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Building the Timberline Miner’s Union Hotel


the full width of the center section, as well as a balcony for the manager’s family. Rather than construct a deli- cate framework out of stripwood to sup- port these components, they were made with an inner support of the fiberboard and covered with gray stained strip- wood. Before covering them with the stripwood, both the upper and lower in- ner pieces were held together and four holes for their supporting columns were drilled through them along the front edge. I wanted the holes to be aligned so the posts would be vertical; this was the easiest way to assure that. The two pieces of fiberboard were glued in place without the posts and faced with a piece of the stripwood. Shorter pieces of stripwood decking were then glued to the fiberboard until each surface was covered. After the front porch was covered, the building was laid on its back side and the four holes that had become covered with the decking were re-drilled to open them again. The four posts were dry-brushed with the Ivory White paint and careful- ly inserted from the bottom up into those in the balcony piece. The decking on the balcony prevented the posts from extending too far.


Three sections of railings were fabri- cated for the second floor balcony. Brass wire balusters were inserted into holes drilled through both top and bot- tom railings, which were then glued to square stripwood posts. The three rail- ing sets were glued together and test fitted to the balcony. When I was happy with the fit, the wire was painted with the Clover colored paint and allowed to dry. The square end posts were glued to


Glazing for the windows (above) was cut from acetate sheet and attached to the back of the sashes with cyanoacrylate. The shades were painted on the inside surface of the ac- etate. When dry, the painted areas were given a final coat of black. The Gator Foam base (below) has the three locating ground floor pieces glued in place, as well as the front stair- way. This allows the entire building to be lifted from the layout for interior detailing.


the building walls and their bases were fastened to the deck with cyanoacrylate adhesive.


The front steps were made from strips of rectangular stripwood glued together. They were covered with a thin coating of Squadron Putty, then stone shapes were carved with the den- tal tools. Acrylic paints were used to color the stones and weathered with the shoe dye and alcohol solution. Railings were fabricated out of brass wire with the supporting stanchions made by flattening the ends of short


pieces of wire, then drilling a hole through the flattened area. Additional wire was curled to create a decorative end, threaded through the holes and carefully soldered together at their joints by touching them quickly with the tip of a 25-watt soldering iron and a dot of solder. The railings were painted with the same Clover color paint used elsewhere on the model. Because the front step component ap- peared as cut stones, there wasn’t an easy way to firmly attach it to the build- ing. Instead, the steps were positioned in


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FEBRUARY 2012


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