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HOW TO : Build A DPM Roadkill Cafe
   Article By Bryan Catley and his Alligator Lines  Copyright ©                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                                                         

DPM Roadkill Cafe

This is the third Resin structure I have worked on.

In general, resin kits appear to be very similar to plastic kits in that they look a little like a plastic kit and come attached to sprues just like the plastic ones. The big difference is that resin kits have most of the windows and doors molded right into the walls. The sprues also have a much stronger attachment. This means there are fewer pieces to be concerned about but it does make the painting job a little more challenging! CA glue was used during construction.

The kit comes in a sealed plastic pouch and consists of a two page folded set of instructions and parts identifier along with the molded resin pieces still attached (for the most part) to their sprues and two pieces of acetate for the windows. It also includes three pieces of styrene for the roof, roof supports and the main door side panels. All styrene pieces require trimming before use.

Note: This kit does not come with any signs or detail parts. You will need to supply these yourself and since the lower level is a café some window signs might be very appropriate!

As has been indicated above, these kits have the windows and doorways molded into the basic walls of the structure! However, with this kit the main doorway is a separate piece because it it is set back from the front of the structure. The rear door is molded into the wall.

The instructions are reasonably complete but seem to be general for all scales with some notes which are specific to the N scale version. They consist of both text and (drawn) pictures which show the recommended construction technique, plus they also serve to identify the parts.

Here is a link to the Fifer Hobby page for this kit and here is the DPM page.

Note: You may download the instructions from the Woodland Scenics site as a PDF file if you are interested in reading them before actually purchasing the kit. This appears to be true for all the DPM kits.

As with most structure kits it is best to start by painting the walls and any detail pieces. However, with plastic and resin kits it is first necessary to remove the pieces from the sprues and clean any flashing. Do this only as you need the pieces.

Resin kits have another step; to aid in removing the pieces from the mold some of the wall ends are actually at a slight angle (rather then being square). It is necessary to sand these smooth and the instructions are very clear on which edges need this treatment. To insure a square finish hold the wall flush with square piece of wood (or something similar) and then run back and forth over some sandpaper.

Before getting started there is yet another preliminary step! There is a chimney on each side wall but they are in two pieces. Two halves are actually molded along with the wall itself while the other two halves are two separate pieces. These two extra pieces were glued into place before anything further was attempted. Once dry the joins were smoothed over, making them ready for paint.

Note: I have read many times, including in these instructions, that it is best to wash the resin pieces in warm, soapy water before doing any painting. I have never done this and so far I haven't seen any bad effects!

The window frames were the first areas to receive some paint. The upper and lower window sills along with the storefront were also painted. The main door was also painted.

Note: A very small brush was used for these small and detailed areas. Further, be sure your paint is not too thick. That could cause you a lot of issues! By the same token make sure it is not too thin either!

This left the main "brick" walls to be painted. This was done starting with a small brush around the window areas and finishing with a somewhat larger brush. Once dry the inevitable touching up was performed!

As it turned out, the painting of these walls didn't cover quite as well as expected but it ended up looking good. A sort of built-in weathering!

The next step was to cut the acetate and glue it on to the back of the walls over the window areas. Some "window blinds" also seemed appropriate and they were cut from yellow "stickies" and positioned, after which a little glue was applied to hold them in place permanently.

Note: Remember to make the blinds of differing lengths!

The next step was to add the main door and its side panels to the front wall. This turned out to be trickier than expected, in fact, the most challenging part of the entire build.

The piece of styrene provided for these panels is of the correct width but does need to be trimmed for the correct length (height of the door). Once this has been done the panels need to be glued into place. The instructions indicate to glue them to the door edges first and then to glue the entire structure to the back of the front wall.

Trouble is that no guides, grooves or whatever are provided for assistance in this task. Anyway, I followed the instructions and got the first side panel in place quite easily. The second one was another story! Every time I tried to get it in position the first side panel got in the way! Eventually I got it to work and the door and side panels were glued into position.

Note: I was tempted to glue the side panels to back of the front wall first and then add the front door. Another alternative would have been to glue one panel to the door and the other to the wall before attaching them. I just may try these approaches in the next DPM kits I build that include this feature.

Now that the walls and chimneys were finished it was time to start gluing them together.

Unlike the Corner Turret building this kit provides no guide tabs for positioning the walls together. When gluing them together the main thing is to be sure the bottom edges are flush and the corners are at right angles! This is easier than it sounds but you will require some kind of assistance to help you in achieving this. I used my Micro Mark Gluing Jig.

The first two walls are the easiest while the second two walls require a little bit of extra care! Once the walls are glued together the basic framework for the structure is in place.

The roof was next but unlike the Corner Turret Building it did not come as separate molded piece. Instead it comes as a separate piece of styrene that you need to trim to the correct size!

To do this I placed the structure over the piece and drew an outline using the inside of the walls as a guide. The "roof" was then cut out with a pair of scissors. Once done, it was painted black and weathered with a dry brushing of different shades of gray and brown.

Note: While I had the black paint out, I also added the "chimneys"!

The roof is pretty easy to install. It is inserted from the bottom of the building and glued to the bottom of the two chimneys. From this point II added a thin bead of glue, from the underside, around the edges. The kit does provide a small square of styrene to use as roof supports but I found they weren't really necessary.

The final touch was some touch up paint around the top of the walls. Besides filling in some small gaps this also makes it look a little better!

The structure was now complete but not necessarily finished. The storefront windows are quite large, making it easy to see the interior from certain angles. The instructions suggest cutting a piece of black craft paper to the correct size and inserting it diagonally inside the building. This could make sense and I may yet do something along these lines. I'll wait closer to installation to decide.

As stated earlier some signs for these cafe windows would also be appropriate. Whether or not I will find and add these is still up in the air.

Note: The roofs of both these DPM buildings, so far, seem rather "blah"! There is a very real possibility of adding some rooftop details such as ventilators and air conditioners (not to mention the black interior paper), before they are actually installed. A "gravel" roof may also find its way into the mix!