# River Leaf Models Custom Barn Build



## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

As mentioned in previous thread's, Andre at River Leaf Models put together a custom kit for me based on the William Ford horse barn at Greenfield Village where I work. My girlfriend works in the barn, so I figured it would be nice to add a some of her interests on my Christmas layout at the Redford Theatre in Detroit. It will join a custom model of the Theatre Andre put together for me last year.

Anyway, I scaled up some drawings in CAD to send to Andre awhile back. They were based on some pictures I took off of google, and scaled up by using a horse in the foreground for size reference.

























The Prototype









Model construction: The first photo is Andre's sneak preview he sent me a few days ago. The kit arrived in yesterday's mail, and I got started this evening with the assembly. Tomorrow I'll go buy paint and new exacto blades and I'll hopefully be further along. Obviously this shows how easy Andre's kits are to build. Working with no instructions, it probably took me 15-20 minutes to get these components assembled.
















In the foreground is my model of the Ford Model AA dump truck the barn staff uses during their daily chores that was shown in its own thread when I modified it.


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## Bill Webb (Sep 14, 2015)

Neat model. It should look really good when completed. Please continue with pictures as you continue.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Oh man, that is cool! Lovely barn.


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## PatKn (Jul 14, 2015)

Nice model. Thanks for posting. Please keep us informed on your progress.


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## Guest (May 25, 2016)

I sure look forward to seeing the finished model. Great idea, Jake.


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## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

Great looking barn. :appl:


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## Mark Boyce (Jul 22, 2015)

The barn looks great! I have seen some other of Andre's custom work, and it makes fantastic models!!! Thanks for sharing!!


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks guys, I'll keep you posted as I make progress.


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## Guest (May 25, 2016)

The barn looks fabulous, Jake. It will be a super addition to your Christmas layout.


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## PDDMI (Oct 25, 2015)

Jake,
I'm sure it will be great...and another reason for me to make the trip this year and see your layout in December! Actually, thinking about a trip this summer to the Village too. Does Amtrak make a stop there?
Paul


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

PDDMI said:


> Jake,
> I'm sure it will be great...and another reason or me to make the trip this year and see your layout in December! Actually, thinking about a trip this summer to the Village too. Does Amtrak make a stop there?
> Paul


Thanks Paul!

Amtrak doesn't actually stop at the village, but their new station is literally right behind the village property off of Michigan avenue, so it's very close. If you're coming for the day, I'd consider it to be a walkable distance to get to the village from the station.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Freshly painted barn anyone?


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Now, that's a RED BARN!


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Hopefully this isn't too shocking...  but it's mostly finished. I still have some touchup paint to work on, a coat of matte clear and roof shingles, but the basic building is done. After several long days at work, it was nice to spend my day off working on this since I'll be working all weekend.


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## Mark Boyce (Jul 22, 2015)

Looks just as red as the prototype. And looks just as good! A really nice building!


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks Mark!


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## PatKn (Jul 14, 2015)

Beautiful Building Jake! :appl::appl::appl: As Mark said, it looks like the prototype. Nice job. And KUDOS to Andre for another nice model kit.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks Pat!


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Well, I guess my pictures got around amongst the barn staff and the head of the department wants me to bring the model in for display during their upcoming open house.

With that in mind, I'm starting to work on a small 2'x2' diorama to display it on.

I guess it's popular


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## Tucgary (Sep 21, 2015)

That has really turned out nice Jake.:appl:
Andre is doing a fantastic job supplying you with great Detroit area landmarks. Tucgary


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks Gary!

Here's a photo of the mostly finished diorama base.
I drew on some door hinges, but I'm not exactly happy with how they turned out
so I may be removing the doors and repainting them white when I have a chance.


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## Mark Boyce (Jul 22, 2015)

Jake,
It looks great Before you kit they will be having you build the whole village!


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Mark Boyce said:


> Jake,
> It looks great Before you kit they will be having you build the whole village!


Thanks Mark. If they made models of the locomotives I run and I had a ton of money, it would be awesome to do.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Superb! Just grand. I love it and the whole vignette. All the better because its base3d ona real structure with local meaning.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Lee Willis said:


> Superb! Just grand. I love it and the whole vignette. All the better because its base3d ona real structure with local meaning.


