Wrapping Up a Quick Build for Nooksack

Having repaired the buckled track work here in Nooksack, I returned to the workbench to finish a small craftsman kit that I started a few weeks ago. This is the Juniper Freight House, a Fos Scale Models kit. When I first ordered it I intended to use it as part of the Curtis Cannery complex. Now, I am thinking that I will use it, at least temporarily, here in the front of the benchwork where I have thought I would have a fuel supply company. It may become a lumber and fuel supply company. This little freight house fits nicely here, between the fascia and the spur track. Signage and details will have to wait until I determine the structure's use. 

This was the first kit that I have built from Fos Scale Models. The instructions were complete and relatively clear. The drawings showing the location of bracing were particularly helpful. By bracing the walls, they did not warp with staining or painting. I did let them dry under weight which may have helped prevent warping too. I used Hunterline Driftwood stain on the walls and for unpainted wood. I drybrushed Americana Buttermilk on the walls after the stain had dried to give the appearance of worn and weathered paint. For the plastic windows, I used a rattle can dark green, while I brush painted the wood trim and freight doors with Vallejo's Camo Olive Green. 

The only complaint I have with this kit is with the rolled roofing material. It is packaged folded and I couldn't figure out how to completely remove the fold. In the future, I would use the Jason Jensen technique of using black construction paper. Another step I would take in the future is to more carefully sand the glueing edges along the top and bottom of the walls, so the trim boards line up exactly with the laser cut walls. This was operator error, not the fault of the kit. Overall the quality of the kit is quite good. Both Jason Jensen and Fos Scale have some excellent You Tube videos on craftsman kit construction, painting, and weathering. They both are modeling really run down urban areas, so I am not attempting to weather as drastically as they do. Their techniques are worth emulating though.

I have another of the Fos Scale Models kits to build, but I think that I should focus on the buildings of the two complexes that I have already started here in Nooksack: the cannery and the packing house, seen here behind the recently completed freight house.  I felt a sense of accomplishment from actually completing something before moving on to something new. I hope to build on that feeling and make some progress on the kitbashed and scratchbuilt industries already under way here in Nooksack.