# N scale building kit observations



## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I have been acquiring various kits of houses, shacks, and businesses for my upcoming build. I’m modeling a small river town circa 1980. I have a good supply of buildings that would typically line main street in a small town. Most of these came from a Woodland Scenics N Scale “Town and Factory” Set 1485. That kit contained 13 buildings: 1 industrial building with loading docks on both sides. I intend to use that as a depot/cross dock at the edge of a village. The remaining 12 buildings are typical of buildings you would find in a county seat of a rural area. These kits are of good quality, simple to build, and have reasonable amount of detail. The instructions are excellent.

Here is a picture I lifted from Woodland Scenics’ web site of the 12 buildings that will comprise the heart of my river town:









The above buildings are great for the heart of a town, but I also needed to source a variety of houses, shacks, and other support businesses like a general store, filing station, etc.

I recently ordered several kits for houses and small businesses and wanted to share some observations on the couple that I have had time to assemble.



First is a “built & ready” Woodland Scenics Tin Shack (pic below). That I picked up for $18.06 from HobbyLink.com. This is very nicely done and came ready to use in a nice clear plastic package. I may order a couple more of these.










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Next up is the N Scale Sonny's Super Service Pre-Fab Building Kit by Woodland Scenics for $23.39 (their pic below). This kit is “pre-fabbed” but does require assembly. It is plastic and was simple to build. It contains a LOT of small details, including everything you see in the picture except the vehicles, and trees and shrubs. The small details were fun to add to the building. All the small details attach to the building except for the stand-alone sign you see in the foreground by the tan & brown vehicle. It also came with dry-transfer decals of which, most are left over when done, as there is only room for so many. Some of the details included: A motorcycle that leans up against the side of the building. A couple pallets of stuff that end up along the back side of the building. Watering can and bucket with a hose coiled up that hangs on the back side. A plie of tires. Ice Machine, Soda Pop Machine, Propane Tank, trash cans, etc. This was a fun kit to assemble with good directions. Lots of small parts (all the accessories). Overall, I am happy with this kit. It was relatively simple to put together, and has a lot of cool little details










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I also bought the “Blairstown General Store Building” kit from Blair Line Signs for $25.69 (pic below). This was the first kit I have assembled from laser cut pieces of wood. At first I was intimidated by this kit because there are a lot of tiny details that need assembled, and I have large hands. The instructions that came with this kit are excellent, and the quality of the laser cut sheets of wood are also excellent. Once I got over the initial trepidation, I found this kit relatively easy to build. I use the term easy because it was not simple… but it was easy. In other words, it took a lot of time to get the small pieces in place, and there are a lot of small pieces. BUT… it went together fairly easily for a rather complex build. I was amazed at how precisely the laser cut pieces of this building fit together. The level of detail is excellent. For example, the windows are 3-part: Lower sash, upper sash and outside trim. Each part of the window needs to be glued in place. The result is impressive, but takes time and patience. This kit came with a lot of signage. It can be a General Store or a Post Office. The signs are not decals. The signs are printed on thin card stock. So, you end up having to cut out the signs you want use, then glue them to the building. The variety of signs is impressive, and you will have a lot left over for kit bashing later. Overall, I am very impressed with the quality of product – both the materials and the instructions.










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Last up (for today anyway) is “Dave’s House” kit by RS Laser $19.39 (pic below). This is another laser-cut kit. This kit was even more intimidating than the one above because it had even more small details. For example, not only were the windows comprised of a upper sash, lower sash and outside trim, but they also included a tiny window sill. I ended up not using the sills because they were too small to make a difference in the appearance, and they were very small… like 1/4mm thick and 1.5mm long... and there are 11 windows. Overall, this kit is nice. But the quality of this RS Laser product is not up to par when compared to the Blair Line kit above. A few of the trim pieces were not precise enough, and had pieces that were not completely cut out by the laser. Further, the trim pieces were so thin that many of them simply crumbled when I tried to surgically remove them from the sheet of wood. So I ended up with windows that had panes missing, trim pieces that only went ¾ the way around a window, and things like that. But… overall, I’m still very happy with the result. The cedar shingle roofing is excellent, and the attention to detail is superb, so long as you can actually get the pieces out of the sheet of wood without destroying them and can grab them with tweezers without further damaging them. There were “extra” pieces that helped a little bit. For example, there are 12 windows in the kit, but you only need 11 of them. You can also choose from 2 styles of front door. So you end up with left over pieces, or replacement pieces for when you accidentally destroy the fragile trim pieces. The instructions left a little to be desired. The pictures included are fuzzy, and don’t really help that much, so you really need to study the instructions to figure out how to assemble. At the end of the day, I’m happy with the results, but… in my opinion, you get what you pay for... relatively inexpensive and relatively cheaply made.









