Fantastic group effort. Looking really good and all should be proud.
RIP, Otto… 
Our departed dog was named Rizzo, vaguely named after risotto, a Wheaton terrier.
Eric, sorry to hear of Mr. Otto’s passing, but he will live forever in your memories, on a happier note the building looks great and doors from hotel room keys, starting to sound like me, TT would be proud, keep up the great work, Bill
As one who has dedicated my MIK build this year to my fur friend Pepper, I am sure Mr. Otto is present in spirit.
Eric and Clan, I’m sorry to hear of Mr. Otto’s passing. Our animals bring us lots of happiness and memories. I hope he runs into Bear, Buford, Diamond, Tiger, Miss Lilly, Doodlebug … I could go on … in puppy heaven.
The bakery looks great and I can almost smell the cakes and cookies cooking from here (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Sorry about Mr Otto, hope the kids are handling well. I was a big mess when we lost our doggo.
Thanks, everyone, for you kind condolences. The kids have handled Mr. Otto’s unexpected passing better than I have, actually. He was our dog. He was my “doggie.”
Anyway, the bakery is “built,” with the last craftstick drying in place as I type. I had to get some metal cutting discs to cut the epee blades down to size, so I am now at or just over budget for this project. I glued them onto the metal roof with E6000 (the second best glue for almost anything), and they are almost flat. More glue and clamps (bungee chords?) should do the trick tomorrow. The issue, it would appear, was that I could not get the bend totally out of the blades, even though I cut well below the foible, the weak part near the tip that takes most of the deformation. The remaining bent went unnoticed until after I glued it all in place. Needless details should anyone else be daft enough to use fencing equipment in next year’s Mik! It has become a bit of a visual joke for me with my projects, as there broke fencing weapons have absolutely no value beyond expensive plant stakes.
The plan now is to clean up the stick work (wood work being a bit of an exaggeration) with sandpaper and get a coat of paint on this thing tomorrow. I am hoping the girls will then have time to paint the trim, and I can cut the windows. With good fortune, we will actually finish our Mik Challenge this year…just in time for Oldest Daughter to “secede” and go solo next year (mixed emotions about that if she does).
I am enjoying catching up on all the work others have been up to!
Happy Building!
Eric
‘secede?’ does that mean ‘oldest daughter’ will be posting here on a separate account? (visions of competing entries from your family next year)
Eric Mueller said:
-snip-.
The plan now is to clean up the stick work (wood work being a bit of an exaggeration) with sandpaper and get a coat of paint on this thing tomorrow. I am hoping the girls will then have time to paint the trim, and I can cut the windows. With good fortune, we will actually finish our Mik Challenge this year…just in time for Oldest Daughter to “secede” and go solo next year (mixed emotions about that if she does).
Welcome to the big leagues Dad, like a ball club; We teach them a trade and they take it to the highest bidder … My way, I’m going to do it … my way!
Another happy build for the Team Mueller.
Thanks for bringing us into your family’s build again.
The best outcome for the Mik challenge is a new challenger! That’s awesome!
Tim & Co.:
Yes, by “secede” I mean go it on her own. She and her sister considered it this year, but settled for the traditional plan of assisting where their time and interests intersected with the project.
That being said, “Rooster” assembled a shorty coach, primed and ready, and slipped into a “care package” which included some odds and ends to bring Little Thomas over the line and the raw material for some cane cars. The shorty is her project, and she plans to begin work after the Mik. I told her the job begins after a trip to Ewa to view the last of the OR&L fleet, which range from a barely stabilized wreck to a fully restored parlor car. We’ll post her thoughts and progress under my account but with a clear title to attribute it to her. I told her she can make a determination on where to go with the hobby or its skillsets after that coach is in the colors of the Triple O. We’ll see if she becomes an ally or competitor in 2021…or discover surfing!
Back to the issue at hand, Oldest Son and I painted the bakery and good bit of the “stones” surrounding it with some slightly thinned exterior latex. I’m handing it over to the girls now to add the trim.
Eric
I could not be happier that Oldest Daughter is going solo. That means another RR hobbyist is born. And in an age where it seems to only be old people, its nice to see youngsters taking an active interest. Now you get to be a proud dad as she achieves excellence on her own.
Eric Mueller said:
I glued it to the roof with TiteBond III and weighted all the sheets in place. I was surprised how easy it was to make corrugated metal in general. You can even run the sheets through the crimper multiple times. I will have to find better glues or better ways to straighten it.
Not as fun as banging with a mallet, but I’ve found George Schreyer’s method of annealing the cans in the oven’s self-clean cycle helps. After crimping, I just give the piece a little tug and it flattens right out. http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips4/cheap_siding.html
Last update before the big finish…
Over the course of the week, Oldest Son helped me paint the bakery white, Youngest Daughter decided the roof should be white. Oldest Daughter decided the trim should be light blue. Today, Kid-zilla and I touch up some areas where the blue had gotten onto the white parts:
He did pretty well, actually. I did have to smooth out some areas where the paint was a bit heavy.
