How many of you leave your structures outside all winter? I'd expect the more southerly folk probably do. Here in St. Louis the winters can be relatively mild and dry, or they can be bitterly cold and snowy. (Bitterly cold = -15 deg F).
Les W.
The only building that I bring in (still outside just undercover) is a Smith Pond Junction kit which is made of thin cedar. All the other buildings of plastic, wood or hardibacker live outside year round.
-Brian
From my previous GRR, plastic buildings don't like the desert summers here in the Phoenix, AZ area. The glue crumbles and the plastic trim gets very brittle and falls apart. The thick Piko building panels survive but they don't stay together using the glue that comes with the kits. It appears very strong as it "welds" the plastic parts together. Unfortunately they don't stay together in 120 degree with direct sunlight. WD40 brings life back to the thick panels. Grinding off the glue residue and using canopy glue (which remains soft) lasts a little longer (2 years instead of one) but nothing restores the brittle trim that I've found. Nothing rubber like car tires lasts through the desert summers either. Clear plastic windows turn brown including those on loco's and rolling stock.
Wooden buildings (Garden Texture) last longer in the heat using brass pins instead of glue. Thin shingle roofing needs to be replaced about every 3 years since the white glue doesn't like the heat either. The shingles curl and fall off.
I'm going to find out how well buildings last through the cold snowy winters in the mountains. I've no experience what this enviornment does to GRR buildings yet.
Rex
All of my buildings stay outside all year long. Northern Virginia area gets hot and humid in the summer and cold enough in the winter, with some snow and ice thrown in occasionally.
I have two of the Smith Pond junction kits - they've been outside about 3 years now. No real problems - though I have had to touch up the paint on some and do a few repairs from falling objects and squirrels.
I do hose them down occasionally to get rid of the mud splatters and spider webs.
In the October issue of Garden Railways there was a good article by Vernon Hazard, Rippon, WV, entitled "Garages" for structures. The article details the building of foam boxes to cover some of the more exposed and/or more expensive structures on your railroad.
The article is available on the Garden Railways site.
Dixie Hobo
My buildings also stay outside year round. Some of them are scratch built and some are plastic and all have resided on my layout for the last 3 years. I live on Cape Cod where we get all types of weather. Good luck, Ron
I leave my cedar structures out year round. Re: my stryene structures, held together with CA, I bring those inside and only take them outdoors for photo opportunities. I leave cars and trucks outside too but small people go inside b/c the hungry hound will eat them up
where's the beef????????
In the past, I've left my buildings outside year round, but I've stopped doing that due to them being mostly wooden birdhouses and bird feeders. They don't hold up well when put under snow for extended periods. Last winter I brought them inside and I had very little maintenance to do to them this spring.
Conversely, I have several Aristo Prebuilt buildings that stay out year round. They do very well in all seasonal climate changes associated with Southern Michigan.
Mark
Okay, guys. Thanks to all who responded. I had intended to build structures for permanent outdoor living, then decided to do a reality check.
My plastic, resin, and ceremac buildings stay out all year. Wooden structures get stored in the shed.
JimC.
Aristo-Craft - Platforms, Water Tank, Switch Tower, Freight Station, Signal Bridges.
LGB Plastic Bridges (3)
All have been outdoors for four to six years, through New England winters, with no damage to the structures and, with one exception, no paint problems. (roof of the Water Tank paint)
Don U. TCA 73-5735
Like to Thank those who added photos.
Frog in da swamp.
JimC:
Those are awesomely nice pixes. I hope one day to post likenesses.
All you folks have gone a long way to ease my mind! Thanks! And, as an aside, thanks to everyone for keeping this a friendly board where dumb*ssed questions can be posed. Posted? Whatever. 'Cause I'm about to pose one.
Les,
No matter what you may think, there is no such thing as a dumb *ssed question. It may sound dumb to you but somewhere down deep in your brain it makes since to you. That is why you asked the question so never think a question is dumb.
Good Luck and Happy Railroading,
Ron
Thanks for the kind words.
As Ron said, asking questions is how we learn and improve our RRs. Never hesitate.
Thanks to everybody. I am some what new to the hobby and my wife has bought some fairly expensive Piko buildings and I don't want our investment melting away in our 100 degree F plus weather that we have been having!
I bring in everything except the track. The snow we get (usually) seems too heavy and would likely crush the buildings.
But storage is very simple. We just put the buildings, rolling stock, and vehicles on shelves in the garage.
However I have left some things out as an experiment and surprisingly they were not damaged in any way. This included a Pola water tower and an LGB combine. Both are surplus and are on the abandoned Silverton Northern portion of the layout so if they did get damaged I wouldn't care too much.
But I like to keep my buildings looking their best and winter storage helps a lot.
Here are some photos to give you an idea how easy it is to store equipment inside and safe from the elements:
But that doesn't mean we can't take the trains out and have some winter fun from time to time:
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
Oh...you wanted pictures?
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