Friday, August 18, 2017

Friday Fun? Goff Brook Garage

Now that it's all done but the weathering, the Goff Brook Farmhouse needs a neat little one car garage. Fortunately, there's a kit for that . . .
Much thanks to PeteL for the kit!
 According to the instructions, "this kit was designed to be quick and easy to assemble" and the "unboxing" (well, "unbagging") photo shows all the parts that are included. . .


Unfortunately, that may not be all the parts that are needed. My first clue to this came when I dry-fit the door . . .


Uh oh
I wasn't sure whether the wall was too short (though the mismatch between the top of the back wall next to the side wall should have been a clue), or if the door opening had to be extended up.

So, I took out my handy caliper and started comparing parts . . .

Height of the "door side wall"

Compared to the other/"window" side wall
Note that they're not the same height (off by a couple of clapboards). So I started to check the other parts. . .
Front end wall

Back end wall
 Another mismatch :^(

Corner where front and "door" side wall must meet

Compared to "door" side wall
 And finally (inevitably and most clearly) . . .


I'm pretty sure the corner of the side wall and the corner of the end wall must match - and of course the end walls and side walls must match each other. I'm not being sarcastic - this will/would have been my first laser-cut wood kit. BEST has a great reputation and I've seen their displays at Springfield and such and always wanted to try one of their kits, but this one - the one that was supposed to be an easy introduction - has me flummoxed.

Am I missing something here? Have any of you built one of these kits before? Maybe I just got a mistake-in-production dud?

5 comments:

  1. Hi Chris:
    I have not built that particular kit before but have built a number of BEST kits. I have had success with all but one which was the frt. house included with the Expo kit Elwell's general store. It took a bit of fiddling around but worked out OK. The frt. house was designed by one of his student interns...met her at Springfield, she may have done the garage also? ...George Dutka

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    1. Hmmm.... not sure - but I wrote to Brian and he (as well as my buddy Pete) mentioned extending the side door opening "up" to accommodate the door. I'm going to try that and see if it works. Having built these kits before, have any important tips to share before I dive in? :^)

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  2. hi Chris it might be interesting to build up a concrete looking base for the areas that need some additions down low...a garage I built I just put it on dirt as it was level but in your case a build up concrete floor might look good...George

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    1. That's an excellent idea George! I may try that. Though it may not be necessary - Brian and BEST really outdid themselves - sent me TWO kits to replace the faulty one!

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    2. Well that was really nice of them...sounds as if they want to keep their customers happy and coming back for more kit. I have been really happy with all I purchased from BEST over the years....George

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