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I Have a few more kits that I’ll be building over the next few weeks, and will add my observations of those kits as time permits. I hope this proves useful to some of you who may be looking for N scale structures and wonder about some of them that are out there.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Nicely done reports. One thing for sure...a modeler can go broke in a hurry!!


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Some pictures I took below. The ones above were lifted from the internet.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)




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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)




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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

JeffHurl said:


> I have been acquiring various kits of houses, shacks, and businesses for my upcoming build. I’m modeling a small river town circa 1980. I have a good supply of buildings that would typically line main street in a small town. Most of these came from a Woodland Scenics N Scale “Town and Factory” Set 1485. That kit contained 13 buildings: 1 industrial building with loading docks on both sides. I intend to use that as a depot/cross dock at the edge of a village. The remaining 12 buildings are typical of buildings you would find in a county seat of a rural area. These kits are of good quality, simple to build, and have reasonable amount of detail. The instructions are excellent.
> 
> Here is a picture I lifted from Woodland Scenics’ web site of the 12 buildings that will comprise the heart of my river town:
> View attachment 564397
> ...


Jeff;

Excellent work on the structures!  

Traction Fan 🙂


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Thanks, TF!

I have been having a lot of fun building these structures. I do need to take more time, though. I find myself wanting to continually make progress so I end up trying to do too much before letting glue dry... or weathering before letting the base coat cure. I can't help it.. I'm so programed to be efficient with time that I have a hard time sitting back and letting things sit for 5 minutes, let alone 24 hours, LOL.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

JeffHurl said:


> Thanks, TF!
> 
> I have been having a lot of fun building these structures. I do need to take more time, though. I find myself wanting to continually make progress so I end up trying to do too much before letting glue dry... or weathering before letting the base coat cure. I can't help it.. I'm so programed to be efficient with time that I have a hard time sitting back and letting things sit for 5 minutes, let alone 24 hours, LOL.


Jeff;

While a hobby is supposed to occupy our spare time, I'm the same way on occasion. I often try to do different parts of a project alternately, so I can work on one part while the other is drying.
Right now I'm adding a second loop of track to my grandson's layout. This will change his main line to double-track. He's six years old, and wants to see two trains running. I had initially built his railroad with a single-track main & two passing sidings. I gaped the track for basic DC dual cab control. He would need a control panel with power assigning toggle switches for that. I'm not sure he would understand that at his age, so I went simpler. Two loops, two power packs, two trains. If he stays interested long enough, I may switch him over to dual cab control ,or better yet, DCC. He's still way to young to smell the perfume, or exhaust fumes, we have been talking about, so we'll see what happens. 

Traction Fan 🙂


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## Bigfoot21075 (Aug 7, 2021)

Jeff! Those buildings look fantastic. You have really gotten the weathering down and detail work.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I just completed the build of another laser cut wood kit (their pic below). This one is the Two-Story Section House Kit by American Model Builders (sorry, no pictures of my build yet).

This kit is the best quality of the handful that I have built so far (a little better than Blair). The instructions are excellent, and I really liked how this model's windows and doors are assembled. They are made from 3 pieces, similar to the other, with a top and bottom sill and a trim piece that goes on the outside of the house. These three pieces are made with self-stick on one side. You assemble them in sequence: 1) cut out the clear piece of glass (plastic) and then attach it to the inside (lower) sash after peeling off the self stick from the sash piece. Then apply that piece to the back side of the upper sash. Then apply that to the back side of the trim. What you end up with is a window, all ready to insert into the window hole. The trim is just a bit wider and longer than the window itself, so it fits perfectly. The finished product looks exactly like the pic below that I lifted off the internet, with the only exception being the roofing paper comes white and needs painted. I think the only complaint I have with this kit is the chimney material, which is plastic, and isn't the best quality... it was somewhat twisted and more of a diamond shape rather than squared or rectangular. But from an assembly perspective, this complex little model was actually very easy to put together. Perhaps I'm just getting better at building these kits, as I have only built about 3 laser cut wood kits so far, and this was the third, so I'm still learning... But the instructions with this kit were clear, detailed and simple to understand. I am so impressed with this kit that I intend to buy more kits from American Model Builders. I highly recommend this kit, and look forward to trying some of their other kits soon.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

