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HOW TO : Build A Blair Line Fred and Red’s Cafe
  Article By Bryan Catley and his Alligator Lines Copyright ©                                                     
                                                                                             

   Blair Line's Fred and Red's Cafe

Blair Line Structure Laser Cut Kit #090 Fred & Red's Café is a kit I have had my eye on for quite a long time now! It was just a question of finding the right location on the layout! Now I have found it! The footprint for this café is 2.5 inches by 1.1 inches which includes a small concrete sidewalk in front.

Considering what is inside, the kit comes in a rather large box. The size is probably to accommodate the three standard-size sheets of instructions folded once across the middle! Sheet one is an introductory page which includes some general comments and some painting recommendations; the reverse of this sheet is blank. Sides three through five are the actual instructions which are a mix of diagrams and text. Side six is for parts identification.

The kit is a fairly typical laser cut kit although it does have a couple of things I have not encountered before (plastic pieces). It employs tab and slot construction in several areas and includes a variety of peel 'n stick trim pieces. These include roofing stock for the roof and trim for the edges of the structure. It even includes laser cut glazing for the windows.

The kit also includes a small package of parts which include the window frames (plastic), a smoke stack, a ventilator (for the roof), burglar bars for the doors and windows and a small sheet of signs for the exterior of the building.

I obtained mine from Fifer Hobby Supply; here is a link to his page for this structure: Fred and Red's Cafe. The Blair Line site for this kit is here http://www.blairline.com/fredred/

As is usual, the building is started by pre-painting the pieces before removing them from their holders. Remember that for this kit a number of the pieces require painting on both sides and if you following recommended colors the big-down arrow is actually different colors on each side!

The walls were painted white and the trim was painted red. The base received a concrete color while the burglar bars were painted black.

Actual construction is started by adding the windows and doors to the four walls. As indicated, the windows are plastic and fit into their respective openings from the front. The fit is good but not enough to hold the window in place without a dab of glue!

The "glass" goes on from the rear but sits on top of the window and requires gluing into place. Since the acetate is laser cut to the correct size care is required with positioning them on (rather than in) the window frame.

The doors work much the same way as the windows but can be inserted from either side. Peel 'n stick door frames are applied to the front, around the doors.

Note: The doors themselves come in two (peel 'n stick) pieces and I find it easier to place them together while they are in the door opening!

Once all the windows and doers were in place I added the burglar bars. All the windows and doors, except the front door and window, have the bars. They come in several different (but close) sizes so be sure you have the correct one! These burglar bars are quite fine so extra care is called for when removing them from their container sheet.

Note: There are two sets of burglar bars left over! At first I thought they might be an option for the front door and window but they are the wrong size so I am not sure what they are for! Of course, the instructions say absolutely nothing other than to install them!

Before starting to put things together I decided to apply some various signs to the four walls following the provided structure pictures. Once again the signs are provided on a sheet of thin card stock but the instructions do not even mention them!

Even though the card stock was thin it was not thin enough! So, using a trick learned earlier I used some fine sandpaper and carefully sanded the back of the sheet. This reduced the thickness quite nicely and they were cut out and applied using a very small amount of white glue spread over the entire back of the sign.

At this point some black wash was applied to all four walls and a tissue was used to mop up any excess. This removed the newness look and helped make the grooves in the siding stand out.
 

Actual building begins by installing three inner walls onto the structure base using the tabs and slots provided. These interior walls provide support for the outer walls and the flat roof. Thus, it is important to ensure the walls are vertical (especially the two end ones) since the front and back exterior walls are glued to them!

No guidance is provided as to a recommended sequence so I started with the back exterior wall followed by the two side ones using the tabs and slots on the wall ends and the interior walls as a guide. The three walls looked just fine but when I tried to dry fit the front wall it wouldn't fit! It was a little too wide! Everything looked just fine but it simply wouldn't fit. I also tried dry fitting the roof panel to see if that would show where things were not aligned but it fit as perfectly as you could wish for! Surgery was required!

Even with a sharp hobby knife trimming the side proved a little too strenuous for the wall and I ended up damaging it! Actually, I broke a piece off it! The basic surgery had to be followed by reconstructive surgery! In the end it fit quite well and it is very difficult to see the problem area now!

