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kgstakes

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  1. kgstakes
    I did a minwax polyshades pecan stain. It's a stain & polyurethane finish. Basically, stain and finish in one step. Did two coats on everything, sand between coats. (It's the same finish I did for my roll top desk). I wanted something other than a natural finish. Anyway, the hull is completed and now on to the walls, windows, doors. Primed some doors and windows. So, after painting them they will be ready to install when the time comes. Here are a few pictures of my progress. Oh and like a dummy, I forgot to thread wires for any lighting. So, it may or may not be lighted. Either way, it'll be a great model in my showcase anyway.
  2. kgstakes
    The build continues have the deck and bottom done (that was fun) so next I’m going to give all of that a clear coat and then proceed on with the next part. IMG_1489.mov
  3. kgstakes
    Oh and the instructions said to use contact adhesive (cobbler’s glue ??) for the deck boards. I used contact cement and all the edges I had to go back and basically super glue them all down (kept lifting when I was sanding it). I probably should of used 3M contact adhesive but I used some loktite brand. Next time I use 3M or wood glue or white glue and just do a little bit at a time and make sure all the edges are down tight. This build isn’t a race and I should of stuck with what I know works. What have all you used for glue to plank decking, walls, etc??
  4. kgstakes
    I had a hard time with the bow and the compound curve that I had to I cut it all out and rebuilt it so I had just a simple bend to the bow. Unless someone built this boat, no one will ever know and it made it simpler for me to build.
  5. kgstakes
    Little further along. For a first ship model I thought I bit off more than I can chew but I’m getting it. Hats off to all of you building ships, you guys rock!! Anyway, here’s some pictures of where I’m at in this build as of today.
  6. kgstakes
    Just started today with my river boat. So far so good for never building anything like this before. I've never assembled a laser cut kit before and everything seems to go together the way it's suppose to (so far). I do plan on lighting it and have drilled holes in places that I may need wiring. but for now this is what it looks like. Not much but it's a start.
  7. kgstakes
    Continuation from my last post here. Don't use a gel stain. It will just make a mess out of everything. At least that is my experience with gel stains. They soak in the basswood way to fast. Maybe if you use a conditioner, it won't be so bad. But I've tried it both ways and never can get the result I wanted. I steer clear of gel stains for any of my model work. Just don't work for me. On my larger projects in the shop (full size furniture, etc.). I've used gel stain with good results. Just can't get it right on my model work. Anyone ever try gel stains for your projects??
  8. kgstakes
    What I've done if I want to stain basswood and I've only done with when I want to do a light stain (rolltop desk for example). I've use a polystain. It's a polyurethane that has a tint or stain in it. Multiple coats will "darken" the wood slightly but it's basically the same color. What's nice about using a polystain, is that you don't have to use a conditioner on your wood. It'll work on other wood species just as good but I've found it very useful for basswood. Lighter colors work better than the darker ones. I agree if you are going to use just a stain and then a varnish or lacquer, you need to put a conditioner on your basswood parts so that the wood doesn't steak or get to dark in some areas. If I'm going to clear coat the wood project, I like to use a marine varnish because I like the "amber tone" it gives the wood. I've only used a water base clear finish once and really don't like it. No life to the wood, looks very plain to me (in my humble opinion). Anyway, that's my two cents worth on finish basswood.
  9. kgstakes
    Would like to know if anyone is or has used this brand of tool organizer(s). They have many different types and styles of organizers. My work bench needs some better organization and just looking at options. Picture showing one of their organizers.
  10. kgstakes
    Holy cow you do some nice work !!! I was looking at the way you were doing the sides and thought what a neat idea of covering the sides with the "wallpaper" but then I realized you not only did that but you casted all the details to put on the model!!! amazing and you are my friend an artist and skilled ship modeler. Then I followed a little bit farther and your building up the cannons with their ropes !!! Have to ask, do you fly fish too? Tying all those Knots and such to make it look correct, I'd would have to double up on my magnifiers !!! Great job overall well done.
  11. kgstakes
    Drone Flight at night Barnesville Junction Video.MOV
  12. kgstakes
    What’s kinda funny is that I’ve had the layout for a few years. And decided to build a shadow box to put it in. Both ends come off. So if needed I can slide the layout in or out or even make another section with another shadow box and mate them together to make a larger layout. i thought it was a neat idea
  13. kgstakes
    The only time I’ve used them is on buildings which are Ho scale and the foot print is about a 3”x4”. I don’t use them to stain the whole model just parts of it like a floor or part of a wall, things like that. Yeah I agree, bigger project like a ship or even a bigger building sure use a pint or quart. Just another way of coloring wood, just like India ink and alcohol mix . Places for it and places not for it. I’ll use what ever I need to get an affect I need or want. Makes it fun and interesting what you can come up with and use to accomplish an affect you’re looking for.
