I am building the Merchants Row II kit, and am trying to figure out how to glue the "turret" window pieces to the five-sided "glass" base for the turret structure. The drawings in the instructions leave a lot to be desired and are not terribly clear, because they don't specify where on the glass piece to glue the pieces (nos.9, 10 and 11(qty3). The pieces are longer than the glass part that they attach to. My assumption is that the bottom of 9,10 and 11 should be flush to the bottom of the glass piece, allowing about a 5/16 inch protrusion of the 9,10, 11 parts above the glass piece (I think!). I hope all this isn't too confusing! Once glued on, they become permanent! Thanks for any help.
I used a razor saw to cut off the top and bottom of the prism-like "glass" piece, and used them as alignment pieces for the turret walls, top and bottom. I used thinner clear sheet styrene for the windows.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
I also have one of these in my office that was assembled by someone else, and on that model, the sides have been glued to the window piece flush to the bottom.
Please delete
Steve, what I decided to do, and it worked, was to carefully glue (using Ten-X) parts 9 and it's adjacent part 11 together starting at the tops making sure that the seams were flush together. I then used the glass piece to check the angles. Then did the same on the other side with part 12 and one of the 11's. Finally, I glued those assemblies to the center part 11. I glued that assembly to the glass piece using Ten-X. If there were any gaps, and there were tiny separations, paint did the trick to fill those, and I now have a stable turret assembly for final installation to the walls........whew!
Also, I left about 1/16 from the bottom of parts 9-11 to the bottom of the glass piece so that I can fill that space with a piece of 1/16 thick wood or plastic so that the clear "glass" piece doesn't show.
I hope all this may help others that may run into the same situation building this model. It took a little patience, but will be worth it. It is indeed, an impressive structure!
Thanks for your input.