JeffHurl said:


> I just completed the build of another laser cut wood kit (their pic below). This one is the Two-Story Section House Kit by American Model Builders (sorry, no pictures of my build yet).
> 
> This kit is the best quality of the handful that I have built so far (a little better than Blair). The instructions are excellent, and I really liked how this model's windows and doors are assembled. They are made from 3 pieces, similar to the other, with a top and bottom sill and a trim piece that goes on the outside of the house. These three pieces are made with self-stick on one side. You assemble them in sequence: 1) cut out the clear piece of glass (plastic) and then attach it to the inside (lower) sash after peeling off the self stick from the sash piece. Then apply that piece to the back side of the upper sash. Then apply that to the back side of the trim. What you end up with is a window, all ready to insert into the window hole. The trim is just a bit wider and longer than the window itself, so it fits perfectly. The finished product looks exactly like the pic below that I lifted off the internet, with the only exception being the roofing paper comes white and needs painted. I think the only complaint I have with this kit is the chimney material, which is plastic, and isn't the best quality... it was somewhat twisted and more of a diamond shape rather than squared or rectangular. But from an assembly perspective, this complex little model was actually very easy to put together. Perhaps I'm just getting better at building these kits, as I have only built about 3 laser cut wood kits so far, and this was the third, so I'm still learning... But the instructions with this kit were clear, detailed and simple to understand. I am so impressed with this kit that I intend to buy more kits from American Model Builders. I highly recommend this kit, and look forward to trying some of their other kits soon.
> 
> View attachment 564672


Jeff;

Building structures is a very satisfying part of our hobby. Yes. the quality of the kit makes a big difference, and that two-story section house sounds like a very good one.
The only problems with commercial kits are the limited selection, (basically someone else chooses what you are allowed to model) and the high cost. Now that you have some experience in working with wood, you might want to try scratchbuilding a simple structure. You will need photos of the structure, or just use your imagination for a simple model of a house, or store. There are also books with plans for structures.

You will need materials, of course. I use scribed basswood, and basswood sheet & beams, for wooden structures, like the bridges shown below, and styrene for masonry structures. Some of my favorite scratchbuilding materials suppliers have gone out of business. The large structures in my N-scale "Seattle" that you liked, are sheet styrene covered with plastic
brick sheet from a company called Holgate Reynolds. They are out of business, but Plastruct is still around, and they also offer plastic brick sheet material. I bought most of my windows & doors from Grandt Line, also defunct now, but there are some window & door castings still available from other companies. Generally, if a modeler likes building structure kits, they will like scratchbuilding a lot. It frees you to build anything you choose, and its a lot cheaper than buying kits. Whenever you're ready, give scratchbuilding a try. Start with something small, and simple. As you develop your skills, you will be able to move on to bigger, and more complex, structures.

Keep On Having Fun;

Traction Fan 🙂


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Excellent thoughts, TF!

I have a lot of material, some left over from parts not used in kits I have built, and some from a lot of train stuff I bought off Craigslist a few months ago. I have plenty of material to begin scratch building, and I have considered scratch building the piers that will be along the bank of the river I'm modeling. These piers will be quite large... large enough to service barge traffic, but will be old enough to still be made mostly of wood. I'm thinking that a couple of piers would be fairly simple.

I've also considered scratch building some shacks, and maybe a few free standing garages... neither of which would require many widows or doors. I've also come up with a fairly simple way to fabricate corrugated roofing material, which would be good for shacks.

I like your covered bridge. I have considered making a few small bridges for vehicle roadways to cross smaller streams and ditches.

So far, building these kits have scratched my itch well, especially since I don't have long periods of time to devote to being creative... I currently have a couple hours here and there... just enough time to focus on a few tasks when the opportunity presents itself. This will change once the weather turns cold and I no longer need to spend about 8 hours each week doing yard work (I have 12 acres to tend to). Plus, right now I don't know how big the piers will be (I need to land on a track plan).


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Ok, pictures of the American Model Builders house I talked about above. I painted the roof and chimneys. Everything else is as it comes in the kit.

