  14. kgstakes
    Just curious if anyone else has done this or used them. What I use to stain my wood or even to "weather" the wood is minwax touch up pens. Fairly inexpensive, and really really easy to use and you can stain just a piece of wood or part of it and you can go over the same piece with different colors to get an "aged" or "new" look that you want. Just wondering if anyone has used them. I use them a lot on my wood structures, even if I'm going to paint them I will first treat it with some stain and then if I want a peeled paint affect, the stain will show through as worn wood under the paint.
  15. kgstakes
    As I’ve been reading many builds I see some of you are model railroaders as well. I’ll keep this short and sweet. i wanted some way to keep my railroad from getting dusty and also a better lighting system than just room lights. I want to operate at “night time” as well. Here was my solution — a shadow box.
  16. kgstakes
    I’d leave it the way it is. The only people that will notice or comment on that small part of the car, are the people you point it out to 😀. Honestly, never noticed it till you pointed that out to me. Had to go back and see what you were talking about. As for the extra part oops but don’t worry about it. Looks great the way it is. I’ve found that if I go back to fix something I make it worse than if I never touched it. Leave it the way it is. we all know where we could of done better but man that car is perfect in my mind. Again, great job !! Impressed to say the least.
  17. kgstakes
    So basically paint everything that needs to be painted but tone the colors down a bit. Basically what I would call “light weathering”. Still see the colors but “faded just a touch”. Am I understanding you correctly? More or less?
  18. kgstakes
    Like I do on my model railroad layout. See picture
  19. kgstakes
    This isn't a kit. I took full size plans and scaled it all down to 3"=1' made my own materials list. Followed the plans (somewhat) and basically built it from scratch.
  20. kgstakes
    Here is the finished Roll Top Desk. Questions?? I'll try to answer them and include photos.
  21. kgstakes
    Then comes the handles and cubbies inside (make what you want). Finish sand everything and stain and finish to suit. I will mention here that all of my tenons I used a sled on my table saw and made multiple passes to get the size tenon I wanted. Dado set would be nice. Anyway, here is a picture of my sled on my table saw. Love to put the video of how I do them on here but not sure how or if we can.
  22. kgstakes
    Next comes the tambor. Luckily when I was working in a cabinet shop and done a few full size ones for myself, I knew how these tricky things go together. To make the tambor, I would route a bullnose on a large piece of wood and then set my table saw up to rip the piece off the thickness I wanted for the tambor pieces. And do this over and over and over and over, you get the idea until you have enough strips for the tambor plus a little. Then take some (for the model) some very light cloth. spray contact adhesive on it and lay out all the tambor pieces and spray the back of them as well. (tip: tape all the tambor pieces right side up and then flip to spray contact adhesive). When you can touch it and not "sticky" very carefully lay the tambor pieces on the cloth and use a roller to get good adhesion. then trim to fit and there you go. (more or less). Should of taken pictures of this whole operation but I'm sorry I didn't. Just the finished result.
  23. kgstakes
    At this point, you pretty much have a completed desk. Almost.
  24. kgstakes
    Next the the desk top itself. No pictures of it just glue stock up and size and then round over the edges and same as all the others (bullnose). Then comes the tricky part. And I'll admit, it took me a few attempts to get something to work and that is the sides of the roll top. Not pretty in these pictures but when working with small curves you have to do what you have to do. Besides, in the end most of the "ugly" is hidden with the inside frame work for the cubbies, etc. Also, at this time I made up the back upper panel as well. The panels in the side panels do set in dadoes.
  25. kgstakes
    Next is the drawers (which I'm sorry no pictures of how I built them but I'll try to explain it. The sides and front all have a dado on the bottom edge to accept the bottom. Then the sides have dadoes to accept the back and the drawer front has dadoes on each side to accept the sides. Glue it up and slip the bottom in from back and just glue at the very back of the bottom piece. Floats in all the other dadoes. I have sense made a jig for my table saw to do box joints and that is what I use to build my drawers, boxes, etc. from now on. Will included a picture of the box I made with box joints so show that as well.

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