Finished Cornerstone's Superior Paper

Wow, it took me nearly a month, but Superior Paper is finally finished. If you've been following along on Facebook, you'll know this kit had become something of a knock-down drag-out fight to complete. Truth be told, this is a kit I've been wanting to include on a layout for a long time. When the box from Trainworld finally arrived on my doorstep back in December, I could hardly contain my excitement. Then opened up the box and had one hell of an "oh shit" moment. I thought this would be a simple four walls and a roof-type kit and boy was I every wrong, because there most have been over a million pieces in that box!

Not only were there lots and lots of little pieces, but they all required paint! I ended up studying the instructions a bit and opted to paint some parts before assembly and some parts after. For main mail (the brick building) I used Floquil Boxcar Red for the walls and Testors Flat Light Aircraft Grey for the foundations, Floquil Grimy Black for the roof, either Tamiya or Testors Silver for the roof details and doors and some cheap Wal Mart spray paint for the tanks.

The Kraft Mill (The tall Yellow Structure) is where things started getting hairy. The walls looked good in there stock colors but the foundation needed paint. So I carefully masked the bottom of each wall and sprayed on some Flat Light Aircraft Grey, which unfortunately bled under the tape. I tired to clean up the mess but soon realized I would have to paint the entire building. Frustrating for sure, but I carried on. I used Floquil Depot Buff, which was close enough to original color of the walls. Again, it was Grimy Black for the roofs.

Things took a turn for the worse when it came time to paint the Kraft Mill smoke stacks. The box shows them painted white with red strips to warn aircraft. I also remembered reading on Spookshow's web site (Link) of his experience building this particular kit. His advice on painting the smoke stacks was to spray on your base color, allow it to dry for 24 hours, apply the masking tape and spray on another coat of base color to seal the tape. You then wait another 24 hours to apply the top coat.

So I started by spraying the smoke stacks with some red Wal Mart spray paint, and allowed it to dry over night before applying the tape. I put on another coat, waited another 24 hours and sprayed on a coat of white Wal Mart spray paint. And that's when the trouble started. The white paint started crackling and flaking off! I had to set the stacks aside I was was headed down to my parent's house near Hilton Head for Christmas. When I got back, I decided to take the cowards' way out and paint the stacks black.

I sanded off most of the white and red paint and sprayed on a coat of black. That ended up crackling even worse!  By now I was ready to throw the smoke stacks on the ground and spend a good long time stomping on them whilst laughing psychotically enough to make Bellatrix Lestrange back away slowly! But instead I threw them into some 91% isopropyl alcohol and stipped off all the paint and started over again.

The second time around, the red paint kept bleeding through. so I bought me some white automotive primer. I strayed the stacks from top to bottom. Since the primer was already the right color, I didn't bother with another coat and called it done.

With the building finally assembled, I turned my attention to weathering. I coated everything with weather wash, applied the decals and then a coat of Dulcote. Next came the chalks and another round of Dulcote.

I have one more building to assemble for the Johnstown area, an electrical substation and then I can move on to the roads and other scenery. Since I already modeled one town, Gallitzin, in it's entirety,  Johnstown will largely focus on the industrial areas with a bit of Main Street creeping in around the periphery.