I still have some trimming to do on the edges of the roof.


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## Bigfoot21075 (Aug 7, 2021)

Wow! This looks great, are you using an airbrush or mostly dry brushing?


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Just brushing. The roofing material on most of these laser cut kits is made of strips of self-stick paper. The paper absorbs the paint which helps it end up with a weathered look. I also usually mix a small drop of black in with the base color, but I don't blend it completely so you end up with a bit of a blotchy appearance.

The only things I painted were the roof and chimney. The rest of the model is the way it comes. I don't think it needs any more paint.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

JeffHurl said:


> Ok, pictures of the American Model Builders house I talked about above. I painted the roof and chimneys. Everything else is as it comes in the kit.
> View attachment 564796
> 
> View attachment 564797
> ...


That looks great! Nice work!  

Traction Fan 🙂


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I built some more kits from American Model Builders over the weekend. I'm sorry I don't have my own pics, but here are some pics I lifted.



First is the AME 603 - Miner's Cabin. This will end up being part of my shanty town. As with other American Model Builders' kits, this one was very good quality with really clear instructions. I painted the trim white and the exterior walls a pale green while the parts were still in their spruces (if that's the correct term). The overall construction was very similar to other above in that teh windows were 3-part self-stick plus a pre-cut window that comes with thin tissue on one side. You can leave a part of this tissue paper attached to teh upper window, simulating a blind on the inside of the window if you wish.








*__*

Next up was another American Model Builders kit for more houses that will go well with the shanty town theme: AME698 "Company House." This kit contains 3 houses, so even though the kit was just north of $30, the cost per house was relatively inexpensive. And the quality of this kit was on par with other American Model Builders kits. Again, I painted the parts while still in their spruces. These kits were really easy to build, especially since all 3 are identical. I painted each one a different color; barn red, fainted yellow and brown. Trim on the red and brown was done in white, while the pale yellow was done in a medium gray.











I have more kits to assemble, but wanted to share my experience with the 2 that I have tackled thus far. For this batch of structures, I stayed with the 2 manufacturers that I have proven to be good quality. Better pics to come when I can find the time


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

As you can tell, I am a bit partial to to a couple brands when it comes to N Scale building kits: American Model Builders and Blair Line. I have found their quality to be really good and consistent. Their instructions are clear and well illustrated. These kits go together using tab and slot design. This makes it almost impossible to assemble incorrectly, and also makes for a nice sturdy joint that is simple to assemble. HOWEVER... if you paint the pieces prior to assembly, which I recommend, the wood swells a little bit from the moisture in the paint. This causes the size of the slots to shrink and the tabs swell. So when assembling, I find it necessary to open up the slots a bit using an Exacto blade to scrape the inside edges of the slots and also to square off the ends of the slots which get rounded with the wood swelling. Because of this, it is doubly important to dry-fit the pieces before gluing. Not a big deal, but something I failed to include in my initial reviews.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I started to build another American Model Builders kit : Corydon General Store & Post Office. This kit is the first one I have built with a L shape, which makes the roof a little more complex than a simple rectangular shaped building. The roofs have valleys where the various roof surfaces are perpendicular to each other. This structure can be one big business, or it can be two businesses in one building. There are 2 front doors, and one rear loading dock style which you can see in the picture at the rear of the building.

The pic below was lifted from the internet. The kit does not come with any decals, but I have quite a few left over from other kits that I will end up using.


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## Bigfoot21075 (Aug 7, 2021)

Excellent tip!!


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Some pics now that I finally had some time to paint. These are from the kit with 3 company houses.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Here is the smaller Miner's Cabin.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

And finally, the Corydon General Store and Post office. I REALLY like this kit!!


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

JeffHurl said:


> Some pics now that I finally had some time to paint. These are from the kit with 3 company houses.
> View attachment 565977
> 
> View attachment 565978



Jeff;

Overall, that is some very nice work.  
I'm going to point out a few things that might make things even better.

The chimneys are too tall. It's unusual for an American house to have a chimney that is more than a foot higher than the peak of the roof, many aren't even that high.
A commercial building might have a high stovepipe, and some industries have very tall smokestacks, but a home chimney is usually shorter. 

In the last photo, the white eaves boards on the red house, are not cut to a normal joint, and they appear to be coming loose from the roof. I don't know if this is intentional to make it look like a deteriorating structure, or perhaps some DIY repairs?

