Bollinger Edgerly Scale Trains,
Milk Shed Build

Finding a quality craftsman kit isn't all that hard these days. Finding a complete product, with documentation and the option of your questions being answered by e-mail is a different story. Well, don't worry. In the end, it doesn't matter, if the documentation is good or not. We, at the Guild, have you covered. We take the time to build these kits so you can follow us through the process.

BEST Trains runs a tight ship. This is obvious, the second you open one of their craftsman kits. Documentation is in abundance in this kit; it also includes a catalog, something I think a lot of companies could learn from.

Working on Laser-cut wood kits is a delicate task. Follow the instructions and we know you will do fine on this one. Again, if you do run into trouble, we have you covered. Just follow the build, and you'll do fine.

Step one, is read through the instructions. Brian did a very good job on these. The advice given on the weathering page is well thought out and clear.

Clean all the plastic parts in warm soapy water and lay out the wood pieces.

Build the platform as per the instructions, before staining (leave the skirting off). The floor joists are going to secure the wood from warping.

Staining the wood is going to warp these pieces a wee bit. We are going to allow that. Staining both sides will allow the pieces to go back to nearly the same shape as before. This will be okay, as the windows and doors will straighten out all the parts during assembly. Having said that, adding some backing to your walls/floors with scrap wood can go a long way in sturdying things up.

We first stained the skirting lightly, followed by assembling the platform, as per the instructions. We will put a medium-to-heavy stain on, when the glue dries on the backing pieces. During assembly, we used a piece of scrap wood as a clamp to span the skirting. This allowed us to use pro bond glue (dries slowly). The heavy stain is basically three coats of stain - letting each coat dry for 30 minutes. While the platform is drying, we stained the walls on both sides.

In BEST's instructions, it shows that they don't stain the whole piece. We personally believe that staining the whole piece creates less warping. Also, painting the inside with a dark acrylic, will allow for a nice LED installation later on.

Let the stain dry completely before moving on.

The small shelter is the milk shed, and the larger one the office. All pieces were lightly stained first, before painting with acrylics. We painted the milk shed primer Grey (from a spray can) and the trim hunter green. The office was painted tan and a darker brown (we used burnt umber). We took the time to hit the bottom of the ceiling pieces with the trim color, so our soffit is covered.

Allow all pieces to dry completely.