The top knot roof is finished! Whew! It was the most challenging part of this build (so far), but it is now complete and ready to be installed once I paint it and add the roofing paper. I got the gable windows are finished and installed. I even made two of them in the open position. And lastly, I finished the "tile" facing pieces for the store window sills.
I remade the entire top knot base taking actual measurements off the Mansard front AND the Top Knot Roof base so all would engage properly. For some reason my Mansard roof side taper was not equal from side to side. I traced the taper as it was account for any field variations. I glued this up out of 0.040" styrene with 1/4" sq. styrene corner reinforcements to keep it nice and square. I also added a front piece that would sit flush behind the Mansard so the styrene formed a complete box.
On top of this frame I glued an "almost" square piece of styrene sheet to further reinforce the geometry and to provide a broader gluing base for the top knot roof itself. The balsa/styrene composite top knot was glued to the based with thick CA. At the seam between the two main parts I glued a 1/2 round trim piece which was held with solvent cement since it was basically glued to the edge of the square transition piece.
The laser cut wood rafters for this roof were not the correct length, so I made new ones out of styrene. These were glued to the upper roof ply with thick CA.
The Top Knot roof consists of four right triangles. They not since the roof has a bit of pitch which reduces the included angle by a few degrees. I started with a right triangle and then reduced the angle so the roof pieces would split the corner rafters down the middle so they would be glued on both sides. I made the roof piece of out 0.015". The first piece fit so well that I thought I could just trace it as a template for the other three. The 2nd one wasn't right, so I scrapped it and hand-measured the next one. I then traced that one thinking that it would be better, but I had to do the 3rd and 4th individually. The 4th one was particularly tricky since the final exposed rafter wasn't very wide and needed the roof to be dead on to contact both sides enough to glue it. But… it did get done.
Around the upper roof perimeter I glued 0.080" X 0.030" to trim the edge and seal the roof edge. On this will go a "rubber membrane" roof which will happen after it's all painted. When the trim is all added to the Mansard it's going to look very special. I did spray it with a light coat of Tamiya Fine White Primer. I may add another coat or just go with the white. Windows in the below and not installed yet. (neither are the Mansards which accounts for the masking tape).
The last thing I did was prepare the laser-etched front sill tile laminate. I first brush painted with 2 coats of the Tamiya gloss black. When dry I sprayed it with rattle-can Testor's high gloss coat lacquer (sold for model car finishes). When that was dry I did my joint compound trick. When dry wiped it with a damp paper towel. The end result is okay. It's a bit irregular and I may add some more grouting tomorrow. I'll see. The ragged one (top right) was hand made since I miscounted the number needed and had to make one more by scribing my own. It's going on the inside of the right sill next to the front door and not really visible.
Little by little, all the bits and pieces are coming together. I'm writing the article about this project concurrently with the build so I won't have to re-create the steps in my memory.
