I can't start on the Lakeside Inn until my Grandt Line doors and windows arrive - waiting on my supplier to get them all in stock. It's been three weeks since I've worked on anything, and it's driving me nuts! The impatience got the best of me tonight. A few weeks ago, I purchased a book of standard drawings from the Missabe Railroad Historical Society, offering official structural drawings of assorted railroad structures. One of the drawings is for a small hand car (aka "speeder") shed. I have just the spot for one, and building it should keep me occupied for a couple of weeks. Let the construction begin! Here are the 6"x8" sills, topped with 2"x6" floor joists, just like the drawing shows.
Looks like a fun project! Though, I wonder if those asbestos shingles will give you only a 1/87th case of lung cancer. Careful construction!
A miniscule risk at most. I'm sure you'll do an excellent job, as always, Tracy! I look forward to seeing the finished model!
Speedy Speeder Shed Construction This is going MUCH faster than the produce warehouse did, I've already finished the floor of the hand car shed! Thirty-two scale 2"x6" planks, 10 scale feet long, individually stained in a running alcohol/India Ink solution: Assembly started: Done!
Hmmm, good question. I've had this bottle forever. It started as a full bottle of isopropyl alcohol, to which I added (I think) 2 tablespoons of India ink.
What A Stud! Seriously, who needs a stud-finder? I have 33 of them, right here, ready to go, each 8 scale feet in length (thank you Chopper!): It didn't take long to turn these into something resembling a shed:
You got framed! (and very nicely, too!) What a stud! I really like the effect of the off-set floor planking.
Wood, Paper, Siding Once again, I'm trying something new. I've seen a lot of great modeling done using paper and cardstock. I started putting the clapboard siding on my hand car shed, using scale 2"x6" lumber, but it just didn't look right, too thick. Lacking any scale 1"x6" stock, I decided to try paper instead. It's a thick scrapbooking paper (swiped from my wife's supply), almost like cardstock. So far, it looks great, but the real question is, how will it look painted and weathered? Stay tuned....
The off-set look is a must in my opinion. The whole "plank-by-plank" look is ruined if the boards all end in the same place.
"Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? ... It is very cold in space. "He tasks me! He tasks me, and I shall have him! I'll chase him round the Moons of Nibia, and round the Antares Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up! Ah, Kirk, my old friend, I..." Oh, wait, it's you, Tracy. Nevermind... :tb-tongue: Awesome work thus far, KEEP IT UP!!! :thumbs_up::thumbs_up::thumbs_up:
Not By The Hair Of My Chinny Chin Chin Few people know this, but there was actually a fourth little pig, who built his house from paper. Ok, not really, and it's a good thing. As you can see in this shot, the walls of my hand car shed are, well, paper thin. The wall studs are clearly visible through the paper siding. The thing is extremely light too - there's no weight to it whatsoever, it certainly would have been no match for that wolf. The see-through problem should be resolved once the walls are painted. I hope so, because I really like the look of the paper siding. It's not perfectly straight, a little wavy, some pieces are crooked - it looks like a neglected little building.
Topping Out With A Little Balsa After a multi-day hiatus, I've finally finished the basic construction of the hand car shed. The roof is on and the exterior is stained. I wanted the roof to "sag" in the middle, like old roofs are prone to do. I built the two end rafters slightly (less than 1/2 scale foot) taller than the middle ones. My original intent was to use individual planks, laid across the rafters, for the roof deck, but I decided instead to try very thin balsa, hoping that the Elmer's glue would cause it to warp slightly. It worked! There's not quite as much sag as I'd hoped for, but it's there, and noticeable. Once the shingles are on, and I paint on some mossy green stains, I think it will look quite convincing. Left on the to-do list are the doors, the window glass. permanently gluing the building to the floor, painting, and some interior detailing.
What's Behind Door Number Two? The doors for the hand car shed are built and attached. Obviously not weathered yet - gotta let the glue dry first. Construction was simple, a frame built from scale 2"x4" lumber, with 2"x6" planks attached in a diagonal pattern (just like the prototype diagram). I decided that rather than do a fully detailed interior on such a small, insignificant building, I will instead display it with one door closed, one door open. Through the open door will be visible a hand car, and some assorted tools and other details, creating the illusion that the building is full.
Little Red Train Shed First coat of paint is on, a very light coat of some random reddish color that I had sitting around...
A Case Of Shingles The blueprints call for asbestos shingles, but since I'm all out of asbestos, I opted for paper instead. Nothing fancy, just a piece of printer paper taken out of my laser printer, then cut into strips with a pair of pinking shears. A little gray & brown paint, followed by some white chalk, and we have ourselves a finished roof. The entire building was dusted with white chalk, with some brown around the bottom of the walls: Doesn't look half bad sitting in its new home:
A Handy Little Hand Car I mentioned earlier that I was going to try scratchbuilding a hand car to put in the hand car shed (obviously). This turned out to be a LOT of fun to build! I will admit to cheating, somewhat, in that I bought a hand car kit to use as a guide. Here is the frame from the kit, beside my scratchbuilt frame: The wheels are also purchased, I didn't scratchbuild those. No reason to reinvent the wheel, right? The lever & gearbox housing is cut from a plastic "For Rent" sign: Here's the resulting car, minus the operating handle. I need to do some soldering to build that, and didn't feel like firing up the soldering iron today.
