Luetke Office City Tower Build Step # 1

STEP 1

After all the preparations from my last post we are now finally ready to follow the instructions!  As I mentioned in my first post on this project, all of the instructions are in German, and as I could find no 'digital copy' to paste into Google Translate, I had to re-type all of the German instructions into Microsoft Word, which I then could paste in Google Translate!

So here is Step 1 in the original German:

1. Die beiliegende kurze Glasfassade mit Turen fur die eingangshalle wird an den senkrechten nuten leicht nach hinten geknickt so dass die runder form stuckwise vorgebogen wird. die knicke anpassen, dass ein gleichmassiger kreis entsteht.  Anschliessend die fassade in die Nut der bodenplatte einsetzen, beginnend mit der Wand zwischen den Drehtüren, und ebenfalls mit wenig Kleber befestigen. 

Eventuell die lange der fassade angleichen damit keine Uberlappung an der stossfuge entsteht.

Zur Montage der Drehturen werden die durchsichtigen Drehkreuzwände verschränkt zu einem Kreuz zusammengesteckt und verklebt.  Dieses Kreuz auf die Nuten der Trommeltürdecke kleben.  Ebenso die Halbschalen in die Nuten kleben.  Nun konnen die Drehturen eingesetzt werden. Zur Gestaltung der Eingangshalle muss nun die Animierung mit Figuren und Möbel statfinden.

And here is the computer-translated English version, which is actually two steps:

  1. The accompanying short glass facade with doors for the entrance hall is on the vertical grooves bent slightly backwards so that the round shape stuckwise is pre-bent. Adjust the wrinkle that a bigger circle is created equal. Then the facade into the groove of the bottom plate attached, starting with the wall between the doors, and also with a little glue.

Any of the long facade align so that no overlap occurs at the joint.

To assemble the rotating doors, the transparent hub walls are put together through a cross and glued. The cross on the grooves of the drum door blanket stick. Also, the half shells stuck in the grooves. Now, the rotation can be used doors. To design the hall now has the animation statfinden with figures and furniture.

The first part of Step 1 is to glue the bottom floor windows into a circular groove in the bottom section.   You can make out where this groove is in the below photos as its the dividing line between the dark and light tan/concrete colors.  There are two sections of clear glass material; one section is for the ground floor the other is for the top floor.  The bottom floor has cut outs for the rotating doors.

The instructions advise to 'pre-bend' the clear plastic, and this is a good idea.  GENTLY bend it along the machined creases to approximate the diameter of the groove to which it will be glued.  Do this carefully as the plastic will snap and then you'll have to glue together a crease, which will be unsightly!

Once you've got the correct section of 'glass' for the bottom floor bent to the right diameter, its time to glue it in place.  Well, I wish I could say that this kit starts off easy, but this is actually pretty difficult.  It goes without saying that no matter how well you bend the plastic, getting the precise match to the groove is impossible.

To glue it, I used a different type of glue for this application - its called "Welder" and its a clear, gel-like glue that dries solidly but has a 'rubbery' feel.  I wanted to avoid a traditional plastic cement as it would smear the paint I've already applied and avoid "Super Glue" or cranoacrylate like the plague around clear plastic!  So I squeezed out some glue in a semi-circle on a post-it note and dipped the plastic into it.

 To help hold the plastic in place for a bit while the glue sets, I put a few strips of tape on the interior side of where the glass wall would go:

After some tense moments, I got half of the 'glass' seated into the groove (remember above when I said bend the plastic gently? Thus, this is why you only see a bit more than half installed at this time in the below photo!):

 A closer view...

Once I've got the glass seated (with glue) into the groove, I set a block of wood on it to ensure it STAYS in the groove while the glue sets.  I let it sit overnight just to be sure!

 The second part of Step 1 is to build and install the rotating doors.  This is a fairly simple task.  First, find the rectangular pieces with the notches in them and insert them into each other along the cut or notch sections.

The choice of adhesive for this step was Faller Super Expert.  This is more of plastic solvent type of glue, but I like it a lot as it comes in a container with a 'needle type' applicator which allows for a lot of control.  It also seems to work quite rapidly.  Apply just a tiny amount to the door sections along the groove to keep them solidly together.

Once the glue has set, attach the curved sections to either side of the doorway:

Once they've set, go ahead and insert them into the gaps in your glass wall, and apply a little glue to keep them in place.  I've yet to master precision glueing, so don't feel bad either if you can't get all the glue to be unnoticeable!

You can also tell from the above photo that I've added interior details.  The next step will involve glueing the ceiling/ roof to the top of the wall, so the chance to detail (and add lights!) is now!

Continued in Step 2....