Note: I am still not sure where the problem was. Right now I have to believe the piece was simply a little oversized! I wonder what would have happened if I started with the front wall rather than the back one?

Like so many of these kits the four corners are covered by eight (peel 'n stick) pieces of corner trim. These were applied next.

Note: I often have trouble getting these pieces of trim exactly square but this time they seemed to work pretty well!

The three porch supports were also installed at the top of the front wall at this time. This is a little out of sequence according to the instructions but this seemed like a much better time to handle them!

Note: The three porch supports are pretty small and each has a small tab that fits in a slot at the top of the front wall. I found it was necessary to trim a small amount off the tabs to get them to fit!

The main roof and the porch roof were next. These each have a solid one-piece support and are covered with peel 'n stick paper strips that overlap each other very slightly. It is very easy to get the pieces misaligned so care and patience is the order of the day!

Note: If you don't press the strips into place until you are sure of the positioning you will probably be able to remove a strip without damage for repositioning should it be necessary.

Once done they were both painted Grimy Black and glued into position. When dry the interior of the upper walls were also painted black.

The provided (wood) ventilator was painted silver along with some black and rust dry brushing and glued into place. The smoke stack also received some of the dry brushing but was not installed at this time.

The roof trim (on the top of the four walls) was next to go into place along with the front of the porch. These eight pieces had been painted on both sides (there is overhang around the edges) and were glued into position using white glue. The middle and back were done first. One side was done first followed by the cross piece for the back and then the other side. The white glue allowed plenty of time for adjusting positions and making sure everything was correctly aligned. However, the front was left for the next day to avoid knocking the existing trim out of position.

Once the front three pieces had been positioned and the glue had dried all the red trim was touched up as necessary. This included the corner pieces and the sides of the roof trim pieces. Once dry the smoke stack was also glued into position.

Note: The rust stain below the smoke stack was achieved by applying a very small amount of Raw Sienna just below the stack and then using a dry brush to feather the paint.

At this point, the main structure was complete! Just the "EAT" and "OPEN" signs!

The "EAT" sign consists of the large arrow, the three individual letters, the arrow outline (all Peel 'n stick) and two support frames. The three letters were carefully placed on the arrow (using the engraved outlines as a guide) followed by the arrow outline.

Before adding the supports I decided to tackle the smaller "OPEN" sign which is a curved arrow with an outline with the word OPEN within. There are two "OPENs", one for each side. As with all the other items they had been pre-painted and I knew at that time they were going to cause trouble! The outline for the arrow was extremely thin and it even looked as though it had been cut through by the laser in one or two spots!

Even with extreme care it was impossible to cut the signs from their container sheets. The outline (for both) just disintegrated and I was left with the "OPEN" that was attached to one part of the outline. So this is what was used to create the "OPEN" sign! It was supposed to be peel 'n stick but the entire thing was so delicate I didn't bother trying to do the peel; they were just glued into position with a small amount of white glue!

Back to the "EAT" sign and its supports. The supports need to be positioned very carefully since if they are the least bit off the whole sign will end up tilting to one side or the other. The only guidance is two very small notches, one on the arrow and one on the support! In this case they ended being just a very small amount off but it hardly shows so I am happy!

Note: It is equally important to ensure the roof is perfectly flat or the lopsided appearance will be there regardless!

Touch up paint was applied to both signs and they were glued into position. The only items left were two very small wall lamps for the exterior side wall. These plastic lamps came in two pieces each; a bracket and a lamp shade.

These were really fun and the instructions were of no help at all. First, one bracket was carefully cut from its sprue and then, holding it in a pair of needle-nosed tweezers I attempted to glue it to a lamp shade.

After several unsuccessful tries the bracket popped out of the tweezers never to be seen again! I tried again with the second lamp and this time it worked! Once dry the bracket was painted black and the lamp shade received a silver coat. Again, using the tweezers, it was glued into position on the wall. So where there was supposed to be two lamps there is only one!

Oh well! But Fred and Red's Café was finished!

The basic structure is a pretty straight forward build and the instructions provide much of the needed information although it is necessary to improvise on occasion. However, the kit also contains a number of small and delicate pieces that require special handling and the instructions are of very little help in this area. As such I'm not sure this is a good kit for a first time laser kit builder unless there is an extensive model building background there!