A Fancy Facade for the Ensminger Building

Work on the Ensminger Building continued yesterday, making a start on the facade.  Studying the photo of the prototype I made a quick sketch on graph paper of the details as built, then simplified it into the basic outline, shape and form.  Satisfied that I could match the overall impression, I dove into the kit-mingling with abandon as if possessed by the spirit of Art Curren himself.  

Open this image in a new tab for a really big view.

I had previously gathered potential donor material for the ornate brick cornice and brought out those bits. I began by sawing away the detail from the cornice of the AHM Fire House.  The upper section split in two and flipped vertically would create the dental bits on either side of my facade, framed between bonus brick pillars from the Grocery store...more on that in a minute.  The lower sections would provide more dental detail for the four pillars of the cornice.

The green bit is the original kit cornice; lovely, but not what I want.

An unknown source provided the peaked section in the center, filed and cut to give a sawtooth look.  I drilled and enlarged ventilation holes in a pattern on that section following the prototype's example.  Additional vertical brick bits from the Fire House wall were added here and there.  In the end this is what it looked like:

Pleased with this result I returned to the bench after dinner and pondered the storefront.  The prototype is loaded with details I'd love to include.  However, since I am trying to stay within the donor kit's boundaries for the sake of time and resources, I have to live with the limitations this imposes.  I decided to correct one element, turning the four-pane display windows into something closer to the prototype though still far from accurate.  

To do this I'd need to cut away the window muntins to make a large plate glass window.  Still, if I could recreate that stained glass look above the large windows, that'd be even better.  Digging through my windows collection I found some very fine N scale windows I honestly thought I'd never use.  Never say never, and keep everything.  These little gems were a near-perfect fit into the kit window openings.

I cut away the kit's horizontal muntins and cut away three panes from the N scale windows.  Then I glued in the N scale windows from behind and reattached the muntins beneath, now as mullions.  Once that had set up I cut away the remaining vertical muntin.  Here is the result, set beneath the upper story facade:

Now a word about "bonus parts" and the problems with this kit.  Full disclosure; when I worked at Walthers part of my job was writing kit instructions.  Spend enough time reading model train discussions online and you may find someone complaining about Walthers kit instructions.  I'm not spilling any trade-secret beans to say they're aware of this.  One of the complaints you might find out there is the problem of "bonus parts", or a sprue with too many parts leaving the modeler unsure if they've built the kit correctly.  This kit is no exception, with several sprues of windows, doors and walls that aren't used in the grocery store building.

Here's part of the problem: this structure didn't start life as a Walthers kit.  It is most clearly a Kibri kit, utilizing parts from their product line (one part is even stamped "Kibri").  Kibri 38393, the ice cream parlor, uses the same side panels - and construction method - as Lee's Grocery and Lee's includes the storefront and windows from Kibri 38393 in its box though they're not needed for the grocery store.  Got it?  Good.  As a result the modeler, having completed Lee's Grocery, will be left with an assortment of parts for their bits box.  There's nothing on the instruction sheet to indicate this.  This can be needlessly confusing and a single line of text calling out the extra parts would go a long way towards helping resolve this issue.

Admittedly it's not a big deal for most modelers.  We can figure it out.  For kitbashers, the leftover parts are a boon.  As mentioned above I used a "bonus" short wall section to create the brick pillars for the cornice and I'll be using the windows and doors, not designed for this structure, to create doors for the upper floor veranda access.  I'm not criticizing Walthers for this; in my last post I commented on Scale Structures Limited's creative use of parts to make the gazebo (it appears "The Store" might be the original kit those parts were intended for, though even then they're cut apart.  Curious to see those instructions...).  A person could argue that economy of scale and creative re-use of parts go hand in hand and keep us modelers supplied with kits at a reasonable price.  I'll buy that.