Ray,

Like all true scratch-builders, you are bound to have an occasional "OOPS!!". I have them all the

time. It's how we go about fixing them up that counts and I know you will do well.

Bob

Beautiful work. I really like how you painted the sign on the stonework and the lighted interior with all the shelves.

Mike

Excellent work Ray.

Great!!
..........

Great looking structure Ray. Luckily in that large scale you can use real rock, to represent, real rock. Who would have thought.

Your glass came out OK. If you have a lot of glass to do, worth heading to a glass shop / leadlight supplies to get the correct pliers.

See this video at the 5:40 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=UTHs2wLQpAs

I do leadlighting so have these on hand.

I have the 2 red ones and the blue one.

You will find these very easy to use.

As usual Ray, Beautiful work'.. I use the Evan's Designs materials as well. All excellent products'..

Thanks Rob! That video is very helpful and taught me a lot I didn't know about cutting glass. This will make it a lot less frustrating for me.

diamond files can be used to file glass. My mom is a Stained Glass artist and she cut the most amazing curved glass, the real expensive stuff that would have one shot at it or it was a garbage. She had a diamond coated bit that she fit into what looked like a router and would roll that glass along it, I am sure a bit like that in a Dremel would work. I cut microscope glass and file it to size with a set of diamond files I got from Harbor Freight.

Your work is always so inspiring, I love it.

Ray,

WOW! Was just perusing your thread. It's like you have a machine that can shrink things down!

What detail! What modeling skills! Incorporating found objects! Great painting skills!

Must be a blast to stroll thru your layout!

Scott

Well, I cut a second set of glass semi-circles, slightly smaller than the first set, and discovered that they didn't fit correctly either. Apparently the arch is not an exact semi-circular shape. So I ended up just trimming the ends of the first set until they were roughly the right shape to fit.

The glass was secured using clear silicone sealant. Normally I do this before the window frames are installed in the building but of course that wasn't possible here. As a result it got a little sloppy and I had a lot of excess silicone that needed to be removed:




I decided to enhance the look of the faux metal roof by giving it some real rust. I used the iron paint, and chemical rust solution, from Sophisticated Finishes. Right now it's a bit too orange but over time it will become darker and more brownish:






The sign that hangs down over the entry was in very poor condition, but looks much better now:






The upstairs office has a simple, three-bulb light fixture on the ceiling. I removed the old grain-of-rice bulbs and replaced them with "chip" LEDs. Then I used silicone to glue clear glass beads to each LED, making them look more like lightbulbs and also helping to diffuse the light:




The desk lamp had to be completely rebuilt. I used a "nano" sized chip LED, with a fluted metal bead as the lampshade. A tiny, frost glass bead was used to represent the lightbulb. The lamp was painted gold. The brass tube on the bottom of the lamp fits into the lamp's base on top of the desk:








Now all of the incandescent bulbs have been replaced with LEDs. Each subassembly worked fine, but when I connected the plugs between the various parts of the building, I ran into problems. Apparently the sockets for the two-pin plugs were rusted out. So I had to eliminate the plugs and sockets, and instead used small copper alligator clips to make the connections.

At last the building is finished and reinstalled on the layout:
















That's all for now. Enjoy!

.

Ray, you've done a fantastic job of rejuvenating this structure. I really like all the interior detail, right down to a working desk lamp.

The roof treatment is great. Using real rust.

How long will it take to get the final effect you want ?

And that street scene looks great.

Always enjoy your work. Any chance we might get a drone flyover of the layout soon ?

OUTSTANDING as usual from you.

:up: :up: :up:

Bob

Ray,


As always wonderful work there. I'm sure many are inspired by your work.

One of the benefits of having a layout outside is the natural weathering your buildings get.

Thanks. I definitely want to do a flyover with the drone, but I think I'd like to get a few more things finished first.

I'm not sure how long it will take for the rust to reach the final stage. A lot depends on the weather and we've had a pretty dry winter so far.

My next project involves this brick hardware store:




This structure has held up remarkably well despite nearly 7 years of continuous exposure to the elements. The one area that needs refurbishing is the roof, which is becoming faded and worn:




The main work to be done is adding interior details and lighting.

.