Don't paint - stain!  Stain soaks into the wood and brings out the grain.

Try using the "rail brown" and other highlighter type pens from both your model railroad supplier and the local arts store. They're great and less messy than a bottle you might spill etc. Stain is the way to go and produces a great looking model.

Thanks for the tips guys.  I did stain it more than paint it to make sure I got the wood grain through.  I've got three of the walls ready to go together and the fourth close but ran into a bit of a hiccup.  There is one piece that isn't described in the instructions so I emailed Monroe about it to see what it is supposed to be before I continue.

So far, I find this easier than a styrene kit.  A little more forgiving and I think it will look pretty good when its done.  I'll try to get some in progress photos up.

Well, I had planned to update this more, but you know how it is sometimes.  Life just gets in the way of these hobbies!  So here are a few pics of where it sits now:

Its very difficult to tell in these photos, but I have put curtains and blinds on the windows.  Just have to finish adding the other roof pieces, the roof caps, the chimneys and front porch.  Also need to touch up the trim on the corners as you can see the white on the edges.

I have to say, for the most part, this kit went together like nothing.  Lining up all those peel-and-stick windows and decorations was a piece of cake using the pieces they were cut out of as templates.  

You can see on this side of the house where I screwed up.  A little too zealous and managed to warp the  roof pieces.  They are much better than they were, but still not perfect.

You can see better how the roof is warped.  My plan is to fill that gap with a bit of putty and try to blend it in.  You can actually see the curtain in at least one of these windows and blinds in the two left-most windows.

Very nice. I love the laser cut peel and stick kits.

You can see on this side of the house where I screwed up.  A little too zealous and managed to warp the  roof pieces.  They are much better than they were, but still not perfect.

What do you mean by "too zealous", Dave?  What was it that caused the warp?

What paint/stain did you use?

Is that roof material laser cut wood or is it cardstock etc?

What did you use for adhesive on the kit?

Thanks for sharing your build.

Regards,

Kevin, I tried using a wash of raw umber on the roof before I read the instructions to wait until after it is installed before staining.  I did it while it was still on the "sprue".  Its a cardboard like material and in spite of putting some fairly good weight on it after painting, it warped pretty bad.  Lesson learned.  I've filled the gaps for the most part and added the roof cap pieces, now just have to touch up some spots and paint and install the chimneys and porch.  After that I will try some weathering, including lightly sanding spots to get a "peeling paint" look.

The only adhesive I've used is basic wood glue, put on with a toothpick.  The peel-n-stick pieces are obviously self-adhesive when you pull the backing off. 

All in all, I like the wood kits better than styrene I think.  Not that I mind styrene, in some ways they are easier, but assembling the kit with wood glue instead of smelly solvents is nice.

Thanks for the good answers Dave.

I have some wood kits that I will eventually try my hand at.  Styrene has it's issues for sure and I do not like the smell of MEK either, though using an A-west needle applicator I hardly ever smell the solvent unless I get in fairly close.

I like the near instant "weld" that comes from using the MEK with styrene, but I have left fingerprints in styrene when using MEK, which I did not like!

Did you do anything special to square up walls and clamp them until your glue set up?

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

Regards,

Did you do anything special to square up walls and clamp them until your glue set up?

I don't mean to take over Dave's post, but I use the squaring corner clamp from Coffin to set square walls.  Prior to getting one of those (which I love), I just used a known 90" corner, either on my workbench or inside of a magnetic clamping jig I got from MicroMark years ago (also love it to death).

I also find with these kits that additional bracing is necessary to straighten slightly warped walls and add to building rigidity. I apply vertical bracing using basswood on all wall sections before assembly, and than apply similar bracing the inside corner of each joint after the initial glue has set.

I'll take a shot of the inside of my most recent assembly tonight and add it to my blog post.

Hope this helps.

I, too, have both those that I use and I love them.  The clamping tool, though, I found was a little too robust for this small wood kit.  Well, it may not have been, but I was concerned it would be so didn't use it here, just the magnetic gluing jig.  I did not use bracing in this, though, but that sounds like a fantastic idea.  I remembered noting that when you were doing your work but had forgotten until you just mentioned it here.  Might go back and brace it up now to add some strength, though it is pretty solid as is.