The white paint on the trim looks a bit rough. I think you said that these are wooden kits. Did you seal the wood before painting? 
Do you paint the doors, windows, & trim by hand with an artist's brush, or do you use an airbrush? 

I hope you take this as constructive criticism. Since that is my intent. 
Photos, especially well-focused close ups like these show every detail. May I ask what kind of camera you used to take them? 

I can see why you like that store/post office building. Its the best of the group.

It looks like you were going for tarpaper roofs. What did you use for the tarpaper?

Keep up the good work;

Traction Fan 🙂


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I'm using my phone to take the pictures, a Google Pixel 4a.

It's funny you mention the chimneys. These things had super long ones. I cut them in half and they are still too long!

My impatience shows on these small models. I started assembling them before the paint had fully dried, and it shows. I'm not disappointed, though. From a distance all those imperfections aren't really noticeable, and these will be part of a shanty town / wrong side of the tracks area near docks that support barge traffic... So shabby is kind of what I was looking for!

You bring up a good point regarding paint. I had not sealed or primed anything. I'm just using craft store acrylic paint that is probably at least 15 years old. My wife has hundreds of colors, and I just grab whatever floats my boat.

Thanks for the feedback, I do appreciate it!


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

JeffHurl said:


> I'm using my phone to take the pictures, a Google Pixel 4a.
> 
> It's funny you mention the chimneys. These things had super long ones. I cut them in half and they are still too long!
> 
> ...


Jeff;

Your models are good as they stand. I particularly like the store/post office.
I was only passing on some things I've learned from experience, that may improve the looks of your future models. You're dead right about being patient though, that's the most important thing we ever learn, take your time.

Wood models are known for absorbing lots of paint if they are not sealed. It is generally a good idea to seal the wood surface before you paint it if you are representing a new structure. One exception would be as you said, if you're going for a heavily weathered look. Sealing is especially important if the wood is meant to represent some other material, like metal.

Sometimes you can use this unsealed wood effect to advantage if you use a thin wash of paint. On your next wood kit build, try thinning that craft paint with some water. More water than paint, maybe 2 to 1. Brush a little on, going with the grain of the wood. Let it dry and you may find the color shows, without dominating the finish.
For model painting, less is more. Craft paint is fine for scenery, and can be for structures too. Craft paint is super-thick and dense with a lot of pigment, right out of the bottle. This helps it cover those wood craft projects my wife makes in one coat. However, that can work against you on a model, and it makes craft paint, even thinned, very difficult to airbrush. Model paint is far better for airbrushing. Generally speaking, for model painting, airbrushing is better than hand brushing.

Another thing you can try out on a future model is "painting with chalk." This is my favorite weathering technique, and I often use only chalk, no paint. To do this you'll need a simple, cheap, set of "pastel chalks", not "pastels" which are like crayons, and unsuitable for model railroad use. Walmart sells both pastel chalks and "artist's pastels" in their arts & crafts department. I bought a basic set of chalks years ago for $3 and I'm still using it. Once you have the chalks, the only other things you'll need are a brush and a cup of water. This is a very inexpensive technique! Its also very simple to do. Wet the brush and draw the bristles along the square stick of chalk. "Paint" the chalk/water mixture onto the model. At first, you won't see any effect. Wait, as the water evaporates, the color comes out. This is a nice subtle effect for weathering. The chalk doesn't leave an overwhelming streak of color, and it dries dead flat. The rail cars on the barge in the photos, were weathered using chalk. 

Good Luck & have fun;

Traction Fan 🙂


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I'm too stingy to drop a bunch of money a decent airbrush setup. I do mix the craft paints with water. I am not currently sealing anything before painting. Perhaps I should try that on my next model.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

JeffHurl said:


> I'm too stingy to drop a bunch of money a decent airbrush setup. I do mix the craft paints with water. I am not currently sealing anything before painting. Perhaps I should try that on my next model.


Jeff;

Whatever works for you.
I own two airbrushes, including a fancy dual-action model. However, I do 90% of my airbrushing with a $10 airbrush I bought at Harbor Freight www.harborfreight.com The real cost is the compressor, not the actual airbrush. A small, simple diaphragm type will do the job. Its also possible to get excellent results with a manual brush. An airbrush just makes it simpler.

Traction Fan 🙂


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