Thanks Lee, I especially like buildings that have local/personal meaning when it comes to my models. This is by far a favorite. I just like the look of the prototype in general too.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

I started installing shingles on the roof today. They're a product made by "Builders in Scale" and come in laser cut strips that have an adhesive applied to the back. Basically you just measure the distance you want them to overlap, peel the backing off and stick them on the roof. It makes it very easy to get the look of a wooden shake roof (they are real wood) without having to mess with a lot of individual shingles. I didn't order quite enough of them though so I have to wait for another sheet to come so I can finish up the other half of the roof.









The doors are back out because I wasn't happy with my paint work on them. They will hopefully be finished soon as well. The replacement window Andre sent me for the side is also in the process of being painted and will hopefully be installed soon.


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## AG216 (Sep 28, 2011)

Doors are in the mail!
AG.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

AG216 said:


> Doors are in the mail!
> AG.


Glad to hear it! The replacement window is painted and installed as of this evening. Those will be the finishing touch once the roof is completed.

Thanks again for the great service Andre!


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

I bought some O scale horses online and my girlfriend painted them to represent the three Morgan horses they keep at the barn in addition to the draft horses that pull the carriage rides.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Well, as of today, I think I'm basically finished with the barn model. The rest of the shingles came in and I completed the roof. As I mentioned previously, I'm unhappy with a few issues resulting from my assembly work (nothing on Andre's part) such as a few glue runs and a gap in the roof where it didn't seat right when I glued it, but overall it looks just as I wanted it to. Andre did a great job with the kit and I'm happy with the results.

I'll probably go back and add a few details such as the spotlights the prototype has on the back wall for lighting up their yard, but for now it's good enough to show. I'm waiting to hear back from the head of the department as to whether or not he's OK with having it on display for their open house this weekend.


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## PatKn (Jul 14, 2015)

:appl::appl::appl::appl::appl::appl:
Looks Great. I can't imagine why your Department Head would not want to display it.


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## Guest (Jun 8, 2016)

Jake, I love it. What a beautiful barn. Your girlfriend must be delighted.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks guys. She says she loves it and she seemed to enjoy painting the horses to go with it, so I'm pretty sure she's happy


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Well, I came back to this project after several months. A few weeks ago I finally got around to installing LED lighting in the model, but due to the lack of interior it just didn't look right from the windows. I built a quick and rough interior out of 1/8" foam board last night and painted it brown and it helps divide the interior a bit better when viewed from outside. Obviously the scale is way off and it's very rough, but from a distance it will be fine. It just needed the appearance of being divided into stalls so that it would look right with the lights turned on.


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## Mark Boyce (Jul 22, 2015)

Jake,
It looks good!


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Very cool, love the extra detail.


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## Guest (Oct 26, 2016)

A finished interior is going to make this project even more special. Nice work, Jake.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks guys. Unfortunately in the process of studying pictures to get a general idea of what I wanted the stall dividers to look like, I realized I made an error in my measuring and the windows on the side walls are all about 1-1/2 scale feet too high since I centered them on the wall. Oh well, it looks good but now that error sticks out to me like a sore thumb


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## PW Trains (Nov 5, 2015)

Jake,

Very impressive work with the barn project. Looks great!

Paul


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## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

"Is it real or is it Memorex" What a great looking build. You've done a superb job. :appl::appl:


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## laz57 (Sep 19, 2015)

Very nice indeed:appl::smilie_daumenpos:!!! Now are you going to add some "road apples" in those stalls?


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Here you go, just a couple of these scattered around.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks guys.

And road apples are a detail I hadn't thought about. Although I see enough of them at work that I shouldn't have overlooked it (or maybe I had put it out of my mind ) And I'm not sure about in the barn, the staff is pretty on top of keeping things clean there. Maybe out front though if they're busy one day...


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## AG216 (Sep 28, 2011)

Wow!
Looks terrific! some hay and few other details and Voila!!

Andre.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

AG216 said:


> Wow!
> Looks terrific! some hay and few other details and Voila!!
> 
> Andre.


Thanks Andre, hay is a good idea that I hadn't thought of... the real barn has built in mangers in every stall which is a detail I neglected to include. I'm not sure I'll include those since you couldn't really see them through the windows, but I may have to put a bed of straw down in a couple of the stalls per the prototype. Due to the nature of the real barn's construction, they can't keep the draft horses in the stalls overnight because of their small size, so they have a large pasture with a larger shelter barn they are kept in when not working. The two smaller Morgan horses do stay in the barn at night and their stalls have a pretty thick layer of hay put down every day. I'll have to look into that detail for the fun of it.


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