Just finished building my first JL Innovative Design structure....What Fun!

[mondotrains]

Hi Guys,
I met the owners of JL Innovative Design www.jlinnovative.com at the Springfield, Massachusetts train show recently and they were the nicest people. I bought 5 of their kits which utilize basswood, plastic windows from Grandt Line, and several metal castings. Having just completed building the smallest kit, the East Junction Section House, I can tell you that the materials and instructions were great! I did have a minor problem because I painted the wooden walls with water-based paints and therefore I emailed the owner, David. He wrote me a very thoughtful and helpful response and my problem was solved.

I have to say that this kit, which I believe cost me only $16.00, provided several hours of fun to build and the resulting structure looks super on my layout. It was my first "wooden" kit.....I've always built plastic kits and was afraid to tackle anything else. I found that the only real difference with these kits is that you have to cut out the window holes, which are already scored and therefore were easy to remove with a sharp number 11 X-Acto blade. Everything went together easily and precisely and it was great fun to make the "tarpaper" roof with the materials supplied.

I would recommend that any of you folks that are afraid of wooden kits, like I was, try one of these.

Happy modeling,
Mondo

[streettrains]

I bought the old SUds & bucket from them at the Springfield show & I am looking forward to tackling it....

[Anonymous]

Nothing like actually building a craftsman type kit to get you hooked!

Have fun!

Bob Boudreau

[simon1966]

So far I have built Vic's Auto Repair (modified with open doors and detialed with the auto detial kit and interior lighting), Fixwell Feed and seed and the Brownsville hoist. On the shelf ready to be built are Pickard Motors, the Icehouse, Wabasha Engine house and the Avon st crossing. I also have a bunch of their detail parts and posters. I really like their product. Can you post the information about using water based paints, we might all find it useful?

[mondotrains]

Hi Simon,
Here is the question and the reply I got from David at JL Innovative Design regarding painting with water-based paints.

Hello,
>I bought several of your wood kits recently at the Springfield, MA train
>show and just completed painting all the walls for the East Junction
>Section House. Your instructions didn't mention any specific paint, so I
>used what I usually use for plastic kits....acrylic water-based paint.
>All my walls are now warped. Before I try gluing them together, is there
>anything I should do to try to flatten them, like placing them under a
>book? I'm hoping I wasn't supposed to use oil-based paint. I didn't
>think about the water being absorbed into the wood and warping it.
>
>Also, your instructions didn't mention whether the edges of the walls
>should be painted, but I painted them as well as the surface clapboard
>face.
>
>Help,
Armando,
Oil base paints do work much better when painting wood, this is what
I always use. But, I do have modelers who use water base paints.
They have discovered that painting the entire wall, inside and out
as well as the edges will seal it and help against warping. You can try two things to bring your walls back. Wet the bare side of the wall
and gently bend it in the opposite direction of the warping and then
place under a heavey flat object until dry. You could also try painting
the inside wall and placing under heavey flat object to dry with wax
paper to the wet paint side of the wall. If niether of these work,
let me know and I'll send you a new set of walls. Thanks, David Proell

QUOTE: Originally posted by simon1966

So far I have built Vic's Auto Repair (modified with open doors and detialed with the auto detial kit and interior lighting), Fixwell Feed and seed and the Brownsville hoist. On the shelf ready to be built are Pickard Motors, the Icehouse, Wabasha Engine house and the Avon st crossing. I also have a bunch of their detail parts and posters. I really like their product. Can you post the information about using water based paints, we might all find it useful?

[Anonymous]

I use acrylic craft paints on my wood structures with good results, though I do have to be prepared to keep basswood parts flat while drying. I usually lightly sponge on coats of thinned Folk Art paints. I let the wood air-dry for a few minutes while the pigment soaks in and then I weigh the parts down flat on the countertop by laying some stainless steel knives flat across them & setting something heavy on the knives. This lets air get to the parts & speeds up the drying. I've also let them air dry a few minutes then covered them with paper towels & weighed them down with books. This takes longer since air can't get to the parts.

I've been having a series of N Scale kits laser cut for me and have switched completely away from basswood to birch plywood. This has practically eliminated the warping problems, made a stronger kit and as an added bonus, has eliminated some issues caused by grain patterns.

Wayne

[simon1966]

Thanks Mondo, I use water based RR acrylics as my wife hates it when I stink up the house with oil based. I have basically been using the same technique as advised in the message from David. The front section of Vic's bent like a banana and horrifed me as it was my first wooden kit. Since I was going to detail the inside, I painted the back anyway, and then piled up a stack of phone directories. Make sure the paint is dry before dong this, as I had some parts stick to the dicectories. Anyway, I appreciate you posting the letter as it gives me confidence that I was approaching the problem the correct way.