Did not get as much time at the bench yesterday evening as was intended. Long day at the office curtailed that idea, but I was able to try 'other' glue last night. Looked pretty promising at first blush. This morning I checked it after about 10 hours of setting. I had attached one piece of .04" x.04" styrene fully on the clear plastic and another piece partial on. This was to check the adhesion. As expected, the one that was partial on was easily removed by lifting the exposed end. The other piece holds, but you can tell it would not take too much force to remove it. I'm sure that the scratched surface of the clear glass is effecting the adhesion. May try again, but on a piece that is not scratched.

So what have we learned? Gator's Grip glue works pretty good for Canopies. It is a viable option for my needs to create windows. Not sure it is the perfect option, but it does work. I'm going to experiment with a few other ideas before I commit to building all 14 windows and the door.

For more information on Gator's Grip:
http://www.gatorsmask.com/gatorglueorder1.html

Check out Kenny's other offerings by going to his home page, http://www.gatorsmask.com/index.html. He makes masks for ships and airplanes along with a few other things. Nice Louisiana boy! Kenny created this glue as a substitute for using CA glue with PE.

@mrieth

Update 02/23/20

Did not get as much bench time as I wanted. Had a few things get in the way but did make a determination on how to frame the windows. After several attempts at different approaches, I’ve decided which one is best at the time. The Gator Grip resulted in a better bond after several days of curing, but I will proceed with a White Wood glue that dies clear and has a quicker set time. Images will follow in the next update.

I was not comfortable with how the second floor deck turned out and after some more dry fit of the walls, realized that there was a slight miss-alignment. I cut a new blank for the deck. Sanded the piece to apply a semblance of a rough concrete surface and black biased the joints which, I had failed to do before. I then applied a gray coat to appear like concrete. First pass looks pretty good. I will need to dress up the exposed edges before final assembly.

This is a shot of the original second floor and the new piece before black biasing.

A close up of the new second floor after applying the gray.

A few images of the before and after.

Stay tuned, more to come………….
James B

Update 03/16/20

• or -
  

  No more messing with mullions…….

Several things have transpired since my last update. Biggest news is the birth of my first Grandchild. Meet Madison, 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 20 inches born on May 11th, smack dab in the middle of all the craziness going on with COVID-19 in and around the city.

Since Grandma or SWMBO was busy being busy with the daughter, someone had to stay home and take care of the dogs. Gave me a chance to get some time on the diorama.

I finished all of the mullions on the windows and decided to replace the door. I wasn’t happy with how it turned out and this one is much better, IMHO.

Here are a few shots of the test fitting of the walls.

A few after applying wood glue and the alignment.

Here the walls have set for 24 hours and I am test fitting the second floor balcony.

After reviewing the fit up, I wasn’t happy with the rear two walls. I re-cut and glued them together as well. Much better results that will become more apparent with a later post.

Stay tuned, more to come………….
James B

Welcome Madison! Beautiful!

I’m a lurker here. Sensational building of the building. Love the ambition and the execution!

Congratulations all round!

continuing to be impressed!

James, @jamesb
It has been a while since I have checked in on this wonderful build journal of yours... "Life" keeps getting in the way of our hobby for me lately.
You have been really busy and the building is really starting to take shape. You scratch building fellows are in a league of your own. What you have accomplished is nothing short of spectacular.

But the primary reason why I am posting this morning is to congratulate you on the newest addition to the family. Grandkids are a blessing.

I'll bet you're proud as a peacock Grandpa ! You have a wonderful family.

May you all remain safe in this virus craziness. Who knows ? We all might be getting more bench time soon.

Take care my friend and I'll be looking forward to the next episode.

Update 04/14/20

• or -
  

  Brother, can you spare a roll of Toilet Paper?…….

So it’s been almost a month since my last post. Since then, things have gotten a little strange here. Not as bad as others are having to deal with, but it’s a different world outside. I was mandated to start working from home. On the good side, I still have a job, but on the bad side I’m balancing working more hours than normal and trying my best to be productive and keep the charges down. Where I use to just walk a few feet to give instruction or answer a question, now its a complete video production. I feel like I am at NASA working in a control room with a headset on most of the day.

Okay, where did I leave off…………..the last installment showed the Control Tower coming together. While waiting on glue to properly dry, I turned my attention to the base. Thanks to some inspiration from Michael E Rieth @mrieth, I decided to follow his example and apply a mixture of thick hobby acrylic paint to the paving joints to simulate the tar commonly used to protect the edges and avoid weeds. See example here: https://imodeler.com/2020/02/diorama-of-steven-spielbergs-1941-movie/

A little messy looking to begin with, but I think it turned out fairly realistic as you will see in a bit.

Here are a few images of the Control Tower during final phases of joining all 4 walls and the roof.

After leaving that to dry for several days, I started playing with ways to simulate oil spots and spills on the paving. Trying a variety of solutions from thinned paint and Future, I finally settled on the real thing. Used motor oil or UMO taking from a small engine in the garage. Here is where I’m at, the Tower placed on the base with a few other pieces. The concrete beam that protrudes through the roof is not attached yet. Still need to address some of the edges.

Next up in no particular order, the roof will need to receive its coating, Handrails will need to be installed and the Fascia with gutters attached. Lots of tedious work. Not sure how quickly this will progress. Staying at home has flipped our normal schedule of events here, and we are still figuring all that out. Typically I would get several days on a weekend to spend time at the bench, but these days not so much.

Grandbaby is growing like a weed. I’ve seen her once since she arrived home. Now days I can only see photos and short videos. Can’t wait for this to all settle down.

Stay tuned, more to come………….
James B