Chrysnbon Organ Kit part 1

Watch the video here.

This week I am starting the Chrysnbon Organ kit that I purchased at the Seattle Miniature Show last weekend. I have never put this particular kit together so we are all learning about it together. The kit does contain a lot of pieces so staying organized is really important on this one. I actually used a pencil and wrote part numbers on the backs of some of the pieces to help me keep track. If you do this just look at the diagrams for a place to write that will not show later when the kit is assembled.

This kit has a total of 6 steps to complete the kit. I am showing you the way I assemble these kits, I like to do at least a partial assembly before I add any paint. I think they turn out better that way for a couple of reasons. One, you can hide some of the seams a bit with the paint. And two, I don't like to glue painted surfaces together, I think the glue works better if you don't have any paint on the surfaces you are gluing. You can also hide some of the excess glue with the paint too.

For this kit we are only partly assembling some of the steps because it will just be easier to paint some areas. For instance I don't want to get the wood color paint onto the keyboard assembly so I am going to glue the keyboard in after painting. That means that a few other pieces that need the keyboard to be glued in first have to wait too. Just read the instructions and determine what parts you can glue together now and what ones have to wait until later.

I did make a star on my instruction sheet on the steps that I need to go back to finish.

Another way to do this would be to assemble and paint each step as you go. Since I think I am going to be mixing some paint/antiquing medium up to use this would have been hard to do with this kit. If you are using paint straight from the bottle this is a good option though.

The instructions tell us to assemble the stool last, I decided to assemble it first just so I didn't loose any of the parts. It can really be done at any time. 

 

For step 1 once you have identified the parts it is really easy. This step is just gluing together. As long as you understand which parts you need it should go smoothly.

Step 2 has both the decal (let yours sit in the water longer than I did and you shouldn't have any problems) Also it would be a good idea to let the decal dry for a few moments before trying to glue on the “stop pulls” The instructions actually have you glue the pulls in first and then add the decal. I think the order I did it was easier I just should have let the decal dry a bit more. I could really see myself breaking off a pull trying to get the decal added. Also it was nice to have nothing in the way when lining up the decal. 

 

As for the stop pulls...... Once again we have tiny little knobs to maneuver into tiny little holes. This for me is always a problem. At least they did give me 2 extra and I only lost 1. Where that 1 is I have no idea because it shot over my shoulder behind me somewhere. I am sure I will never see it again. LOL I did find that my lighted tweezers did a wonderful job with these but I did manage to get the first two in with my fingers. So just use what you have and try different things. After the first 2 pulls I realized that putting the pulls in first and then adding the glue from behind was going to work the best.

Also when I started the process I told myself I was only going to do 5 of the 10 and then take a break. This type of work tends to make me stress a bit and I find if I don't stop part way through I make more mistakes. When I came back and did the last 5 they went right in with no problems. I have a feeling if I had not taken the short break I would have fought with them a lot more.

Set 3 was pretty easy and straight forward. This was one of the steps that I feel the keyboard has to be glued in first so that is why we stopped where we did.

Step 4 I would have glued in the foot pedals but I want to paint the tread black and I think that will be a lot easier if they are loose. I did debate about gluing on the lower section back. I think it would have been fine to glue on but I wasn't sure, we might need to have that back access when we add the keyboard so I left it for later.

Step 5, the upper section we obviously want to finish painting before the mirror is glued on so that will wait. 

 

So this is where we left off, I am happy so far and I think I know how I want to finish the kit. I will try my painting technique on something else first to see if what I am imagining is going to look how I think it will.

Now a question for all of you.

I decided to take pictures of each step and add them to the video as we completed each step. Does that help you? Do you like that or did it just add length to an already long video?

Let me know what you think.