Oh, and I ordered a PLAYMOBIL baker (love that stuff). That brings to the budget limit (perhaps a bit over), but I am OK with that.
Hopefully, all hands will turn to this weekend for touch up painting. The stones are all a bit too uniform, and I am sure there are flecks of blue, white, and red where they oughtn’t to be! For that matter, I have to glue on the chimney and blend it into the back of the oven. Oldest Daughter has agreed to freehand the sign, and she is insisting on proper grammar. The final name will be “Mama’s Bakery No Ka Oi.” The crew’s interest in the project has waned, though, and it is time to bring the project to a conclusion by placing the bakery on the railroad this weekend and bringing it to life.
Happy Building!
Eric
P.S. Dan, thanks for the tip! Given the ubiquitousness of this material on older buildings out here (and its analog in my recycling bin), I hope to use it more often going forward.
All hands on deck all weekend to bring our challenge over the line as a finished project, and this despite celebration a great aunt’s 100th birthday and the call of the beach! This is the first MIK we have ever completed, and I, for one, am stoked to present a finished project.
Saturday, we turned-to fixing little flaws in our painting, painting the signage, and generally beginning to anchor our bakery in time and place. Youngest Daughter converted craft sticks into shelving for her pastries:
As Kid-zilla helped me paint a few of our flagstones to add some variety:
Offstage right is my cutting station (a repurposed cutting board balanced on top of an empty aquarium) where I turned plexi-glass into windows. Youngest Daughter contributed plastic beads to serve as door knobs, and we set their height using - you guessed it - PLAYMOBIL.
We broke for the birthday party and some 1:1 research at a new rail station:
This project, which has been decades in the making, will effectively put rail back where it used to be. In some places it will quite literally be within feet of the OR&L’s old mainline. My thoughts are best described by the post-it not I left on their comment board…“Bring back the OR&L!”
That evening, I gave the chimney and flagstones a heavy wash so that we could continue the “fitting out” process today. At the suggestion of Youngest Daughter, I cut up the old wicker backing of our dining room chairs to make a floor as she, Oldest Daughter, and Local Niece used paints and permanent marker to further put this building in its intended locale:
Some of the details include advertising for musubi and mochi, to include prices. I had to explain that prices “back then” you would’ve measured prices in cents, not dollars! Who knew this would lead to a discussion on inflation? I painted the very important arrows and lettering to indicate the direction to “lua kane” and “lua wahine,” and Oldest Daughter painted on the glyphs to help those not conversant in 'olelo Hawai’i! As she touched everything up, I converted a spray painted hotel key and a plastic bead into an oven door (the inside is just exposed enough to require an approximation), and Youngest Daughter glued her pastries to the shelves, and we called “Pau!” Almost…
The last step was attaching the roof. Kid-zilla had expressed grave concern that the people could not go inside, so gluing it down was out. I had some Velcro tape left over from my misadventures in locomotive restoration, and Oldest Daughter and I spent about 20 minutes aligning everything and setting it all in place. We’ll see how long that lasts on the railroad, but, then again, I am wondering how to anchor a foam building to the ground, period! After some final fidgeting, here it is:
She insisted I also pose with the final project and post the picture:
You may bear witness, I have upheld my end of the bargain!
We will get it on the railroad, pose our paniolo (cowboys), and get the judging pictures up shortly. This has been a fun project, and I am really happy we experimented both with the foam and the crimper. We also applied many of the finishing techniques gleaned from these pages. I think the finished project hits that happy spot for me between toy and model that reflects our growth as modelers without moving beyond where we are as a family. Oh, and a final shout-out to CINCHOUSE, who let me defer household maintenance to rally the crew and get the project over the hump!
Looking forward to seeing and learning from all the other builds!
Eric
Awesome Mueller family. I had really liked you guys until the beach comment, but I’ll overlook it as long as you guys keep building and enjoying the RR as a family.
Absolutely fabulous, had to read it 3 times to find where Devon said the word beach was mentioned, and after finding I didn’t mind it at all, that’s coming from Bill who lives at the worlds most famous beach, Daytona, Eric you and your skilled workers have done a tremendous job, Bill
Eric, the Mueller clan has outdone themselves on this one. Really a great build. The building looks fabulous, but the details with the cakes, pastries, flagstone, etc., puts it over the top. You have a great crew. Tell them all thank you for playing along with the rest of us kids. We could all learn some valuable life lessons from your family.
Eric and family, this building will have so much more history in all the hands ( including girl from next door who thinks she lives here) that went in to building it. I think you are the big winner here!!! Great job !!!
looks pretty good! (way better than mine)
Looks great. Regarding anchoring a foam building, two ideas utilize a concrete paver as a footing and use construction adhesive toa it in place. Or if you can access the interior, use construction spikes, basically giant nails, thru the foam base into the ground. The spikes would be better if you need to remove it for any reason.