I constructed the front porch using the same techniques as I did on the back, building a wood frame under the floor and using it as a mounting point for the lattice.  I didn’t bother installing legs on this one either, however it would have helped in the installation by keeping the back corner of the porch up while waiting for the glue to set.

I painted directly over the cardstock for the porch floor and continued with the assembly of the porch.  When installing the gingerbread I found that it was much easier when using a curved pair of tweezers to hold them.  I used the same technique as before on the gravel for the roof, painting the surface with roof brown, followed by a coat of scenic cement, and then sprinkling on the ballast.  I then used a pipette to add cement where needed.  I found in a couple of spots the ballest ended up getting stuck on the walls higher than I wanted.  The best solution for this was to use an x-acto knife to push these spots down before the glue dried.

I assembled the back porch following the directions.  The cut out piece seemed to fit a little bit strange so I had to do some cutting to get it to fit correctly.  I used Elmer’s wood glue to hold the pieces together.  In the foreground of the picture you can see how I framed the porch with scale lumber, and after it had dried I used the pieces of lattice to build up the rest of the porch.  I didn’t bother installing any posts going down as you can’t see them anyways.

I then painted the porch and installed all of the “gingerbread around the edges of the roof.  The roof was painted with Floquil’s roof brown and then covered with fine ballast to provide texture.  Using the ballast is a good way to cover the small cuts and adjustments that were needed on the roof.  Also in this picture you can see where I added the “spears into the gingerbread around the roof of the model.  I had to use putty around some of them to fill in the gaps, but it was easy to hide the patches.

For this section of the build I installed the chimneys first, after assembling them.  I painted them by dry-brushing a couple of colors over the gray primer coat.  I used a ca glue to assemble them and to fix them to the wall.  I then cut each of the pieces of the parapet into the correct length, and then held it up to its final location to judge the angle I needed to cut it at.  As you can see in the picture there was a slight gap between each one, but I was able to use Squadron white putty to cover those.  You can’t see it from the picture but I made sure to paint each of the pieces before installing them, as it would have been difficult with them already in place.

After the glue had dried (it took only a couple of minutes) I began the installation of the special molding on both the parapet and the top section of the mansard roof.  At each of the major corners I left a gap for the “spike” that would go into place.  In this picture you can also see that I began to fill in the top of the bay window with putty.

I continued contrustion of the module by clamping the first cross member and screwing it into place.  This is one of the chief advantages of using the L-girder type construction.   It allows cross members to be easily moved if the design of the layout requires it.  I used a countersink bit to pre-drill for each of the screws so that I would not splinter the lumber.

I continued this process for the rest of the crossmbembers, just using equal spacing to start with.  I have not yet figured out a track plan as I am still in the process of building some of the chief industries for this module.  My intention at the moment is to model a meat packing industial siding, showing many of the different parts of the same industy.  My intention is create a small module that would be fun to run a small switching operation on.

Note that I have put some cross bracing in place.  I did not like the way they turned out so I will be be replacing them at some point.  For now they provide the needed support and I will leave them as is until I get further along in the building process.

I decided that it was time a built a module section of a layout at home in order to have a place to display the models I have built so far.  I researched several methods of benchwork construction and decided upon the l-girder construction.  I made this decision for the excellent combination of strength, relativly low cost, and low weight.  I began construction by first gluing and then using screws to attach the boards in a L shape.  This has the effect of creating much of the strength, while at the same time providing a place to screw the crossmember s to.

I screwed the parts of the legs together, not using glue as I intend to make the removable in case I have to move the module.  I then assembled the legs onto the two main joists.  One of the most import things during the assembly process was the use of a square, to make sure that everything lined up correctly.