. Once all of the stones had been colored, I used Tints-All Lamp Black as a wash over the entire building. As you can see, it was absorbed inconsistently, which looks very natural to me. Finally, I dry-brushed some of the stones with white acrylic paint.
Scott Mason of South River Modelworks recommends Formula 560 for window "glass", but I prefer Testors Clear Parts Cement & Window Maker, because it dries faster and it cures crystal clear. The Paper Creek Shingles were applied with Walthers Goo instead of white glue. I used a Jet Tip on the tube of Goo, to place a thin bead on the back of each shingle strip. I opted for a full-height chimney, no awnings (I didn't want to hide the great looking stonework, especially the arch above the front door), and no screen on the front door (I didn't want to hide the period wavy glass).
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Frank
Roundhouse Hobby Shop
http://www.craftsmankits.biz
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